The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1921-09-30
Friday, September 30, 1921
PROPERTY BURNED
IS PROPERTY LOST
Fire Insurance Replaces, But The
Money Paid By Insurance
Companies Is Not Created"

Property burned is property lost,
according to the Maryland Fire
Prevention Campaign workers,
whose slogan during the ten days
beginning October l will be, "Stop
Fire Before it Starts" During
the campaign every citizen OF
MARYLAND is to be asked to do all
he can to prevent fires in private
homes, farm buildings and manu-
featuring plants, by using care and
commonsense. Says Ira G. Hoag-
land, nationally known as fire pre-
vention engineer:
Fire is both a boon and bane.
Uncontrolled, it blights. burns, con-
sumes, destroys. devastates, wreaks
havoc, incinerates, kills and mains,
and generally lays waste to the crea-
tons of nature and man.
The destructiveness of fire, the
economic devastation of it, is gen.
orally thought of in terms of the
material damage wrought, the value
of buildings burned, contents con-
sumed, property destroyed.
Fundamentally, the value of hui
man life is economic, but the con-
current destruction of it by fire is
little thought of in that sense. 1t
is felt as personal bereavement, not
as society benefit of creative intel
ligences and producers of wealth.
And little thought is given-be-
forehand-to the economic havoc
wrought by fire in business and in
dustry; to the thousand and one
things in the aftermath of fire
which try the souls of men.
1t is fondly imagined, for the
most part, that the insurance
against loss by fire on the buildings
of commerce and industry and their
contents of merchandise and ma
terials, raw, wrought and in proc
ess of manufacture" will be full
and complete recompense for loss
by fire.
"I am insured to the limit A
fire won't cost me cent. The in
surance companies will suffer, not
mel" is the familiar chatter of hon.
est but unthinking men-we are
not considering the unmentionable
kind that make money out of fires
and flourish. like the proverblal
green bay tree because of rotten
politics.
Of course the insurance COM
panies will pay for the losses to
buildings, equipments, merchandise,
and what not in the way of ma
terial things, and. sometimes to in
come and profits.
And the insurance companies
while paying do not pay; the pub
lie pays the price. The insurance
companies only collect and dis
tribute money for indemnity, They
do not suffer and are not expected
to.
But who pays for the losses
which are the inevitable conse-
quence of the destruction of build
ings, their contents and other things
material; the impairment of pres
tige, the interruption of business,
enterprise, contractual relations,
dismemberment of organization and
what not else?
A burned building is far more
easily replaced than burned busi-
ness; and a wrecked works than
an incinerated industrial enterprise.
That which makes business and
industry are not buildings, mer-
chandise, machinery and what else,
but the organization of human intel
ligence.
A fire burns business building,
or factory. These and their con-
tents may be replaced. But far too
often the business and the indus
try, as such, are burned beyond re-
pair. And if not that bad the scars
are deep and unforgettable.
Ask any honest man whose soul
has been scared by fire.
There is not any insurance for
the human distress, economic and
otherwise, that follows a fire.
It has been estimated that the rn-
insurab1e losses from fire equal the
insurable losses. In other words,
for every dollar of loss in property
burned, which is insurable, there is
a dollar of loss in business burned
or industry incinerated, which is not
insurab1e
These uninsurab1e losses are Of
ten referred to as interruption
losses.
Who may suffer then, with i'm
punity?
And for those who do, the future
will deal with much more harshly
than has the past.
There will be in the immediate
future a fullsome renaissance of
the ancient law of the survival Of
the fttest.
Our once profigste nation will
have to think of saving what we