The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-02

T thoroughly agree with MT. seibles ir his interview in this mornings Age-Her. aid regarding the fire insurance condi- tions in Birmingham" said John S Leedy. well known real estate man, yes- terday. Conditions here are bad and MT. Seibles points out.
 "in my estimation it is the moral condition of the community in regard to fire hazard which Is responsible more than anything else for the big fire losses. Both the insured and the agents in many cases practice dishonesty.
 The insured secures big policy on a very small amount of property and the agents instead of Investigating, sells the insurance to beat his competitor to it and get the commission.
 An Interesting Story
 Tn answer to your question as to what is the matter with Birmingham from a fire insurance agents viewpoint, here is a little article I wrote few weeks ago for the Insurance Field, which answers it, l think, and you may print it." The article referred to follows:
 Tn recent issue of your very valuable paper I was somewhat surprised at an ar ticle by a special agent Ca very young one. l dare say), under the caption. What is the Matter With Birmingham 9 A matter came to my notice today that prompted me to write a letter to the sec retary of a very prominent insurance com. pany. which l give you below, cutting out the names, etc., which partially answers the question: What is the Matter With Birmingham?' and which I would appre- ciate very much if you would publish (be- ing careful to use my name, as under no circumstances would I write an anony- nous communication and which I hope will be the means of some of the com panies being more careful in the selec- tion. of agents, some of whom are a dis grace to the community, and place the good agent (who is conscientious in the selection of his risks) in bad repute. | now quote the letter as follows:
 You will doubtless recall reading
 in recen issue of the Insurance Field
 an article written by an anonymous
 special agent under the caption, Wha Is the Matter With Birminghamo"
 might be able to throw some light on
 the Birmingham situation, if you will pardon me for so doing.
 !" About the 24th. of July lady,
 with whom l was not acquainted but
 who gave her name a ..., came
 into my office and requested us 10
 write $l500 on her household furniture
 Our insurance clerk stated to her that the three-fourths value clause applied
 and if her furniture was worth only $500 he would be willing to insure the property for not exceeding 5000. She then stated that she would be willing to take 5000 insurance. Following out our usual custom of inspecting before writing policies, we took occasion to inspect this risk and found that this party had little or no furniture in Inc
 house; and instead of writing the
 Sl000 insurance. we immediately re-
 turned to the office and wrote her.
 declining to accept the risk at all This applicant obtained $500 insurance on
 July 25, 1914 regret to state in your
 company. and you have doubtless been advised of the usual outcome.
 This in way partially answers the question. What Is the Matter With
 Birmingham?" Such people instead of
 being in the insurance business, should l. be in jail.
 < With kind regards and best
 wishes, l am. yours truly,
 'JOHN S. LEEDY.'
 T have other dope not fiction. but facts, which I will furnish you later. nd which I hope may throw some light on the Birmingham situation, which. in my opinion, is in darkness as far as n large majority of the companies are con. cerned JOHN s. LEEnY."
 No Attention Paid
 T might add, however" continued MN Leedy that if people paid as much attention to fire insurance as they do to life insurance. we would not find our self in the present condition. When a man takes out life insurance policy he goes through medical examination which is exhaustive and complete and yet there are small chances any man will ever kill himself for his life in surance. However, in spite of all the temptations to burn a building for the insurance. when it comes to selling fire insurance it is done with no investiga- tion and without a thought for the f,,- ture. That's what's wrong here more than anything else. Of course the fire department is too small for the area to be covered; we need more alarms and more fire inspectors. but the main thing Is an awakening of the public con- science to sense of responsibility in regard to fires.
 'Everything MT. Seibles says in re- gard to the company's losing money is fact. The rate raise had to be made and if will have to hold 1pfi1 q hat