New-York tribune., 1920-07-25
Motor Insurance
I'm Front Rank
OF Protection
Increase Has Been i'm 21
Years Up to Premiums
Of $15O,OOO,OOO Annu-
ally; Important Division
By L. H. Goldberg

Automobile insurance is still an in
FAINT in years, measured by the insur-
ance calendar, having been in existence
for only twenty-onc years. Judging
from the present proportion and tre-
mendous rate of development, it will
not be very long before it will be the
leading factor in insurance protection.
In comparison with life and fire in
surance, automobile protection is Just
as important
.. This form of insurance enjoys the
distinction of having had a most phe-
nomenal growth in the twenty-one
years. In that period of time the vol
ume of premiums has grown to ap-
proximately $150,000,000. and the bust
ness itself has developed from mere
side line into the rank of one Of the
foremost branches of insurance. The
reasons for this are not hard to under
stand when you consider tAe wonderful
development of the automobile indus
try itself and the various forms of in
surance required to cover the many
hazards that surround the ownership
or operation of a car.
Starting originally with cars for
sport purposes, the usefulness of this
wonderful machine has been so ex-
tended that in this modern day com
mercial firm of any size at all not
using automobiles for quick delivery is
considered out of date and behind the
times. The engine is used in various
ways by the farmer to till his soil, har-
vest his grain, saw his wood, etc and
in passing along, it must get credit for
the very vital part it played in the
World War The war tank is nothing
but an armored automobile with cater
pillar traction. When supplies and
troops had to be rushed to certain
points in a hurry it was the automobile
truck that had to be depended upon
almost in its entirety
In the last twenty years the number
of autom obiles in use in the United
States has increased from very few
hundred to approximately six and q
half million, so that at the present
time there is car for every eighteen
people and the rate of its increase is
about a million a year.
In 1893 this country's output was
about 200 cars. In 1920 production will
be in the neighborhood Of 1000, 900. 1t
is natural that this vast increase in
the number of cars has been the i'm
portant factor for the rapid and sub
stantial growth in automobile insur-
ance, although in turn the fabric Of
growth of the automobile industry it.
self. BY assuming the burden of the
inevitable toll of lives, injuries and
destruction Of property that might only
naturally be expected to follow such
rapid absorption in our everyday
lives and businesses of a powerful ma
chine capable of great speed and
which only few years ago was still
regarded as an experiment.
The ownership or operation Of auto
mobiles involves many hazards. In
fact, as it was very aptly remarked
the only time when an automobile is
free from hazards is when it's tank is
empty of gasoline. The insurance
needs of a car owner to take care of
these hazards might be divided into
two general classiications. First, in
surance covering damage the car itself
might sustain, and second, damage
that the car might cause to the person
@or the property of others. Under the
first division we get what might be
termed "limited hazards" and under
the second "unlimited."
The forms Of coveragc required to