Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-09-23
FIRE LOSSES WHO PAYS?

III one De8lnS COnSlueidIioi
prevention with the fundamental prop
osition that fire insurance companies
do not pay for losses one begins 70
see why not only Oct. 9 should oe ou-
served as fire prevention day put every
other day In the year should pe maze
a fire prevention day.
Fire insurance companies are mere
" clearing houses for the distribution
of fire losses among all property own
ers, assuming that all property owners
carry insurance. The comparatively
few improvident property owners VINO
do not carry insurance really are 30
few that they may be neglected IN
making the general statement That
losses fall upon all property owners.
Fire insurance Is community ef-
fort. using the word community In lts
broadcast sense. A certain number OF
'citizens band themselves together 10
thare in the losses from fire that may
hecur in any of the property owned py
the members Some insurance Is .mu'
tual in organization and some is stock
company in organization, but SO far as
dollars and cents go 1t Is all mutual
in the sense that the losses fail on al!
alike.
The man who has membership in
what is known as mutual COMPANY
is made to realize that the losses are
a matter OF grave concern for him be-
cause whenever there is loss he
must pay his share in proportion to
the insurance he carries. He pays it
directly to meet specific loss and he
knows what fire hazard in his neigh
boris property may mean to him per-
sonally.
But the man who merely buys in
surance in a stock company often for
gets that, although he pays definite
rate for each thousand of insurance,
that rate Is determined not only by the
kind of building he has and the way he
keeps it. but also to certain extent
although perhaps 1t is not quite so ap-
parent-by the kind OF property 9th
ers have and the way they guard 1t
from fire dangers
In city like Ottumwa where the
attention is likely to be too expect
antly placed on the kind of fire de-
partment we maintain and the eff
hciency of the waterworks, there is
tdanger that the residence, the factory
sor the business block owner may lean
too heavily on the protection provided
for him by the city rather thar exer-
else due care in gathering up waste
paper, keeping closets clear, repairing
chimneys, keeping oily rags in metal
cans and doing the many other things
which must be done II fire losses are
to be kept down to the minimum.
During the year 1915, fires in Iowa
practically all of them preventable
too cost the people of Iowa $4,000
a day. The insurance companies did
not dig down into their pockets and
pay out their own or the money col
lected in other states; on the contrary
they paid out in insurance settlements
In Iowa the money Iowa people had
( paid in to them, less the cost Of main
tanning insurance companies. The
only way for Ottumwa or any other
community to get lower fire insurance
rates-that is to say, the only way to
check the losses by f1re-is to be on
guard against fire dangers all the
time. .-
Doou the winter season will be here.
me cooler weather requires that fires
for heating shall be built. 1t is decided
that the anniversary Of the great Chi
cago fire of 1871, Oct. 8, shall be OBJ
served as fire prevention day. And 1t
will be comm endable, in addition to a
general inspection of all property by
it's owners on that day and the order
ing of whatever repairs may be needed
!. to reduce fire risks. If special talks are
given to the children in the public
schools in regard to the necessity Of
guarding against fire losses.
Only by reducing fire losses can in
surance rates be reduced