New Britain herald., 1926-04-29
SCHOOL INSURANCE
 IN THE CITY

In tho history Of New Britain no public school has ever burned 10 the ground. The older school buildings could be turned into fro ruins if q blaze got good start in any one of them; but the new buildings, with a minimum of wood in their construction. being largely made of steel, stone, brick and tile, it Is doubtful If any could be ir- roparably damaged by fire,
 our new school buildings are as near fre-proof as human ingenuity can make them. Confidence in their ability to withstand the ravages Of fire was shown In fail- ure to insure them to the present time.
 Yet this is no argument against lnsuring the buildings - all Of them. The school committee must realize that the public is touchy upon such q point, and If one Of tho new school buildings should happen to be damaged by nra criticism would be unanimous and inc school committee probably would be in q mood to resign hur- ricdly.
 But what about the plan men toned about year ago for the city to carry Its own insurance upon its public buildings? And what of a plan for the city to car ry its own insurance upon its school buildings?
 One plan, as some corporations have evolved it, is to appropriate q fat sum into a contingency fund and add q stated sum annually, For instance, If s20o,000 were ap~ propriated in such a plan this year, and s20,000 appropriated an- nually, in five years there would be more than $300000 In it, and it would grow constantly. Mean time, of course. the regular com- mercial insurance upon the build ings could be carried on; but at the end of q fye-year period there would be sufficient money in the fund to justify the city in doing away with all commercial insur- ance upon the buildings.
 Another plan, advocated by some citizens, avoids the necessity of at first approprlating s200,000 and then adding thereto. According to this plan it would be necessary to appropriate, say. $30.000 a year and in six years there would be sinking fund, or contingency fund of $1S0,000, plus interest, to be ap- piled upon any building damaged by fire. It is doubtful whether that much damage could be done to any fire proof school building with the present fire-ighting facilities.
 Under the plan of the city carry ing it's own insurance there would be financial misfortune should two buildings be destroyed by fire within one year. But this is an cX- cecdingly remote contingency: and with all fire proof buildings, as will be the case within five years, it is not even probable that one build ing could be completely destroyed.
 The plan is well worth consider ing with q view 10 action if found impcccable. The first five years would be the hardest. AS the con- solidated school district is expend- ing considerably more than a mil lion dollars q year it would seem that either of the plans would not be a financial problem of the first magnitude.
 When the plan for the city car rying its own insurance upon civic buildings was preached year ago, nothing came of it after q little desultory discussion. It is con scrvatism within q tight little shell refusing 10 be disturbed.
 Now that the insurance issue again is q live issue it is entitled 10 more serious consideration than it has received in the past; es- pccially when, in the long run, it may mean the saving of large premiums every year and interest.