The New York herald., 1922-06-11
Peculiar Phases of Wave of
Crime as Observed by
Insurance Men.
COSTLY MOTORS BURNED
Respectable People Form an
Element for Worry by
Underwriters.

Arson in New York city is COM
moner than pocketpicking and vastly
more profitable. There We're more
than 10000 ores in the five boroughs
last year, almost half of which blazed
UP in Manhattan, and about 40 per
cent. of these were touched off by fire.
bugs, respectable or the reverse. No
such thing as a respectable firebug?
Wait.
The fire losses Of this oxygenic
orgie amounted to more than $2o,-
100000, and the calmest estimate Of
the people who know most about the
fire insurance business is that at least
SS,000,000 was paid out to crooks. 1t
had to be because it was impossible,
except here and there where rascals
had been careless or stupid, to prove
that a fire had been deliberately set.
That Is for New York alone II you
take the fires and fire losses figures for
the whole country. you find that the in
surance people were stung for half a bill
lion dollars in round numbers, and that
two hundred million dollars went into
the purses of the firebugs. criminals so
cold blooded in their greed that they sell
dom are stopped by the feaI of bringing
a terrible death to the unsuspeding and
innocent.
Now you won't get any such statistics
as these from the fire chiefs or the fire
inarshals. veracious and useful as these
officials NAV be here and elsewhere.
They will point out merely Gas our own
Fire Marshal Brophy must necessarily
do) that maybe 30 per cent. of the six
teen thousand and odd fires that oc-
CURED IN New York City developed
from unknown causes" and that a good
many Of these were of suspicious" ORR
gin. There they have to stop in their
official report because generally the nee
essary evidence has gone up in flame
and smoke.
Deficit in Years Business.
But the insurance people know differ
emily. They are bitterly aware of the
fraud and criminality that gouges them
$50 deeply; so deeply. indeed. that. in the
whole country in 1921 fire losses of
nearly $500. 900, ,000 were paid out and
1 that sum. added to the expenses of run
nlnE lne IRE insurance DuSlIltsS, itll ftil
actual deficit for the year of more than
$4,000. 900. The truth is. if the fire in
surance companies hadn't had their
profits of previous years lucratively In
vested. so that their investment gain was
more than $4,000 900, they would have
been in bad hole indeed, and all Of
their plight was attributable to persons
with a prediction for arson. Had 1t
not beep for the capital Invested and the
returns therefrom the fire insurance
companies would have been in the same
pot of soup with the concerns that issue
burglary and robbery insurance. and
that business hasn't made a profit for
years.
Last year hit the ceiling for arson IN
this city. There had never been any
thing like it. Moreover, the reports from
the rest of the nation showed that an
arson wave had flowed over the land as
one of the rollers of the general crime
wave. 1t was. in fact, definitely con-
nected with the recognizable crime wave.
and is so regarded by the fire insurance
experts. They are philosophers. these
fire insurance people. You never hear
them groan.
However. speaking of crime, the arson
roller had as much to do with the indus
trial phenomenon of general depression
as It had to do with anything else. Last
year was bad business year. Every
body knows 1t. To a good many persons
it looked like the end. Bankruptcies ex-
ploded right and left Thousands OF
business concerns and individuals were
in desperate straits for cash or credit
Suicides were common. Now this dismal
situation simply bred arson. 1t wasn't
the first time that hard times had
caused the horizon TO glow with 1ishon-
orable fire, but 1t was about the worst
manifestation on record. Particularly
in some industries was 1t displayed
These included furs. clothing and to-
bacco.
Making Business Fires.
Before going into detail as regards the
mental processes and methods OF these
business firebugs and giving some cpl
sodes OF their business fires" as the
insurance companies Sardonica!ly label
them. let's hear what the committee on
incendiarism and arson Of the National
Board Of Fire Underwriters had to say
about this situation after they had made
thoroughgoing investigation:
"It Is probable that never before ir
the history of fire insurance has tho
moral hazard been so prominent as II
the last twelve months. This period no
been exceptional. owing TO the econom
Oppression which has prevailed through.
cut the country and. in fact. throughout
the world. as a result Of the great war
business has been marked by innumer'
sble failures not only OF small concern.
but OF many OF our largest institutions
end as failures and fires are closely
allied, n large number Of plainly indt
Gated business fires has resulted.
',rhere Is only cold comfort in the
thought that the increase in crime is mo-
confined TO arson alone but prevails
with regard TO every form OF crime
This so-called crime wave has. we be
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