Year: 1871

Insurance is, theoretically, protec.
ton against accidental loss. For that
protection the public pay an enormous
sum annually. When the accident oc
ours and the insurance is not paid, the
transaction is fraud. There may be
mitigating circumstances, and, perhaps,
some extenuatiug pleas, but the fact re-
mains that the company which refuses
to pay it's losses, when it can. commits
fraud. Insurance money is not mere
debt; it is something more. The pre-
MUM is paid for protection against
calamity. The only consideration given
for the premium is the payment in case
of fire, and when that payment is not
made, that is not only failure of con.
sideration, but betrayal of trust, which
amounts to cheating. The insurance
companies which have lost by the Chi,
cago fire have, as whole, dem monstrated
that insurance, as carried on now, is a
snare and delusion, if not wholly a
fraud. The business of most modern in
surance companies is to divide all re.
celPts among its officers, agents, and
stockholders, and not to pay the risks
they assume. Look at the long list of
Chicago insurance companies, not one OF
whom was able to pay dollar to its
plundered customers when the dollar
was needed, and of which perhaps the
Republic alone will in time come forth
with record of payment in full, and
this apparently against the will of its
principal officers


Nor have Eastern companies az IL
body proved to be any more honest
when honesty was not profitable. Some
instantly closed their doors. Others
suspended business and sent agents
hither to purchase the unexpired poll.
cies others impudently proclaimed their
! intention to pay in full, and paraded
statements of their assets to quiet the
fears of their Eastern companies, while
they have sent out here confidential"
statements showing such an approach to
bankruptcy as might induce policy
holders to accept few cents on the dol
lar. These same companies are adser-
tising at the East that their capital and
assets are unimpaired, and are seeking
by such statements to get new business.
a very few are pursuing a manly and
upright course.


An insurance company is very much
like IN egg it is either good or it Is
bad it is solvent or insolvent. fit is
solvent, it is fraudulent aud dishonest
not to pay its obligations; ii it is in
solvent, it should not be permitted to do
business an hour. 1t is fraud for an
insurance company that cannot pay its
losses in full to advertise for new busi
ness. Every such company should be
shut up by injunction or the police just
as promptly as any other gift concert or
! Peter Funk institution for swinding
the public


Still another class of companies pro,
Tossing to be able aud willing to pay
have sent hither corps of adjusters
whose special business is to browbeat the
impoverished policy holders and to dc.
fraud them Of as much of their claims
as possible. Every possible and i'm.
aginable quibble is adopted. The most
captious objections, the most far.fetched
technicalities and evasion that would
disgrace the lowest pettifogger, are
made pretexts for refusing or delaying
payment of losses. These companies
know the necessities of the insured, and
rightly assume that the man who has
nothing in the world but his insurance,
must sooner or later accept what is Of
fered him, or starve. But these men
are OVERRIDING the business, and the first
thing they will feel will be the institu.
tion of suits in the Federal courts, and
such an exposure of the frauds and
tricks of insurance, followed By sum.
mary judgments, as will bring down up
on them the contempt aud lndignatint
of the country. Another evasion Of
which some of these companies are re-
sorting is the postponement of paymen,
for GO days after proof Of loss. The as
sertion is that the insured have no
lawful claim to any portion of the in.
surance until after 90 days from proof
of loss" This is not true. The debt
accrues at the instant of loss, and is
payable upon proof thereof Any com.
pany can pay, as all respectable and
solvent companies do pay, as soon as
proof of loss is made. The 60day pre-.
text is but another item in the general
system to avoid payment. The com.
pany that is really solvent and able TO
pay its debts, and is honest, does not
plead the 60 days delay. That is only
resorsed to by companies who either are
not able to pay, or who are using that
delay to compel the suffering losers to
sell their claims for less than what they
are worth. The company that offers {,
waive the 60-day clause and pay ats
discount of one, or two, or five per cent.
month, confesses that it has the
money, and wlthholds it to plunder its