The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1916-03-08
THE UNDERWRITERS RUN OUT.

MISTAKE. = uS WOSt VI GuS 1ilS0i
ance companies that have been
doing business with US: have
drawn out, and notified their
representatives to write no new
business. and if they decide to
do business in this State again,
the cost will be much greater.
All this Was put squarely up
to the general assembly before
the bill passed, and when they
got hard headed and passed this
bill that they knew practically
nothing about, we hop, these
same must-do something fellows
will be the hardest hit.
The following is the insurance
side of the affair, and the action
taken ~ then:
Home Insurance Co.,
56 Cedar Street.
New York, March 3, 1916.
The Sumter Insurance Agency,
Agent, Sumter, S. c.
Dear Sirs: Please note that
from and after the receipt of this
and until further notice, your
authority to accept risks against
FIRE, lightning and windstorm or
hail, and to issue policies of this
company thereon, is discontinu-
ed, and you are prohibited &C
cordinglv from performing any
and all acts as agent of this COM
pany excepting the collection of
unpaid premiums, if any, on pol
icies written before that date.
In justification of our action
and in support of the conclusion
above stated, we cite the follow
ing provisions OF the law recent
ly enacted by your Legislature
and approved by your governor:
Under Section six the law
vests IN the insurance commits
sioner the power ION written
complaint or upon bis o8n mo-
ton to review any rate and to
determine whether same is dis
discriminatory or unjust, with
the authority to require US to
substitute q, rate which in his
Judgment is not discriminatory
or unjust. In other words, the
price of the indemnity we are
prepared to offer to your custo
mers is no longer to be under
our control.
In Section seven. it is provid-
ed that no company Or agent
"shall make or permit any diff
ference or distinction in rates,
in methods of payment of prem
ium or in any other way whatso-
ever between insurers of risks
of essentially the same fire
hazard"
Any company or agent violat
ing this section shall be guilty
OF misdemeanor and upon con-
viction thereof shall be fined not
exceeding 500.
Manifestly it is impossible to
comply with these two contra
dictory conditions. The one
takes from US all control over
our rates, the other penalties US
If we do not apply our sched'
ules uniformly. 1t subjects you
to a fine of 500 if you collect d
premium in ten days from one
customer and give another thir'
ty days credit.
Section two requires that an
officer or agent OF the company
"Who resides in the State" Shall
on the first aay of March 1917
aud N each year thereafter, file
with the insurance commission
er an affidavit stating that the
company has not in the preced-
ing twelve months entered into
any combination for the purpose
of preventing competition in in
surance rates in the State. 1t
will be wholly impossible for
any agent of this company ever
to make such an aficavlt and we
shall never ask one of them to
do so.
Clearly it is unsafe for either
you or US to do business, Cnder
this statute. While it is a ong
time since our operations in
South Carolina yielded a profit
to this company, we are. reluc'
tant to withdraw our protection
from its property owners and to
interrupt our VerV satisfactory