The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, November 23, 1916, Page 7

TOCK FIRE INSURKNCE cele- brates whenever a state blulding “because the companies like to see & property - burn, but ’because = Wisconsin { carries its own. insyrance in its~own . B > . insurance fund.’ The companies are naturally pleased to escape the loss, but. more, they want if possible to ldll off the state insurance fund. ‘Hence every time the state has a fire the stock insur- &nce journals carry a new story as. to ;< . the failure of the fund. B S - - They have undertaken 8 job like sweep- ing back the sea. The fund ‘has saved - : - Ioney to the people of Wisconsin. Not- - g b J . withstanding exception ally” heavy' Jozses | | " it-has<been a success.:-The. state could not fail'to save money undq' the plan. - S The stock fire insurance: ‘companies are;' N s not in busmess ‘flien- health. They ' g must mést their expenses and prévide for ‘ stockbold 8 Agamst tlns 40 pereent expense the P . -state expense for 12 years was less than 3R anyformotmmranoeexiststomdemnfly : losses its emmeney must be measured by the amount used for expenses and \-profits "in_ earrying the indemnity. The figures above are for the most economical ' companies. On the average' all. stock: 55 about 354 “for logses out of each -$100 - BTl " received in premiums. - This leaves them - about 346 for expenses and proflts. In addition they receive about $4 in interest ontheummedpremnmsofthmr LIk "' policyholders, which gives them in'all about $50 out of each 5100_ of premmms\ § for expenses and profits. : ., .The ‘Wisconsin fund was eetabhshed in 1903 under the !en.dersh:p of Governor’, LaFoflette. The law provides for setting Sinto the fand 60 percent of the avergge: S clmrged by responsible stock compapies,’ The state & property is all msured to 90 per cent of ' = the vn‘lue. The premfnms are figured. - ‘exactly ‘the . ompanies figur_e S them, wmr the same’ eredlts for coinsur- i ance, . improvements” and :"other.: items. . The commissioner of insurance. has. the - management ‘of the fund. The fund was started thhout’any appropriation excepts ing the right to borrow from the general fund to. pay any excessxve loss. : NOW CAN GET BENEFITS Watlnn nine months afi:er ‘the fund was “ptarted the state capitol burned: The . loss was promptly paid, and the loan was . 1911 extended the .law to cover ‘ thy ~property of such counties as choose to ~come in. In 1918, on .the unanimous ti legislature ed the law to e S R . come s amendment extended . B35 e in Wisconsin burns. Thi% is not 2. per cent of & smaller premiwm. As- » - companies in the Umted States pay. back = COUNTIES AND SCHOOLS request gi th tete Teachers’ gasocia- "‘tate Insurahce in By Herman L. Ekern o Former Comnussmner of Inspmnee of Wisconsin basis. .However, the’ stock:’ compemes - have been wntmg insurance for three years at two premiums and for five years - “fof three premiums. The. companies of - _course coliect the premmms for the full “three or five years in advance, while the ' 60 per cent of the annual premium paid - to the state is paid from year to year. Even hyd all the state” business been written én the five year plan ‘the savmg S . -'A’."‘State fire insirance in- Wlsconsm is a fallure,” say the busy representatxves of the insurance h 3 .:f interests." - Daketa. with hterature which now amounts - to - more tha.n $400,000. The fund has also this ldvuntage, that the state property is ahrnys “fully ‘covered and the m A8 ¥ lmmedutely -available for tebnilding. y .. There is no question of neglect of- ; oflicers or agents in 'renewing the 'msurance and" no: jockeying. over ° been - flooding North- to that effect. Here is “the truth abeut it, told by a man who has ne incentive to mxsrepresent the “facts. It shows | conclusively that state insurance in Wisconsin ‘lsa ” only from the standpoint of the ‘ compames who want to get this fat business . back again. It is saving a large sum ammally‘ to the people of the state of Wlsconsm. i oompued with the annual premmms in interest alone would have been $41,000. in the state fund, which, addmg the accumulated surplus; made a lmmmum saving - of $71,440, -with excep y ‘heavy losses, on the most favorable showing the stock companies could ask. FIFTY THOUSAND A YEAR . - * SAVED BY STATE INSURANCE . . - The annual state fund premiums are now nearly $84,000. as: oompared to .a.nnual stock: company premiums of .about $140,000, a saving of $56,000.a year in’ ‘the state Fund, The fund has recelv’ ‘in premmmn ‘on July. 1 1 I /1916, about $170,000, and in sp hurmng»of the ‘Oshkosh Normal school and the recent fire at the ‘university, the. s ~fund . shows‘ @ surplus, and. an. actual savmg 1o -flle people of Wlsconsm \*—/ . practically. made good when the !egish~‘~ ] 5 ‘A North Dakota Country School ...what _the_insurahce covers, coinbur- ance, or other items which enter into .adjustments and often contests with : the companies, The fund now insures agamst fire and tomado more than 2000 separate build- ings, the insurance amountmg to more - than $2D 000,000, The companies hke to complam against the state carrying its own risk on a property as large. as the state capitol ~with _its. value of more than' $5,000,009. The capitol is as nearly ‘fireprdofas' it ‘can, be. built, and barring "damage from a carpenter and paint shop in the basement it could not have a° fire' “and ' 'smoke’ damage- of .mbre - than *$200,000 /But the eritics forget that while the 'stock fire companies have only a total capltal stock of $80,000,000, the state '1sconsin i} *Michigan -established its. fund in 1915. “‘ance fund in- 1915 and ippropridted “iney were before stock companies can Editor Nonpartisan Leader: AE T s Lexder for the: mfoxmatxon I have, Aother pa.per/da,rg prmt. G « of the best speakers of the League staff .people in the wicinity of the towns: " designated with the program.and accem- ; plishments,, of the farmers’ movement . that is sweeping the northwest. *-!%" of Wisconsin assesses property valued' at more than $83,000,000,000, or forty times the capital of all the stock fire insurance companies. It is thus abund- antly able to take care of itself in the distribution of its fire lossés and a full $5,000,000 loss though impossible, ceuld be borne with an increase of less than twe mills in the tax rate for a single year. Others are awakening to the same facts.- The . raxlroads, many of them, carry their own insurance, and'the Penn- sylvania. railroad, one of the largest and best managed, has done ‘this for years and :accumulated millions ' of savings. - Minnesota -established a state fund agamst fire 'and tornado in 1913." 'This iz is“modeled on - the Wisconsin fund: ~ Pennsylvania established its are insur-: $300,000° to start it off. LIFE AND PROPERT ¢ SAYED BY STATE INSUR ANCE " The pnncxpal 'dvantage of the state fund is mot, however, the saving in the premiums but the ultimate savmg m the ; fire losses. Every ).ve merchant and m.mufactuur puts automatic sprinklers on his property as the best protection agamst fire, but as ‘hese cut down the insurance rates = - b -to one-third or even one tenth of what not be enthusiastic about them. They cut off too much income. This and other fire preventmn eq\upment goes in when the state insures in its own fund. An expert report backed by the merchants - and manufacturers has recommended sprinklers in the Wisconsin s insane -asylums and other charitable and N penal institutions, not alone to save property -but to safeguard the lives of the state’s wards who are prevented from helping themselves in case of fire. Only the necessity ‘for making a false sho oi economy - has temporanly delayed being done. The best proof of the saving is the European experience - where ‘state firg~ 3. insurance has' reduced: the annual: loss'to: eight cents. per $100 agamst sxxty cents per $100 in the United States. And heéré where the fight.is xiot vet for state. msur- "ance but for a modest; regulahon of their rates, .the stock fire msumnce mterests. are askmg to . name' Jegxslators that they ay not. be dige turbed in collectmg t.hen toll { oA L SCOTT LIKES IT I want to thank the editors :of: tha ‘received during - the’ past. vear and ‘the: facts that you have given'us Much no JAMES SCOTT, \ Montana Meetmgs Arrangements have been made for a T ‘mg series of Nonpartisan League meet- = - ings 'in Montana, beginning November- 22 and. lastmg up te Christmas. Some will be pressnt and the meetings will afford a splendld opportumty to anquaint Follow= ing are the Montana dates: } .Glendive