Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-08-24
INsURlNo AGAINST RAIN
End Of First Summer Of New Kind Of
eus'nsss Shows Many Sporting
and Outdoor Events Were
Covered by Policies
WHEN social club called the :.aoof.'

among the committee in charge brought up
the question OF how they would stand the
bady else said that he had heard IL was
| possible to take out insurance against loss
by rain, and that is how the business Of
rain insurance began, so far' as Philadel-
phia Is concerned.
For nearly year before that several Of
inc Dig insurance companies In New York
had been writing rain insurance policies
on and on, and two of them had appointed
such business If ii should happen to come ONE
IN. The Goofs were said to be the first
| customers here.
Since then this unusual end of the bust.
nrssniss has popular among people who
financial loss would occur through bad
weather. Naturally the Summer time brings
most most Of this business because Of the many
onsecaiu onS games and Penics and block parties
ness is now about done and the insurance
, people are In position to formulate some
idea OF where they stand. ..
THE books show that so far as the actual
- hnnnces of rain insurance are concerned.
the companies have broken just about even
But they are satisfied II the, business Keeps
up in that way because they hive found
that It is one OF the best ways of making
new friends and new.friends mean new Gus.
toners in their regular line
The records Of this summers rain in.
surance bring out some very interesting side
lights on this new kind Of policy writing
some months ago motion picture was
sent out on the road through the smaller
cities OF Pennsylvania. The film carried
with 1t one of the livest of motion picture
publicity men and he, in the press agents
usual search for new stunt" to get
| space in the newspapers, came across an
item about rain insurance and this gave
:. In Reading. Easton and Allentown he
inserted big advertisements, such rs had
never been seen before. In Announcing his
opening night he guaranteed that z il
should rain At the time the people would
ordinarily go TO the theatre. he would send
taXicabs for all who phoned for them and
| take them to the show. and if it was rain
| Ing when the house let out, he would also
! take them home in taxicabs
Such an unusual offer naturally became
iegltiinate news, and it was the medium
through which the announcement of the
opening became very widely heralded in the
local papers. The officials in the home Office
immediately bombarded the press agent with
reproaches for taking such chance at
losing losing. money. but he ,calmed them by the
insurance. This was the second policy
written in the local Office.
'HE hrst policy running up into fairly
l large figures was written for the Wynne.
| wood Pony and Dog Show held on May
- H. ,,,d m called for payment of $4,000 il
IL should rain as much as one tenth of
an inch from o'clock until the time the
afternoon show closed. '
At a quarter to four it started to rain
ana a. IL !p i6oked as though the company which
loss, but Mt five minutes Of four the rnin
stopped and the show went on without
another drop. Oddly enough. 1t started to
pour early IN the evening, and all of the
evening events, were spoiled but no rain
insurance had been taken out for them,
Naturally, the most common form of rain
insurance taken out during the summer
months is written to cover baseball games.
The South Philadelphia Club has been one
| OF the steady customers during the present
season. The Strawbrige & Clothier team.
the Donovan Armstrong team and almost
all OF the clubs which have been playinp
twilight and Saturday afternoon games
quickly realized the advantage of guaran-
tccing themselves against loss, and hive
| become regular customers
| American Legion fetes and lawn parties
given by fire companies in the nearby sub.
urban towns have been protected in this
way and an event held by the Frankford
panies with loss, but the requisite one
tenth of an inch did not foil.
| The Northeastern Shrine Club took out
a $1,000 policy for their Streets of Bag
dad fete at Fox Chase, June "a, and the
Philadelphia Protestant Federation. nlan.
ming moonlight excursion on river
steamer. covered the expense Of hiring the
boat and an orchestra by $400 policy.
TYP UNTIL the end of May the insurance
~ companies had struck all of the best
luck, and it began to look as If these policies
but on June . rain forced the payment of
$1,000 to cover the lawn fete of the Church
OF the New Jerusalem, held at 474O Castor
| avenue.
This seemed to start bad luck for the
calling for 5000 for the South Philadelphia
baseball game, had to be paid, and in rapid
succession came the payment of $500 for
the Pageant Of Old Germantown at the
Germantown Cricket Club, and a com
the amount Of the policy and the actual box
office receipts at Lafayette College base
ball game.
The Shanahan Club carried rain insurance
constantly for two or three weeks, and the
Chestnut Hill Club took out policy of
5000 against rain between 3 and o O'Clock
on the morning of July 90, when they
planned railroad excursion to Atlantic
City.
The South Philadelphia Baseball Club also
collected $500 for rain on August 12
The biggest policies yet handled locally
have been written within the last week.
The customer in this case is the manage :
ment of the Philadelphia County Fair, which
will be held at Byberry during the first
days Of September.
The management has taken out a $4,000
policy to cover Labor Day, and $1,000 one
to cover Saturday. These policies must be
paid If one tenth Of an inch Of rain falls
on either Of these two days during ex-
hibition hours.
DAM insurance sounds as though It were
N merely gamble but, young as the idea
is, the probabilities have been figured out
scientifically, just ms they nre figured
In other kinds of insurance, and the rate
of premiums are based upon official stats.
tics Thus a search of the PHILADELPHIA
Weather Bureau records shows the following
average of days having one tenth of an inch
or more of rainfall in each of the months:
January, ~ days; February. II: March
IL: April, II: Nav. ~; June TO- July,
12 August, 10; September, o; October,
lO November, 10, and December, TO-
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