C 38.3725 - º & “ sº- -- º- 5-3 & tº º Cº. & cº 5- sº º º- - º º º º: º- E-3 º º -: º sº- E-3 E. º: 3. : E. # £ º E. ºil IIIHTS: º Y (s º E-X Cr- 7" H E S TA N. D.A. R. D. º Tºlorth ſºritish amo (INercantile TInsurance Company. | ENTERED THE UNITED STATES IN 1866. - 7" H E S TA w D A A' D º º -- MANCHESTER, N. H. & Chirty-thirò Progressive E\nnual 5tatement. —JAA/UARY 1, 1903– Elgøetº. Tliabilities. United States Bonds, - - - $27,000.00 Capital Stock, . - - - - $1,000,000.00 Municipal and other Bonds and Stocks, 2,513,420.00 Reserve for Re-insurance, - - 1,367,520.97 Loans on Bond and Mortgage, etc., 760,470.91 A11 other Liabilities, - - - 257,238.60 Cash in Banks and Office, . - 251,840.87 Net Surplus, 1,154,810.10 Uncollected Premiums, . - - 226,837.89 $3,779,569.67 $3,779,569.67 Officers: UBERTO C. CROSBY, President. NATHAN P. HUNT, Vice-President. ~ GEORGE B. CHANDLER, Treasurer. FRANK W. SARGEANT, Secretary. FRANK E. MARTIN, Ass’t Secretary. LEWIS W. CROCKETT, Ass’t Secretary. ifinance Committee: NATHAN. P. HUNT, GEORGE B. CHANDLER, WALTER M. PARKER, FRANK. P. CARPENTER, UBERTO C. CROSBY, CHAS. C. CLIFFORD, 20 Kilby St., Bºstºn, Mass-Special Agent for Eastem Massathusetts and Rhode Island. WILLIAM B, BURPEE, at Home Office-Special Agent for Maine, New Hampshire and Weſmont. A. L. BLISS, Hartfºrd, Conn.-Special Agent for Westem Massachusetts and Connecticut. T ºf E S T.A. M. D.A. R. D. ºv-ºxº~~~~~ º --~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --~~~~~~~~----------- - - - --------------- - --~~~~~~~~ Esºsºsºsºsºsºsºsº. Wººººººººººººº- -- - --- º- º - º § ººº º Nº. - º -> ºS º Nº. 25 º º º - º - - -º-º: º - --~~~~~~ -- - |- |-- . $3. - - "C-C- - º º - *S. º - º º º 2xº~2: º º - º: --~~~ - ------- ----------- - º --- º : ; º º GRANITE STATE Fire Insurance COmpany... portsmouth, N. h. º º 3. º # º: º () - º - President, . CALVIN PAGE. º : Secretary, , ALFRED F. HOWARD. º º Agencies in all the principal cities and towns of New England. : $3. º & º - º: º @ _* -- - -- - - -- - º º BOSTON MANAGERs 1 MeSSrS. RICE & WHITNEY, - No. 27 KILBY STREET. ź º … +++++++++++++++++++++++++----|--|--|--|-- - - - - - -- - - - - __ - - - - - - - º º º º: --- ---. º º º º º --- - ------------------------------- X. º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º- TA/ E is 7" A w D A"AºA) ..issa. PHENIX INSURANCE CONAPANY of BROOKLYN, N. Y. º NEW YORK OFFICE: No. 68 William Street. 7" H E S T A M D A R D. JOHN C. PAIGE & CO. INSURANCE 2O. IRILBY STREET Boston. & & & & & & & R& & & º º # CIHAIRTEEED A. D. 17:20 - ; ,ROYAL EXCHANGE ASS|RANGE, OF LONDON, ENGLAND (. C ROBERT DICKSON, General Manager ... 100 William Street, New York City © C % PATRIDGE, (8). NMACULLAR % Boston Agents - 59 KILBY STREET _Q H. G. FAIRFIELD, General Agent for New England º Sºººººººººººººº-º-º/Nº-MNMN-MN-Mºº-ſº-ſº-ſº-ſº-ſº º- 7" H E S 7"A W D A Az D -- |34.9 ... Largest Fire Insurance Company Chartered by the State Of MāSSachusetts... 1903 —s-ºs- 1Incorporated 1849. Charter perpetual. SPRINGFIELD FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY OF SPRING FIELD, MASS. cASH capital, - - - $2,000,000.00 ... Elmnual 5tatement, 3anuary 1, 1903... ASSETS. LIABILITIES. Cash on hand, in Banks and Cash Items, - - $321,014.06 CAPITAL STOCK, . - - - - - - $2,000,000.00 Cash in hands of Agents and in course of Trans- | Reserve for Re-insurance, . - - - - 2,226,653.55 mission, - - - - - - - - 634,893.91 || Reserve for all Unsettled claims, . . . . 415,667.79 Rents and Accrued Interest, - - - - - 44,808.87 - Real Estate Unencumbered, - - - - - 227,500.00 Total Liabilities, . - - - - $4,642,321.34 Loans on Mortgage (first lien), - - - - 553,650.00 Loans on Collateral Security, , - - - - 21,375.00 Bank Stocks, Market Value, - - - 749,950.00 Net Surplus, *$1,512,070.50 Railroad Stocks, -- -- - - - 2,202,900.00 - Miscellaneous Stocks, -- -- - - - 873,000.00 Surplus as regards Policy Holders, $3,512,070.50 Railroad Bonds, -- -- - - - 349,300.00 Losses Paid since Organization, $30,654,487.84 United States Bonds, -- -- - - - 78,000.00 Miscellaneous Bonds, -- -- - - - 98,000.00 - -Note.- In July, 1901, $500,000 was transferred from Surplus to capital Account, in- Total Assets, - - - - $6,154.391.84 areasier ºne capital rom sisooooo to sºoooooo. A. W. DAMON, President. CHARLEs E. GALACAR, Vice-President. W. J. MACKAY, Secretary. F. H. WILLIAMS, Treasurer. WESTERN DEPARTMENT, Chicagº, Ill—A. J. HARDIW6. Manager; A. F. DEAN, Assºt Manager: W. A. B1000577. 2d Ass’t Manager. PACIFIL COAST DEPARTMENT, San Franciscº, Cal—george D. DoRNIN, Manager: 650RGE W. Dohwin, Ass’t Manager. REED & BROTHER, Boston Agents, Agencies in all Prominent Localities throughout the United States. -º-5C KI LEY STRE ET. - - T ºf E S T A N D.A. R. D. InSIrance COImpally Of NOrth AmCrica OF PHILADELPHIA, PENN. ORGANIZED A. D. 1792. OLDEST AMERICAN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY. ...STATEMENT, JANUARY 1st, 1903... Cash Capital, $3,000,000.OO Reserve for Reinsurance, - - - - - - 4,868,952. IO Reserve for Unpaid Losses, - - - - - - 738,OOO.OO Reserve for other Claims, . - - - - - | O7,042.46 Net Surplus, . - - - - - - - - |,988,589.O.5 Total Assets, - - - - - $ O,702,583.6 EUGENE. L. ELLISON, Vice-President. GREVILLE E. FRYER, Secretary and Treasurer. CHARLEs PLATT, President. BENJAMIN RUSH, Second Vice-President. T. HOUARD WRIGHT, Assistant Secretary. HENRY W. FARNUM, Marine Secretary. NEW ENCLAND DEPARTMENT, ESTABLISHED 1865. HART FORD , CONN. C. C. KIMBALL MANAGERs CHARLES E. PARKER W. H. SMITH, Special Agent, . - - - 93 Water Street, Boston, Mass. CEORGE E. MACOMBER, Special Agent, . - - - - Augusta, Maine. A gencies in a 11 the Princip a 1 Localities through out the United States and Canada. T T/ſ E. S. 7"A W D A A' D £33333333333333333333 ** F.A, C I L E 10 R I, N C E 10 J. " HOM INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK º & -º £º & 3. Ç 33 º 33 §3 º % & º ſº f Q) º º º º y º & Ş. º º ASSETS, JAMUARY 1st, 1903 . - - - - - . $17,108,635. 12 L/ABILITIES (Including Capitaſ) . - - - - - - 10,672,596.43 MET SURPLUS Over aſ Liabilities - - - - - - 6,436,038.69 CASH CAP/TAL - - - - - - - - - 3,000,000.00 § º | & N : s | Q) º º & º Q) | C. º Surplus as Regards Policy Holders: $9,436,O38.69 & § º | º º & §) º JOHN H. WASHBURN, President - - - ELBRIDGE G. SNOW, Vice-President FREDERIC C. BUSWELL, 2nd Vice-President AREUNAH M BURTIS, Secretary EMANUEL H. A. CORREA, 3rd Vice-President WILLIAM H. CHENEY, Secretary HENRY J. FERRIS, Assistant Secretary Ş. º * º º º F. A. WETHERBEE, 27 KLEY ST, 50STON ſ E. B. BAILEY, BURLINGTON, WI. Jtate Agent for Massachusetts Jtate Agent for Maine, New Hampshire, Dermont GUYE, BEARDSLEY, HARIFORD CONN. - Jtate Agent for Connecticut and Rhode Island C. F. SlMMONS, 32 WATER SI, BCSION Jpecial Agent T.A. E. S. T.A.N.D. A. R. D. º º ->~~ Sºº ºš º f --- - --~~~~ - º º "|IVERPOOL ºLONDON Insuronce Co. of Liverpool, England (a stock co-a-vi HEAD office .. 45 william street ... New York. BOSTON OFFICE: 2.7 KILBY STREET, GUILD & EASTMAN, Agents. T -T- - HIS COMPANY was established in the year 1836 as the Liverpool Insurance Company. In T 1848 it became the Liverpool & London Insurance Company, and on the acquisition of the business of the Globe Insurance Company in 1864, the title was further changed to the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company. In the year 1848 it commenced business in the United States. This Company, by its world-wide business, depending on no particular locality, and large accumulation of funds, affords to insurers and stockholders ample protection. The ability and disposition of the Home Office to supplement its United States resources, whenever necessary, was abundantly illustrated by the action taken in the case of the great fires of Chicago and Boston. As an evidence of the estimation in which the Company is held in England, it may be noted that 41 oo stock sells for about £2,300. NEW YORIM BOARD. CHARLES H. MARSHALL Chairman. JOHN A. STEWART, JOHN CROSBY BROWN. EDMUND. D. RANDOLPH. HENRY W. EATON, Resident Manager. J. J. MARTIN, Agency Superintendent. JAMEs E. PULSFORD, GEORGE W. HOYT, Deputy Manager. -------- -- º º º º - - º, º -º-º-º-º-º: -- --~~~~ £3%3:33.3% -- & Sººººººººººººººººººººººººº. --- --- º T H E S T A M D A A' D º º YOUR PROPERTY N - L. |NSURANCE º º º *Oºp, C. hº 107 Water Street. Boston Office, WHEELOCK & SERRAT, Managers. Special Agents for New England: JOHN J. CORNISH. W. H. WAR.T. : i - - - - --- - - - - - THE STANDARD. A WEEKLY INSURANCE NEWSPAPER. Vol. 52. No. 9. EXTRA NUMBER—Boston, Friday, February 27, 1903. Established 1865. [Entered at the Postoffice, Boston, Mass., as Second Class Mail Matter- - - Published every Friday, by ºr HEC sºr ANDARD PUBLIs HING convi-ANY, No. 60 India str-, -o-ton. -- T-------, - 1877. J. E. RANSOM, President. C. E. BELCHER, Business Managan. E. A. RANSOM, T- Subscription, per Annum, in Advance, 33-oo. [Subscriptions discontinued only when requested and on payment of amount due to date. - - TABLE OF CONTENTS. --- EDITORIAL . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13 TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NEW ENGLAND INSURANCE ExCHANGE AT THE SOMERSET . - - 14-26 º * THREE SPECIALS" . - - - - - - - - - * Boul anger ". - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -6 NEW ENGLAND INSURANCE EXCHANGE, HISTORY OF . - - - - C. M. Goppard, Secretary - - - - - - - - - - - - 27-29 FACTORY IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE . - - - - - - - - G. A. Furness, President New England Insurance Exchange - - - - - 29 SCHEDULE RATING IN NEW ENGLAND - - - - - - - J. L. Lºcry, Special Agent Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society . - - - - - - 29-30 FIRE PROTECTION IN NEW ENGLAND . - - - - - - - - W. A. R. Boothby, Special Agent National Fire Insurance Company . - - - - - 30 NON-PAYING HAZARDS IN NEW ENGLAND . - - - - - - - J. B. Cornish, Special Agent Springfield F. & M. Insurance Company. - - - 30-31 INSURANCE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION - - - - - - - - - H. E. Hess, Manager New York Fire Insurance Exchange - - - - - - - 3-3- SUMMER HOTELS IN NEW ENGLAND . - - - - - - - - H. L. Hiscock, Special Agent Aetna Insurance Company . - - - - - - - 3-34. NEW ENGLAND BUREAU OF UNITED INSPECTION . - - - - - R. W. Hilliard, Secretary - - - - - - - 34-37 UNDERWRITERS BUREAU OF NEW ENGLAND . - - - ... H. A. Fiske, Manager . - - - - - - - - - - - - - 37 ºr Boston BoARD OF FIRE UNDERWRITERs . - - - - - - - B. B. WhitteMore, President . 37-38 tº * New HAMPSHIRE Association . - - - - - - - - - * ONE WHo Knows" - - - - - - - - 38 - º INSURANCE ASSOCIATION OF PROVIDENCE - - - - - W. P. Goodwin, President . - - . - - - - - - - - - 38-39. º - s MASSACHUSETTS ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL FIRE INSURANCE AGENTS - HERMAN BIRD, President. - - - - - 39-40 - º CONNECTICUT ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL FIRE INSURANCE AGENTS . John C. North, Member Executive Committee . - - - - - - - - - 40 - PRE-DIGESTED HISTORY . - - - - - - - - - - - Gayle T. Forbush, General Agent German American Insurance Company . - - - -o- º º ELECTRICAL INSPECTION IN NEW ENGLAND . - - - - - - George NEILEy, Special Agent Royal Insurance Company - - - ----- * º FACTORY MUTUAL SYSTEM - - - - - - - - - - - Edward Atkinson, President Boston Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance Company . - - 4-44 - MAINE AS A FIRE INSURANCE FIELD . - - - - - - - - George E. Macomber, Special Agent Insurance Company of North America . - - - - 4- - NEW HAMPSHIRE AS A FIRE INSURANCE FIELD . - - - - - W. B. Burree, Special Agent New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company - - - - 44-45 r VERMONT As A FIRE INSURANCE FIELD . - - - - - - - ELMER. B. Bailey, State Agent Home Insurance Company 45 - MASSACHUSETTS AS A FIRE INSURANCE FIELD - - - - - - S. E. Bakron, Special Agent Commercial Union Assurance Company - - - - 45-46 - RHODE ISLAND AS A FIRE INSURANCE FIELD . - - - - - - * Rhode Island " . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 45-47 CONNECTICUT AS A FIRE INSURANCE FIELD . - - - - - - CHARLEs E. Parker, Manager Insurance Company of North America . - - - - 47-48 - NEW ENGLAND AS A FIRE INSURANCE FIELD . - - - - - - W. B. MEDLIcort, Special Agent Manchester Assurance Company. - - - - - 48-49 - º MASSACHUSETTS MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE UNION . . . . . A. L. Barbour, Secretary Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Company . . . . . 49-50 - - THE GASOLENE SMOKER'S REVERIE . - - - - - - - - “A DREAMER." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 50-51 - OFFICERS OF THE EXCHANGE AND MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 1903-1904 - 51 MEMBERS OF THE EXCHANGE (BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND PHOTOGRAPHS). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 52-53 FIRE INSURANCE STATISTICS COVERING BUSINESS IN NEW ENGLAND FROM 1883–1903 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 64-67 INDEX TO AL v. ERTISEMENTs. ---- - --- ----- AEtna Fire Insurance Company . - - - Back Cover Home Insurance Company . - - - - - - 8 Royal Exchange Assurance. - - - - - º AEtna Life Insurance Company . - - - - - 77 India Mutual Fire Insurance Company - - - - 69 Security Fire Insurance Company, Conn. . - - - 75 American Fire Insurance Company, Philadelphia - - 68 Insurance Company of North America. - - - - 7 Simpson & Ide . - - - - - - wo Beardsley & Beardsley, Hartford, Conn. . - - - 75 Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance Company - - 9 Springfield Fire & Marine Insurance Company - - - º Carpenter, Geo. O., & Son . - - - - - - 72 Macomber, Frank Gair - - - - - - - 77 Starkweather & Shepley, Providence, R. L. . - - 75 Commercial Union Assurance Company - - - - 76 National Fire Assurance Company, Ireland . - - - 76 Sun Insurance Office, London, Eng. - - 71 Connecticut Fire Insurance Company . - - - - 73 National Fire Insurance Company, Conn. . Inside Back Cover Standard Printing Company - - - - - - 79 Equitable Fire & Marine Insurance Company - - - 71 Newark Fire Insurance Company - - - 77 Standard Publishing Company . - - - - - 78 Fidelity & Deposit Insurance Company - - - - 7o New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company . - - - 2 Travelers Insurance Company - - - - 72 General Fire Extinguisher Company . - - - - 74 North British & Mercantile Insurance Company . - - Union Insurance Company, Philadelphia . - - - º German American Fire Insurance Company - - - 73 Paige, John C., & Co. . - - - - - - 5 United States Casualty Company. - - - - - 76 Granite State Fire Insurance Company - - - - 3 Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company. - - - - 71 United States Fidelity & Guaranty - - - - - º Gross, G. L. & H. J. . - - - - - - - 76 Phenix Insurance Company, Brooklyn, N. Y. - - - 4 Wakefield, Morley & Co., Hartford, Conn. . - - - 7- Hartford Fire Insurance Company - - - - - 70 Phoenix Insurance Company, Hartford, Conn. . - - -- 134.322 º Zºsº GEORGE NEILEY Wº'ſ Z// **www. PREsipent W -- until ſ 1885 1905 /.***** - -\\\\\ º -OHN E-C-C-RN is H. { -- • (Clbat Cwcnty 1) cars TDave (Cltought. FWENTY years of growth, development, achievement and honor—a record of which the founders, supporters and - members of the New England In- surance Exchange may look upon with satisfac- tion and pride. Probably the men who conceived the idea of the Exchange never dreamed, in their most enthusiastic moments, of an organization so complete in all its departments, so intelli- gently and wisely managed, so far-reaching in its effect as the one that twenty years ago sprang into being. With all due respect to the men who are a power in the Exchange today, they cannot appreciate or fully understand what stupendous work was performed in the starting, fostering and manipulation of an organization having for its object the making of rates, maintenance of good practices, and investigation and adoption of im- proved methods and devices. Two decades ago the business of fire insurance, as the old guard will tell you, was quite different from what it is today. Little or nothing of the science of fire underwriting was then known, and the public had not been educated to understand that the assured could practically make their own rates. Then, as now, however, lived the underwriter who thought it best to let well enough alone, and was sus- picious of all efforts along the line of reform— what had been good enough for his father and grandfather was good enough for him; then, as now, was to be found the other extreme, the man who was always ready and willing to adopt some- thing new—not much matter what—simply that it was out of the ordinary and stirred things up; then, as now, was also to be found, in the majority, fortunately, men who before taking any steps towards the adoption or rejection of new ideas, carefully pondered the subject, knew why a change was desired, and also what the effect of any radical departure would have on the business as a whole. To this latter class of men, THE STANDARD is in- clined to believe, the insurance world is indebted for the formation and continued existence of the New England Insurance Exchange. Twenty years, looked at from the point of achievement, means much to the New England fire underwriters of today, to whom the Exchange has come down as a sort of an inheritance, but it means still more to those veterans who can look back upon the early work and feel that they were part and parcel of it all. To the younger men of the Exchange the success achieved during this period can but prove an inspiration for their own efforts in continuing the prestige of the organiza- tion when all of the old guard shall have answered “Adsum" to the final roll call. The training of the younger members has been along most fortunate lines—they have been favored in having at their disposal literature, plans, approved sched- ules and other aids to the business from which to gain a practical knowledge, all of which were sadly lacking, if not wholly unknown, in the old days. They have also the good fortune to be identified with the business of underwriting at a time when it has reached its most scientific state—when to be a good fire underwriter means much more than it did in the old days of guess- rating and jump settlements. The growth of the business in New England is best shown in the detailed statistics covering the business by states published elsewhere in this issue. Where the field then boasted not more than 75 special agents, today there are 1.5o or more, all busy six days out of the seven, and sometimes encroaching on the seventh, in order to attend promptly and properly to the large business inter- ests entrusted to their care. In fact, the New England special agent might be compared to an en- gine with the steam always on and ready for action. As a reminder of the words of encouragement always given the New England Insurance Exchange by THE STANDARD, we reprint the first editorial published in this paper, regarding the organization, the sentiments expressed in which, although twenty years old, are as true today as when they were written in January, 1883. “The importance attaching to the organization of the New England Insurance Exchange and the value of the work it is doing, can scarcely be over- estimated. Made up, as it is, of men who are earnest in their profession, and who are working, not with the purpose or expectation of preventing honorable competition, but rather to the end of shaping that competition to a due regard for busi- ness at remunerative rates, the whole business of fire insurance is interested in the acts of the body. To anyone who has watched the work thus far done by the organization, it must be apparent that the thorough acquaintance which its members pos- sess of New England as a fire insurance field en- ables it to shape its business with rare intelligence and efficiency. Among organizations of a some- what similar character, this possesses the advan- tage of being essentially a working body, and the amount of good thus far accomplished, the influ- ence in favor of better rates and a stricter adher- ence to the local tariff, and the interest that the members are manifesting in the work, all attest that the organization meets a need of the business, and that these were the very men to take it up and make a success of it." That the light of its members is not hid from the gaze of the fire insurance world is evidenced by the many who have gone out from the ranks of the specials to occupy official and managerial posi- tions. In fact THE STANDARD doubts if any other similar organization can point to as many members who have thus been honored. Possibly the best, and at any event, the most important work accom- plished by the Exchange as a body, was the promulgation and adoption of schedule rating in New England, the work of the Non-Paying Haz- ards Committee, the Factory Improvement Com- mitee and the Scheduled Risks Committee. If the Exchange had accomplished nothing else it would have earned not only the right to exist, but the support of the companies. The elevation of the tone of the business, the spirit of fraternity so prevalent, and the broad mindedness of the mem- bers in yielding due credit for work achieved among their number, are some of the most notable features of the organization. To the old guard who have passed on and to the few remaining who are going down the shady slope of life, The STANDARD pays its tribute of respect. To the younger element, so alive to the needs and require- ments of the hour, and so well equipped by in heritance, education, and adaptability to carry on the good work, THE STANDARD extends greeting. May the future bring them honor and advance- ment both at home and abroad. FREDERIC A, we THERBEE º º Chairman Committee of Arrangements º - - #::::::::::::::::: E. Hotel. Somerset, in the aristocratic sec- tion of Boston, was the scene of a most representative and jovial gathering on Thursday evening, Jan. 8, the occasion be- ing one that will live long in the hearts and minds of all who were in attendance. It was the banquet held in commemoration of the twentieth anni- versary of the New England Insurance Exchange, and was an unqualified success. The event reflected great credit upon President Furness and the committee of ar- rangements, of which Frederic A. Wetherbee was chair- man, his efforts being ably supplemented by Gayle T. Forbush, George Neiley, George A. Furness, W. A. R. Boothby, H. H. Soule and John J. Cornish. Shortly after 6 p.m. the parlors of the Somerset were completely filled with a throng of fire insurance men, ranging from the chief executives of some of the largest and most successful companies, both American and for- eign, to the modest fieldman just starting on his tour of the territory. The duties of the reception committee, Samuel G. Parsons, chairman, John B. Cornish, W. F. Rice, W. H. Smith and Charles B. Fowler, were not onerous, as the atmosphere was delightfully uncon- strained and genial. Old acquaintances were renewed, new ones formed, and the hour passed all too quickly. º) A- § - º: - - ------- -- ------ * = - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --~~ cº-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-º: ..MENU. - Cavian- -------> OYSTERs ----- ----RY --EAR GREEN TuRT-E ------ wºre batºr and oys TER CRABs -A-T-I-N- Sweet BREADs, BRAISE ---- Roast TENDERLoin or BEEF, Mushrooms ------------- ------------ -o-º-º-º-º-Punch- nº A-T ºl-A-R-Du-º ºn-L------- Sºº-º-º-ET--AL-A- ------ -------- --------- CARE corre E. Promptly at 7 o'clock the party was ushered to the small ball room, which was handsomely arranged and beautifully decorated for the occasion. There were twenty-four round tables, facing the head table, all dec- The room orated generously with cut flowers. itself AM 81903 Hoſts ºf Rsº Bºº. formed a splendid setting for such a gathering, the white ceilings and dark red window portieres, marble pillars with large growing palms and pines at intervals combining to give an impression of beauty and sub- stantiability. The menu was of the best, and the courses were served as only the Somerset knows how to have - &é & Cº- º º -- < - º êtez-e-r-zes º § % *************** vº |->|-> º Fº º T 27,ºn ºf ºzºº ºr a º --~~~~~ them served. The dinner hour was enlivened by selec- tions from light opera and popular airs rendered by the Boston Cadet Orchestra. President Furness, who as a toastmaster was a revela- tion to the few who did not know him as one of the keenest minds in the Exchange, was in his most happy mood, and his able discharge of the trying duties of toastmaster evoked much hearty applause and enthusias- tic comment. GREETING OF PRESIDENT FURNESS. When full justice had been done the menu and cigars had been lighted, President Furness, toastmaster for the evening, said: Flſ is my happy privilege to extend to you all || the glad right hand of welcome. To our guests most cordial greetings are tendered, and I am sure the honorary members join with those who are active in mutual con- gratulations for the long life and continued usefulness of our organization. The accidents of time and election combined account for my part in this celebration, and standing on the threshold of the second half century of life, the counsels of those who have attained the top most rounds of fame's ladder are earnestly invoked for transmission to the men whose faces are turned toward the rising sun. Twenty years is a good slice out of the life of a man or an organization. This is emphasized by the fact that only three of the charter members of the Exchange are active today. With sorrow we miss the hearty greeting of many who gathered with us ten years ago, but the per- fume of their characters, the impress of their work and the example of their lives are with us for all time. Comrades in the field Grow old along with me The best is yet to be. The last of life for which the first was made. Our times are in His hand Who saith, “A whole I planned.” Youth shows but half, trust God See all nor be afraid. - Never forget there is always room at the top. Let each of us strive to achieve the high positions held by -- TAI E S T A M D A R D those who are to respond to the toasts. Remember it was said of the soldiers of Napoleon that every knap- sack carried the baton of a marshal. So hidden in the grip of every special agent is a manager's spinning top for the acceptance or rejection of risks of doubtful merit. (Laughter.) In conclusion I ask you all to rise and drink with me to the memories of the past, the health of the present and the future of the Exchange. May its influence never be less. Historical facts unillumined by the side lights showing the causes leading up to results are apt to prove dry and uninteresting. The naked truths should be so clothed by logical and rhetorical drapery as to arrest the attention and cause a desire to investigate to the very bottom the hints of beauty thus disclosed. The personality of the gentleman who is about to outline the past life of the Exchange will, I am confident, insure a brilliant resume of the accomplishments of the last twenty years, as he has ever been an advocate of light in dark places. As the secretary of the first meeting of company represen- tatives called to consider the feasibility of forming a rat- ing organization, he was a preliminary before he became a luminary, and in this capacity he will throw his search- light on the shadows of the past. Henry R. Turner, special agent of the Greenwich Insurance Company. HistoriaN TURNER ENTERTAINS THE MEMBERS |O the happy accident of having helped in the beginning—to the happy incident of having been a charter member of the New England Insurance Exchange, twenty years ago, I owe the distinguished honor which falls to me tonight, but I keenly feel my inability to do justice to the occasion or to the subject assigned me. It is difficult for me to realize that the whirl of time and the trend of affairs have brought me to that condi- tion of fossilized antiquity that could suggest to any one my fitness to speak as a historian. But in the tottering feebleness of age—which you be- hold–(laughter) I can remember and to some extent I can relate—hence the historian. History is closely synonymous with reminiscence, and whether this be history, or reminiscence, or I simply re- late, there is only twenty-five minutes assigned me. The twenty years history of the Exchange in twenty-five min- utes—round the world in twenty-four hours. The Exchange was not made exactly; not (a voice, *Well, I guess not!” Laughter.) created; it was evolved. Evolved out of a chaos of conditions-de- pressing and lamentable conditions that had befallen the business of fire insurance in New England. Profitless years followed by worse and worse–competition that was killing. Distrust, discord, discontent, friction and disappointments, relations between companies that bor- dered on the dishonorable, and continuously unprofita- ble. Certain New England property classes from which largest revenues were derived, consumed in losses year after year, more than the profits on the few classes that showed a meagre profit by themselves alone. The Mutuals gathered most of the plums, and the wicked New York and Philadelphia companies counter- acted all the piety of practice that truly good Boston and Hartford undertook Agents and companies were open- ly at loggerheads, and special agents were becoming trained experts in all the devilments that local agents omitted to originate and practice. The property holders were fast losing all respect for stock company methods. The companies were drifting into a sort of “public be- damned state,” and underwriters were becoming under- takers. Only one remedy was known or thought of, one treatment for every condition—raise the rates. If we had a big fire in Lynn; raise the rates in Bangor and everywhere else. (Laughter.) When paper mills and woolen factories appalled us by successive great fires, rates must be jacked up on busi- ness blocks and brick school houses. We heard much wise talk about the “laws of average,” “volume of pre- mium,” “adequate rates,” and similar generalities, but no real remedy was applied, and the merry dance of death went on. (Laughter.) A few field men one day fell together in discussion of paper mills. Later these few met several times by ap- pointment, and it was ascertained by careful inquiry that out of the 138 stock companies doing business in New England, less than 3o would take a paper mill risk, and these all acknowledged the business to be unprofitable. Further inquiry developed similar conditions applying to the boot and shoe, and other factory properties in New England. The leading industries of New England, in 1880, employing a combined capital of $624, oooooo, and turning out an insurable stock product of $1,106,108,000, were protected by insurance capital at a loss to the pro- tectors. Beautiful from an eleemosynary standpoint, (great laughter and applause) but discouraging as a business proposition—many other property interests showed like- wise and very many localities, cities, towns, and state sections, were in the same category. The first to be fixed, because it cried the loudest—was the paper mill interest. As a result of that first under taking, paper mills (for years a losing class at an average rate of about 2 per cent.) have now for 20 years been profitable at a rate of nearer 4-ioths of 1 per cent- and too many of them insure themselves under the mu- tual system at a net cost of 1-6th of 1 per cent. One at a time, step by step, other classes, and losing localities, were taken up and nursed over to a profit. The barren fields and chronic loss spots were reclaimed, until today there are in New England very few places, very few classes that do not produce a fair margin of profit for companies that pursue the business with knowledge, pa- tience, industry and broad-minded enterprise. (Ap plause.) Twenty years ago (in 1882) the amount in- sured by stock companies in New England States, was . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $897,917,300 The premiums received thereon, were... . . . . . 8,319,188 The losses incurred, were. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,862,600 A loss ratio of... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - - - - - - - - - - 82.44 p c For the four years immediately preceeding Exchange advent, the loss ratio was...... 65.5 pºc For the four years from 1885 to 1889 inclusive, when Exchange work began to tell, the loss ratio was . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50-7 p. c. Last year (in 1901) the amount insured in the New England States was... . . . . . . . . . $1,633,550,000 The premiums of stock companies were. . . . 15,945,000 Losses incurred were. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,231,600 And the loss ratio was....... ------------- 51.6 p. c. For the last 1o years the loss ratio on New England Premium Receipts, of $144,753- ooo has been . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.8 p c When we consider what the difference, of say to per cent per annum in the loss ratio means, to the compa- nies, and we multiply the years by 20 and reduce it to dollars, we may realize what potent influence for good has been quietly working along the line. Out of this, Mr. President, you have gotten your stipend (your $75 per month and car fares). (Laughter.) Each of us has received our allotted compensation; there has been a little something left for the officers and stock- holders—and some of us have become fathers-in-law and grandfathers. (Laughter.) Perhaps the greatest achievements have been in the good will and mutual understanding established and maintained between property holders and insurance com- panies throughout New England, the continually in: creasing respect, confidence, and co-operation of local agents, and the support, strong backing—yes-champion- ship, given our organization by the companies. Unkind critics have arisen at times; in the beginning there were those who leered, said “poppy-cock," called us “kindergarten,” and all that Honest doubters, perhaps, but where are those critics today? - Those who are not wearing white robes and playing harps far beyond the clouds have sunk down and out of the business, not to be missed—or they have become our strongest supporters—our best friends—ready and glad to accept the discussed and arrived at conclusions of the Exchange as the best that could be done, all things con- sidered, and all interests fairly weighed. They have come to believe, with the great English statesman, that "the opinion of parliament is better than that of any one man in parliament," and that field men in close touch with the agents, the property owners, and the subtle influences which govern conditions, are a more trusty reliance than time-honored dogmatisms, moss-grown theories, or the stubborn insistence of in- dividual opinions on the part of a small minority, It has been proven by the stern logic of events, that the companies which give the Exchange the strongest support, and have had the largest and strongest repre- sentation in general meetings and on committee work, have established the largest and most profitable business plants in New England, with high figures of income and low figures of loss ratio, Recall the improvements in practice on loss adjust- ment, the reforms in policy contracts, and the equity of the now well established principle of a reduced cost to assured, if a fair amount of insurance is carried. Recall the progress made and the equity established in schedule rating, in united inspection, and in all which makes for betterment in our business. Without claiming a patent upon anything, without claiming great originality, we can modestly claim to have grasped the advanced ideas and applied them, developed them and sometimes in- proved upon them, to the lasting benefit of the common interests of companies, agents and property holders. We did not originate the jingle, "Selection, inspection and protection.” We were not the first to conceive the idea of schedule rating, or co-insurance, or united inspec- tion, or committee co-operation in adjustments, nor do we claim any hand in compiling the ten commandments, but we may claim to have applied the salient points of such vehicles of benefit, our undertaking being to find a profit to the companies and reduced cost to the assured when protection against the occurrence of fires was per- fected and a fair amount of insurance was carried. The Cost!—The cost of all this, in the maintainance of the Exchange, has not exceeded 1-5 of 1 per cent per annum of the premiums gathered under Exchange juris- diction. Consider how meagre the cost! Less than 1-5 of 1 per cent! If we include the cost of all local Boards in New England, inspectors, stamp clerks and employees, it has been 2-3 of 1 per cent Each of the six states in New England taxes the com- panies for the privilege of doing business, whether they make any money or not, 2 per cent of the premium re- ceipts—eight times the cost of maintaining the Exchange propert More than three times the cost of Exchange, and all local boards, inspectors, stamp clerks and em- ployees. In New England there is paid by the companies to the state insurance departments in fees for 22,964 agents' cer- tificates at $2 each, the sum of $45,928 per annum, a fig- ure double what it costs to maintain the Exchange, and this in addition to the tax before mentioned. There are 218 fire insurance companies-stock (144) and mutual (74) licensed to do business in New England today, and the number of agents authorized by the insur- ance departments is 5,815. In 1885 we found but 1,443 agents in this entire field. In one state (Massachusetts) 9,306 agents' certificates are issued, costing the companies annually $2 each, $18,- 612 total—that alone would maintain the Exchange one year. The marked increase in the number of agents in 20 years is a striking feature for regret. The price paid for the privilege of doing business is startling. For years previous to 1883, as stated, the stock compa- nies found no profit in New England mills. According to last census, 1900, there were in New Eng- land 57,941 manufacturing establishments of all kinds, and of these 15,243 employed power-water, steam or electricity. The total capital employed in manufactur- ing was $1,594,142,000, and the annual product was $1,- 875,792,000. It is believed by many astute insurance managers that our profits in New England today are being made from the manufacturing interests rather than the mercantile, dwelling house, and general properties. It may be interesting to know that there are 1,173 boot and shoe factories, including concerns which manufacture parts of a shoe Counting only those which manufacture 7" H E S TA w D A A' D the entire shoe in one plant, 781. Of textile fabric manu- factories-woolen, cotton, flax, silk, etc.—we have in New England 1,124; and of paper and pulp mills, 233. We have 989,018 dwelling houses in New England, 191,888 farms. In one year, 1901, the number of fire losses re- ported in New England was ro,377. Exchange men ad- justed the most of them. For the benefit of some future historian, we will here cast upon the waters of 1903 a few crumbs of statistical information, that can better be passed on by the speaker, but may be worth gathering in and recording by the printer. -nu-CTORIES OF ALL I-Inns. In new England. In 1900. *... Capital Product Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,702 $122,918,826 $127,361,485 New Hampshire. . . 4,671 1oo,929,661 118,709,308 Vermont .......... 4,071 48,547,964 57,623,815 Massachusetts. . . . .29,180 823,264,287 1,035,198.989 Rhode Island . . . . 4,189 183,784,587 184,074,378 Connecticut . . . . . . . 9,128 314,696,736 352,824,106 Totals . . . . . . . . 57,941 $1,594,142,061 $1,875,792,081 Boot and shoe Factor-LEs. Number Capital Product Maine ............ 48 $5,148,000 $12,295,800 New Hampshire .. 67 8,123,000 23,405,520 Vermont .......... 6 478, ooo 792,700 Massachusetts 64o 37,577,000 117,115,000 Rhode Island ..... 5 57,000 241,200 Connecticut ....... 15 789, ooo 1,517,300 Totals ........ 781 $52,174,000 $155,367,500 If we include factories which make only parts of a shoe, the total is 1,175. Textile Fabrics-Cotton, woolen, silk, HEMP, Etc. Number Capital Product Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 $36,720,000 29,394,300 New Hampshire ... g7 44,107,000 37,495,000 Vermont .......... 43 6,724,920 5,657,214 Massachusetts 483 273,562,000 213,612,000 Rhode Island ..... --o 97,444,000 77,988, ooo Connecticut ....... 190 66,340,000 48,728,000 Totals . . . . . . . - 1,124 $524,899,360 $412,875,900 PAPER and PULP MILLs. Number Capital Product Maine ........... - 35 $17,473,160 $13,223,000 New Hampshire .. 29 8,163,081 7,244,000 Vermont .......... 27 4,853,806 3,384,000 Massachusetts .... 93 26,692,922 22,141,000 Rhode Island..... - - - - - - - - - - - - - --------- Connecticut . . . . . . . 49 3,968,452 3,565,000 Totals ........ - 233 $61,150,000 $49,557,000 Number of dwellings in New England—the term dwell- ing being taken to include all places where people live, such as hotels, school dormatories and boarding houses, etc., 989,018, In Maine ........................ 148,507 In New Hampshire . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86,635 In Vermont ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75,021 In Massachusetts ................ 451,362 In Rhode Island. . . . . . . . . . ------- 67,816 In Connecticut .................. 159,677 989, or 8 F-R-M ProPERTY in New England. value of Value N-- value of Implements Live º- Ridge. Machinery Stock Maine ... .. 59,299 $47,142.7eo $8,802.7zo $17,106,000 N. H. . . . . . 29,324 34.625,800 5,163,140 ro,554,600 Vermont --- 33,104. 37,257,700 7,538,490 17,841,3oo Mass. . . . . . . 37,715 71,093,800 8,828,900 15,798.4oo R. I. ...... 5.498 0.703,400 1,270,470 2,593,500 Conn. ...... 25.948 wagºssoo 4.948,300 roosz,200 Totals ...191,888 ±4,806,900 $36,551,820 $74,826,000 In YEAR 1901-In new England. Number of fires officially reported............. 10,377 Amount of loss, as reported................... $9,280,000 Amount of loss, as adjusted.................... 8,200,000 In the state of Massachusetts, in 1901, which was a fair average year, there were 4,694 fires reported. Of them 253 were incendiary and 428 of unknown origin. Seven- ty-one persons were arrested, charged with incendiar- ism, and 47 were convicted. But back to our history. The New England Insurance Exchange was organized in January, 1883. Field named the infant; Crosby nursed its infantile ills through three presidential terms. The air is full of memories. I would reach up and take them as they float. The doubts, the fears, the at- tempts and failures, the acts and reactions, the things we considered and fixed, then reconsidered and refixed, sometimes we flopped and we floundered, but we struck good standing ground in what was about the right thing in the end, and harmony prevailed. We handled facts, not fancies—conditions, not theories. There was nothing in the early existence of the Ex- change, to indicate the strength and continuity to which it would attain. We had at first but scanty and superfi- cial data, very little community of interest, few prece- dents and a marked lack of confidence in each other and little faith in ourselves. But, with men of high en- deavor, resolved to do well, petty weaknesses and personal peculiarities are soon lost sight of, in the efforts for the larger and broader development of a mission, which is heartfelt and earnest. The first chairman of our executive committee 19 years ago (Adams) told us that our ratings covered 999 places, included in 247 cities and towns. Today our tariff covers 4,149 places, that is to say, cities, villages, towns and com- munities dignified by a local name and a post office, 4,149 places, and we have not within the New England field, so far as your historian knows, a single non-board agency. (Applause.) Like a wide-spreading tree, our extending branches carry beneficence over all—and the roots reach far back into the hearts of a few thoughtful men—20 years ago. Who did all this? Who were the men? Who are the beacon lights of our history? It is men, not measures, that make results. To adhere strictly to historical truth and to give credit exactly where credit is due—to mention by name and relate in detail who did it and what each one did, would be to write a book and then fail woefully in the attempt at justice to all. I would not attempt it. In 20 years 349 men have served as members of this organization. They each did something. Many of them did very much. The average yearly membership has been 128. At the close of our first year we numbered 96 members. Now in our 20th year, we number 147. We were not intending to mention names, but how can we be half fair to our subject if we do not recall a few personalities. We are an entirely personal organization. No company is a member of the Exchange. The com- panies are our guests tonight. It is men we remember tonight, rather than companies, yet we may say in pass- ing, that 116 companies have retired from business dur- ing the 20 years, covered by our Exchange existence (72 stock and 44 mutuals and Lloyds). In 1889 James M. Forbush wrote and published a his- tory of the Exchange for its first five years. I commend it to your perusal as a truthful and well-written book. The proceedings of our tenth anniversary celebration are in print. On that memorable occasion U.C. Crosby as historian, delivered an able and exhaustive address, replete with historical facts and comprehensive statistics. Much that is interesting is found in that address. It is a history in all that the name implies, well setting forth the value, importance, and magnitude of the Exchange work. The able address of Mr. Geo. L. Chase was a history in brief of New England underwriting, and those of Mr. Skilton, F. C. Moore, and John C. Paige were profound in historical facts and research, while B. B. Whittemore gave in his usual graceful rhyme a humorous epitome of the situation and conditions which led up to the evolution of the Exchange. George P. Sheldon eulogized the Ex- change in eloquent oratory, Geo. B. Chandler brought solid thoughts of finance fresh from New Hampshire, and J. H. Washburn gave us cold facts, instructive and helpful. The doings of the past ten years—no less in importance than those of the previous ten—are as yet too fresh in our minds to have a sentimental interest as history. Tonight we glance at the structure as a whole and re- call a few memories of its building up. Look back for a moment at the committee timber of those early days– recall the strong names of '83 and '84—the days of Rich- ards, Gray, Eddy, Field, Parsons, Adams, Snow and Crosby. Glance at what we would now call less im- portant fields of committee work. For instance, Straf- ford County, N. H. Notice the timber. E. G. Richards, chairman; Robert H. Wass, Charles E. Galacar, George W. Taylor, George P. Field, Curtis Clark, Ed. Lanning, and a total of 25 heavyweights, to regulate Strafford and Coos counties, N. H. (Great laughter.) Note the Stafford Springs, Conn., Committee, Fred Samson, chairman; George C. Howe, W. S. Newell, Charles E. Stickney—all strong names today. Recall Southern Berkshire, Mass., for instance—John B. Knox, chairman; E. G. Snow, A. E. Williams, B. R. Stillman, H. F. Blackwell (don't you remember Black- well?—patient, thoughtful, painstaking fellow), George B. Bodwell, polished in manners, perfect in dress, the genial gentleman, and able withal. Somerset County, Skowhegan, Maine.—Dr. Clark, chairman (too bad the doctor had to die), L. D. Smith, W. B. Bartlett (Shall we ever forget Billy Bartlett?) (A voice, "No!"); he had a fighting rooster, which he pre- sented to the president of the Exchange. He told us good stories and forgot that he told us the same stories day before yesterday. Ten good men on that Commit- tee. Four of them now dead. Abington Committee of 1883–E. G. Snow, chairman; —more Snow—A. H. Wray, A. C. Adams, H. S. Wheel- ock, George Underwood (don't you remember George?), Henry E. Hess, R. H. Wass (Wass was the kicker, but he kicked on high grounds, and few could stand against him). (Great laughter.) Witness the Meriden Committee, with James N. Tain- tor and George A. French. The Danielsonville Committee, E. B. Cowles, chairman– and a committee of 13, of whom not one is today in active membership with us. (Cowles could have it all his own way if he called a meeting of his committee now.) (Laughter.) But witness the Providence Committee of 29 men—a coterie of giants. The flower of the Exchangel Crosby, Sweetzer, Galacar, Colley, George W. Eastman, Bob Wass, Frank Stevens, L. D. Smith, Curtis Clark, Adams, Samson, Forbush, Baker, Dan Miller, and all the rest. Providence, frightened at the approach, broke away, stayed away and has not since been heard from, under Exchange jurisdiction. (Roars of laughter and applause.) But the crowning glory of all—the Cotton and Woolen Mills Committee of 1883. Hark yeſ N. A. Clark, chair- man (and this is the official record), “Committee consists of all the members of the Exchange.” (There were 96 members that year.) This, gentlemen, was the embryo Factory Improvement Committee, but they didn't know it. Boothby had not yet come down from the Kennebec, Natick had not given us the second Forbush, and the Prince Royal Stenographer had not dreamed of a two- termed presidency, to which he would climb. (Applause.) We were not intending to mention names, but how can we speak to the Exchange today about the Exchange of years ago, and not recall such men as George Kendall, active, aggressive—and clear-headed. (A voice, “Balé- headed.” Laughter.) Henry E. Hess, he came in 1884, with a brain full of ideas and a library Association tucked in his left breast pocket. What a blessing that Library has been to us! Bartow, handsome fellow, high-minded, energetic, too good for us. They took him back to New York. Henry Baker, with his ever ready pun, keen-witted and brilliant. Joe Burger! Pungent, pithy, pointed in speech, practi- cal in deeds—a climber. What good work was done by Geo. W. Babb, Simpson, Damon, Brush, Sam Howe, Hastings, Burrington, quiet men, but true, immense in results and made no loud noise about it. T.A. E S T A M D A A' D Ed. North! And his able committee work! New Jer- sey captured him, but he escaped and reported for duty with us again. (Laughter.) Shall we soon forget Colonel Sherman, our toastmaster ten years ago tonight? And Emerson, the dignified president? They both shed an atmosphere of kindness wherever their influence reached, and the Colonel spread flowers of poetic tenderness along many a dreary path. And there was Ned Hollis, and McCray, and H. A. Glassford (don't you remember Glassford?–he wrote a book). Electric Lights.-S. E. Barton, chairman–Electricity! Barton knew all about it—He had been the shortstop manager on the American end of the Atlantic cable at Cape Breton Island, fifteen years before. (Laughter.) His school of technology was along the fighting line with Grant and Meade through the swamps of Virginia and the ever-glades of Georgia in 1863. That was forty years ago. In those years, 1883 and 1884, there were 129 commit- tees in active work—and how they all did work! We shall not forget C. M. Slocum and Charlie Smith and E. L. Watson, J. S. Corbett and Sam White. All these men would not, and we must not forget the good work done by Tom OBrion, H. C. Eddy, James Bruer- ton, Arthur Clark, O. P. Clark, Captain Fitch, Horace Clapp, C. L. Woodside (he sits over there blushing as usual, when he feels happy). We recall Bassett and Winne and Hilliard—and we cheer for Hilliard tonight- just as young as he used to be. What a dynamo of working force C. M. Goddard has been in his day with us! How well Hinckley and Fowler (the father), and Fred Carpenter, each in their day shoul- dered the burden of official responsibility. Do you re- member what Stillman told us in his address as president. It reads like McKinley–"A fixed and unchangeable tariff that does not recognize improvements by reduced rates, is an injustice which will re-act on us.” He dared to say: “Rates are high enough; a lower rate for better protec- tion should be our policy"—and it has been our policy. Who remembers the committee that framed the Ex- change Constitution in 1883! That committee was W. R. Gray, Geo. P. Field, Henry R. Turner, James H. Leigh- ton, H. C. Eddy, and they are all alive, very much alive today. They were men of a very good constitution. Two names stand eminent in our minds—they were of us in the beginning—have stood for us all through—many times, in many places—they are with us tonight-long may they be of us, for us and with us! U. C. Crosby and George P. Field. (“Hear! hear!” Applause.) It stirs one deeply to look back through two decades and recall these personalities. Much that he must omit to mention is recalled in vivid memory by men here to- night, who can truthfully say, “All of which I saw, and part of which I was." But, gentlemen, the good work is not all done. Con- stantly changing conditions bring new problems, which we must meet. I but repeat what has before been said, and truthfully, “there are just as good men and just as many of them in our Exchange today as at any one time in our history,” and in the saying we would but honor the more and more our graduated list of past masters and eminent commanders. Nothing came to them by chance, they worked for all they got, and deserved it. A good man has come up to fill every place left vacant. It behooves us who remain here to guard the reputation of the body, to further promote its efficiency, and in- crease its value. We must never become an aggregation of nonentities, living on the momentum imparted by great men who have gone before, but each must make himself worthy and well qualified in the particular line of service that falls to him. Each should do something and do it well-do your ut- most for the general benefit—and you will get your share. In the language of President Roosevelt, “Every man should pull his own weight.” We have shown what can be evolved, established and maintained by men of high endeavor, resolved to do well, bound only by the simple tie, “honor and good faith of our individual members.” and liberally backed by appreciative companies. Now let it become crystallized into a lasting vitality. Just a moment more: In 1885, a retiring official, with an attack of eloquence or an attempt to emphasize, quoted from "The Brook," “Men may come, men may go, but we go on forever." Men have come, men have gone, we still go on. Many of our dreams have been realized; many of our undertak- ings have borne fruit, far beyond our expectation; many of our ambitions have been gratified and satisfied. We meet tonight with happy smiles, for companions come long distances to meet with us, and a silent tear for the thirty-one who await our coming in another world. We feel a pride in the forty who have struggled with us as privates in the ranks and left us, when called to occupy managerial chairs. Time is up. Pardon me, Mr. Chairman, if I have been tedious; forgive me, gentlemen, if by omission I have seemed unjust to many who did much to deserve men- tion. Every man did something; and the aggregate effort has made the harmonious whole, which we celebrate to- night. I hope and I have planned ten years from now to sit with you all at our 30th anniversary banquet, and hear some better man attempt the role of historian; but if that be decreed otherwise, and your historian with others of today are called to meet that reception committee of thirty-one, which awaits the coming of us all-one by one—as come we must (there will be Steere and Horner and L. D. Smith, along with Eastman, Emerson and Sherman and all the rest), and when from the back office, the backest of the back offices, and through the open door of pearl, as it swings on its golden hinge, there shall come a stentorian voice, “Who is he? What did he do?” we shall be proud, if some one shall arise and say, “He helped, only helped, EVOLVE, ORGANIZE, MAINTAIN and PERPETUATE, the New England Insurance Exchange.” (Great applause.) Our doubts are traitors - And make us lose the good we oft might win By fearing to attempt. It is a long distance call from the Hub of the Universe to the City of Brotherly Love, but by not fearing to at- tempt, the next speaker was persuaded to leave the mild climate on the banks of the Delaware and brave the in- clemency of a New England winter. Gentlemen, it is with the highest gratification I intro- duce Colonel Robert B. Beath, President of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, our elder brother among insurance organizations. COL, BEATH ON THE FIRE INSURANCE SITUATION I have listened with deep in- terest to the magnificent address made by Mr. Turner, and I wish that time would permit me to make some references to the great history that you gentle- men have made during the past twenty years. I was with you ten years ago, and I have the liveliest recollection of the lively time that you then had. The only “fly in the ointment"—iſ that expression is permissible af- ter such an excellent dinner-to my acceptance of this invitation was that it was accom- panied by a request that I would make an address on this occasion. I told your president that if it had come to me by mail he would have received by return mail a very positive declination, for if there is one thing in this world that I hate, it is to get up and make a prepared address. I have been accustomed to take some little part in public speaking, but it was always simply to let myself loose upon the crowd and let the consequences take care of themselves. (Laughter.) But I felt that possibly something more than that was due to such an occasion and that I owed something to the honorable position that I held as the president of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, and so I have prepared for the purpose of giving before a larger constituency than yours a few facts and figures which I will in a few minutes undertake to read, making them just as brief as possible. But I see you have a long programme here and a great number of ex-members of this Exchange are to be called upon to make speeches. They have all been notified and all have their manuscripts ready of course-possibly now they are in the hands of the printer. (Laughter.) You may run all the way down the program, from the name of the gentle- man from the old Granite State, who emigrated further not a great while ago, down through the name of that distinguished manipulator of cards over in New York who spells his name with a "Hess," and so on till you get around to the harp of old Erin in our Brother Ken- dall, and ending up with my friend Richards, who is sup- posed to represent an English company with a Scottish name-for North Britain is Scotland and it belongs in the upper part of the great island of Britain. So with all these speeches to come, I might very well pass over some of the remarks that I would like to have made un- der other circumstances about the facts presented as to your great work by Mr. Turner. But I will pass on to my own. After some thirteen years of service as the honorary secretary of the National Board of Fire Underwriters- for as I speak in the presence of one of the ex-presidents of that board, the president of the Phenix without an "o," he knows that all the work of the National Board of underwriters is done by H. K. Miller (laughter)— this year, after this service as secretary, my colleagues of that great organization honored me with the position of president. That Board, as you know, has assumed no oversight or control over the vital questions of rates or commis- sions, though they have important work to do in other directions, and one branch is that of tabulating the re- sults of fire insurance from the official reports made to and by the insurance departments of the several states. I have deemed it necessary at this time to cult from the mass of statistics so collected a few figures, present- ing them in the briefest form, in the hope that they will be the means of impressing on all of you, and on the public directly interested in our work, that because of a few, very few months of reduced losses, in four years, we cannot and must not, by any laxity of our own, re- turn to old conditions. It is yet too early to obtain the official figures for the year 1902, but we know that the fire losses of the country kept full pace during the first six months with those of several years previous, and that the closing six months of the year showed a reduction in the amount of losses. But this fact may be fairly predicted, that if the figures of the year do show a profit, that profit will not equal the actual loss sustained in any one of the past three years. For the year 1901 the underwriting results for all fire insurance companies reporting on their entire business to the New York insurance department, embracing all but a few local companies in other states, showed that losses and expenses exceeded the premium receipts by $6,955,429, or 4.25 per cent. For the year 1900 the loss on underwriting was $6,277, 994, or 4.25 per cent, while for 1899 the loss was $18,- 428,695, or 13.7 per cent of the premiums written Thus, in these three successive years, premiums paid by the insured failed to meet losses and expenses by $31,662,116. With such conditions continuing, the wonder is not that so many companies retired from the conflict, but that so many still remained, all indulging in the long deferred hope that conditions would in some way be soon changed for the better. One year, whether good or bad, is not a fair criterion for measuring results, and possibly the three years quoted may not be a sufficient length of time for proper judg- ment, but they demonstrated, beyond question, that in some way a decided improvement in results must be speedily produced, or there must be a still greater shrink- age in insurance capital and, of course, in underwriting capacity; while for companies remaining in the field there could only be a heavy loss of surplus, which would seri- ously affect the strongest and best of both foreign and domestic companies. Now taking the ten years, from 1892 to 1901 inclusive, as affording a fair demonstration of results on underwrit- - TA/ E S T A M D A A. D. ing, the premiums reached the enormous amount of $1,333,880,639. Losses paid were. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $798,612,800 Expenses paid were . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487,680,325 added reserve, unpaid losses and other claims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43,353,719 Profit for the to years. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,833,795 or 37 of one per cent on the premiums. The taxes paid to the states and municipalities during these to years amounted to $35,681,029, or 2.69 per cent of the premiums, a sum nearly seven and one-quarter times the profit allowed the companies. Even one-half of this amount would have given the states a large income from - business which in no degree-confers special privileges, for companies can be organized anywhere by any citizens choosing to apply for charters, and the other half of that sum would have given the companies only a very moder- ate profit on the capital invested. While the companies are required to pay these taxes, necessarily the cost must be included in the rate charged for insurance. With such meagre results shown on the underwriting, the business man naturally wants to know how companies can stand the strain and pay dividends, and there are business men, not stockholders, who admit that compa- nies are entiled to a profit. How do they pay dividends? The answer is that all stock companies in New York and Massachusetts, for instance, must have a paid-up capital of not less than $200,000. Foreign companies must make a deposit of at least that amount in one of the states. They must all provide a reserve, over the capital, on all premiums outstanding each December 31st of from so to 90 per cent, according to the terms for which policies are written. In past years, when rates were better or losses less, companies were enabled to provide for and add to their surplus; thus capital, reserve and surplus constitute inter- est-earning assets, out of which dividends can, or should be, paid, with a margin for futher protection to both poli- cy holders and stockholders, through accretions to the surplus. Thus during the ten years cited, the investment ac- count had to provide the dividends paid. Fire insurance cost the companies, in losses and expenses, 99.63 per cent. it should not be overlooked in this connection, that the ratio of interest earnings has largely decreased. Years ago standard 6 per cent investments could be had at or about par—now we are down to a four per cent basis. The interest earnings are reduced practically about one- fourth. with such a showing at both ends, was it reasonable or possible, to continue conditions under which the stock- holder, who risks his money in this business, must de- pend solely on interest earnings for dividends? Is it unreasonable to insist that the rates of insurance shall show at least a small profit to strengthen the com- panies and to provide against conflagrations-not such as that of Boston in 1872, but take those of Jacksonville, Paterson and others of relative minor importance in re- cent years? Even with the presentation of such incontrovertible facts, many a business man of today scanning a bill for insurance at increased rates, takes little stock in the information delicately conveyed by his broker that he has heretofore had his insurance below cost. He knows that he has not burned out, and consequently, from his stand- point, all the money he has paid is clear profit to the companies. He also may take that occasion to vent his views as to the impertinence of compelling him to carry a certain percentage of insurance to value of the goods insured, and he refuses to concede that it in any way ºn- ters into the question of cost, though he will refuse, if a cloth merchant, to sell you a piece of goods 48 inches wide at the same price he charges for one ºf inches of exactly the same quality. (Laughter). If his goods are of a liquid nature and you deal with him ſlaughter and eries of "We don't") he expects you to understand with- ºut discussion why you are charged more for a gallon than fºr a quart ºf the same fluid extract. Both the gal- on and the yardstick are to these merchants, the basis for measuring cost and selling price, and co-insurance is meressary to grade the cost of insurance. Forced, by alarming and long-continued conditions, this last year companies decided upon securing a more adequate price for their policies. There was and is some difference of opinion as to methods, but none at all as to the positive need for better rates. We cannot but feel that the action taken must now produce good results for the companies, but we had better be sure we have these good results in hand before we again go back to a period of inadequate rates, and we can't afford to lose our heads because six months in forty-eight were good. (Applause.) For the year 1902, the so-called 25 per cent advance, applied as it was to only certain classes of hazards, will not net much more than to per cent, if it reaches that figure on the average, and that can hardly be claimed as unreasonable, when contrasted with the meagre re- sults of the past 1o years. Who can assign any tangible reason for continuous losses for the first six months of 1902 and reduced losses for the ensuing period? I pass the conundrum along. (Laughter.) The withdrawal of insurance capital by the honorable retirement of many excellent companies, without conside ering the miserable failures of two or three which per- ished, and if I might quote Scripture, which “died as the fool dieth" (laughter), was not the only hardship expe- rienced through long continued adverse conditions. Many companies deemed it essential to their own safety to prune 1ines and reduce liabilities on congested sec- tions, and this made a decided shortage in insurance in many localities. To replace them, with but a few honorable exceptions which are and will be welcomed by insurance men, we have the offerings of a brood of so-called Lloyds, with sharp conditions absolutely voiding their policies, if any one company on the risk has received a higher rate, (laughter) and with these are some so-called mutual companies, in one instance advertising that in addition to the premium, the note required by law for assess- ments to meet losses, shall be for the amount of only one dollar. Thus, as to the latter, without capital to earn interest or back up their liability, dependence must be solely placed, for payment of losses and the expenses of man- agement, upon premiums, and any assessment which may be required in time of disaster can only be made on a number of notes so issued for one dollar each. Gentlemen of the New England Exchange, you are each charged with large responsibilities. The mainte- nance of even the present capital in this business is de- pendent upon a profit for the stockholders of your com- panies. Any weakening of the lines as to fair and adequate rates or in the maintenance of good practices may result in utter demoralization in important centres, and also in the certain withdrawal of more capital and leaving many a gap in our ranks. You realize of course, that you are engaged in a highly honorable business, one of grent moment and absolutely necessary for the protection of many and varied enter- prises. Conditions are continually changing, and we must change with them, not by any retrograde movement, but by advancing to meet them. More than ever is there need for skilled men in our business who shall tackle problems unthought of but a few years ago. I need not particularize–wou know them and of them. and my closing words are-Re true to the vast interests confided to you. Each man should make these a part ºf himself and measure up to the stanººrd renºred anºt for voºr own satisfactiºn and neare of mind and for the good of all your associates, observe tº faith and hon- est practices in all your dealinºs (Great annlause) A man suspected of tenninºs tºward nºtºr-º- a dinner ºn a select number of his nersonal frºnts Re- cºming cºntrative he i-tºrneº his ºste he hº prºduced much no-try hºt he had resºlved nºt tº ****** any ºf it until after his death tº cºn-rººms ºth ºne accord exºnºmº, “Here's a long life tº vntº and * hºnºv --- tº us.” Fºº-ntions prove rules and very sººn we shºt nºte the extention. Ten years ago we eninved the poetical fancies of our friend, and notwithstanding the fact that one of his anatomical feet has been out of com- mission during the decade just passed, we may feel as- sured his metrical feet will prove sturdy and true as of yore. Mr. B. B. Whittemore, poet laureate of the Ex- change, and incidentally president of the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters. (Applause.) MR. WHITTEMORE’s TRIBUTE TO THE Exchange I am very greatly indebted to the president for the pleasant manner of his introduction, but I must, out of consideration for the position which I occupy and for the grand body which I rep- resent, claim precedence for that body over the rank of the alleged poet. Mr. President and Gentlemen, you will allow me to bring to you the congrat- ulations of the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters and to as- sure you that in your successes, do in the line of promoting in- in everything that you surance interests, you have their most hearty welcome. I wish to say to you still further that if at any period in the existence of the two bodies—for their lives are al- most coincident; I think the Boston Board has two months priority of birth—if any differences have ever arisen, I think the day has dawned when they shall all pass away. (Applause.) I am very sure that the com- munications of the joint committee of the two bodies in a very important matter are looking toward a happy result, and will be but the precursor of a general com- ing together and an absolute union of action on the part of both bodies. (Applause.) What has been said of the successes of the New England Exchange may also be said of the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters. I am very proud of my connection with a body of gentlemen who have managed to keep together during the periods of depression, the periods of excitement, and who have kept in the main true to all of their agreements and true to their duty to their companies and to themselves. That much being said, I trust that you will accept as a heartfelt expression of the feelings of the members of the Boston Board what I have said on their behalf. The facts and figures which have been given by our Historian in such an able manner this evening, and those given by the president of the National Board, have in a way a somewhat depressing effect, because they bring our responsibilities so closely upon us. But in the duty assigned to me, it will be necessary to de- part somewhat from that feeling. When the committee approached me and suggested that some verses would be expected from me on this occasion, I asked them of what nature, and they replied, “Well, we want a good time, and the gentlemen before whom you will appear will probably by the time you are called upon be in a sufficiently mellow state of mind" (laughter)—I won't be sure that I give exactly the words, but I believe that was the idea—“that they will accept anything you have a mind to give them, from a burlesque up to a hymn." (Laughter.) Well, that gave me a thought—now is my opportunity. About that time everything was football. I got it from my friends in New Haven and I got it from my associates in Boston, and there was nothing in the air but football. Now, said I, what an oppor- tunity I have. I will get up a football game and I will have the members of the Insurance Exchange take part in it—I will organize them into two teams, and what splendid material I will have! We have got the kick- ers, and I know who they are ſlaughter): then we have got the tacklers, ready to tackle anything from adjust- ment of a loss to a good dinner. And then we have the fullbacks and the halfbacks and the pullbacks—I know who they are—and then some of the end men that are always getting around somehow or other, you know. (Great laughter.) They always get there, and the ball always crops up where you least expect it. Sometimes you think you have got it in one quarter of the field and vou" find it in the other; you don't know how it got there, - 7" H E JS 7"A M D A A' D Mr. B. F. Stillman—You have been there. Mr. Whittemore–Oh, no, don't say that. Then there are others who are climbers, you know, and are never afraid of commissions. Well, I sat down to proceed with my work, and when I got it pretty well along I was something in the mood of the old lady who took the old doctrines of Presbyteri- anism down solidly. Some of her friends asked her, “Auntie, do you really think that all who don't belong to the church will be damned?” “Oh, yes,” she said. Now, she had a husband, John, who didn't belong to the church and was rather an easy-go-lucky fellow. And when they said to her again, "Auntie, are you really sure that every- body who doesn't belong to the church will be damned?” “Ah,” she said, “I haeme doots about John." (Laugh- ter.) And so I began to have “me doots” of the success of this work I was at. Well, a happy thought occurred to me. I sought out a venerable friend of mine in whose judgment I had great confidence. I knew he would tell me the truth. And as they say in the newspaper offices, I thought I would "try it on the dog." So I started on him. I got him in my office corner in a comfortable way and read it to him. Getting to a point where I thought he ought to collapse, I peeped over the corner of my paper, and said, “Did you see that joke?” “Oh, yes," he said, “I saw it all right.” But he didn't smile. And I went along a little further and about the time I thought he ought to smile, I asked, “Did you see that?” “Well, I think I do, but don't you know, your characters that you are talking about are men that the boys don't know, and the jokes that you have got off on them will all be lost.” Well, that set me to thinking still further that that wouldn't do and I must resort to some others means. And so I laid that manuscript aside, and without taking my friend's advice that I print it and put in explanatory notes, and the boys would lie down on the floor and roll, he said, when they saw what the jokes were, I gave that up. And now, Mr. President, in a better frame of mind, I beg you to accept the few verses which I offer, not as the poet, but as the verse-writer and with them, standing as I do today in the front ranks, I believe, of the members of this exchange, a feeling which I can hardly express in the few lines I may give here, my most hearty wishes for the future success of the Ex- change, my thanks for all that has been done by the Ex- change on behalf of those whom I represent and of those in whom I have an interest. And with that I beg to pre- sent you the following lines. Hail, comrades, guests, and all who join In this delightful way To celebrate with our Exchange Its twentieth natal day. It hardly seems a verity That, in its silent flight, Time can have scored the many years Of which we speak tonight. It hardly seems a brief decade, Since from their thrall of woes, Our brethren of the early days, At Reason's call arose. For they had drunk the bitter cup Which competition brings, And in associate form they sought A day of better things. That day was most auspicious, when It dawned with radiant glow, And ushered in our young Exchange, Just twenty years ago. "Twere fitting here, if we recall Conditions of the hour, When those good souls, those chastened men, Assumed directing power. The crudities of all things then- Doubts and oppressive fears– were obstacles that tried the nerves Of those good pioneers. But they had learned humility, And prudence was their creed, And, for the harvest we have reaped, They sowed the vital seed. So happily has our Exchange Moved on in all these years, That nought on its historic page But harmony appears. Not harmony in apathy- Not ease in idleness- But, rather, fellowship in toil That leads to true success. But let us note in retrospect The changes Time has wrought, And let the wonders of today Engage a moment's thought. For in these twenty fruitful years Man has secured the keys Which have unlocked the fastened doors Of Nature's mysteries. He has reached upward towards the Heavens In his audacity, And banished with his daring hand The terrors of the sea. Behold the magic witchery That space could over-reach, And over land and over sea Convey our vocal speech. And then behold the miracle Which, on etherial waves, Bears to the distant voyager The word that cheers, or saves. But these are only brighter stars That lead a lesser train, And point us to the broader scope Of this reflective strain. We see the wheels of industry Moved by an unseen power That spreads its impulse o'er the land And broadens every hour. We note that every enterprise Is eager on its part To seize the new developments Of science and of art. With all these changes come to us New trials, as we know, Scarce mentioned in the chronicles Of twenty years ago. But our Exchange has kept in step With progress in the land, And in the march 'twill surely keep Well forward with the band. The veterans beg your patience, if Their step be sometimes slow, They find the pace more trying than 'Twas twenty years ago. But they'll not view these later times With pessimistic eyes, But, rather, welcome progress, though It come with some surprise. They welcome all our younger life With faith and courage strong, By whose brave hands must our Exchange Henceforth be borne along. And they will pray that large success shall with your efforts flow, E’en as it issued from the springs, Touched twenty years ago. So will the “Old Guard” rest content As your good fortunes grow, But by your side they hope to tramp still longer-don't you know? (Long applause.) LETTERs or REurºT FROM ABSENT GUESTs. The President-The secretary has a few letters from absent friends which the committee thought it might be well for the members to hear. The secretary read the following letters: Portsmouth, N. H. C. M. Goddard, Secretary, New England Insurance Ex- change, ss Kilby St. Boston, Mass.: Dear Sir:-1 regret that circumstances over which I have no control will prevent my attending the reception and banquet to be held in commemoration of the twen- tieth anniversary of your organization, at Hotel. Somer- set on the 8th inst. I trust all the brethren will have a most enjoyable time. Very truly yours, (Signed) ALFRED F. How ARD, President, N. H. Board Fire Underwriter- January 6th, 1903. Washington, D. C., Dec. 22, 1902. The New England Insurance Exchange, Boston, Mass.: Gentlemen-I am in receipt of your invitation to be present at a reception and banquet to be given in com- memoration of the Twentieth Anniversary of its organi- zation, for which please accept thanks. While I regret that circumstances beyond my control will prevent my being with you in person, I am always (tho' 82) with the Exchange "boys" in "spirit," and remember with great pleasure and satisfaction, the great work done by them to promote the best interests of the companies, the a- sured and the public generally, and may your good work continue, so that the New England Insurance Exchange may continue to be recognized, as it now is, authority on insurance matters generally, wherever the English-lan- guage is spoken. Yours truly, (Signed) J. C. HILLIARD. Richmond, Va. Mr. C. M. Goddard, Secretary: Dear Sir:-1 thank you for your kind invitation to your banquet and reception and regret extremely that I will not be able to be present. I am sure the occasion will be one of much pleasure and wish it were possible for me to be with you. Yours truly, (Signed). W. E. CHAPIN, President, South Eastern Tariff association. December 26, 1902. New York, Dec. 24, 1902. Messrs. Frederic A. Wetherbee, Gayle T. Forbush, George Nelley, George A. Furness, wºm. A. R. Booth- by, Horace H. Soule, Jr., John J. Cornish, Committee of Arrangements: Gentlemen-I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your invitation to attend a reception and banquet to be held in commemoration of the Twentieth Anniversary of the organization of the New England Insurance Ex- change. I had hoped on its receipt to be able to be present, but fear family engagements will forbid, and therefore re- luctantly have to decline your kind invitation. May 1 express the hope that the New York Insurance Exchange may, when it reaches the age of your excel- lent association, have a record as beneficial as yours has been to the interests it represents. - Very truly yours, (Signed) J. MONTGOMERY HARE, President, New York Fire Insurance Exchange. - New York City, December 22, 1902. Frederic A. Wetherbee, Chairman Committee of Ar- rangements, New England Insurance Exchange, Bos- ton, Mass.: Dear Sir-I acknowledge receipt of your invitation to attend a reception and banquet to be held on January 8th in commemoration of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Exchange's organization. I regret exceedingly that it will not be possible for me tº be present, as while I am not a member of the Ex- change, I have felt unusual interest in it because of the fact that my first experience as an underwriter --- in New England and shortly before the formatiºn ºf the - | __ 7" H E S T A M D A R D. New England Exchange, which I consider the model rate-controlling organization of the United States. (Cheers.) Thanking you for remembering me, and with my best wishes for an enjoyable occasion, to be followed by at least another twenty years of usefulness for your organi- zation, I am Yours very truly, (Signed) HENRY EVANS, Vice-President, Continental Insurance Company. Hartford, Dec. 19, 1902. Gentlemen:-While thanking you for the honor, it is with sincere regret that I am forced to decline your in- vitation to be present at the reception and banquet to be held in commemoration of the Twentieth Anniversary of the organization of “The New England Insurance Exchange." Twenty years of faithful service to your companies—twenty years of loyal service to each other- twenty years of unselfish service to the public—such a record of successful service to all interests with which you have come in contact, entitles you to the esteem and respect of all whom you have benefited. Well does the writer remember the earlier years of your life, when in the far South your sister organization the South Eastern Tariff Association came into existence about the same time, how we looked to you for helpful encouragement, and how it was our desire to strengthen your arms, as you stretched them out for the good of our mutual interests. May your twentieth birthday, stand not as one of age and serenity, but instead may it be still in the heyday of your youth, and at the threshold of a career long and useful to your members and the great interests you rep- ----nt. Very truly yours, (Signed) HENRY E. REES, Assistant Secretary, Aetna Insurance Company. To the Committee of Arrangements, The New England Insurance Exchange, Boston, Mass. Chicago, Jan. 3, 1903. C. M. Goddard, Secretary, 55 Kilby St., Boston, Mass.: My dear Sir:-I have just received the courteous invi- tation mailed to me from your office 18th ult, same having got side-tracked in the mails until this time. I thank you very much for the invitation so cordially extended and regret exceedingly that I shall not be able to attend the reception and banquet to be held in Boston, 8th inst., in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the organization of the New England Insurance Ex- change. It would afford me great pleasure to be present on that occasion and to meet the gentlemen who have made the New England Exchange the synonym of everything that is progressive and helpful to fire underwriting, not only in New England, but in the country at large, but I shall be obliged to content myself with wishing you and all the good friends assembled a royal good time, which I feel sure you will not fail to enjoy to the utmost. With kind regard, I remain, Very truly yours, (Signed). I. S. BLACKWELDER, President, The “Union." Upon the reading of the letter from the venerable ex- member and honorary member, Mr. Hilliard, the com- pany joined in three hearty cheers for their absent friend. During the middle eighties stock insurance men be- same much concerned as to whether the manufacturing business was to leave their books entirely or be written at rates so diminutive as to preclude any visible margin for the declaration of dividends on the class after ex- penses and losses were provided for. With heads thrown back and gazing at the ceiling, they soliloquised as follows: Sprinkle, sprinkle small device, How we wonder if the price Charged for sprinklered risks today Will a loss or profit pay. At the present time even a small minority look as- kance at the 15 ºf 20-cent rate on a standard risk, but those who are privileged to participate in the results are like Oliver Twist, eager for more. Little drops of water Under proper head Stop the conflagration Which we all so dread. (Applause.) The Factory Improvement Committee of the New England Exchange was the cradle for the development of sprinkler equipment as we know it today, and the hand that rocked the cradle is the hand we grasp tonight in grateful recognition of the foresight and wisdom of its owner, the chairman of the committee proposing the establishment of the Factory Improvement Committee, Mr. U. C. Crosby, president of the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company. (Great applause and prolonged cheering.) * WATER CURE As APPLIED TO NEW ENGLAND.” Mr. President and Gentlemen: When the above was presented as the subject to be considered in the few moments allotted to me, it sugggested the idea of the "Keeley Cure,” whiskey vs. water, and kindred subjects, | matters with which I am not fa- miliar. On further considera- tion I came to the conclusion that this being a gathering of underwriters and the subjects to be discussed connected with their business, that our presi- dent intended that my subject, “Water Cure,” should apply to risks and not individuals. I shall do my best to make such an application. (Laughter.) There must be a disease, a trouble or a disorder of some kind in order that there may be a cure. “In ye olden time" the patient was treated with poultices, emet- ics, physic and "blood-letting," and if the first application did not kill or cure, then more of the same kind and quantity. Today the medical profession generally be- lieves the system should be built up, not pulled down, blood improved, not let out, and they give drops of medi- cine now where formerly they administered ounces and pints. Not very many years prior to the organization of the Exchange, underwriters generally practiced along lines of the old time physician. Very little was done in the gen- eral building up of the system, in other words the con- struction of the risk, and while large doses were occa- sionally applied in the shape of standpipes and pumps, their main dependence was in the nature of that which the assured usually considered as "blood-letting," viz. rates and premiums. If the first application of the latter did not pay, then they called for more blood. Not that the insurance companies forty years ago or today charge more than the cost, hardly that, the trouble was and is with the risks. The remedies frequently recommended and sometimes used were of value, but the result was not satisfactory because the hazard and the general conditions of the risk were not considered intelligently and the treatment as to fire apparatus was of such a nature and so applied as not to accomplish the work intended. As the number of fires and destruction of property increased, there devel- oped a feeling of restlessness on the part of the insuring public; they said to the underwriter in substance, "It is not only the value of property destroyed or the cost of insurance, but the loss of business and reputation; cannot something be done to reduce this burden?" The usual reply given was, “It is not a matter for our considera- tion, our business is not that of a physician, but rather that of an undertaker. Continue to build as you like, protect or not, that is your business, not ours." It is hard for us here tonight to realize that such a condition existed not so very many years ago and that underwriters generally were so apathetic on questions of importance or indifferent to the proper relations which should exist between the underwriter and the insurer. Failing to obtain assistance from companies insuring their property the proprietors in certain lines of manu- facturing, joined in making a careful study of their haz- ards and of protection. Companies organized to do their insurance made a pronounced success and our companies lost a great opportunity and a large volume of what should have been desirable business. During this period and not long before the organization of our Exchange, there appeared one who seemed like the “Voice of one crying in the wilderness,” who said, “The trouble is not in the kind of medicine you use, but the way you admin- ister it. Water should be used, but it should be distrib- uted evenly all through the system and not in one spot.” Our companies when this proposition for a new kind of protection, or the “Water Cure,” was presented, re- ceived it either by direct opposition, by indifference, or at the best, procrastination. Said one, “We want fires, it is not for our interest to protect property. If this ap- plication of water will do what is claimed for it, when it is introduced we shall have to go out of business.” An- other said, “We believe in protection, but we do not be- lieve in the new-fangled notion; the idea is absurd; we do not want a lot of little streams all over the building which will do more damage by water than they will do good. What we want is a great, big stream that will knock things every-which-way and put out the fire.” Still another class said, "I guess there is something in this, we will refer it to a committee.” It was so referred, the committee made a favorable report but there it rested; a condition illustrated by the Roman Governor who two thousand years ago said, “Go thy way for this time; when I have a more convenient season I will call for thee.” This position of inaction on the part of our companies caused us the loss of much business and post- poned for years our proper position in the insurance field. This principle in protection thus brought forward and illustrated in its highest type by the automatic sprinkler, our “Water Cure,” in face of opposition and indifference, was a success from the first, and because founded on correct and scientific principles, viz. the application of water at the right place in the first stages of a fire when a small quantity will do the work desired. This is not a treatise on automatic sprinklers, consequently I only make reference to the principle and will proceed to its application by the Exchange. Feb. 13, 1886, a motion was introduced calling for the appointment of a commit- tee to take into consideration and report on the subject of automatic sprinkler protection. This committee named as the “Factory Protection Committee" made their report June 5, 1886. The Exchange adopted it and in line with its recommendation appointed a committee to take general charge of risks in the Exchange territory proposing or having automatic sprinkler protection. This committee consists of twenty-two members, sub- divided as representing different states, with a general chairman, and is known as the “Factory Improvement Committee.” It has been in constant service since its appointment in 1886. During this time about 2,900 indi- vidual risks have been taken up and considered by this committee and a large proportion are equipped under standard conditions, kept in order by a careful system of inspection and they are nearly all insured by our compa- nies. That we have obtained a comfortable profit in the underwriting of the class there is no doubt, yet that is but a small part of the benefits received directly and indirectly through the work of this committee. The con- sideration of automatic sprinklers has given an impetus to the careful and intelligent study of hazards and risks and the proper and improved forms of building construc- tion and everything that contributes to the reduction of losses by fire. The consideration of 2,900 risks in care of the Factory Improvement Committee means that our rep- resentatives have come personally in contact with 2,900 prominent and successful business men. They have dis- cussed with them questions of mutual interest, viz. forms of construction and protection of their property. This interchange of ideas has demonstrated that we are con- ducting our business along practical lines and we have made the assured, if not friends, at least friendly. This feature is marked and of inestimable value to both the assured and the underwriter. The feeling of antagonism is fast disappearing and in its place good fellowship and acknowledgment of mutual interests. (Applause.) We must not forget that the great laws of nature are constantly in operation, that their working and their T.A. E. S. T A M D A A' D influences are as certain and invincible as the movement of the mighty glacier. That which makes for the general good of the whole will succeed, that which works to its injury will not. The tremendous destruction of property by fire in this country is a grievous burden and it is un- necessary. Our insurance companies are organized for the purpose of collecting and distributing the contribu- tions made by the insuring public for the purposes of re- lief in case of fire. They are peculiarly fitted to consider and demonstrate in a practical way the causes of fire, de- fects in construction and effective means of protection. It is for our interest as well as that of the insuring pub- lic that we have this mutuality of interest constantly in mind and use our influence for the improvement of risks. It is not the question whether we want risks improved or not; they will be improved whether we desire it or not, because the best good of the whole demands it. If we do not assist in this work, others will take our place and we will gradually lose our position and our business. The leading representative of that class of companies first in the field to take advantage of these opportunities and especially to advocate automatic sprinkler protection, the Manufacturers' Mutuals, said in a recent address, “All insurance is mutual; an insurance company is a combina- tion for the distribution of losses and all losses and ex- penses must come out of the premium, whether in a mutual company or in a stock company.” This must be an admitted fact correctly stated. Let me here mention two facts demonstrated by the experience of the last twenty years: First, that the most steady, average profit with the most satisfactory rela- tions existing between the assured and the insurer is on risks best constructed and with the most improved pro- tection, and second, that unprofitable classes are not made profitable by simply an advance in rates. If any one doubts this last proposition let him carefully examine the record of the experience of any distinctly unprofita- ble class and he will be convinced that it was not until intelligent investigation was made into hazards peculiar to the class and the application of improved protection that it became profitable. I believe the underwriter has if possible more interest in the question of intelligent, careful consideration of these questions than the assured. There is probably no kind of business or profession where visionary and unpractical ideas and methods will so quickly bring disaster and ruin, and the reverse is equally true. Theories and practices founded on correct principles will succeed. Our “Water Cure,” the introduc- tion of automatic sprinklers, being work done to influ- ence and encourage the study of hazard and protection, has been a success and profitable to our companies and will continue to be because founded on correct principles underlying and on which the great laws of nature are founded. This statement is not theory or visionary, it is simply good, common sense. (Applause.) Mr. President, I have referred only to the Exchange and the part taken by them in this “Water Cure"; that is my subject. This is Exchange night and it is fitting that our words should be of them and their work. Other associations may have accomplished good or better re- suits, but I believe it to be a fact that the first practical consideration of automatic sprinklers and their applica- tion to risks on the part of the stock fire insurance com- panies was made by the Exchange and that the organiza- tion of united inspection of this and other classes should also be placed to their credit. (Applause.) Comrades, members of the Exchange, these red letter days in the history of our organization are fitting occa- sions for reminiscences. I know that tonight your thoughts as well as mine are back in the early days of the Exchange and a time when a few of us came to- gether having in mind the improvement of our condi- tions in a few particulars. We builded better than we knew and it is fitting that on these anniversary occasions we consider the experiences of the past and the lessons taught. In many particulars this is a unique and remarkable organization; no insurance company is a member, but their representatives as individuals. You do not in your application for membership either before or after or at any time or place in writing or verbally agree to support rates, rules or any legislation, yet in the early history the few instances of disloyalty and bad faith were so summarily and aggressively dealt with that there has been no temptation to repeat. Founded on the honor and good faith of its members, loyally observed, it has stood the test of twenty years. It is builded on the best foundation. The New England field the last twenty years has pro- duced a fair average profit, not excessive or such as to invite competition. There is not a non-board agency or a company antagonistic in their operations in the entire territory. There is existing and permeating all of our relations between agents, insuring public and our compa- nies, a feeling of friendliness and an acknowledgment of mutual relations and interests. This condition is due to your conservatism, to your good, practical common sense, but more than all to your appreciation and applica- tion of the Golden Rule. While you have each a strong personality and are zealous in guarding the interest of the individual companies represented by you, you have unconsciously perhaps, by acting on the principle that that which makes for the general good of all produces the best results for the individual, worked for the best interests of our companies. I will close by referring to my subject and say that the “Water Cure" is a good thing, that its application in the New England field is in evidence and has been a success. (Great applause.) When all the world is young, lad, And all the trees are green, And every goose a swan, lad, And every lass a queen. Then hey for boot and horse, lad, And round the world away. Young blood must have its course, lad, And every dog his day. When all the world is old, lad, And all the trees are brown, And all the sport is stale, lad, And all the wheels run down. Creep home and take your place there The spent and maimed among God grant you find one face there You loved when all was young. Not only one face but many turn to greet with admir- ing glances the ever-youthful old boy with the great heart and generous soul, for he is a Royal good fellow with a National fame among the Insurance Companies of North America. (Applause.) All up for George P. Field. The band played "Comrades," while the company rose and joined in a toast to the speaker. ** Old BOYS AND YOUNG MEN.” I must get out my manuscript. (A voice: “You don't need it.") It is related of a good old coun- try divine that after he had given out his text and preached his sermon, as the congregation were dispersing, one of the dea- cons was heard to remark, “That was a pretty good ser- mon, but if the text had had smallpox, the sermon wouldn't have been in any danger of con- tagion." (Laughter.) Now, I feel very much the same way in regard to my text, and if you boys know how I am go- ing to treat it, you know a devilish sight more than I do. I had that first thought that perhaps the sugges- tion was that there should be something funny. Well, that isn't in my line, and if it was, perhaps this is hard- ly the place for it. And then the introduction is cer- tainly of a rather depressing nature. Then, I had thought, having perused the preliminary statements of the Hartford companies, now as always in the front of the procession, and seen that they paid their little divi- dend of 'steen per cent, with an occasional extra, and added four or five millions to their assets, that it might be considered a profitable year. Up pops my friend from Philadelphia and away that goes; we haven't made any money; we think we have, but we haven't. So, on the whole, I don't know what to do except to touch up- on a subject that has been quite near to me and I think is the cornerstone of the success of the New England Insurance Exchange. And that is that in its inception it started on the basis of securing the co-operation of the local agent and, so far as possible, public sentiment, and working from that up. All the brilliant successes of the Exchange for twenty years, if you will review its history, have certainly been at the time when the Ex- change had the heartiest co-operation of the local agent, and those dismal failures have come when the Exchange has assumed a mandatory tone and has come the "pub- lic-be-damned" act. Then we have mourned over it, and some of us have retired to the seclusion of Hawes street before the recent legislation and sought consola- tion at fifteen cents per I think that that is a thing which now particularly the young men, the men on whom the work of the Exchange is to devolve after we old boys have been carried down the broad aisle and comfortably planted-it is something that they want to consider. I don't believe that any rates that are in advance of public sentiment or beyond what the local agent will sustain can ever be continu- ously maintained. It may need a little persuasion to bring the local agent or public sentiment up to that. My friend Snow recalls to me a little incident of the Lawrence committee which some of you gentlemen may remember in the early days of the Exchange. That was a tough territory, and it finally got to a point where the committee had to have two chairmen, and Snow was one and I was the other. We went up there and we wres- tled with those fellows, and Snow will back me up in the statement that we finally got aboard and we did fairly well with rates-not as well as we would like to do, but it was better than nothing. Mr. Snow-Better than it was, Now, it does seem to me that that ought to be the keynote of the work of the Exchange; you ought not to drift away from that old landmark. Of course, there come times when there are emergencies, as there were last spring, when it seemed wise to issue a general edict that certain things shall be done, namely, that certain rates shall be advanced 25 per cent. Well, I was not here when that was done—I was on the other side, in the South of France. But I was attending to business; I was placing a hazardous risk. A voice–At Monte Carlo” Yes, exactly. (Great laughter.) I was trying to guess on which square to place my little twenty franc piece so it would come back with interest, and the only safe num- ber to bet on was 15 and 25, and the wise ones played a split on that. (Laughter.) I shall have to get out that manuscript. And particularly, I think, that this co-operation of the agents ought to be more cultivated, now that they are organized. Now, I speak from the agent's standpoint I don't think the agent as a rule, the better agent, is the mercenary wretch that he is painted. Some of us have the interests of the company very much at heart, per- haps as much as the executive officers of the company. It is quite certain that the local agent controls the busi- ness. He has got the risk. He controls his local press to a great extent, and that means the public sentiment and so far as the legislature goes, why, he owns them, soul and body. That we know. Now, it would be a very unfortunate thing, it seems to me. if we should ever see the time in the insurance business, as we do in the other trades, when the labor-the agent-is arrayed in organized form against the capital-the company. And from some of the agents' organizations, it stems tº me there is a tendency in that direction, and a little work done now in that way may stop that condition of things. I commend the thought to you, young men, from an old boy. (Applause.) our friend from the City of Trenches can hardly b- camed an X-ray, although his penetrating qualities --- so well known that he has the reputation of piercing th- traditional grindstone further than any one, provided th- necessary aperture of the requisite dimensions is fur- - -- 7" H E S T A M D A R D nished. A few waggish winks of his eagle eye and the abstruse problem becomes a simple equation, the un- known quantity a familiar acquaintance, while at the touch of his practiced hand the Gordian knot fades away like a rope of sand on the beach in the good old summer time. A. H. Wray, manager of the Commercial Union Assurance Company. (Applause.) --RADLATIONs.” Another impromptu address that I scribbled off with falter- ing fingers on the train coming over, "Radiations." (Laughter.) | It does not take very much in- sight, Mr. Toastmaster and gen- tlemen, to conjecture what I am expected to radiate on an occa- sion of this sort; and, indeed, it is fitting that on the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the New England Exchange pleasant remarks should be made and bouquets rendered the organization which was born of the necessities of the hour, with a purpose to better the conditions of the busi- ness in which we are all engaged, to smooth away the difficulties in the path to harmony and to intelligent application of progressive methods. Twenty years is not a very extensive period if you say it quickly, but from some other points of view it is a very long time, and it is distinctly to your honor and credit that in all these years you have never stumbled nor even faltered, while the craft has steadily sailed along, always forward, laden with good will, justice and prosperity, and with earnest purpose to uplift the busi- ness in which you are engaged, justly deserving and re- ceiving the confidence and trust of those in whose in- terest the organization, the Exchange, was instituted. (Applause.) It was my privilege in the latter part of 1883 to be re- ceived into the membership of the Exchange, and it re- quires very little mathematical calculation, therefore, to determine that I am only about one year younger than you are. (Laughter.) When I first entered into com- panionship I knew about all that it was necessary to know in the insurance business. (Laughter.) When I deserted the active list I knew not quite so much as I had known five years previously, but I have to ac- knowledge that I have learned much which has been of service to me in the years since. No human individual or organization is infallible, and you will make errors on occasions, sometimes. But wherever criticisms may come as to your action you are quite sure that nothing of the sort comes from those who once were of you and who have gone in the course of time or luck or fate to take up elsewhere other phases of the work. Twenty years brings to mind an historical character of whom you have all heard, and as I look about me I think there are quite a number who may have had per- sonal acquaintance with the honorable gentleman to whom I refer—Mr. Rip Van Winkle. (Laughter; a voice-"He was a lucky man.") Yes, Mr. Rip Van Win- kle, it was said in song, at least, was a very lucky man. The luckiest circumstance, I think, in reference to that gentleman was the fact—or rather, two facts: First, that he lived in New York state, instead of New Eng- land; the second, that his existence and that of this Ex- change were not contemporaneous. Had he been in New England at the time of the active operation of this Exchange, undoubtedly he could not have slept through so many years as he did—perhaps not so many hours as are numbered by the years of his map-because doubtless a detail from the Factory Improvement Committee would have pºunced upon him. We will all agree he was a "sprinkled risk." That committee would have fixed as "base" a rate as possible on the risk and would have scheduled him emphatically for "exposures" and for de- ficiencies in equipment." (Laughter.) They would have awakened him from any slumber. The air would have been bluer than it has been made by any modern mill operator in recent years. Gentlemen, I am a "radiator,” and I have been told I must give out heat. This is a pretty warm body to inject a radiator into, (laughter), especially as you have the advantage of me in having as a toastmaster that prince of caloric dispensers, the "Furness.” (Great Laughter.) He impressed upon me when he informed me that I was to be present tonight, that I was to radiate, but I am always restive under restraint or orders, and therefore I determined to come over here and absorb instead, and I am absorbing and carrying out my fell purpose to the full. (Laughter.) I generally do when I get a chance. It is really a distinct pleasure to be with you tonight. A little sad note comes to me in missing so many faces of old and good friends, but I am very glad to see the happy faces of their successors and new members, ambi- tious, earnest younger men taking up the work that was laid down by those old original members of the Ex- change. There is no cloud upon the horizon of this as- sociation that cannot be dispelled by diplomatic sun- shine, of which you always seem to have a sufficient sup- ply on hand. May you long live to schedule and re- schedule (laughter). And if you do not reach periec- tion—and it is quite possible that you will not, although you may-I am quite sure that the real end of this organ- ization will be to conserve the interests not only of those whom you represent, but of the great public whose in- terests are closely allied to those companies and who are so dependent upon them in the contracts which you have mutually entered into. (Applause.) About four years ago most of us assisted at the dual launching of our one time associate, now transformed into a thorough going Knickerbocker, on the Pacific sea of matrimony and the stormy Atlantic ocean, overflow- ing the New York City quicksands. At the outset, sur- founded by the breakers and brokers, and in danger of being dashed to pieces on the jagged rocks of official criticism, he has succeeded in administering the oil of common sense so thoroughly that now there is scarcely a ripple on the municipal pond. 'Tis easy enough to be pleasant When life flows by like a song, But the man worth while Is the man with a smile When everything goes dead wrong. “A fair exchange is no robbery.” Henry E. Hess, manager of New York City Fire Insurance Exchange. “A FAIR Exchange Is No Robbery.” When I looked over the schedule of risks to be pre- sented this evening, as I natu- rally did the moment I had an opportunity, I was struck with the fact that there was very lit- itle hazard involved in the first four items (laughter), but when I got down to the two immedi- ate predecessors of myself I thought at once of a story that reached me not long ago by way of Boston, and it told of - two men who went from the country down to the city. The first night, after they had gone to bed, one of them was awakened by a most frightful noise outside, and he rushed to the window and saw a fire engine go by. As he turned away the noise was repeated, and going back to the window he saw another fire engine pass, whereupon he yelled to his companion in bed, “Wake up, wake up, man!". And his friend said, “What's the matter?" "I don't know what the matter is,” he said, “but they're moving hell and two loads have gone by already" (Great laughter.) I can only congratulate myself and the gentlemen present upon the judicious discretion which the gentle- men preceding me have displayed. They have left a little bit for somebody else to say. - Mr. President: It is natural that at an anniversary gathering like this one should grow reminiscent, and I am filled with a desire to tell you how I landed in this town one night twenty years ago—a homeless boy—and wandered through the streets with a loaf of brown bread under one arm and a pot of baked beans under the other, and with nothing but the hope of a warm career ahead to keep me from freezing. How at length, while gazing in upon a scene of light and good cheer at the old Revere House I was taken in and introduced to the first anniversary dinner of the New England Insurance Exchange, where my brown bread and beans were surrendered for a plate of clam chowder, and where I was given a seat so near the foot of the table that I had to hang on with both hands to keep from falling off into the outer darkness. How from that precarious beginning I worked my way upward through the succeeding years, seat by seat (bark- ing a few elbows and smashing a plate here and there on the way) (laughter) until at last I found myself four years ago at the head of the table with every man present cheering himself hoarse because I was going away next day for good. (Renewed laughter.) But I feel, Mr. President, that if I should yield to my longing and tell all this there are men here unreason- able enough to question my facts and to oppose my con- clusions and so for the sake of peace, I refrain. I am called upon to respond to the sentiment “A fair Exchange is no robbery,” and I want to say right here that in my opinion the gentlemen who assigned that as a toast were far more interested in displaying their own wit than in giving me any chance to air mine. I realized that first some three weeks ago, when, being solicited by several enterprising journalists for advance copies of the extemporaneous remarks (laughter) which I should de- liver at this banquet, I undertook to knock together something appropriate to this symposium. After cover- ing half a dozen sheets with scintilating remarks I thought I'd like to hear how they would sound, so I went into a room alone and proceeded to read them aloud to an imaginary audience. Mr. President, before I got half way through I realized that all of my audience had with- drawn, and I was feeling sorry that I couldn't get away myself. (Laughter.) Under the circumstances, I should appeal to you, sir, for clemency, but I bear in mind a certain man who, being sentenced to two years' imprisonment, remonstrat- ed by saying, “Your Honor, I'm not asking for mercy, but I do want justice,” whereupon the judge said, “Mr. Clerk, you may change that sentence from two years to ten.” (Laughter.) While it is conceded that fire insurance lies at the foundation of mercantile credit and that without it mod- ern commerce in all its ramifications would simply be paralyzed, I challenge you to name a business that is so pestered by prejudice, bedeviled by legislation, misrepre- sented in the newspapers, and abused by the people. I believe the reason for this to be that in years past we didn't work on simple enough lines—we assumed the business to be above popular understanding—and when our rates were questioned we too often met the ques- tioner with a bluff or a rebuff. I think the remedy lies in dealing more frankly with the public, giving it reasons along with rates, so that a man shall know just why his rate differs from his neighbor's, and just what he can do to make it as low or lower. I believe that the more we do of that sort of thing the less the public will regard us as taking its money for nothing, and the sooner will come the day when that public will feel that it is getting value received and be ready to admit that in dealing with us it gets a fair exchange and no robbery. I admit that there is little hope that all people will be satisfied, but perhaps we shall be able to pacify the disgruntled minori- ty by arranging that premiums and losses shall be treated as poker chips and bets are at Long Branch. In that summer metropolis, as you, sir, no doubt know, (laugh- ter) no ante is ever less than a dollar and no limit less than twenty dollars, but all settlements are made at ten cents on the dollar. (Laughter.) Once upon a time there was an Exchange that had grown from modest beginnings to be a recognized power in the land. It was composed of field men who pledged themselves, but not their companies, to the observance of good practices, and who relied upon one another's honor and good faith to secure the success of such meas- -- 7" H E S T A M D A R D ures as it seemed desirable to adopt. It was a school from which were graduated many men who were called to higher places; its councils were harmonious, its work was well done, it was fair to look upon; and in that sense it was “a fair Exchange.” Once upon another time, and in another section of the land, and at a much later period, there grew up another Exchange composed of company officers and metropoli- tan agents. It was founded upon the wreckage of several predecessors, and it had to deal only with one great city, but that city contained seven thousand brokers and seven times seven thousand citizens who knew how the fire in- surance business ought to be run for the greatest good to the greatest number. Slowly and cautiously this Exchange set about making rules, framing schedules, advancing rates: and gradually it brought about a better under- standing between the companies and the people, so that the one found a living profit the right to earn which the other was willing to concede. It gave the brokers a chance: it gave the assured a chance: it gave the compa- nies a chance: and it reached out and took a few chances itself. (Laughter.) It was fair to all, and in that sense it was “a fair Exchange.” Also, Mr. President, there was a man who worked for many years in the Frchange that was fair to see, and who went out from it to the Exchange that tried to do the fair thing by all: he gave up one for the other, moved thereto by a high sense of duty and a keen appreciation of dollars. (Latrºhter.) He cut loose from the Ex- change that was fair to see, with the feeling that he was leaving all friends behind him, and that in his new place the hand and head and tongue of every man would be against him. He stands here tonight uncertain whether he is a Bostonian or a New Yorker, but glad that he doesn't have to exclaim with Othello—"Exchange me for a goat.” (great laughter) or say with Jessica, “I am much ashamed of my Exchange!” (Laughter.) And best of all it is his privilege to say to his old associ- ates that in his new field he has found men's motives as honest: their consideration as generous: their sympathy as earnest: their sense of honor as high, and their friend- ship as helpful: as in the old home and old places that he left with so much misgiving; and from the bottom of his heart he thanks you for this opportunity to drink to the continued life and prosperity of the dear old Ex- change that he has never ceased to love; and to that of the new and votinger Exchange, his connection with which has enabled him to say nºt of his own experience that “A fair Exchange is no robbery.” (Great applause.) We are told in the second verse of the first chapter of Genesis that in the beginning the earth was without form and void. In other words a blank policy. Later were created forms of every description. The Exchange has from time to time adopted some of these forms for the purpose of securing uniformity of action among the companies doing business in New Frgland. No one has done better service in this direc- tion than the 1ineal descendant of the first male human form whom we have with tie tonight. He has added an S to his name but that is only to prevent singularity. But alas in vain, for if you will examine his form, wou will find it intact. North has been nºticized from his side as he is always wide awake. A. C. Adams, assistant sec- retary of the Aetna Insurance Company. “FORMs.” Mr. President, Mr. Toastmas- ter and Gentlemen: When I was told I would be asked to answer to the toast “Forms,” I A naturally inquired, “What kind of forms?" and the reply was, "Any kind of forms.” I feet therefore that ſatitude is afforded me in the few words I shall at- tempt to speak to refer to the kind of form or forms that will best stand for the text that I have concluded to speak upon. First I want to say it seems good to get back on the old ground again and meet socially those with whom in the old days I studied insur- ance forms; forms that seemed best adapted to “cover" and to include items, on which, while we received premi- ums, we were expected to furnish indemnity in case of loss or damage. In these same old days it frequently became a question for serious debate whether certain items of property de- stroyed were covered by the policy contract, and not in- frequently policies were found upon the same property so conflicting in their wording that it required less time to adjust the claim with the assured than to apportion the loss to contributing insurance. With a purpose on the part of companies in general to avoid these unpleasant situations, contracts have, from year to year, been drawn more liberal in their scope, until non-concurrent policies are now seldom found. In the adjustment of losses we learned that proper di- visions in a policy form were necessary and that a well defined principle should be laid down as to items that properly should be covered under insurance applying on building, and what should be included under insurance applying on machinery or stock. The forms applying to mill and factory insurance have been still further liberalized by embracing the three di- visions; building, machinery and stock, under one item, the same being designated as a blanket form, which with the oo per cent coinsurance feature, has become popular with the assured and freely accepted by the companies. But there were other kinds of insurance forms which seemed to need a reformation in order to make the con- tract liberal and better understood by the assured. Be- cause the speaker has made somewhat of a study of this particular class of forms, it was natural to infer that the toastmaster had this fact in mind when he made the as- signment. But it does not seem to me it would be in good form to make more than a passing reference to the same. I can only express a natural feeling of pride that they have been sufficiently noted to suggest the toast. The kind of forms I particularly wish to refer to are forms of government and particularly to that form as ap- plied to the working constitution of the New England Exchange. Some poet has sung: “For forms of government let fools contest, What e^er is best administered is best. For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight. His can't be wrong whose life is in the right.” The constitution of the Exchange is very simple and its simplicity has made it the strongest of its kind. It is based upon the one sacred word “Honor,” which was made the keystone of the whole. Any form of constitu- tion or compact without the incorporation of that word of binding force, is week from the outset and will surely fall. Another poet has said: - “This is the place. Stand still my steed, Let me review the scene and summon from the shadowy past, The forms that once have been.” The Exchange began its existence with a purely per- sonal membership, which worked on the principle of honor and good fellowship, and with members of such high character as Joseph C. Hilliard, the dean of the force, whose commanding presence at once inspired con- fidence, whose honest methods exemplified the founda- tion principles and whose conservative views held back any rash undertakings: with N. A. Clarke and L. D. Smith, those veterans who had experience in the nº National Board regime, and who never 16st an opportu- nity to drop a word of caution: with W. T. Steere. Moses R. Emerson. James H. Leighton, U. C. Crosby. E. G. Snow and George A. French, men of wide experience and known to all underwriters of that period: all honest, active and conservative: and last, but nºt least that other man, whose bright mind suggested the keystone word “Honor”—Mr. George P. Field–with men tº three mentioned the Exchange could not fail to be a perma- nent success. Under the training of such men it is not remarkable that the form of government adopted by the Exchange - - --- has made that body a strong organization, typical of the rock on Plymouth shore, and it is justly entitled to the good name accorded it by the companies, whose servant it has been. Its form of government has been conservative. It has been in close touch with the insuring public, which has learned to look to it for advice. It has dealt with many a burning question. Its form of government has had for its object a fixed purpose to eliminate or place safeguards around the many hazards that have come into use as a result of natural business progress. It has been the means through its carefully prepared schedules, of so rebuilding many of the principal manu- facturing plants, as to bring a profit to the companies where the same industries have heretofore proven un- profitable. It can be said with safety that the success attained by the Exchange is due primarily to the fact that its mem. bership has been personal and with men of such high character behind the movement, its superiors in office have rested content to let well enough alone without in- terference and pay tribute to the success achieved by it. There are still other forms of which it cannot be out of place to make mention, namely, Nature's lovely forms, woman, for whom I have unfeigned admiration. Our mothers; how much we owe to them: our early training; their sacrifices in our behalf: our best friend. I pity the man who has not known a mother's love. Our sisters. My sister being older, guided me through many a dangerous adventure and saved me from the pen- alties of many of my youthful follies. Our sweethearts. We recall with what youthful satis- faction we went to school with them, hand in hand, in the good old country days. The stolen cherries: the diffi- culty we experienced in determining which we liked the better. Our wives. (Laughter.) Don't laugh. It is true that I have none now, but in the future, (cries of “Oh!”) when I have become of age, and I join hands with her at the altar and proudly call her my own-though I do not even know her name-I shall marry her because I love her. (Laughter and applause.) Mr. Toastmaster, I will end my answer to the toast "Forms" by suggesting that it will be in right "good form” to drink to the ladies. The President-Gentlemen, here's to the ladies; may they ever continue to shape our career. The legend of long ago recites the touching story of the willingness of a man to stand as hostage for his friend, relying on the promise to return and suffer the penalty of death for an alleged crime against the state. A distinct tendency toward brotherly love has ever been a marked characteristic of the members of the Exchange, except during the arguments arising from the apportion- ment of blanket and specific policies combined with the distracting influence of the reduced rate clause. Disputes though short are far too long When both alike are in the wrong. Perhaps we may hope to hear a solution of this dit- ficulty from A. W. Damon, president of the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company. --Pythias.” Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Exchange: When I heard of the subject assigned to me, of "Pythias, or Brotherly Love," it naturally suggested a sermon. li knew you would not listen to a sermon; I knew I had no li- ſº to preach. Nevertheless, when I sat down to write a lit- tle something-for I have writ- ten enough to last about three minutes-I found it took on a little serious nature in spite of - myself, and I promise the seri- ous or semi-serious part will not last over three min- utes, and I will endeavor to speak about three minutes - T// E S T A M D A A' D more and be quite the reverse of serious. But I do want to express to you what great value it has been to me to feel that I have had to a very considerable extent the brotherly love of the members of this Exchange. It has been shown in many ways and has been a help to me and stimulated me to my best efforts in business; and I want to thank you for it and assure you of my full appreciation as well as of its value to me. (Producing manuscript.) Only three sheets—little bits of ones– three and a half; a minute to a sheet. My subject naturally brings to our minds the central point in our Christian religion, the command to love God, closely seconded by the command to love thy neigh- bor as thyself. The same command was handed down by Moses a thousand years before the Christian era. And there has never been a time since history began when an exhibition of brotherly love did not command human admiration. No matter how selfish and brutal man may have been, in the early or later days, he has always respected this quality in others. Damons' trust in the honor and integrity of Pythias. to the extent of pledging his life on the fulfillment of a promise, touched the heart of one of the most cruel ty- rants that ever lived. Dionysius, who had ordered the execution of Pythias through bitter hatred, when he witnessed this manifestation of brotherly love, not only pardoned Pythias, but begged the privilege of participat- ing in the friendship of two such friends. And this oc- curred in old Syracuse four hundred years before Christ was born. And so my remarks will be principally a plea for closer friendship, a warmer and more outspoken regard for each other. It is well occasionally to ask ourselves whether our customary manner of greeting friends is after all the best. We frequently ridicule people of other lands when they greet each other with many demonstra- tions of affection, but that is no proof that our stiff, cold, formal manner is the best. Why should we so largely confine our good fellowship to occasions like this. When we hear of the death of a friend, and especially one who is taken away suddenly, our thoughts immediately revert to our last interview with him. If we recall that our impulse at the time was one of cordiality while our acts were constrained and controlled by a mistaken notion of the necessity of dignity in our intercourse, how we re- gret the repression of our natural impulses and the loss of our last opportunity to show our regard and affection for our friend. I would not advocate the cultivation of a habit of greeting everybody with profuse professions of loving regard. Men are quick to recognize the difference between studied good fellowship and genuine interest and responsiveness. We should, however, struggle against the acquired habit of a too formal and cheerless greet- ing, doubtless an inheritance with many of us from our austere Puritan ancestors. who of us that does not feel better and happier after a visit, however brief, from our breezy, big-voiced and bigger-hearted friend whom we facetiously but lovingly caiſ whispering Sam?" ("Good, good!" Applause.) This plea for a freer expression of friendship carries with it the necessity of so conducting ourselves as to warrant the bestowal upon us of similar demonstrations of regard. All true affection is founded upon respect. If we can command the respect of others, it is an easy step to the winning of their esteem. we all know men whose record in early business life has been such as not to command our respect, but who in later years, after having secured a competency by devious methods and finding that money alone does nºt satisfy the cravings of the heart, try to make up for their pre- vious shortcomings by engaging in some of the many forms of philanthropy. I recall an incident where a man of this stamp was bluntly told in a numerous presence that for him to claim an equality with those who had al- ways been decent was merely an exhibition of impudence on his part - Speaking of Damon and Pythias brings to mind the story attributed to one of our merchant princes who happened to step into a circle of friends who were talk: ing about those two famous Syracusans. "Damon and Pythias?" he said "I have a good many customers in Syracuse, but I don't remember any such firm as that." (Laughter.) I will finish with a little story, one of Galacar's best. You all know that he is a mighty good story teller, but if you have any doubt about it, just drop into the office any afternoon about half-past four, the hour when we close. Promptly at half-past four you will see him reach for one of the drawers for one of his favorite cigars– made over in Agawam or down in Poquonock. Then he will cease to carry himself like an official, but loll around in his chair, raise his legs, put his feet on the desk, and he will tell a good story. That is, in the win- ter. In the summer time he goes through the same ci- gar act, but reaches down, pulls up the belt that an- swers for suspenders during the warm weather, takes a parlor match, heads for the door, and in two minutes he is on a street car taking an airing. And this is a street car story he tells which illustrates brotherly love and sisterly affection too. One day, he says, Pat Fin- nigan took a notion to have a half day off. Pat Finni- gan, you know, was the brother of that railroad yard man, the author of that celebrated accident report: “Off agin, on agin, gone agin. Finnigan.” So Pat had a good dinner and a nipper, lighted his pipe and took a car, getting on the forward seat of the three rear seats reserved for smokers, and sat there puffing his pipe with great satisfaction. The car had not gone more than two blocks when it was stopped by a maiden lady with long curls, and she had just come out of a hall where the W. C. T. U. convention had been held, and she had been chairman, or chairwoman, whichever you call it, of the committee on resolutions against the use of the weed, and she happened to take a seat in the car just in front of Pat. The puffs of smoke from his pipe struck her in the back of the neck and came around under her nose. The pipe was pretty strong and it was an awful trial to her Christian training and patience. But when she realized that it was not only strong tobacco but the smell of onions and some whiskey in it, it was a little too much for her. So she turned around and looked sharp at Pat and said severely, “Sir, if you were my husband I’d give you a dose of poison.” Pat looked at her and said, “Madam, if I was your husband I'd take it.” (Laughter and applause.) Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear. Full many a flower is born to blush unseen And waste its sweetness on the desert air. The emerald and the shamrock, sparkling with flash- lights of the one and garlanded with wreaths of the other, the jewels of wit and the insignia of honor, the Irishman has always managed to emerge from obscurity. In love and peace, in war and state craft, he appears in the front rank. From the modest guardian of the public morals to the head of the city government, omnipotent by and with the consent of the aldermen and common council, also largely Celtic by birth or origin, we yield the civic salary and bow to the conquerer. “There is nothing too good for the Irish.” Geo. E. Kendall, manager of the National Assurance Company. * NOTHING Too Good For THE IRISH.” (The orchestra greeted Mr. Kendall with “The Wear- ing of the Green.") - Mr. President and Fellow- Strugglers with a Lying and Deceitful World: I am rather at a loss to know what to say in response to a fixed toast. I like to talk about almost any- thing that comes into my head from time to time. I think Dr. Watts caught the idea when he said: *Prone to wander, Lord, we know it." But in order that I might not wander from the subject I thought I would have somebºdy sketch it out for me, and through their kindness I have a few lines on paper which I will try to read to you. brogue!" Laughter.) lish!") In the sentiment to which you ask me to respond there seems to be conveyed a double meaning, and I am led to wonder which side of it you desire me to repre- sent. In the phrase “Nothing is too good for the Irish” it might be assumed (as possibly some have in- ferred) that if nothing was too good for the Irish, some- thing or anything would be so far beyond them as to be unattainable. It certainly would be unwise for me to consider such a proposition for a moment and therefore I am intending to say a few words to you to bias your opinion in favor of a people who have assumed that the best is worth striving for. In coming to the hospitable shores of America it has been the thought of the Irishman that there was truth in the old Yankee saying, “A thing is worth what it will fetch” and they have endeavored to establish a value upon their labor, their thought and their inventions to prove that their ambition was without limit. Their representative men have agreed with the senti- ment you have assigned me and having that in mind have endeavored to make themselves the equals of the best. Among professional men they have fair rank, and while perhaps it is unnecessary to specify instances, your atten- tion is called to the legal fraternity, where there is ample evidence of their progress in the names of prominent Irishmen who have distinguished themselves in this di- rection. In politics they have achieved signal success, for even in Puritan Boston the Mayor's chair has been filled with credit and distinction for more than one term by an Irishman. In church—in schools—in hospitals and other charities their works need no words of praise from me for there they have conspicuously shown that “Nothing was too good for the Irish.” Even in the matter of their insurance, they have placed their business with no niggardly hand, always desiring reasonable amounts and in the best of companies. This fact has not been lost sight of by some of the larger offices, as some of you doubtless well know. In the financial management of their church affairs from the original purchase of the land to the completion and equipment of their buildings, together with the pro- vision for their maintenance, they have shown executive ability of a rare order that has been the envy of other religious denominations and is worthy of emulation. All of which seems to prove that “Nothing is too good for the Irish.” Out in Ohio, where the interests of “The leading Fire Insurance Comapny of America” are looked after by a gentleman named Gallagher, there is a friend of his named Casey, who from his friendship with Gallagher has become much interested in the insurance business and often discusses this matter with his business associ- ates. Recently meeting an acquaintance from Boston, whom we will call Cassidy, the subject came in for dis- cussion somewhat as follows: “Well, Casey, I understand that you are associating wid insurance men and I want to ask you a question about this new way they have for fixin' the price of insurance.” “What do you mean by that?” says Casey. “I mean,” says Cassidy, “what they call schedule rat- ing.” “Oh,” says Casey, “you mean the scheme got up by F. C. Moore of New York.” “I believe that is it,” says Cassidy. C. stand for?” “That,” says Casey, “stands for Forever Continue,” says he, “because when Moore (who of course is Irish and believes that nothing is too good for the Irish) first began upon his plan he was afraid that if he did not forever continue the opposition would be so great he would have to give it up.” “Did he give it up?” says Cassidy. "He did not,” says Casey, “and be the powers, “he’s at it yet.” “Then I suppose it works,” says Cassidy. “Well, anyway,” says Casey, “did ye note the price of insuring the saloon this year against what ye paid last year?” (A voice: “Drop your (Another voice: “Speak Eng- “But what does F. -- T H E JS. T.A. N. D. A. R. D. “I did that same,” says Cassidy, “but they told me it was the general advance that everybody got.” “Don’t ye believe it, Cassidy,” says Casey, “many's the man that didn't get any raise in his price and that's where Moore's plan is coming in. Moore says that in them towns where the people tax themselves to buy steam fire engines and water works and put in electric fire alarms, these people should not pay so much for in- surance and for every dollar they don't spend for making good buildings and for buying things to put out fire with they must pay for insuring. Then he goes on to say that if they put shutters on their buildings so that fire cannot come into the windows when the next building burns down, there will be so much less for insurance. He has many other things you can do to reduce the cost so that if a building is built according to his ideas the price of two schooners of beer will insure it for $1,000." (Great laughter.) “Aha,” says Cassidy, “he was a good man. people get that kind of a building,” says he. “Sure, Mike, they did,” says Casey, “and there's going to be more of them every year.” “Be all the insurance companies charging to everybody the prices like I have to pay?” says Cassidy. “No,” says Casey, “that's where the schedule comes in, you see, for if I have shutters and ye have none I get my insurance cheaper.” “But,” says Cassidy, “suppose I would not be let have shutters owing to my license, would I have to pay more for respecting the law?" (Laughter.) “Ye would,” says Casey, “for what ye save in one way ye must spend in another, but ye see,” continued Casey, “Moore is the friend of the workingman, because if all had shutters it would be easier getting a drink on Sun- days and holidays.” (Laughter.) “Right, ye are," says Cassidy, the schedule?” - “Well,” says Casey, “they tried it on all kinds of busi- ness, but the men they hired to work it was either too lazy or there was too much mathematics in it, which made it too complicated like to be popular and so they set about getting something easy that would bring the same figures, but they found all the big buildings was owned by the rich who could put up a good kick, so they decided not to raise the price on them but to soak the poor devils who had the corner grocery, the blacksmith, and the carpenter." (Laughter.) “Bad luck to them,” says Cassidy, “did no one else get a raise?” - “Yes,” says Casey, “they took in a few others like the big stores, providing of course a way for them to get off the raise by putting in sprinklers, which is supposed to put out a fire without calling any engines.” “Oh, yes, I see,” says Cassidy, “but where do we come in?” says he. “Well,” says Casey, “it will be like this–Pretty soon there will be so many people mad over the raise they will talk about going to the Legislature to stop the com- bination from charging so much and by that time the companies will have money enough to be willing to make the schedule fit your pocketbook and then ye are –” (Laughter.) - Just then an insurance man came in and the discussion ended. It has been said “The poor ye have with you always" and so it will be with the Irish—they are here to stay and when Heaven opens to you they will be there in great numbers if they follow the teachings of their church and continue to “be fruitful and multiply,” so that even on the last day you will have assurances that “Nothing is too good for the Irish.” (Great applause.) Did many “but what became of Mr. E. G. Richards, United States manager of the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company, being obliged to take his departure in order to catch the mid- night train for New York, the party was deprived of the pleasure of listening to his response to the toast. “Classi- fications.” At the special and urgent request of the of ficers of the Frchange, Mr. Richards was kind enough to furnish the Standard with a copy of his address, which was as follows: --CLASSIFICATIONS.” In a quiet secluded corner of the office may be found a depart- ment where record is made of the financial results of the suc- cesses and failures in the under- writing operations of the com- pany. | city devoted to the interests of the company, the results of his devotion are here recorded. Has a special agent by su- perior ability and character, ele- wated the business in his field to a high plane of advantage and respect, or has he been unfortunate in the selection of agents or risks, or preju- diced by sharp adjustments or otherwise his company's interests, the effect of his service whate'er it may have been, though not always definable, is a part of the rec- ord of this department at its money value. The subtle influence of personal ability and character in the official staff will animate all transactions, make their impress upon field, agency and office force and en- ergize the financial results of underwriting management; and when, as premiums, losses and expenses they reach this department, they are analyzed, tabulated and pre- sented to us as the Experience or Classification Tables of the company. Such statistics are valuable chiefly as a gen- eral guide in shaping the policy to be pursued in the se- lection of risks, by presenting to the underwriter the profit or loss derived from the various classes of busi- ness written. The merchant who conducted his business without proper book-keeping records and correct profit and loss accounts of his transactions, would merit little or no credit and invite failure. This may well be said of the underwriter. He also should analyze his transactions and know the classes of risks to which he can look with confidence for profit, or if yielding a loss, will need to be handled with caution or declined altogether. The classification of fire underwriting experience for useful or scientific purposes, is a subject to which but little concerted attention has been given by the com- panies. The general interest in the subject which has developed of late years outside of company offices, has sprung from the belief that by means of such tables, the true cost of insuring particular risks could be deter- mined. With such opinion prevailing among underwriters that only from combined classification tables can a reliable basis for rate making be obtained (a delusive hope, we fear) we may well wonder the subject has received so tit- tle attention from the companies collectively, and that through their concerted efforts in some form, such a system has not been evolved as would have secured gen- eral adoption, and have demonstrated to what extent ex- perience tables were of value to the rate maker. A decade ago, more than one successful company could have been found having no classification system whatever, but at the present time, classification in some form is probably in effect in every office transacting a general business. But two systems have been compiled and presented by American Underwriters for general use. In 1874 the first recorded attempt in this direction was made by Jeremiah Griswold, whose work at the time attracted much attention and his system was put into practical op- eration by several companies, but its use as originally compiled was gradually if not wholly abandoned in later years. In more recent years, one of our most gifted underwriters published an ingenious and remarkably comprehensive plan, but so far as known it has not been practically tested. Certain elemental features are essential in a classifica- tion system to make the results a reliable index of profit or loss, as well as a sound basis for the cultivation of judgment in rate making: First—The business should be transacted upon a basis of a uniform ratio of insurance to value. Is an agent in a far away. A universal and uniform co-insurance, average or loss proportion clause (by whichever term it may be desig- nated), must be a condition of every policy issued, be- fore a classified experience of one or many companies will furnish a reliable record of the average cost of in- suring the various classes of property. The business of fire underwriting in this country is today far removed from such an ideal but logically cor- rect condition, but until that ideal condition obtains in the business, the usefulness of classification tables will be greatly impaired. One notable exception, however, should here be men- tioned, for a grand step has already been taken towards that millennial day so much desired. In the great metropolis of New York City, whose an- nual insurance premiums now amount to over fittee millions ($15,000,ooo), underwriters wisely decided near- ly four years ago to require the use of the 80 per cent. loss-proportion clause in every policy issued, covering on property in said city. To this rule household turn- ture in dwellings and apartment houses was the only im- portant exception. All policies issued since that time, with the exceptions named, have limited the liability for loss thereunder to not exceeding such proportion as the insurance involved bore to 80 per cent of the value of the property insured. The business in New York City is now conducted in that manner which will give the necessary material for correct classification tables from which a reliable loss rate upon each class of property can be obtained. Losses are now paid upon a uniform basis of liability. No man obtains greater relative protection than another without paying for it, and to secure such protection upon 80 per cent of the value of his property, he must pay the required premium therefor. It follows, therefore, that to- day the insurance tax is more equitably distributed be- tween insurers in that city than in any other portion of the country, and in due course of time this condition—in the absence of severe conflagration losses—will justify a lower basis of rating. Second-Intelligence and absolute correctness in classifying the individual risks by the daily report ex- aminers, and in the compilation of the figures, are like- wise essential requirements. Nothing short of this should be countenanced in any office that maintains a classification department. Not a few underwriters look upon their classification system as a pleasing but not valuable toy, to be taken up or set aside as convenience may require, but if it be worth anything, it should be complete in all valuable de- tail and handled with the same degree of accuracy as the most important books of the company. Third-Whatever sub-divisions are made in the sy- tem, contents of buildings should be separately classified. I believe underwriters have yet much to learn concern- ing the degree of variance in the loss rate on buildings, as compared with their contents, a variance much great- er than has yet been recognized by our rates, and this is particularly true in the case of dwellings and their con- tents. A distinction should also be made between risks of the same class which are with or without due facilities for protection from fire loss, but whether such distinction should end with a separation of protected from unpro- tected risks, or be carried still farther according to the classification of towns and cities, is an open question- though I incline to the latter plan notwithstanding the increased details which would be caused thereby, Fourth-Territorial divisions, are also essential, for fire cost is affected by many conditions, among which the climatic, racial, moral and legislative conditions are nºt the least. Fifth-Thus far classification has been determined by occupancy, material of construction and protection In the system some day to be invented the law ºf --- lection will be broadened and provision win be made, I believe, for other and quite as important discriminations. Any system however scientific will need to be ºr hauled, amended and re-adjusted at least once in ten years that it be adapted to the ever-changing hazards and methods of modern architectural, manufacturing and business operations. The experience of the past five or ten year- upºn T H E S T A M D A R D. given classes may fairly indicate but will never correctly measure the results to be expected upon the same classes, during a succeeding similar period. If this be true, we may safely conclude that such ex- perience can never furnish a correct basis for the making of specific rates. - -- As a guide in rate-making such statistics are quite useless except as they indicate for the period they cover, whether the rates then obtained produced a profit or loss, for classification accounts inform the under- writer of aggregate results and average cost rates ob- tained on each class written, but furnish no hint even as to the cost rate of an under-average or standard risk. Wise judgment, born of a wide experience must be the chief dependence of the expert for determining what con- stitutes an adequate rate for an individual risk. This view of the subject has been characterized as em- pirical—yet it challenges disproval. Schedule-rating is even farther removed, if possible, from demonstrable proof of accuracy, because its base rates and deficiency charges are purely hypothetical- and its operations are approved for practical use only when its final rates commend themselves to the judgment of the expert. The schedule system is preferable, however, because it logically discriminates between a good risk and a poor one and conduces to the improvement of the latter, while it encourages the most approved type of new construc- tion, protection and management. Much has been said and written about so adjusting rates that each class will yield of itself a fair profit only. Do such dreamers realize that only when the losses upon each class can be limited to a fixed percentage, no more and no less, can their dreams of Utopia be realized? The man who successfully yokes together these unruly steeds—premiums and losses—making them pull together yet keeping a proper distance apart will achieve a miracle. Some years ago, one of the leaders in our business, a gentleman whose ability is regarded of the highest or- der, delivered an address before a convention in a West- ern city and advocated the combining of the classified ex- periences of many companies, claiming that such com- bined figures would clearly indicate the cost of the risks so classified and furnish a basis for the fixing of rates so correctly, that a novice could therefrom determine a rate upon a specified risk with a facility equal to that of the ablest underwriter in the land. These views were received with marked approval by the convention and when published, seemed to meet an almost unanimous endorsement at large. Since that time, the idea of combined classification has been an at- tractive theme of speaker and writer upon fire underwrit- ing topics, upon nearly every public occasion, with little doubt expressed that the plan when carried out would be the means of reducing to a science the making of rates. So positive have been the advocates of combined classi- fication that on one occasion before a board of trade in a large city, a well-known underwriter earnestly recom- mended that steps be taken for the passage of laws which should compel the insurance companies to report to the state their classified experience upon forms to be prepared by the state authorities, so that the wayfaring man though a fool need not wander from the path of cor- rect rate making. This agitation bore its natural fruit, for soon after a bill was introduced into the Legislature of one of the largest states, upon the initiative and with the endorse- ment of its insurance superintendent who had given the subject a large amount of study. Fortunately the bill was prepared in entire good faith and was free from po- litical animus. By some underwriters, such legislation was regarded as dangerous in the extreme and with the belief that its authors were mistaken in their premises, a dissenting un- derwriter visited the state capitol and was accorded a full opportunity to present to the insurance superintendent the reasons for his opposition to the bill. The outcome of that conference can best be indicated by the following letter received from the superintendent some time later: “I have not withdrawn the classification bill from the legislative committee and of course would have no power to do so, if so disposed. No further consideration, how- ever, has been given to the proposed measure by the legislative committee since the discussion we had upon your recent visit to the department. I do not believe the bill will be passed. The advanced and to me then un- precedented position, which you took on the subject, namely; that statistics based upon uniform classifications would be valueless in attempting to fix rates upon spe- cific risks, threw a new light upon the subject. Of all that I had ever heard or read, no one claimed that such statistics would in the end be useless in fixing a rate upon specific property. Your suggestions lead me to further and extended reflection upon and study of the question. I am not prepared to say that I do not now agree with you entirely. At any rate, I am sure that I would not now want to take the responsibility of such a law.” This letter closed the discussion and nothing further was ever heard from the bill. Thus the companies escaped the infliction of a law which once in force would have proven little short of a calamity, a disappointment to its advocates and a failure for the purpose intended. That combined and uniform experience tables would not possess some value and be extremely interesting as well, I am by no means disposed to deny, provided they are compiled by voluntary action of the companies upon agreed methods. Undoubtedly the day will come when a system of classification will be devised so well adapted to present needs and conditions, that it will command the approval and secure adoption by the fire insurance com- panies of the country and thus uniform classification be realized, and combined classification be made possible if desired. The President–Gentlemen, I am very sorry to say that Mr. Richards had to leave to return to New York. If there is anybody who would like to take his place and tell us about “Classifications,” we would be glad to hear from him. If not, I presume Mr. Turner is here to make a motion to adjourn. Mr. Turner—Well, Mr. President, lest we adjourn in disorder, which is always bad form, I will make a motion to adjourn, but preface it with a remark that when the New England Insurance Exchange re- moved from the old Mason Building its total available assets, all the property that it owned, was sold, and it brought something like $31 or $32. There was pre- served out of the remains, out of what property was there, the original chair in which the first president sat, and all the presidents sat up to that time. That chair is preserved today and will be preserved for many years. Our toastmaster, our president, sits on this occasion in that chair. If any one would like the honor of sitting in the original chair of the original president of the Insur- ance Exchange he can occupy the seat that Mr. Furness will leave when the meeting adjourns. With these few remarks preceding, I will make the motion, Mr. Presi- dent, that we adjourn. The motion was seconded. The President–We stand adjourned till ten years hence. (Music—“America.”) An amusing feature was the playing of the familiarmel- ody, “Mr. Dooley," in response to a spontaneous demand from the floor, and Thomas H. Dooley, the popular rep- resentative of the British America and Western Assur- ance, was obliged to hold a brief informal reception de- spite his vigorous protestations. “Good Old Summer Time" and other popular numbers were also feelingly rendered by those of the party possessing cultivated voice- “THREE SPECIALS ’’ OF LONG. AGO. OETS were not unknown in the early days of the Exchange, as will be seen from the following verses, which appeared in THE STANDARD of June 30, 1883, written by one “Boulanger," whose identity may possibly be known or guessed by some of the specials of today: Three specials went riding out into the East, Out into the East to Exeter Town; No thought of employers, to say the least, Could serve their exuberant spirits to drown. For specials must work, or there'll be no receipts, And the Lord only knows how each company meets Its expenses and losses at present. Two agents sat up in their second-flight bower, And prayer for some “specials" in Exeter Town; And they looked at the wall, and they looked very sour When these “specials" appeared, their dejection to crown. But specials must work, though agents may scowl, And sputter, and fume, and disgustedly growl, “There's no money for agents at present.” Three specials, disconsolate, gazed at the dam, That dammed the small river in Exeter Town, While an agent endeavored their lordships to cram With cheap information that wouldn't go down. For agents will prate and specials must smile And appear to be taking it in all the while– At least that's the fashion at present. Three specials discovered 'twas no sort of use To appoint any agent for Exeter Town; But before they had shaken its dust from their shoes They shook up some billiards. Kind reader, don't frown, For specials must work, we well know they must, Lest their companies wither, or dry up and bust, Or at least “take no risks for the present.” T H E S T A M D A R D The NEW ENGLAND FIELD–PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE. History of the New England Insurance Exchange C. M. GooDARD, Secretary, |HE early history of the Exchange has been chronicled so many times that in a recapit- | ulation of the existing conditions, which of *I themselves were so antagonistic to good, El sound underwriting and therefore disas- trous to both the insurer and the assured, the com- panies and the public, we can only repeat what has been said and printed several times in the past, and yet if by repeating and emphasizing these old conditions and com- paring them with the present state of affairs, the public and our legislators can learn "line upon line, and pre- cept upon precept" that every step. which benefits the insurance companies, must of necessity benefit the great mass of the insuring public, then it were well that we continue to keep fresh in our minds by even more fre- quent repetition, the underlying object of all organiza- tions of the character of the Exchange. A loss ratio in the New England States for the years 1880, 81 and '82, running from 47.75 per cent in Rhode Island to 70.68 per cent in Massachusetts, and averaging 65.61 per cent, over the whole field, with an expense ratio averaging at least 35 per cent, shows a net loss to the companies as a whole who did business during these three years in New England. - - Further than this, the loss ratio had been steadily in- creasing during these three years, while the average rate of premium had remained at a standstill and the expense ratio had certainly not decreased. - - Owing to the lack of statistics of combined experience there was a rush for premium receipts, with little knowl- edge and less regard as to whether the increase of premi- ums thus obtained was adequate compensation for the increase of liability assumed or not. It is not strange that when the companies were seemingly indifferent to this question, that local agents allowed it to be over- shadowed by the fact that their commissions depended only on the volume of premium receipts, and were in no way affected by the results to the companies of the busi- ness which they secured for them. All were apparently intent on furnishing another example of human frailty as illustrated in the old fable of “Killing the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg.” - At this time, however, because a certain class of risks (Paper Mills) quite numerous in the New England field, and because certain localities in which were concentrated other classes of hazards, namely the lumber industry in Burlington, jewelry factories in Attleboro and Provi- dence, and boot and shoe factories in Lynn, had con- tributed very heavily to swell the loss ratio, the repre- sentatives of the companies writing paper mills were called together to see if some steps could not be taken to obtain adequate rates for such risks. -- - Although it is not a matter of record, yet it is more than probable that each of those who then met for the first time to work together, were pleasantly surprised to find their comrades in the business intelligent, common- sense men just like themselves, who really much pre- ferred, just as they did, to conduct their affairs on a business-like basis and to treat all fairly and uprightly, in other words to “live and let live.” At any rate they were sufficiently pleased with the results to continue their work by taking up the various localities mentioned, in which certain classes of hazards had congregated and to consider steps which would lead to their betterment. One of the results which almost inevitably follows the gathering together of men, either for social or business purposes, is the establishment of a fraternal feeling even when they are competitors in business. However we may view the doctrine of the total depravity of the hu- man race, it generally turns out that “human” is very closely allied with “humane,” and that the average man would much prefer to compete by fair rather than by foul means. It was thus that these meetings held for particular purposes very naturally resulted in meetings for general purposes of improvement in their business, they must have developed the fact that when each gave to all the others the benefit of his experience, then of necessity each would receive many times what he gave, for the only objects of organization of the Exchange mentioned in the Constitution are "the systematic interchange of in- formation and co-operation among field men." The organization of this band of field men was made permanent on the 6th of January, 1883, less than two months after the first meeting. Plan of organization and work. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the organiza- tion of the Exchange was the foresight displayed by those who guided the work as shown in the framing of the Constitution: Its objects, “interchange of information and co-oper- ation"; its foundation, no pledge, but “the honor and good faith of its members"; its membership, “entirely personal"; its modesty, it will not “attempt to interfere in any way with the prerogatives of the Executive of: ficers of the Companies.” For twenty years these have been the land-mark of its Constitution absolutely unchanged. Equally wise were these men in the plan under which they set about the details of their work. Realizing at the outset that like the country in which they lived, the government of the Exchange must be largely democratic, they adopted the principle that the government must be by consent of the governed and early in the life of the Exchange it was decided that committees should be sent to different localities “only on the written invitation of the officers or a majority of the members of a local Board"; that the makeup of these committees should be such that “each agency should have at least one representative on the committee"; and that their "duties should be advisory only," but recognizing the fact that in union there is strength, it was also voted that these "committees before meeting the local agents, should first agree among themselves on a plan of action.” Starting as an advisory body only, the Exchange has acquired its present authority gradually and legitimately by consent and request of the agents and by request and direction of the companies whom the agents represent. The authority of the Exchange today is far more stable than it ever could have been had they at the outset, in the name of the companies they represented, assumed a power which it was their undoubted right to assume, for the companies are the principals of both the special and Local agent. Results. Accomplished in the New England Field. Given an organization founded on the honor and good faith of its members, planned to govern by the consent of the governed, and we should be sorely disappointed if the results were not beneficial. A brief resume of the principal results are here with given, it being left to the reader to decide whether the Exchange has been true to its principles and has in its life justified to any extent its birth, which is now being celebrated. First-The specific rating of practically all risks in the territory of the Exchange except private dwellings. With the assistance at the present time of local rating committees, local and Exchange inspectors, the perfected machinery and office force of the Exchange, and a full set of tariffs, the re-rating of any particular territory for a new tariff can give but a faint conception of the un- dertaking which the first committees of the Exchange found confronting them with practically no tariffs and little, if any, organization except of the most recent ori- gin. The amount of work which the members of these committees did in addition to the regular duties con- nected with their company affairs surely merited the suc- cess they achieved. No other organization which we know of, covering a similar field, has carried the principle of specific ratings to such perfection as has the Exchange. Minimum rates can never be just except to the few risks of the class that are exactly average, while specific rates for each risk are not open to this objection. Second: The unifying to a very great extent of rules, permits, and practices, throughout the field. This has been of necessity a work of slow growth and has not yet arrived at full perfection, though very near- ly so, in that all tariffs are printed through the office of the Exchange and the rules and forms are nearly iden- tical in every case. This work is almost as important as the matter of rating, as a risk which is good at the existing rate under proper conditions of contract may be made entirely otherwise by endorsement of this or that permit for the introduction of some new hazard, or of giving an unreasonable discount for wholesale insur- ance in the way of a term policy. These two results, tariff rates and tariff rules and forms, comprehend really the whole work of the Exchange and of themselves would fully justify its for- mation, but while these results comprehend the whole work, they of themselves in no way indicate all the in- direct results that have been brought about in the de- tail of the methods by which they have been accom- plished. New England probably contains a more varied assort- ment of special hazards than any other similar field, and many of the classes of hazards are composed of a large number of individual risks. The Exchange quickly real- ized that more equitable relative rates cºuld be secured on the risks in any given class by a single committee than if they were rated by the various local committees in whose territory they were located, and special come mittees were appointed, such as the Boot & shoe fac- tory, Cotton & Woolen Mill, Paper Mill, Electric Light, Straw Factory, Summer Hotels, Tannery & Currying Shops, Rubber Works, and the Fertilizer & chemical Works committees, which had charge of these risks wherever located. The natural result of the centralizing of this work was the formulation of schedules by the different com. mittees having charge of classes where the number of risks was large. The early schedules were short, and although they would now be considered crude, they ac- complished the results for which they were intended; the principle of schedule rating has always been warmly endorsed by the Exchange, it being admitted that the limitations of its application are those of practice and not theory. The evolution of schedule rating is one of the most interesting studies in the history of the Exchange, pass- ing as it does through various stages up to its present condition of a uniform outline arrangement of ºn ºpe- cial hazard schedules which are applied by, and under the jurisdiction of one large and representative commit. tee, holding meetings every other week which usually occupy over two hours, and with an inspector especially assigned to assist the committee in its work, although by far the larger part is done by the members them- selves. Schedule rating always produces the following results: A rather sharp advance in rate, then improvements eas- ily made at little expense and a reduction in rate; this encourages the assured to further improve his property by correcting defects of a more serious nature, some- times at considerable expense, which gives a further and very likely relatively large reduction in rate; finally, we have a much improved risk at probably a little lower than the original rate, a better risk for the company to carry and a smaller premium for the assured to pay, and experience has shown that there is no system of rating so satisfactory to both agent and the assured as a fairly good schedule applied and explained with rea- sonable intelligence. Another result of schedule rating and the accustoming the assured to lessening his premium by improving his risk, is the awakening in the assured of the desire to still further reduce his premium by carrying his improve- ments to even a greater extent than provided for in the schedules. While the organization of the Factory Im- provement Committee was not primarily due to sched- T H E S TA WD A R p ule rating, probably no one thing has done more to en- courage the introduction of sprinkler protection. Very early in the history of the Exchange attention was called to the fact that some means must be adopted by which sprinkler protection could be fairly and intel- ligently recognized, or else the stock companies would gradually lose all this class of business just when it was becoming desirable. In 1886, the Factory Improvement Committee was organized and has continued since that time. The amount of work performed by this committee, the benefit it has been to the companies and to the mem- bers themselves can hardly be told in words, certainly not briefly, Its membership has always been of the highest order, and its work would reflect credit on any organization; in sixteen years it has considered over twenty-nine hun- dred risks, in two thousand of which the requirements named by the committee have been carried out, and these risks have been visited over and over again from time to time for the purpose of suggesting improve- ments, re-ratings, etc. This work has been performed entirely by the members, as the committee has never made use of the services of a salaried inspector, al- though this has frequently been suggested; the commit- tee meets every week, its sessions lasting from two to three hours. The results of writing the sprinklered business in New England which, but for this committee could never have been retained in the stock companies, amply attest the value of its work. The Exchange was faced with a new hazard in its early youth, electricity. The situation was promptly grasped and in no section of the country has it been better handled; a committee was appointed and careful inspection and supervision instituted, with the result that electrical fires have been kept at a minimum in the territory, and the insuring of electric light and power stations and property of electric railways has been re- tained to the stock companies, and undoubtedly shows them a fair, though not unreasonable, profit. The thor- ough work of the committee is shown in the constant improvement of this class of risks which stand ahead of those of a similar character in any other field and en- joy correspondingly lower rates. The Exchange has, as already indicated, always em- phasized the importance of improving the internal haz- ards of risks; it has been equally active in procuring better external protection and has given especial atten- tion to the matter of water works and fire departments. In the first three years of its existence 41 towns intro- duced public water works systems at a cost of over $4,- oooooo. This feature of work has received constant at- tention, and the above is only a sample of what has been going on during the whole twenty years. It has always been the policy of the Exchange to use argument rather than force, and the combined influence of Exchange committees and local agents has generally been sufficient to bring about needed reforms of public fire protection; but when this has failed a sharp advance in rates to meet the existing hazard has been applied, with the result that the companies have received protection until the city or town has been convinced that they would better protect themselves. The last radical reform adopted by the Exchange, and one of the most important of all, was the putting into effect a principle long recognized by its members as be- ing necessary to intelligent rating, that is, the requiring a knowledge of the ratio of insurance carried to the value of the property insured, commonly known as the "Co-insurance Clause." The necessity of this was called to the attention of the Exchange at its annual meeting in 1885 and repeat- edly after that time, but it was not made a general fea- ture of Exchange rates until January 1, 1893, since which time its application, like schedule rating, has by a pro- cess of evolution arrived at its present stage of, possibly not perfection, but certainly great improvement. It has now become a recognized and accepted part of rate making, and instead of being extremely unpopular as when at first, as the Co-insurance Clause, it was made obligatory with a penalty for its omission, it has now become extremely welcome as the Reduced Rate Clause, by which a reduction in rate may be obtained. The absolute necessity of a knowledge of the ratio of insurance to value, in order to arrive at a just and fair rate, ought to be so clear to everybody that a clause embodying the principle of co-insurance would be made a part of the standard form of policy of every State in the Union and its waiving forbidden by law. Influence of the Exchange in New England and Elsewhere... No history of the Exchange which recounts merely its deeds without at least suggesting some of the evi- dent results of its influence would be in any way com- plete, especially when such influence is as widespread as in this case. Representatives of the Exchange have always taken a prominent part in every effort that has been made for the improvement of the business, and many of these efforts originated with the Exchange. One of the results of the work of the Factory Im- provement Committee was to make evident the neces- sity of inspection in order to insure the maintenance of the protection for which low rates were given; this soon called attention to the possibility of a great saving in time and money, as well as in annoyance to the as- sured, which could be obtained by some system of mu- tual inspection on the part of the companies interested. This plan originated in the Exchange and was put into operation as a separate organization, the New England Bureau of United Inspection, only because there were some companies opposed to the plan, and it was con- sidered but fair that the support of the Bureau should not be made a part of the support of the Exchange. Today such Bureaus have been established in many fields. The establishing of a library for the benefit of mem- bers and others was first suggested on the floor of the Exchange, and the outgrowth of the suggestion, the In- surance Library Association, is a separate body only because to hold property it must be incorporated, and it was not considered advisable to have the Exchange itself take such a step. - An employee of the Exchange first called together the electrical inspectors of the insurance organizations for the purpose of harmonizing the electric light rules, and the result is the Underwriters' National Electric Association and the National Electrical Code, a code used all over the United States and recognized and adopted by the electrical as well as the insurance in- terests. Encouraged by the good results obtained by the Electric Association, a prominent member of the Ex- change, together with his son, organized the National Fire Protection Association, which has accomplished the same results in connection with sprinkler require- ments and other protective apparatus. The work accomplished by each of these associations has undoubtedly far exceeded the most hopeful expecta- tions of those by whom they were started, but both owe their origin to Exchange influence, and an outgrowth of this work, made possible by these associations, is the Underwriters' Laboratories at Chicago, an institution of national importance, its executive head a former mem- ber of the Exchange and its engineering head a New England man whose first insurance connection was in the city of Boston. - - Exchange men were active on the committee which compiled the Universal Mercantile Schedule, though the main credit for this work belongs to one who was never connected with the Exchange. They have also been leaders in other schedule work, notably for elec- tric light and power risks, and recently in conference with other organizations in formulating uniform. special hazard schedules, in addition they have had their share of work in connection with the National Board on its committee of Consulting Engineers, and its committee on forms and clauses. It has always been the policy of the Exchange to keep in close touch with the public and to endeavor to edu- cate it in the principles of protection against fire and ºn it how to eliminate unnecessary hazards. The work of the Factory Improvement Committe‘. and the extension of schedule rating have been particularly con- ive to these results. “º in no other field have the assured and the insurer maintained such close relations, and this has re- suited in preventing to a great, ºxtºn: feelings of *. iºnism ºn the part of the public when * * it became necessary to make a wholesale advance in rates. The public as a whole are reasonable, and it was only needed to show them that the companies were losing money at existing rates to cause them to accept the advance as a necessity even if an unpleasant one. In fact it is probably true that there was as much, if not more, opposition to this measure on the part of the agents of the companies than on the part of their cus- tomers. This illustrates the fact that it generally rests largely with the local agent whether the policy holder is satisfied or not. If the agent follows the policy laid down by the Exchange and deals with his customer in an intelligent and loyal way, rather than by encouraging him to feel that he is being abused, he will in the end gain and keep the confidence of both parties for whom he acts as agent. The Exchange has carried this principle of education even further, relying on it to successfully prevent hostile legislation and to that end it has become an unwritten law that neither in its meetings nor elsewhere shall it act as a body in endeavoring to influence legislation in any way. It has always felt that the attempt to defeat any objectionable bill by means of lobbying would only invite the introduction of other equally objectionable measures even should the one in question be defeated, and that a start once made in that direction would result in constant attacks and expense, while the way to prevent such bills from being passed was to educate the general public from whom our legislators are chosen, so that they would understand that such legislation if passed, would only place additional burdens on the premium payer, this course while slow, is sure and its results are permanent. There have been two noticeable instances of this na- ture during the past twenty years, the New Hampshire legislation which resulted in the famous New Hampshire Compact, and more recently the anti-compact legislation in Maine. It has been frequently stated, and it seems to be generally admitted, that the anti-compact and valued policy bills in the first-named state could have been de- feated if the companies had met the demands of the lobby, but this they refused to do and then every outside company withdrew from the state; as to the wisdom of such a movement it is not the province of this article to discuss, certainly the effect was not as successful as might have been desired for these companies are now all back again and the objectionable laws are unchanged. It is probable that insurance has cost the people of New Hampshire more than it would had these laws never been enacted, but this additional cost, like an indi- rect tax, is paid without conscious knowledge, that is the cause and effect are so far removed from each other that the effect has no chance to react upon the cause. In the more recent case in Maine the companies quiet- ly submitted to the law and continued their business. Necessity required some guide as to the proper rate of premium to charge and an experienced and reliable sur- veyor established a Bureau in the state, and published tariffs containing rates which to him and his force of inspectors seemed to be adequate to meet the situation, these rates of course having a greater margin of safety than if the companies had been allowed to make them themselves. The tariffs were sold to such companies as cared to buy them, the companies then using them as advisory rates instructed their agents individually as to what rates they should obtain, and it is safe to say, we think, that no company felt it safe to ask for any lower rates than were contained in these advisory tariffs. Here the effect was so close to the cause that it be- came at once evident that when additional burdens were placed on the companies by hostile legislation, it was the public who really had to bear them, and at the next ses- sion of the legislature not only the recently passed laws, but others were promptly repealed and the Exchange was practically asked to resume its jurisdiction in Maine; rates in that state are now lower under Exchange rule than during the anti-compact regime. It would seem that the policy of the Exchange in con- nection with matters of legislation, both for the com- panies and by the states, that is voluntary compliance with tariff rules and rates on the part of the companies and voluntary action on the part of the states either in -- 7" H E S TA W.D.A. R. D. enacting, or refraining from enacting objectionable measures, has proved itself to be a good one, for there is in New England today no non-board agency, and com- panies that have in other fields been restive under re- straining compacts and pledges are many of them ac- tively represented on the important committees of the Exchange, and all of them loyal in its support, and there are few laws on the statute books of the states in Ex- change territory which are seriously objectionable, al- though year after year in every state, bills hostile to good underwriting are presented they seldom get beyond the committees to which they are referred, and this without the least effort on the part of the Exchange as a body. The Exchange is evidently considered a good training school by the companies as in the past three or four years no less than four of the force of inspectors have been called to special agencies. Consideration of the influence of the Exchange would be very incomplete were no mention made of the influ- ence of its former members. Trained in its school, im- bued with its ideas, and loyal to its aims, they have left the field to occupy positions, where to a greater or less extent, they may transmit these ideas and aims to the companies whose servant the Exchange should be. No less than 50 such cases can be cited and the influence of the Exchange in that way can only be estimated, that it is considerable is shown by the encouragement which the Exchange has received from companies with whom these ex-members are connected. When it is considered that whatever benefits have re- sulted from Exchange work have been freely shared with all, Stock Companies, Mutual Companies, sister organi- zations and the public, whether they have shared in the expense and labor or not, and when the chaos of 1882 is compared with the condition in 1902, it would seem that the history of the New England Insurance Exchange fully justifies its organization and its continuance. To chronicle what has been done and to determine the failures and successes of the past is a much easier task than to attempt to outline what should, or should not be done in the future, but if guided by its success in the past, remembering the principles laid down in its Consti- tution, it continues in the conservative course it has so far pursued, there would seem to be no reason why the Exchange should not celebrate many more decennial an- niversaries and to those familiar with its members and the way in which in critical times they have rallied to its support, exhibiting a loyalty which at other times was perhaps unexpected, it seems more than probable that such will be the case. The Factory Improvement Committee --- George A. Furness. - lº New England Insurance Exchange was organized in January, 1883. In about three | years from that time, or, to be exact, | February 13, 1886, Mr. U. C. Crosby, then * special agent of the Phenix of Brooklyn, N. Y., and now president of the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company of Manchester, N. H., recognizing the great value of automatic sprinkler protection, made a motion for the appointment of a committee by the Executive Committee of the Exchange whose duty should be to take up and consider this most vital question. On February 27, 1886, the Executive Committee ap- pointed the following members of the Exchange for that purpose: U. C. Crosby, Chairman; G. W. Taylor, President of the Exchange; R. H. Wass, one of the Vice-Presidents; H. F. Blackwell and Frank A. Colley, a member of the Executive Committee. These gentle- men deliberated for some months and on June 5, 1886, made their report, which was laid on the table to be taken upon for consideration June 19, 1886, and on that date the report was accepted. On June 26, 1886, Messrs. E. G. Richards and C. E. Galacar were added to this committee, but doubtless owing to the approach of the summer vacation time, it was not until the middle of September that Mr. E. G. Richards, then special agent of the Queen Insurance Company and now manager of the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company, moved the appointment of a committee as recommended in the report accepted June 19, 1886. September 26, 1886, this motion was passed by the Exchange and the Factory Improvements and Protec- tion Committee was organized under practically the same conditions as now exist, namely, 21 members (now 22 members), and a general chairman with sub-divisions by states, each division having a chairman. The first committee had a sub-division for Shoe Factories, which was continued until about 1894, being then combined with the Eastern Massachusetts Division. Mr. A. C. Adams, then special agent of the Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance Company and now assistant secretary of the Aetna Insurance Company, was the first general chair- man, serving as such until September 7, 1889. He was succeeded by Mr. U. C. Crosby, who served until he became an official of the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company. At the present time the writer of this article is chairman of the committee. The title of the first committee was the Factory Im- provements and Protection Committee, the letter "s" and the word “Protection” being dropped in 1888. The personnel of the first committee was as follows: A. C. Adams, Chairman. Maine–C. E. Galacar, M. R. Emerson, S. B. Clarke. Vermont—Amos Sherman, E. Lanning, G. W. East- IIl-11. Eastern Massachusetts, Counties East of Worcester County–U. C. Crosby, S. E. Barton, H. F. Blackwell. Western Massachusetts, Worcester County and Coun- ties West–G. E. Kendall, B. R. Stillman, H. R. Turner. Rhode Island–J. E. Tillinghast, G. W. Taylor, F. A. Colley. Connecticut—W. A. Francis, Fred Samson, A. E. Williams. Shoe Factories—E. G. Richards, Wm. R. Gray, James Bruerton. Five of these gentlemen are still active members of the Exchange; eleven are in the list of honorary members; the address of one is not known, and five are dead. The personnel of the Factory Improvement Committee at present serving is as follows: G. A. Furness, General Chairman. Maine Division—J. F. Barley, Chairman; W. B. Bur- pee, J. H. Campbell. Vermont Division—W. T. Furness, Chairman; W. B. Medlicott, F. E. Stone. Eastern Massachusetts Division—W. A. R. Boothby, Chairman; George Neiley, C. C. Clifford, C. D. Palmer, J. L. Liecty, W. H. Winkley. Western Massachusetts Division—G. T. Forbush, Chairman; F. H. Battilana, J. J. Cornish, F. R. Galacar. Rhode Island Division–H. L. Hiscock, Chairman; J. J. Downey, H. G. Fairfield. Connecticut Division—E. J. Sloan, Chairman; Wm. Bush, K. S. Ducayet, the increase from 21 to 22 mem- bers appearing in the Western Massachusetts Division. The General Rules and By-laws of the committee were adopted in April, 1887, and were revised in 1888, 1890, 1892, 1894, 1896, 1897, 1900 and 1902. They define the duties and jurisdiction of the committee and direct in what manner applications for plans, requirements or improvements, for ratings or reratings, shall be filed and distributed by the secretary among the members for action and final promulgation of rate, when the equip- ment is completed in accordance with the specifications furnished the applicant. The committee in the fifteen years of existence has considered and passed upon about 2,000 risks and today has over 1,800 “live” plants under its jurisdiction. About two hours each Saturday are devoted to the considera- tion of the business of the committee, the number of members attending being rarely less than fifteen. Among other things the committee of 1886 in its report laid particular stress on two underlying principles of Automatic Sprinkler Protection. “First, That a sprinkler-head should cover every part of the building, including stairways, elevators, closets, and all concealed spaces. Second, A supply of water, valves all open and pressure on the pipes, whatever it may be, free and in working order. Whatever the other conditions may be, the above are absolutely essential, and without them the apparatus is worthless." As far as my knowledge extends these are the essen- tials today and will always be. Quoting again from the report, we learn even in the three years of its existence that "Our Exchange has done much in New England in a systematic way to improve the physical condition of property resulting in the reduction of fire hazards and the loss ratio. The value of automatic sprinkler pro- tection is an established fact. We should take an ad- vance position, and lead, not be driven into, the support of this system. By taking the right position on this question, even at this late day, we shall give further evidence to the insuring public of our desire to encourage every improvement which will result in the reduction of loss and the coat of insurance, and prove our right to its confidence and support." That the New England Insurance Exchange in general and the Factory Improvement Committee in particular is still adhering to the truths so well set forth, is the cher- ished belief of every member, and with this belief goes the knowledge that the success of the past will be con- tinued in the future, provided the conditions remain unchanged. Scheduled Risks Committee J. L. Lºcry. - - |HE Scheduled Risks Committee of the New - England Insurance Exchange is the legiti- mate successor of the former committee on Non-paying hazards, popularly known as - - the “Hard-luck committee." When the Committee on Non-Paying Hazards began its labors there were in the Exchange four special committees, namely,–the Boot & Shoe Factory Committee, the Cot- ton & Woolen Mills Committee, the Paper, Pulp & Leather Board Mills Committee and the Straw Factory Committee, which were applying schedules to the risks under their jurisdiction. The schedules with which these committees worked had been in use for a long time and it is a fact that in many cases they had not been strictly applied. Moreover there were many risks which came under the jurisdiction of these committees which had not been scheduled at all. In the meantime at the behest of the companies a committee from each of the three de- partments namely,–the New England Insurance Ex- change, the New York State Association and the Middle Department appointed committees to meet in New York for the purpose of devising uniform schedules for these three departments. The result of their labors was the schedules now in use, and the Non-Paying Hazards Committee immediately applied them to the risks in New England. The schedules were the Boot & Shoe Factory schedule, the Cheese & Butter Factories and Creameries schedule, the Fur Hat Factory schedule, the Furniture Factory schedule, Straw Factory schedule, Paper, Pulp and Leather Board Mills schedule, Silk Mills schedule, Textile Fabric Mills schedule and Metal Workers schedule. On November 30 1901, the Exchange passed the rec- ommendation of the Executive Committee that a new committee, to be known as the Scheduled Risks Com- mittee, should be appointed. This committee consists of a general chairman and twenty members, the mem- bers being sub-divided as follows: Maine 3, Vermont 3, Eastern Massachusetts 4, Western Massachusetts 4, Rhode Island 1, and Connecticut 5, and all risks rated on a schedule, outside of such risks as may have been or might be rated on a mercantile schedule, passed under their jurisdiction, and the Boot & Shoe Factory Com- mittee, the Cotton & Woolen Mills Committee, the Pa- per, Pulp & Leather Board Mills Committee and Straw Factory Committee were discharged. The Scheduled Risks Committee has continued its work uninterrupt- ingly ever since its appointment. The Non-Paying Haz- ards Committee applied the new schedules originally to about 1,400 risks. Of these, however, when the Sched- - -- 7 H E S T A M D A A. D. uled Risks Committee began its labors, only about two- thirds had been promulgated. Since then the Scheduled Risks Committee has scheduled over 4oo additional risks, in addition to promulgating the rates which had not yet been promulgated by the Non-Paying Hazards Commit- tee and has re-surveyed a large proportion of the risks originally scheduled by the Non-Paying Hazards Com- mittee for improvements made. When it is considered that there are at the present time under the jurisdiction of this committee 1,814 risks, with an average of 20 to 25 applications for original sur- veys and re-surveys for improvements filed every two weeks, it will be seen that the work of the committee has not been light. As a matter of fact so burdensome has become the duties of each individual member that a short time since the committee deemed it necessary to employ an inspector to aid it in its labor. The results obtained by the committee have been in the main satis- factory; but some changes in the schedules, which ex- perience developed it would be wise to make, were from time to time taken into consideration and these changes were submitted at a conference of the committee from the three departments above mentioned, and in Decem- ber, 1902, a revision of the schedules was passed by the Exchange. It is hoped that these revised schedules will meet some of the objections urged against the former. ----. Fire Protection in New England W. A. R. Boothby. |EW ENGLAND is the acknowledged home of all advanced ideas in methods of Fire Protection, and this is due largely to the fact that the Manufacturers' Mutual Insur- ance Companies early recognized the neces- sity and importance of good construction and the intro- duction of the most practical devices for preventing the spread of fire, and by their competition forced the stock companies to adopt similar methods. It will undoubted- ly interest the reader to know something of the early º of the New England Insurance Exchange in this ---. The first automatic sprinkler was invented by Mr. Henry S. Parmelee of New Haven, Conn., and patented in August, 1874. The merits of this invention were quickly recognized by the mutual companies and thou- sands were installed in mutual risks, but the managers of the stock insurance companies could not be induced to recognize the merits of this device. After the introduction of the Parmelee Head improved sprinklers were placed upon the market and were known as the Grinnell, Buell, Hill, Walworth, Kane, Neracher and Esty, but it was not until 1883-84 that the stock com- panies realized the inroads that the mutuals were making in their business, especially on textile and metal working factories. I believe the second address of Mr. U. C. Crosby, as president of the New England Insurance Ex- change in 1884, contained the first reference to the danger of the mutual competition in this line. In that same year was issued the first schedule of the New England Insur- ance Exchange that allowed reduction in rates for the introduction of automatic sprinklers. This was the "Boot and Shoe Schedule" and was prepared by the “Boot and Shoe Factory Committee" of the Exchange, the Chair- man being Mr. E. G. Richards. The following allow- ance was made in "A" factory: 25c., if brick and 20c. if frame from the base rate. “B” risk if under protection of water works, fire alarm and paid steam fire depart- ment, should be placed in the "A" class and receive the same reduction and base rate. A “B” risk so protected but without paid steam fire department, water works and fire alarm, to receive a reduction of 20c. in base rate without change. In these classifications all factories classified as "C," or "D" risks, if so improved, to have their base rate reduced to "B" risk. This was the only flat allowance made by any of the committees, although the "Cotton and Woolen Mills Committee" and other committees having charge of special hazards were mak- ing spasmodic attempts to name a rate low enough on risks protected by sprinklers to keep them from going to the mutuals, but they were rarely successful. Little was done by the Exchange to meet the Mutual competi- tion until the early part of 1886, when on motion of Mr. U. C. Crosby it was voted to appoint a committee to look into the matter of Mutual competition. On Febru- ary 26th a committee was appointed of which Mr. Crosby was made chairman, and was known as the “Factory Protective Committee.” This committee made its report in June 1886, but no definite action was taken until the following September, at which time the “Factory Im- provement Committee" was appointed. Although Mr. Crosby was the first to suggest that the Exchange take action toward meeting this strong competition, Mr. A. C. Adams was made general chairman of that committee. This committee immediately established rules for the in- troduction of automatic sprinklers, and although very crude as compared with the comprehensive rules now in force by the Exchange, up to the present time there have been very few failures of automatic sprinkler equip- ments installed under the original rules. In 1893 the Exchange began the work of improving protected risks under its jurisdiction, and called for the substitution of approved types of sprinklers for those unapproved, the changing of spacing so that sprinklers under no condi- tion should exceed toxio feet, and in buildings of joisted construction ot more than 8xio feet. The work was so effective that today New England has comparatively few poorly-equipped risks, and I think the loss ratio on pro- tected risks bears out this statement. The New England Insurance Exchange was the first organization to prepare rules for wiring for electric lights and power, although in 1885 the New York City Board had some few rules governing this work. It was at this time that the “Electric Hazard Committee,” of which Mr. S. E. Barton was chairman, presented rules and regulations governing such installations, and un- doubtedly to the early work of this committee is due the fact that New England has been comparatively free from serious fires caused by defective electric wiring, as compared with other sections of the country. Thermostat systems of automatic fire alarm are rapidly forcing themselves into the front rank of fire protective appliances, and although few in number until recent years and crudely arranged at that, the good work in nearly every instance where a fire occurred in an equipped building induced the New England Insurance Exchange to recognize their value. But few systems were installed outside of the city of Boston previous to the conflagration in the city of Lynn in 1889. In rebuilding the boot and shoe factories destroyed at that time the need of some device which would give prompt notification of fire and its location was apparent, and it was at this time that thermostat protection began to be seriously considered. There are now in the New England states alone about twelve hun- dred thermostat systems protecting from fourteen to fif- teen hundred buildings, and it is safe to say that nine-tenths of the systems have direct fire department house connec- tion, so that immediate alarms are given. Aboutfive years ago the Exchange established its first rules governing the installation of these systems and they were revised in 1900, and today the bureau inspectors give the same careful attention to thermostats as to sprinklers. Notwithstand- ing the crudity of the early instruments and thermostats, and the lack of rules governing their installation, few failures are recorded, and the Exchange today makes the same allowance for thermostat systems in all classes of risks as for watchman and clock. Let us divide the underwriters of New England into three groups: First, the Manufacturers' Mutual Insurance Companies whose aim has been from the start to study the hazards of a risk, and guard against the same in the construction of buildings, and encourage the introduction of approved devices for preventing the spread of fire, the question of rate being left as a last consideration. Automatic sprink- ters and the so-called mill, or Lockwood construction, were promptly approved by the Manufacturers' Mutuals and strongly recommended to their members. - second. Underwriters taking the position that it is no part of their duty to offer suggestions to owners as to the construction and protection of their property, it being their business simply to name a rate on the prop- erty according to the hazards found. Third, the New School of Underwriters, which was the outcome of the success of the first group, or mutual com- panies, and the failure of the second group or stock com- panies, their methods being to prevent the spread of fire by encouraging the most up-to-date methods of con- struction, the installation of automatic sprinklers, auto- matic fire alarms and the careful installation of electric wiring for light and power. This class of underwriters believes that in following these methods better results will be obtained at low rates, than with higher rates of: poorly-constructed and unprotected risks. To this group of underwriters we are largely indebted for the most excellent building laws now in force in the city of Boston and elsewhere in New England, and as a result underwriters were encouraged to name reasonable rates on the so-called fire proof buildings or slow burn- ing construction buildings. While a few years ago there was a tendency to criticise the low rates made by this group of underwriters, the success attending their meth- ods in New England since 1886 has proven the wisdom of their course. As an illustration why the underwriters of the second group failed to meet the changed conditions and why the first group succeeded, it is only necessary to call under- writers' attention to the condition of the paper and pulp mill risks of New England in the early eighties, at which time both mutual and stock companies were virtually de- clining this class of risks owing to the heavy losses. The condition was so serious that the paper and pulp manufacturers appealed to the underwriters for sugges- tions as to how the hazard could be best improved. The underwriters classed under the second group prepared a standard form of policy to be used, which was adopted by the so-called paper mill compact. Undoubtedly the enforcement of the three-quarters co-insurance and loss clause improved the moral hazard, but had no bearing whatever on the physical hazard, of such risks. Manu- facturers having failed to obtain aid or suggestions from the stock underwriters were obliged to depend upon their own resources, and in consequence the Paper Mill Mutual was incorporated in 1886. A thorough investigation of the hazards of paper and pulp manufacturing properties was made and the best mill architects were consulted, with the result that the most important hazards were re- moved from the main plant, the buildings cut up into smaller areas, and the entire plant equipped with up-to- date devices for fire protection. The improvements ef- fected, as suggested by this investigation, has made this class one of the most profitable carried by the mutual companies, and today at least eighty-five per cent of such risks in New England are insured by them. The class of underwriters as considered in the second group are gradually disappearing, yet there are managers of stock companies who often criticise rates made, claim- ing that as there is no competition in certain classes of risks, higher rates should be obtained. It should be borne in mind that it was this position taken by under- writers in the seventies that forced property owners to organize the Rubber Mutual, the Cotton and Woolen Mutual, the Paper Mutual and the Industrial Mutual, and it is quite as feasible for other industries to organize similar companies. Why should stock companies en- courage competition rather than attempt to prevent it? I am not answering questions, simply asking them. Non-Paying Hazards in New England John B. Cornish. FIHE New England Insurance Exchange was - organized for the specific purpose of insti- *| tuting a system of rate-making that should º be just to the public who pay for, and fair * to the companies, who provide indemnity against, loss by fire. To do this in New England under such conditions as existed twenty years ago, was an undertaking of stupen- so TA/ E S T A M D A A' D dous proportions; and its importance, and beneficent ef- fect upon the business, was hardly appreciated by even the leading spirits of this great reform. To create a system of rate-making that should so ap- peal to the judgment of the public as to win its confi- dence and approval, and at the same time place the busi- ness of fire underwriting on a profitable basis, called for the highest wisdom, and the companies and the public may well be congratulated that this delicate, complicated problem was in the hands of such men as brought the Exchange into being and whose names today are the synonym of honor, and whose merited reward has been their promotion to official positions in the great fire in- surance companies of the country. When, twenty years ago, the Exchange was organized and rate-making began, companies had not the data at hand such as is now on file in every well appointed home office in the form of classification of risks, giving premiums and losses on same. Judgment rates were the only kind in use, in fact, the only kind obtainable, and so the charter members of the Exchange started out under these primitive conditions to make rates, necessarily tentative in their character, being ready at all times to amend and modify same as circum- stances warranted. Like all enterprises with modest beginnings but com- prehending vast interests, the work expanded into im- mense proportions until today, the Exchange in all its ramifications has grown to be the most scientific and systematic rate-making body in the land. With limited knowledge in their possession as to what classes were profitable and what unprofitable, it was im- possible to gather much wisdom by conferences with each other on this subject, as in those days companies were shy in giving information as to the condition of their business, so it was obvious that rates were found to bear somewhat unequally on different classes. But as companies saw the necessity of keeping a classi- fication list, showing premiums and losses, the fact was gradually developed that certain classes were continu- ously unprofitable, and as companies instead of growing apart, began to grow toward each other, because of a mutuality of interest, they grew more communicative, with the result that they found their experience was the same on certain classes that had been for years sapping their life-blood. with this knowledge in their possession, they set them- selves at work to remedy the evil; to stop the leak. Be- lieving that EQUITY should be the basic principle in rate-making; that all classes should be self-supporting and that no one class should carry the burden of any other class, the Exchange at its meeting of Jan. 26, 1901, passed the following vote, viz: “Whereas, certain classes of hazards have proven con- tinually unprofitable, Resolved, That a special committee of seven be ap- pointed by the Executive Committee, with power to ad: vance rates on such classes through the local and special committees having jurisdiction.” J. B. Cornish, Chairman, J. H. Leightºn, W.A. R. Boothby, S. E. Barton, G. T. Forbush, G. W. Hinkley and win. Bush constituted the committee. At its next meeting, viz: Feb. 2, 1901, the committee was increased by adding the following: H. L. Hiscock, S. G. Howe, W. H. Smith and Geo. Neiley. The appointment of the Non-paying Hazards Commit- tee was not a sporadic act done on the impulse of the moment, but was the result of the combined judgment of the leading companies after many years of long suffer- 111- when the members met to consider the work contem- plated by their appointment to this committee, they were appalled by its magnitude and the complex conditions sur- rounding it. Eleven men, representative members of the Exchange, some of them grown gray in the service, met day after day and week after week, and with their knees under the large table in the Executive Committee room of the Exchange, discussed different methods as how best to solve the problem before them. Not since the appointment of the Factory Improvement Committee had a committee been appointed with such difficulties to overcome or with such important interests to guard and preserve; and not since the formation of the Exchange had a special committee been appointed whose work was so difficult, so delicate and complex and which called for so much tact. Discussions were often of a fiery character, which perhaps was but natural, and considering too, that a difference of opinion would arise on questions entirely new without any precedent as a guide, and which on their merits might easily be susceptible of various interpreta- tions. But after the hot air of discussion had exploded and blown away, it would be followed by the refreshing cool ozone of good nature, and in a moment every member would be intently attending to his individual work, which consisted at the early meetings of going through every tariff of the Exchange and noting risk by risk such as re- quired special attention. This entailed an immense amount of work, but was simple indeed as compared to that which was to follow later. The committee decided that certain unprofitable classes would better take a certain per cent advance on their present tariff rate, say to, 20 or 3o per cent, as the case warranted, while other certain unprofitable classes were of such a nature that they would be treated more equitably by being rated under schedules. After noting in the tariffs such risks as should receive a certain per cent advance, and such other risks as should be rated on schedules, the committee, after much discussion, brought in to the Exchange a report recom- mending the adoption of certain schedules, this list being enlarged by the addition of other schedules on a report to the Exchange by the Executive Committee after a conference with committees of the New York and Mid- dle Departments. In this way the number of classes of risks to be rated by new schedules was materially increased. The following classes were treated by the committee by adding certain percentages to present tariff rates, viz.: Agricultural Implement Factories, Steam Bakeries and Candy Factories, Brick, Tile and Terra Cotta Works, Brush, Broom and Basket Factories, Wool Pulling and Wool Scouring Plants, Color and Paint Works, Foun- dries, Iron, Steel Mills, Wire Mills, Nail, Bolt and Nut Works and Rolling Mills, Sheet Iron and Stamp- ing and Tinning Works, Tobacco, Cigar and Cigarette Factories, Prizeries, Stemories, Tobacco Store Houses, Wall Paper Factories, Miscellaneous Unprotected Special Hazards, Running Machinery and Shafting, not mentioned above, and the following classes, by re- rating by new schedules, viz.: Textile Fabric Mills, in- cluding Cotton and Woolen, Knitting, Hosiery and Silk Mills, Boot and Shoe Factories, Leather Works, includ- ing Tanneries, Morocco Factories and Currying Shops, Creameries and Butter and Cheese Factories, Furniture Factories, Fur and Wool Hat Factories, Paper, Pulp and Leatherboard Mills, Hardware Factories and simi- lar risks, Carriage and Wagon Factories and Reposito- 1-1-s. In order to apply the schedules to risks the Exchange employed seven new inspectors who personally did this work throughout the territory under its jurisdiction. Every schedule report made by them was personally ex- amined and approved by the committee and passed over to the secretary of the Exchange for promulgation. As evidence of the magnitude of work to do this, it is only necessary to say that fifteen months had passed after its appointment before the chairman had the pleas- ure of reporting on May 3, 1902, to the Exchange, that the committee had completed its duties and requesting its discharge. As a result of the work of this committee the general condition of fire underwriting in New England has been greatly improved. First and foremost the principle of equity was brought into play, and risks were rated on both their merits and demerits; in a word, rating was lifted from the low plane of guessing, up on to the higher plans of knowledge, and in applying the schedules to risks, the public were taken into the confidence of the Fxchange; every owner or occupant of a building was shown why his rate was what it was, and he saw at a glance what he could do to reduce it. He then learned that he himself was a factor in deciding the rate on his own property. This open, frank and just method of dealing with the public at once won its confidence, which was a most im- portant desideratum. It put the public and the Exchange on a level with each other, where they met face to face and it removed the veil of mystery and secrecy that had to a greater or less degree separated them in the past. Another, or subsidiary result of the work of this com- mittee is that it has been an effective agency in discover- ing the line of equilibrium in rate-making and so en- abling companies to quite an extent to throw into the rubbish heap that relic of barbarism in underwriting, that phantasm of every local agent, the Prohibited List. While we are not yet able to realize our Utopian dreams in the conduct of this important branch of our business, yet we are reaching out and toward it and as progress is the order of the day, we are looking toward the East for the rising of the sun that shall usher in the day when rate-making shall rise to the dignity of a science, abso- lutely just to all parties affected by it; when Prohibited Lists shall be unknown and forgotten and when the pub- lic and the insurance companies shall meet and carry on commercial intercourse with each other as members of a great family, without distrust, but with confidence and to their mutual advantage. In the work of reaching so desirable a consummation I believe that a very important factor was the Non-pay- ing Hazards Committee. The Insurance Library Association Henry E. Hºss. |HERE are many things for the Exchange to be proud of on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, but I think chiefest of all it should glory in its establishing and main- taining the Insurance Library. There are other field organizations that frame rules and apply schedules; that regulate agents and influence public opin- ion; that lessen the friction of adjustments and enlighten legislators; but there is only one that has collected and maintains a library containing what is conceded to be the completest collection of fire insurance literature in the world, where its members may inform themselves upon any question connected with the business whether it be one of theory, practice, map location, adjustment, history, biography, law, hazard, statistics, definition, cause, prevention or result. The casual enquirer or the constant student will find there everything to answer his question or facilitate his work, classified, indexed, ar- ranged, and with a thoroughly posted librarian at hand to help out in any difficulty. There are other insurance libraries in the hands of field organizations, one at Chicago, and another at San Francisco, which embrace good collections; but they are simply adjuncts, just as a collection of books is part of a well-to-do home; they are not independent corpora- tions and they have not been developed (although capa- ble of it) along the latest lines of arrangement and card cataloging. There is also an insurance library in New York, owned by the Equitable, that surpasses ours in number of volumes and wealth of statistical material; but it is devoted primarily to life insurance literature, and its fire insurance collection falls far short of ours. I repeat then that as a complete working library devoted to fire insurance literature the Insurance Library of Boston stands easily first and upon that fact the Exchange has the right, particularly at this time, to felicitate itself without in any sense derogating the work done by any other organization. I had somewhat to do with the in- ception and establishment of the Library and I take it that that is the reason I have been asked to write this article. It was in 1887 that I succeeded in securing at the hands of the New England Insurance Exchange its endorse- ment and adoption of a plan for the collection of a li- brary of fire insurance literature. I venture to say that not a man voting for it had an adequate idea of what the plan involved or what its outcome would be. The majority imagined a room furnished only with a table and chairs, on the former of which might be displayed a - TA/ E S T A M D A A' D fair assortment of insurance journals; others added to that a room where luncheon might be secured at cost, while reading the latest news pertaining to the business; a few pictured a book case or two containing more or less books, but not one dreamed of handsomely furnished rooms, a complete collection of books and journals, and the conveniences of card indexes, general works of reference and maps, with a competent librarian constant- ly in charge. The idea, however, having been endorsed, the next thing was to secure its development along lines or permanency and dignity. That was effected by incor- porating the Insurance Library Association, the member- ship of which was limited to members of the Exchange, thereby securing to that organization the control of the Library. Then came the question of funds. The Exchange re- fused to appropriate money for the purchase of books, feeling that such an expenditure could hardly be justi- fied as pertaining to field work. That was a discourag- ing moment and I was almost ready to give up, when Mr. George P. Field proposed that we go to the compa- nies and ask them direct for the money needed. So he and I prepared a tabulation showing the receipts within Exchange territory of all companies doing business in New England, based upon which we arranged a scale of subscriptions, the lowest of which was twenty-five and the highest three hundred dollars; and in July, 1888, he and I went to New York, called on every company doing business in New England, and asked each for a subscrip- tion to the Library on its merits, with the result that in practically every instance we got what we asked for. Then Field visited the Hartford companies, and I went to those in Newark and Philadelphia, and when the two of us got back to Boston we found we had achieved a total subscription of five thousand and twenty-five dollars. This result was largely attributable to two reasons; one, that we asked every company for a definite and relatively small amount based upon its premium receipts in our field, thereby putting all on the same basis of contribu- tion; the other, that probably not one of the subscribers expected to be called on for the money. This latter may seem a surprising statement, but the fact is that all the subscriptions were made with the understanding that un- less a total sum of five thousand dollars was subscribed no money should be called for; and I do not believe any one of the subscribers when he put his name down thought we would succeed in securing the stipulated sum. That subscription list is today deposited in a vault as one of the Library's most cherished possessions, to be en- shrined and kept on exhibition, I trust, whenever the Library is installed in fireproof quarters. Relieved now of any anxiety as to funds we next set about inducing the Exchange to move from its limited quarters in the Mason Building to new quarters where the Library could be established next to it; and while the plans for such removal were being carried out by the Executive Committee of the Exchange, the trustees of the Library were busy planning for its rooms and de signing their arrangement. Meanwhile I had started in collecting books, pamphlets, journals and everything else pertaining to fire insurance literature that I could get hold of, storing it in a warehouse until such time as our rooms might be ready, with the result that when they were opened in December, 1888, everybody was aston- ished at what had already been accomplished in the way of collecting a library and housing it handsomely in well- appointed quarters. While it is a pleasure to recall the appreciation extended to the Library at its opening it is upon what has been accomplished since then that I de- sire to dwell for a moment in this article. Stated statistically the Library collection has grown from nothing to 3359 volumes; from 25 running feet of shelf room to 400; from 300 callers per year to four thousand. It is known throughout the English speak- ing world, and one of the most appreciative and thorough sketches of its history and work that has appeared in print was written and published only a few months ago in Sydney, Australia. It has produced a printed cata: logue of fire insurance literature that is the pioneer of . kind, and which has gone into the hands of every col- ege librarian in this country as well as to secretaries of all fire insurance field organizations in other countries. It has become a recognized reference library, being so -- listed and used by the great Public Library at Boston. It has become an aid to Harvard College, students at which pursuing an insurance course are furnished cards entitling them to the privileges of our rooms. It has encouraged the younger men in our business to hard study in their work, and it has helped in the mental equipment of the older men who are today occupying commanding positions at the front. Finally it has out- grown its quarters so that from now on unless more room is provided it will be necessary to place the yearly increment of books outside of its rooms, either in some other part of the building or in a storage warehouse. This is a very serious matter and one which ought to have early remedy. It is true that completed sets of the older publications might be stored outside of the Library rooms, thereby making room for the yearly increment, but such a course would be in the line of retrogression, since it would put outside of the Library a constantly in- creasing lot of books that would not be at hand for im- mediate reference when needed. The fact that its present quarters are not fireproof is another very serious defect, and one which may some day involve the loss of all that has been accomplished by years of hard labor. If that loss occurs it can in my opinion never be made good, because the difficulty of du- plicating our collection of books would be so great as to make it practically an impossibility. In that connec- tion it must be borne in mind that one can not go into the open market and buy the books which make up the greater portion of our collection. We had to obtain them from such sources as companies that were about to move and did not care to carry their old books and journals with them; from ex-officers of companies who had accumulated small collections of insurance works which they were willing to part with; from publishers of insurance journals who were willing so far as they could to furnish us with old volumes still in hand. With the exception of law books, however, none were then or could now be found in open market; while the other sources from which we were able to obtain our books have gradually contracted, until today they practically do not exist. That is why I say if our present collection should be destroyed it can never be replaced, because it embraces material that has not been and is not general- ly preserved. Even if kept by its first possessor it has at his death been thrown away, so that either by death of individuals or retirement from business of companies or the removal from old offices to new ones the supply of earlier fire insurance literature grows more and more meager. In view of this I hope the importance of ultimately housing our Library in a fireproof building will not be lost sight of for the destruction of this Library would deprive the Exchange of one of its greatest elements of prestige and fame. Considering the number of fireproof buildings which are being built nowadays, and the over- crowded condition of the rooms of the several under- writing organizations in Boston it seems to me that it ought to be not only a comparatively easy thing but one that is imperatively called for, to secure quarters in one of these buildings providing accommodation for the Ex- change, the Library, the Board, the Union, the Bureau of United Inspection and all other similar associations, each of which has in its years of existence accumulated valuable records that ought to be safeguarded against destruction by fire. There is another aspect of the work accomplished by the Library that is none the less important if not direct- ly in evidence. I refer to its influence throughout the country in developing the scholarly and ethical side of our business. It has shown that that business possesses a literature covering many branches and text books worthy of careful study. Until its catalogue was pub- lished no man had at hand the means to ascertain what works to consult when seeking information, and he had to take his chance of laboriously working out some subject that had already been thoroughly covered but lost track of in a mass of fugitive and unlisted material. Up to the time that our Library was opened there was not a college to be found, so far as I am aware, where lec- tures on insurance were included in the curriculum; to- day such lectures are given in well arranged courses every year at Harvard, Yale, Chicago, and other univer-, - º sities. Nor was there anywhere a society or association maintained for the purpose of encouraging and develop- ing the study of our business. Today the Insurance so- ciety of New York, and the Fire Insurance Society of Philadelphia, are maintaining good libraries, and pro- viding for their members monthly talks upon insurance by practical men, together with regular lectures upon the law of insurance especially as applied to the fire insur- ance contract. Similar societies are bound to come in all the larger cities, with the effect of producing better equipped men in our business, who in turn will further raise the standard of that business and secure for it wider recognition as a dignified and self-respecting avo- cation. The development of automatic sprinklers, fireproof construction, thermostat alarms, electric lighting and power, and similar applications of inventive ingenuity, must be met by a technical knowledge on the part of the fire insurance men that was unheard of and unthought of a generation ago. That knowledge can only be ac- quired by application and study, and the places to en- courage such application and study are our and similar libraries. I do not hesitate to claim that in proportion to cost nothing has benefited our business in such degree as the establishment of our Library, and I feel that money cannot be better spent than in maintaining it. That suggests that a liberal maintenance fund should be secured at the earliest possible date so that the work of the Library may be put beyond all chance of interrup- tion through business depression or misguided economy. The late John C. Paige, with his keen insight into the business side of every question, realized this, and left to the Library the sum of five thousand dollars, which sum I hope to see set apart and designated as the “John C. Paige Fund,” so that the name of the Library's first benefactor may be kept alive from year to year in the reports of the Association. In this he set an example that I trust will be followed by many another member of the insurance fraternity, for there can be no more helpful way of keeping one's memory green. A man spends at least one-third of his life in the daily company of his business associates, establishing with more or less of them terms of intimate friendship; why should he not at death give back to the business from which he has de- rived his life's support some little portion of what it has yielded him? All over Europe we find beautiful guild halls erected centuries ago by men proud of their trades and main- tained by funds left for the purpose by those whose very names would now be forgotten except for those be- quests. The political power of these guilds has long ago departed, but the influence of their old halls, main- tained now as museums, libraries, and art galleries, re- mains as a constant factor for good in the community. Why should not our library in time achieve a building that shall be the Guild Hall of our Craft, embracing ac- commodations not only for the various associations con- nected with our business, but representing its historical development, and commemorating the memories of the men who built it up. Surely no better memorial that a man had lived his brief day could be left than that he gave something out of his life's gains back to the busi- ness from which he derived them, something that should always say to his successors “Out of the halls of the past, where I helped lay the foundations of the work that you are carrying forward, I send this greeting to you who follow, wishing you strength in your work and joy in your life, and asking that my name be kept in your re- membrance.” Summer Hotels in New England H. L. Hiscock. ſºlº is a well known fact that the summer hotel as a fire risk is considered by some under- writers as a pretty stiff proposition. There º are able managers and close observers who decline to accept such risks for their.com- there are others, equally able, who willingly º panies, while take this class to make or lose, and their classification re- º - - *sults are unknown. - - - -i. T H E S TA w D.A. R. D. There are in New England 781 so-called summer hotels, not including the innumerable number of board- ing houses. These are located in the different states as follows: Maine, 246; New Hampshire, 71; Vermont, 36; Massachusetts, 291; Rhode Island, 68; and in Connecti- cut, there are 69. summer Hotels considered by States. Massachusetts—It will be noticed that Massachusetts takes the lead in the number of this class of risks. The principal places attracting the summer boarders in this state for salt air, sea bathing and sailing are Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, Nantucket, the Gloucesters, the Falmouths, Nahant, Nantasket and Swampscott. There are besides many smaller and less prominent, although none the less inviting, places; and, for an inland resort, the Berkshires will probably easily take the palm, and then there is Princeton, where one can enjoy quiet rest and recreation in walks, drives and golf. Maine–Maine is a good second in the number of hotels, attracting some seekers for cool sea breezes and others looking for such places as will satisfy the desires of the fisherman, huntsman and woodsman. Bar Harbor, called the “Queen of American Resorts,” and other points on Mt. Desert, Kennebunkport, the world-famed Old Orchard, York, and Wells Beaches attract a large number of vacationists every season, also, many other places along the coast and on the islands. In the Moose- head and Rangeley Lake region, there are many hotels of prominence, which have attractive vacation and recre- ation facilities. As to the number of summer tourists, it is said that at least 25oooo visit this state each season. It is also re- ported that more people have come to Maine the past year to fish and hunt than ever before, there being over 3.25o who hunted big game and spent $1,371.201 for board alone. The stated number of moose taken last year is 461, and deer killed legally and illegally is said to be 20 ooo. The Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, which cov- ers the northeast territory of the state in its operations, owes its existence largely to the sportsmen who yearly flock to this section for large game, and during the past five years, there have been shipped by visiting sports- men troz moose and 18.280 deer over this road alone. No country in America offers such a diversity of fishing waters and of scenic beauty, and such an extent of wild forest abounding in big game as the north woods of Maine, and from this railroad 258 different fishing grounds are accessible, where trout, perch, landlocked salmon, togue, pickerel and black bass abound. - New Hampshire–New Hampshire boasts many well known summer resorts, particularly in the White Mountains, also around the lakes and on the coast. This state probably accommodates more summer guests than any other New England state, although the hotels, known as such are fewer in number but of a larger capacity, and with the addition of a large house opened this year, this might easily be called the “Banner State" for resorters, as well as for tourists. For a place of summer recreation and entertainment, besides walks, drives, boating and fishing, the golf links supported by many of the hotels here are equaled by few in the country. There has already begun the operation of devastation of the forests of this state, particularly in those sections enjoyed by the summer dwellers and tourists. Large tracts of timber bearing territory have recently been purchased in the interest of the paper pulp making in- dustries, and unless immediate measures are under- taken to prevent the destruction of the woods of the Presidential Range, these will soon present a barren waste and leave the mountains irreparably harmed in their attractiveness to lovers of nature. The act of cutting down the forests will result in a greatly changed condition of many of the summer re- sorts. For good and obvious reasons, the forests of New Hampshire have a special interest to the people of the whole country, who should at once exert their in- fluence in this matter. The White Mountain section should be preserved in its present virgin condition as a natural or state park and forest reservation, as has been done in the Adirondack region, and as Massachusetts has secured some mountain parks of lesser value and im- - portance in their forest quality. This can be accom- plished by immediate action on the part of the people in assisting the Society for the Protection of the New Hampshire forests, who are striving to this end. Vermont–With the mountains and lakes of Vermont, this state has many charming spots, although there are few large hotels, and it is probable that the Green Mountain scenery and air are not surpassed by any other state. There are many resorts on the Lake Cham- plain shore; also, the smaller lakes have beautiful places of summer recreation. Rhode Island–In the state of Rhode Island, including that out-to-sea tract of land, Block Island, there are 68 well-appointed houses, all located on or near the shore, with bathing and sailing as the principal features of at- traction. Besides Block Island, there are Narragansett Pier, Jamestown and Watch Hill. Connecticut-In the Nutmeg State, which contains a long picturesque shore line, there are many desirable first-class hostelries. Among the places well known might be mentioned Greenwich, New London, Niantic, Saybrook, and others on the shore front contiguous to New York. In no state is there a safer or more salubri- ous coast for those who crave the tonic of sea air and the pleasures of salt water bathing, fishing and sailing, with many resorts convenient to great centres of popu- lation and business. Fire hazard in summer hotels. Fire Hazard—Regarding the fire hazards of the sum- mer hotel, the same conditions exist as in a dwelling house, only in a more accentuated degree. The elements of danger might be divided into four classes—those oc- casioned by heating, lighting, cooking and laundering. These, of course, all exist in a family residence, but in a summer hotel, accommodating 150 to 4oo guests, this work, including the necessary adjuncts of the business, is carried on to such an extent that it produces a miniature city in a risk of this class, and a combination of hazards such as a laundry, bakery, lighting, heating and power plant, a printing office, a restaurant, a market, a grocery, a cold storage plant, and in many cases, furniture re- pairing, upholstering and carpenter shops. If a town or city block contained all these hazards under separate ownerships, it would be classed as an omnibus risk, con- sidered from an insurance standpoint as extra hazardous, and would have a green tint on the insurance map. All these are usually included in a majority of the hotels, together with the guests' rooms under the same roof To eliminate possible dangers from fire, the more seri- ous hazards should be placed in detached buildings and at such a distance from the hotel proper, or of such a construction, that the burning of same would not en- danger the main structure. Many owners of recently constructed houses have adopted this plan to a certain ex- tent and some of the proprietors of the older houses are removing these hazards from the building. How Fires originate. origin of Fires–As to the origin of fires, as far as ascertained the larger number of known causes in this class, and costing the companies the largest amount of money is attributable to defective chimneys, which would properly include the overheating of flues. This would suggest the wisdom of establishing a heating and light- ing plant in a separate building. of the hotels totally destroyed, there were 15 losses supposed to be of incendiary origin, on one of which there was no insurance, and another is in suit. These cost the companies $76,995, or 12 per cent of the entire amount paid. Those designated as defective chimneys caused the destruction of 17 and the insurance paid for them was $148,154, or 22 per cent. Of the unknown cause, there were ro, with $104,184 paid, being 16 per cent. There were 7 burned on account of exposure to other property, costing $40,008, or 6 per cent. Defective electrical equip: ment was responsible for the burning of 3 hotels and $83.560 paid therefor, which was 13 per cent of the whole amount woods afire communicating with the house burned 2. On one of these, there was no insurance, and on the other $2.ooo was paid, or less than 1-2 of 1 per cent overheated stove caused two fires, costing $7,570, being 1 per cent. There was one each attributed to the following -------- Overheated furnace, $8,000 t per cent. Plumbers, 117,000 18 per cent. Carelessness of workmen, 36.5oo 6 per cent. Explosion of lantern, 11,200 - per cent. Fireworks, 4-ooo Less than 1 per cent. There were 5 to which no stated cause has as yet been assigned. These amount to $22,100 paid, or 3 per cent. of the entire amount. Number of Fires and Losses-I have only the com- pilation for five years, and during that period there have been 66 summer hotels totally destroyed in New England, causing a loss of about $979, oils, and partial damage has occurred in 23, with a loss of $17,352, making a total property loss of about $996,357, and insurance paid on same of $678,572.75. In 1898, there were 13 burned and partial losses on 7, causing a property loss of about $219,782, and loss to the insurance companies of $164,500-20. This was the year of the “Ocean Bluff Hotel" fire in Kennebunkport, and the “Fort Point House" at Stockton. Me. During the year 1899, 18 houses were destroyed and 9 small losses, making a total of $135,550, with insurance paid on same of $105,333-69, the largest single loss being "Sparhawk Hall," at Ogunquit, Me. 1900 was conspicuous for the largest amount of loss, in which year the "Rockingham" at Narragansett Pier was burned. The total number was 13 and 3 damages, causing a loss to property in the large sum of $355,634 and insurance loss of $207,360.78. Eleven hotels were burned in root, the heaviest loss being the “Humarock House" at Scituate, Mass, the total, including 3 partial losses being $77,474, with in- surance loss of $53,597.30. There is still one unsettled loss in this year. During 1902, there have been 12 houses totally de- stroyed, the most notable being "Gray's Inn" at Jack- son, N. H. The total property loss on this class for the year is about $205,926 and the total insurance loss $147,690.78. As to the time of year for the burning of summer hotels, considering that the months of June, July, August and September constitute “the season," there were during the five years only 24 fires, burning 25 hotels in these months, and 40 fires, causing the de- struction of 43 hotels occurring out of season. It is a significant fact that during the two months of October and November, being just after the season is over, there have been more fires than during any other two consecutive months of the period. The most essential feature in a summer hotel beside the attractiveness of the house and its surroundings is the provision against fire, thus affording safety to the guests and the property. One of the recently constructed hotels, which is up to date in its appointments, has a protective system which might well be imitated by others who contemplate building, also, to a certain extent by those now operating a first class hotel. This is a sub- stantial frame building with first story of stone. Walls are wooden frame covered on the inside with either ex- panded metal or sacket wall board and hard plaster, and also on the outside with expanded metal and Port- land cement. All walls are stopped off at floor levels with brick. Floors are doubled board on joists, with joist spaces stopped at intervals, expanded metal and plaster finish on under side forming ceiling. Roofs are covered with asphalt roofing excepting towers, which have metal. Stairways are shut off by swinging doors. Elevator shafts have also expanded metal and plaster with tin covered doors and wire glass windows in same. Corridors above the first floor are shut off by heavy plank doors, making six sub-divisions. All partitions are of expanded metal and plaster. The heating, light- ing and power plant is in a detached building some dis- tance from the main structure, and not exposing same. The laundry, printing office and kitchen are located in separate buildings. Heated throughout by steam, except fireplace on office floor, lighted by electricity. Automatic sprinklers fed from the gravity water supply of the building are installed throughout halls and cor- ridors above the first floor, also all stairways, elevators and parts of basement, kitchen, laundry and helps' quar- - 7" H E S T A M D A R D ters. The hotel and all its outlying buildings are sur- rounded by a system of underground 8-inch mains, feed- ing 20 fire hydrants, as well as serving large standpipes erected in the building proper, with fire valves and hose equipment on each floor and 90 chemical extinguishers well distributed. Local fire alarm system connected to bell and annunciator in office, two boxes each floor. Also watchman and electric clock. New England Bureau of United Inspection R. W. Hilliand, HE principle of co-operative inspection was first presented on the floor of the New Eng- º'ſ land Insurance Exchange Nov. 20, 1886, by º Mr. E. G. Richards, who moved that a com- " mittee of seven be appointed by the presi- dent to take into careful consideration the subject of in- spection of risks, and devise some plan for a systematic co-operative inspection and supervision of risks to be maintained by the field men of this Exchange, said com- mittee to make an early report. The president appointed Messrs. E. G. Richards, James Bruerton, William A. Francis, George W. Taylor, George P. Field, Henry E. Hess and William R. Gray as such committee. The committee reported Dec. 4, 1886, and special con- sideration given January 15, 1887, when the plan present- ed by the committee received the approval of the Ex- change, and Mr. Geo. P. Field moved that the committe- prepare a form of letter to be sent to the companies. President Geo. W. Taylor in his valedictory address to the Exchange in January, 1887, said: “I am of the opin- ion that the best protected risks will burn unless we have a method of inspection much more thorough and sys- tematic than exists among stock companies. We all know from experience that mills thoroughly fitted up under the supervision of mutual companies, deteriorate rapidly when, for some reason, they come to be insured under stock policies. This is not caused by the fact that the risk is not inspected, for the owner will tell you that he has to employ some person whose time is wholly occupied in showing special agents over the property, and it is nothing uncommon for a special agent to be in- formed that he is the fifth or sixth inspector who has visited the risk in the same week. It is evident, then, that while individual inspection is becoming obnoxious to the assured, it does not result in keeping up to a high standard the condition of the special hazards which we are writing at low rates. It is manifestly unsafe to as- sume that the assured under stock policies will take the same interest in keeping up the protection of his property as will the assured in a mutual company, where he is personally interested in the results; yet I think we agree that the "Mutuals’ owe their success fully as much to their system of inspection as to their methods of pro- tection. Notwithstanding the personal interest of the manufacturer whose property is protected by mutual in- surance, the companies find it absolutely necessary to have experts frequently, and at regular intervals, make thorough inspections; and these experts, having authority to speak for every company on the risk, find no difficulty in securing necessary changes and improvements. In this latter respect the stock companies are again at a disadvantage by their lack of system. A dozen special arents visit a risk, and, possibly, make as many different stºrestions, which the manufacturer either ignores en- tirely ºr is lost in wonder at the many views taken on the sºme subject by men supposed to be experts in their busi; --- If we are to reach anything like the good results in this directiºn which are possible, frequent and intelligent in- spections must be made by a limited number of men who shall have authority to speak for all companies on a given rºl- --- Antil 16th the secretary of the Exchange reported that favorable replies to committee's letter were received from ºr companies, and unfavorable (or not wholly ap- prºving the plan) replies from 15 companies. On June 4, 1887, Chairman Richards reported for the committee on co-operative inspection, giving a complete history of the matter and the report was accepted and committee discharged. The Exchange as a whole did not believe in the wisdom of co-operative inspection on their part, but a few of the members strong in the faith that united inspection was essential to the best conduct of the insurance busi- ness, clung tenaciously to their purpose and on June 18, 1887, a meeting was held at the rooms of the Exchange for the purpose of considering the question of forming a joint inspection bureau outside of the Exchange. There were some twenty companies represented and general interest shown in the movement. A committee was appointed, consisting of Messrs. George W. Babb, Jr., chairman, B. R. Stillman, W. R. Gray, James H. Leighton, James Bruerton, A. C. Adams and James M. Forbush to formulate and submit a plan for consideration. This committee believed that a frequent and thorough inspection of risks with a minimum of time and labor preferable to the system where each company employs its separate inspector or special agent, annoying the manu- facturer or mill owner by needless multiplicity of visits of various and conflicting theories. If this scattering of effort and time among the many could be concentrated by means of a comparatively restricted number each methodically attending to his allotted district, for the benefit of all the companies jointly employing him, it was believed that a deal of unnecessary friction would be saved with infinitely better results to all concerned. Frequent meetings of this committee were held and re- sulted in the following communication being sent to the companies: August 6th, 1887. A meeting of representatives of companies interested in establishing a system of United Inspection of risks in New England was held pursuant to call July 29th. The accompanying plans were submitted as the report of the committee chosen at a previous meeting. These plans are now submitted through you to your company and an early reply is respectfully requested to the follow- ing questions, namely: 1. Will you approve and support either of the accom- panying plans? 2. Which plan do you prefer? 3. Will you give your support to the one of the ac- companying plans which shall receive the approval of the majority of the companies assenting to either plan, pro- viding that it shall be approved by not less than 20 com- panies? We earnestly desire your assistance and influence in securing from your company its early approval of one of the plans proposed, with a request that their reply be promptly forwarded. Yours respectfully, JAMES M. FORRUSH, Secretary of the Meeting. Plan No. 1. Outline of a proposed system of united inspection of risks in the interests of the stock companies to be sub- mitted as a report of the committee to companies doing business in New England. An organization shall be formed among the field men of the subscribing companies which shall be known as the Inspection Bureau. The object of this bureau shall be to furnish to subscribers complete and frequent surveys of important risks in New England, the labor of such in- spection to be done by the field representatives of the subscribing companies. Committee in Charge, The Bureau shall be in charge of a Governing Commit- tee of ºn to be chosen from the field representatives of subscrihin-companies, who shall receive from said com- panies annlications for inspection, shall decide risks to be selected or registered for that purpose: select the inspec- tors therefore prenare forms of survey and have general charge of the inspections of the Bureau. This Governing Committee shall have authority to emnlow a clerk who shall not he in the emplov of anv insurance commanvi *ho shall keen all records and conduct all corresnºn- tenºr of the Burean under the direction of the Grºvern- ing Committee. The committee shall also have nºrthºritv tº in-ur such other expense as mºv he deemed necessary for the proper conducting of the Bureau. Registry of Risks and Appointment of Inspectors. Each risk registered for inspection shall be examined at least four times every twelve months and for this pur- pose the Governing Committee shall select from the field representatives of the subscribing companies four men, one of whom shall be called the chief inspector. It shall be the duty of the chief inspector to make at once an ex- amination of risks committeed to his charge, and to ren- der to the committee a complete and detailed survey with ground plan of same in a general manner which they shall prescribe, and this and all subsequent surveys shall be duplicated in such numbers as may be required by the Bureau. He shall also be responsible for the resurveys of his risks to see that they are made at the proper time and that all faults discovered are promptly remedied. Class of Business to be Inspected. For the present it is the purpose of the Bureau to in- spect only the large and more important manufacturing risks. The Governing Committee shall choose for inspectors of a risk only the field men of subscribing companies and the assignments for inspection shall be as equally distrib- uted among the field men of the subscribers as in the judgment of the committee is practicable in order that the burden of the labor may be borne equitably by all inter- ested. Expense. All surveys will be furnished to each subscribing com- pany and the expenses of the organization will be as- sessed upon the subscribing companies pro rata upon the premiums received by each company upon risks under the charge of the Bureau. For the purpose of providing a sus- taining fund for the organization, each company shall be charged an entering fee of $roo. The Governing Committee will provide a simple system for keeping surveys whereby each company can at any time tell how many risks are in charge of the Bureau. Memorandum. It was suggested that the Governing Committee be also authorized to employ a competent hydraulic engineer who should make expert tests of all fire extinguishing appara- tus in the interest of the Bureau, but as the committee were divided as to the expediency of doing this, it was de- cided to leave this for a special discussion at the meeting. Plan No. 2. The same organization and plan to promulgate collec- tion of surveys as Plan No. 1, but instead of having sur- veys made by the field men of the subscribing companies. the Governing Committee shall be authorized to employ one or more expert surveyors upon salaries, whose time shall be devoted to the service of the Bureau and em- ployed in making said surveys, each company pledging itself to pay the expense of said surveys and other ex- penses of the Bureau on the same basis as proposed in Plan No. 1. At the August meeting of the Exchange Mr. Howard S. Wheelock, special agent of the Royal Insurance Com- pany, introduced a plan of united inspection similar in purpose to the preceding but differing somewhat in de- tails. This plan, however, failed of adoption. The committee receiving satisfactory replies from 32 companies approving Plan No. 2, on Dec. o. 1887, a meet- ing of the companies signing the agreement for an inspec- tion bureau, was held in the rooms of the Exchange with Mr. Samuel P. Blagden, manager of the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company as chairman, and Mr. Edward Lanning as secretary, The following insurance companies were represented: American, Pa., Commercial Union. Connecticut, City of London, Continental, Fireman's Fund, German-Ameri- can, Guardian, Eng., Hartford, Hanover, Home. N. Y., Imperial. Insurance Company of North America, Lon- don & Lancashire. Liverpool & London & Globe, Tib- erty, Northern, Norwich Union. North British & Mer- cantile, National, Conn., Pennsylvania, Phoenix, Conn., Roval, Springfield, Washington. Mr. George W. Babh, Jr., on behalf of the committee. presented a draft of Constitution and Bv-laws, which were accented on the motion of Mr. J. N. Dunham (and with few changes adopted at Dec. 22, 1887 meeting, as the Rules and Regulatiºns of the Bureau) and were so wise- ly framed, that, with a few modifications only, they re- main in force today. -- THE STANDARD On the motion of Mr. Henry E. Hess a committee of five consisting of Messrs, J. ii. Washburn, George W. Badu, Jr., Jalues ii. Leignton, James Bruerton and e-º- Rucuarus were appointeu to nounate a utovernius volu- nullice. I he couluttee reportcu tile lollowing livialisa- tions: City of Louaou, Connecticut, Continental, ºvul- mercial union, uerman-American, Guarulan, rioine, ºx- Y., iian over, Haruoru, insurance Coupany or -orth America, Liverpool & Lonuon & ulode, worthern, Nor- wich union, National, Conn., North British & Mercan- tue, Niagara, rhoenix, Conn., ixoyal, Spring neid, wasn- ington, and they were elected as the urst Governing -uuuuuttee. - inus the New England Bureau of United inspection starteu unuer the most avorable auspices and became at once a leature aluous Line insurance organizations ol. Lill- city and elsewhere. It was giauly welcoined and the ice- ing prevalued that a step in the right unrection nau been t-en- - 1ne president of the Exchange at that time, Henry E. Hess, relerred to the matter in us valeucuory audrºss at the nitn annual meeting, Saturday Jan. 7th, lobe, as tol- lows: - ºn the early part of the year an effort to establish a system or uniteu inspecuon within the Exchange was maue but laueu of success owing to the impossiutity of securing unanimous support irou, the coupaules, as * was it it tual unicss all tile colupanies w--- interested tnerein it could not consistently be conuucted by the tº Cilausc. 1Inc. colupanies utsuring such Sysiciu ol united inspecuon nave increiore established it as a bureau inº- peuuent and outside of the excuange. it is to be re- greateu tuat a line of work so direcux collateral to that of the ractory improvement Conuuttee could not tº carrieq on within the Exchange, but we have the satislaº- tion of leeing that it is in Lue manus of the tºxchangº members whose aim would be to keep it in harmony with Exchange metnous, line establishment on this bureau of united inspection naturally suggests the advantages that might accrue with the stock interests could a system be inaugurated whereby at least all large manufacturing risks might be examined at regular intervals by trained inspectors whose requirements or suggestions being sup- ported by all the companies on the risk would have a power or good quite lacking in our present system. I feel that you will agree with me in the statement that the larger the risk the more visits it receives irom us, the least attention does the assured pay to our intended sug- gestions. It is only after attention has been repeatedly called to a defect that the assured proceeds to remedy it, and he does so then, either because tired of so often hear- ing about it, or atraid that the many objecting companies will cancel their policies. No one can doubt that 11 oil- inspector could speak for all the companies interested in a request that its deficiencies when pointed out would be much more promptly and thoroughly remedied. 1887. Organization of First Governing Committee- The Governing Committee at a regular meeting Dec. 19. 1887 unanimously elected Mr. George W. Babb, Jr., as chairman, Mr. A. C. Adams as treasurer, and Mr. Ed- ward Lanning as temporary clerk, and later adopted rules for the regulation of the Governing Committee * well as forms of survey blanks for inspectors to use ºn inspecting risks and forms to be printed and sent to members. A room was engaged in the Williams Build- ing, 71 Kilby street, º in 1888, from which office the rst surveys were issued. fi † 3. the masterful hand of Mr. George W. Babb, Jr., as the first chairman, the foundations were well laid and the important work of moulding the policy of the bureau so that the relations between the companies and the manufacturers would be most helpful and pleasant carried to a successful end. Mr. Babb gave liberally of his time and thought to the publication of the surveys and the correspondence with manufacturers all through his administration. - The shoe factories of Brockton were considered by the Governing Committee as needing attention and the first inspection made was that of the Geo. E. Keith shoe face tory on Feb. 6, 1888, by Capt. Thos. L. Churchill, the first inspector. (He came to the Bureau from the Manu- facturers' Mutual Insurance Company, where he had been a valuable inspector with a large and varied experi- ence.) Guttapercha cement was in use inside the Keith actory at the time, and the Governing Committee recom- mended that it be removed outside, and on reb. 21st it was reported to members that a building had been erected ior the purpose. Mr. Horace H. Soule, Jr., was elected the first clerk of the Bureau Jan. 20, 1888. He resigned in February, 1888, and was succeeded by Mr. J. Herbert Emery, who became an inspector in May, 1888, at which time Mr. R. Walter Hulliard entered upon his duties as clerk. The inspecting iorce periormed sausiactory work for the first year, but it was small, and the Governing Com- mittee thought it best to go slowly at first, as valuable experience was gained at each inspection and utilized in later surveys. - Three hundred and fifty-three inspections were made and a considerable number of detects corrected and im- provements made in are protection in plants inspected. The Governing Committee held the inspectors up to a high standard in this iormative period and constantly im- proved the quality of the work. President Henry R. Turner, referring to the Bureau in his valedictory address Jan. 5th, 1889, said: "That in- stitution also stands an honor to its presiding officer, whose originality of ideas, and strong personality as an organizer has in a few short months marked the Bureau with every indication of permanent success. It is but another evidence of what co-operation and mutual trust and understanding can do." 1889 to 1894. Mr. George P. Field, manager of the Royal Insurance Company, was elected the second chair- man in February, 1889, and continued until January, 1894. He brought to the position those excellent qualities of administrative and executive ability, of which he is a past master, gave freely of his time and thought, and so de- veloped and enlarged the system that it gained in power and popularity. Under his administration 25 new com- panies were added; the Governing Committee was in- creased to 25; 1,121 originals and 8,105 resurveys, a total of 9,226, were made; quarterly meetings were abolished; a plan department was established, which has been one of the important features; a testing apparatus for the pur- pose of testing corroded and detective sprinkler heads was installed, and five additional inspectors, Edward F. Everett, E. A. Northey, Lemuel Pope, Geo. H. Robinson and Jas. H. L. Coon, were placed on the force. Chair- man Field was active in his endeavors to have the com- panies keep their special agents away from plants which were under the care of the Bureau. His administration was eminently successful and characterized as having en- countered no serious trouble with the agents, assured or the companies. 1894. Mr. James M. Forbush, general agent of the German-American Insurance Company, was elected the third chairman in January, 1894, but having accepted a position in the home office of the German-American in New York in October, 1894, the duties of chair- man for the balance of the year were most cred- itably performed by Vice-Chairman Francis H. Stevens. During this year one company was added, and two inspectors, Milton F. Jones and Alexander C. Jen- kins, were added to the list; 122 originals and 2,354 resur- veys were made; inspection of the electrical equipments was begun; new forms of survey blanks for inspectors use were adopted; a general information bulletin was pub- lished; analysis of lacquers, tire cement, insulac, etc. re- ported to members. Rate of assessment reduced to 4 per cent on premiums in force March 1st. In his annual report Mr. Forbush commended the sug- gestion of the amalgamation of the Exchange and the Bureau as recommended by President A. C. Adams of the Exchange, believing that “they should have a common membership, a common management and a joint home. Every stock company transacting business in New Eng- land reaps benefit from its surveys and every such com- pany should contribute proportionately to its support." He also referred to the possible development of the work of the Bureau in the line of inspection of mercantile risks. 1895 to 1899. Mr. A. K. Simpson, assistant manager of the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company of California, was elected the fourth chairman in January, 1895, and continued until January, 1899. He believed that the Bu- reau had no "axes to grind" but had a mission to per- form, namely, the gathering together and promulgation to its members of unprejudiced tacts. He took the helm when there was considerable difference of opinion as to the advisability of uniting the Bureau with the Exchange, several companies withdrawing from the Bureau in 1895, he piloted the ship through the tempestuous seas, taking in sail and weathering the gale with abuty and marked success. During his administration twelve come panies were added to the Bureau; greatly increased work was done by the inspectors, 479 original surveys, and 13,539 resurveys, a total of 14,018 surveys being made; sprinkler equipments were given especial attention under the new standard of 1896 of the Exchange, mimeograph printing of surveys was adopted in sending surveys to companies, which has been in use ever since, the Bureau became a member of the National Fire Protection Asso- ciation; a uniform survey was adopted in sending report- of the inspection of plants to members, which has been eminently satisfactory; lithograph plan giving ground plan of plants inspected was adopted, reprinting and re- original work was carried on to a large extent, and the descriptive summary applied to all our surveys in preter- ence to the limited summary formerly used. 1899 to 1902. Mr. Moses R. Emerson, general agent of the Home Insurance Company of New York, was elected the fifth chairman in January, 1899, and served until January, 1902. On account of his illness during the latter part of 1901 the duties of the office were faithfully performed by Vice-Chairman Henry R. Turner. During this administration six new companies were admitted, two new inspectors, William R. Davis and Edmund L. Moore, were added to the force; 455 original surveys and 8.7 resurveys, making a total of 9,151 surveys, were made; the amount of insurance required to be carried quality- ing plans for inspection was reduced to $25,000, section plan work in cities was commenced, immediate service requests were introduced for special surveys by compa- nies; card index for surveys was issued and periected, and the general work of the Bureau was raised in effi- ciency. Vice-Chairman Turner referred to Mr. Emerson in his report as follows: "His strong guiding hand, his sound, sensible, practical mind and strength of purpose in the interest of the Bureau made its impress on the work, commanding the respect of the members, the property holders and of all coming under his influence." Mr. Emerson passed to his reward on July 19, 1902, and resolutions in his memory were adopted and spread upon the records. 1902. Mr. Henry R. Turner, general agent of the Greenwich Insurance Company, of New York, was elect- ed the sixth chairman in January, 1902, and has carried the work along in the spirit of his predecessors, main- taining the same pleasant relation with the assured which has been one of the features of administration. There have been added 11 new companies and the list is as fol- lows: Aachen & Munich, Aetna, Agricultural, Ameri- can Central, American, Mass. American, Pa., Atlas A- surance, British America, Commercial Union, Eng., Commercial Union, N. Y., Continental, Delaware, Equit- able F. & M., R. L., Fire Association of Philadelphia, Fireman's Fund, German, German Alliance, German- American, Germania, Greenwich, Hamburg-Bremen, Hanover, Hartford, Home, N. Y., Home F. & M., Cal., Indemnity, Insurance Company of North America, Kings County, Law, Union & Crown, London Assur- ance, London & Lancashire, Mercantile, National Union, New Hampshire, New York Underwriters' Agency, Niagara, Northern Assurance, Norwich Union, Orient, Palatine, Pennsylvania, Phoenix, Eng., Phoenix, Conn., Providence-Washington, Royal Exchange, Security, Conn., Springfield F. M., Spring Garden, State, Sun In- surance Office, National, Ireland, Traders', Thuringia, Union Assurance, Victoria, Westchester, Western, Can. Three new inspectors have been added. Leonard Wes- son, F. K. Mitchell and Charles E. McCarthy. New ap- paratus for testing sprinklers has been installed. The rules and regulations now in force are as follows: Article 1.-This organization shall be known as the New England Bureau of United Inspection. Article 2–Its object shall be to make complete and --- º T// E S T A M D A A' D frequent surveys of important risks in New England, and to furnish reports of same to the subscribing companies, and to secure the correction of defects and deficiencies when such are found. Article 3-The Bureau shall be in charge of a Govern- ing Committee of twenty-five, to be annually chosen from the subscribing companies, and shall serve until their successors are chosen. The companies so chosen shall notify the clerk in writing, designating the person selected to act for them, and may also name a substitute who shall have full power to act for the company in the absence of the first designated person. Article 4.—The Governing Committee shall, after their selection, organize by electing one of their number chairman, and another treasurer, and shall notify the sub- scribing members of such elections when made. Article 5-The Governing Committee shall receive from the members applications for inspections, and shall decide the risks to be selected or registered for that pur- pose; select, hire and direct the inspectors therefor, and see that defects or deficiencies discovered by inspectors are promptly corrected. Article 6.-The Governing Committee shall have au- thority to hire a room for the use of the Bureau, and to employ a clerk, who shall also act as secretary of the Governing Committee and who shall not be in the em- ploy of any other insurance company. The committee shall also have authority to incur such other expenses as may be deemed necessary for the proper conducting of the Bureau. They shall forward to each member a re- port of such surveys for which they are subscribers, un- der such form as they shall prepare. Article 7-The treasurer shall receive, hold and dis- burse the moneys of the Bureau, under the direction of the Governing Committee. He shall deposit the funds of the Bureau in bank in the name of the New England Bureau of United Inspection. He shall keep books of account showing the cash transactions, and shall serve without pay. Article 8-The clerk shall have charge of the room and papers of the Bureau, shall make and keep records of the meetings of the Bureau and of the Governing Com- mittee, shall conduct correspondence under the direction of the Governing Committee, and perform such other service as the said committee may require. Article 9-It shall be the duty of the inspectors to make an examination of the risks committed to their charge, and to render to the committee a complete de- tailed survey in the general manner which they shall prescribe, particularly reporting all defects and deficien- cies discovered. They shall keep a record of the dates of their surveys, and shall be responsible for resurveys at proper intervals, as directed by the Governing Com- mittee. Article Io. The subscribing companies may be repre- sented at meetings of the Bureau by any officer or man- ager of said companies, or by their New England special or general agents, but by no other persons. Article 11–It is the privilege of any subscribing com- pany to request the Governing Committee to place upon the inspection list any large and important risk upon which they are carrying insurance, the decision resting with the Governing Committee, as per Article 5. Article 12-The Governing Committee may call special meetings of all the members when they deem it desira- ble, and they shall call a special meeting whenever re- quested so to do by ten or more members. All such meetings shall be called to order by the clerk, and a chairman shall be selected from the members present. Article 13–In case any subscribing company shall de- sire to reinsure a portion of its liability upon a risk which is registered in this Bureau for Inspecton, it is strongly recommended to procure such reinsurance from some other subscribing company, if possible. In making returns of premiums derived from risks which are regis- tered, no deduction is to be made for reinsurance unless such are placed with other members of the Bureau. Article 14-Any company desiring admission as a member of the Bureau must be proposed by a member, receive an affirmative vote of three-fourths of the entire membership, pay a membership fee of $250, and an annual sustaining fee of $oo, and subscribe to the rules of the Bureau, and signify whether they elect to subscribe for all surveys made by the Bureau or only such surveys of risks as are not under automatic sprinkler protection. Any company desiring to withdraw from the Bureau may do so atter having given written notice to the chairman of the Governing Committee thirty days previously, and paying all dues and obligations to the end of the fiscal year. Any company represented in the office of a mem- ber and not receiving a separate set of surveys may be admitted without payment of membership fee. Article 15-The expenses of the Bureau, beyond the sums received from the membership and annual sustain- ing fees, shall be assessed upon the subscribing com- panies pro rata upon the premiums received by each com- pany on such risks under charge of the Bureau as they are subscribers to and have received surveys for. The subscribing companies are to make such returns of pre- miums when called upon so to do by the Governing Com- mittee. The minimum assessment to be received from such subscribing companies not be be less than $100 for active members, and $50 for associate members. The Governing Committee is empowered to make such as- sessments upon the premiums returned as they may, from time to time, deem advisable. Article 16–These rules and regulations may be al- tered or amended at any regular or special meeting of the members, by a majority vote of the members pres- ent, provided such affirmative vote comprises not less than twenty votes, due notice of the proposed alterations or amendments having been mailed at least two weeks previous to the date of the meeting at which such altera- tions or amendments are to be submitted. Article 17–Upon the request of any member, votes shall be taken by companies, each company being enti- tled to one vote. Article 18–Inasmuch as this is a private enterprise, supported entirely by the subscribing members, all com- panies having interests in New England having had an opportunity of participating, it is, therefore, made a rule of this Bureau that every member shall treat all its affairs as confidential, and no survey or report shall be shown to any person who is not a representative of a company which is a member. Article 19–When more than one company transacts a general agency business in the same office, each com- pany so represented must be a member of this Bureau, or failing to be, any member associated in such general agency shall cease to be eligible for membership. The officers now in charge of the Bureau who were elected in February, 1902, are: Chairman, Henry R. Turner; Vice Chairman, James H. Leighton; Treasurer, Frederick B. Carpenter; Secretary, R. Walter Hilliard; Executive Committee, Henry R. Turner, James H. Leighton, A. K. Simpson, H. L. Hiscock, J. L. Liecty. The remark which President Henry R. Turner made in his opening address to the Exchange Jan. 14, 1888, seems appropriate in connection with his association with the Bureau at the present time. “Let the ever-increasing proofs of successful establishment which we find today bind us in equity and stability stronger and stronger." The Bureau now has some 2,200 plants under its super- vision and these plants are visited from two to three times a year by the inspectors. If important matters need correction or improvement is required notice is immediately sent to the owner or occupant requesting attention and followed up until corrected. - As a sample of the work the Bureau has been doing for the past fifteen years the following is a list of the improvements and correction of defects which have been secured in one of the years: in construction- Fire doors repaired in------ ------------------ ------ 223 Fire doors furnished or improved by tinning on both sides ... ------------------------------- ----------, 144 Door frames tinned in. ------- --------- ------------ , 26 Fire shutters provided or repaired in---------- - - - - 55 Elevator hatches or stairway doors fitted or repaired in --------------- ------ . . . . . . . . . . . . --------------- 75 Elevator wells cleaned up in----------------------- 28 Chutes repaired and doors fitted to openings------ 18 Doors or windows bricked up in. ------------------- 15 Plastering repaired in ------- ---------------------- 68 openings in walls or elevators closed up in---------- 177 Openings in floors closed up in......... ------------- 3 Window glass repaired in....................... ---- 41 Skylights protected in.............................. 323 Stone or metal sills provided under fire doors...... 30 1,226 - - - In Hazards. Chimney repaired in............................... 23 Stove, boiler or furnace funnel adjusted or repaired in -----------------------------------------------. Woodwork exposed by stove funnel, or stoves pro- tected in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - 29 Wood exposed by steam pipes removed or protected, or bushings provided in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Woodwork exposed by boiler protected in........... 17 Woodwork exposed by boiler tunnel protected in.... 4 Woodwork about cupola protected in....... - - - - - - - - IO Woodwork about forge protected in.............. --- 19 Metal placed under stoves or forges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Gas brackets fitted with guards or woodwork pro- tected in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - - - - - - - - - ---. 253 Metal lamps or cases for glass in......... ---------- 29 Glass lamps discarded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Caul boxes repaired or cleaned, and better attention promised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I2 Benzine or naphtha removed outside in. . . . . . . . . . . -- 52 Metal cans substituted for other for lampblack in.... 126 Metal cans substituted for glass or stoneware for holding benzine in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ------- 95 Metal can substituted for other for charcoal....... - 27 Oily waste, rags and old rubbish removed and better attention promised in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Better attention promised to sweepings............. 48 Smoking stopped in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ------ - - - - - - - - - - - I9 * --------. I,317 Fire Protection. Pumps provided in ......... ------ ------------ ------ 4 Pumps put in order in.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Pipe to pump repaired in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IO Tank filled in............... ----------------------- - 50 Tank repaired in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ---. 29 Tank protected from freezing in.......... --------- 15 Low-water indicator fitted in.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Low-water indicator repaired in... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Attention promised to neglected casks and pails. . . . 458 Additional casks and pails provided in.......... ---. 459 Pails of sand supplied in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . --- 31 Waste cans or covers furnished in................ ... 63 Waste cans repaired in... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ----- 19 Additional thermostats provided in............... -- 52 Thermostat system repaired in... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Watch-clock repaired in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 89 Additional hydrant provided in.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Hydrants repaired in ............... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Hose repaired in ....... ---------------------------- 12 Hose pipe provided in.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ----------- IO Hose nozzles attached or provided in.... . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Hose replaced or provided in............ ........... 48 I,514 In Special Features. Sand substituted for sawdust spittoons or latter re- moved in ............ --------- ------------------- 86 Cutting-board scrapings removed, and better atten- tion promised in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - - - - - - 27 Rubber cement removed outside in.................. 16 Oilproof promised to be hereafter mixed outside in. 4 Oilproof removed outside in........................ 2 Wood kit box removed in.......................... 8 Metal placed under McKay stitchers, Cable Screw, or Eppler Machines . . . . . . . . . . . ..................... 75 Metal can for ashes provided in..................... 22 Lacquers removed, or 90-degree flesh test guaran- teed in ............... - - - - - - - - - - - - ---------------- 36 276 Electrical. Wires bushed through walls and partitions........ 185 Wires where slack, tightened .................. ----- 49 Wires of approved insulation provided.............. 30 Dead ends protected ...... ----------------- ... ... 8 Main conductors from dynamo put in plain sight.... 17 -- T H E JS. T.A. N. D.A. R. D. Flexible wires removed from hooks, nails, pipes and woodwork and other wires............... . . . . . . . . . 272 Wooden cleats, rosettes, cut-outs and fuse boxes and fixtures removed, and porcelain substituted. . . . . . . . 26o Waterproof cover provided for dynamo or motor. 120 Dynamo or motor raised and filled base provided... 8 Non-combustible insulating bases provided for rheo- stats, switches, boards, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Switchboard rewired and made standard, non-com- bustible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Fuses and cut-outs covered. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Transformers moved outside of buildings in. . . . . . . . Arc lamps provided with spark arrester in---------- 59 Carbons protected from falling out in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Globes provided for arc lamps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Gas fixtures insulated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ---------- 1- Complete equipment overhauled and made standard. 56 Equipment rewired . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ----------- Fuses and cut-outs put on main wires where enter- ing buildings ------------------------------------ 203 Weather loop provided . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -------------- 57 Joints soldered ------------------------------------ 26 Metal tipped fuse provided. ------------------------- 35 Dead wire removed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -------- 25 Wires protected in damp places. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack-knife switch changed so gravity would tend to open --------------------------------------------- 25 Sprinkler Corrections. Additional sprinklers provided in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452 Obstructions affecting efficiency of sprinklers re- moved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ----------------- 410 Automatic alarm valve or gong repaired in. . . . . . . . . . 22 Sprinkler heads cleaned in.... ---------------------- 18 Dry-pipe system of sprinklers changed to wet-pipe, securing better attention ------------------------- 6 Additional supply to sprinklers secured in. . . . . . . . . . 5 Sprinklers found shut off on account of cold weather have been turned on, and rooms heated contain- ing same in... ------------------------------------ 16 Painted or corroded sprinkler heads replaced by clean heads Sprinkler heads placed in better position in... . . . . . . 16i Outside supply pipe to sprinklers or sprinkler risers protected from freezing in ---------------------- 6 Sprinkler heads straightened in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I4 Sprinkler heads repaired in. . . . . . . . . . . . . ----------- 17 Sprinkler heads replaced in... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Sprinkler pipes repaired in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Sprinkler pipes enlarged in-----------------------. 35 Sprinkler pipes extended in. ----------------------- 117 Sprinkler valve adjusted in-------------------------- 6 Pipe to outside sprinklers repaired in---------------- 3 Found valves shut in.... --------------------------- 15 New valve in sprinkler system provided in. . . . . . . . . . 36 Test pipes provided in. ----------------------------- 120 Improper circulation stopped in------------------- 42 Equipment made standard in. ----------------------- 6 1,623 Making a total of 7,743 corrections in one year. We have made tests of apparatus since organization as follows: Sprinkler systems ------------------------- over 16,ooo Pumps . . . . . . . . . . --------------------------- . 8,500 Hydrants ---------------------------------- 3,300 Hose . . . . . . . . . . . . . ------------------------- * 1,850 Thermostats ------------------------------- “ 3,200 Totals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ---------------- “ 32,850 At the end of fifteen years of conscientious work it can be modestly claimed that the investment which the com: panies have made in United Inspection has been returned to them many fold. organized in the spirit of helpfulness to manufactur- ers, maintained by the wisdom of the chairmen selected, Messrs. Geo. W. Babb, Jr., Geo. P. Field, James M. For- bush, A. K. Simpson, Moses R. Emerson and Henry R. Turner, assisted by James H. Leighton, A. C. Adams Benj. R. Stillman, Frederick B. Carpenter, J. L. Liecty and others, to its high purpose statement of fact, correction of defects, improvement of protection and mutual co-operation for the best practical interests of the plants inspected, the Bureau has steadily per- formed its duty. It has not only proved of profit to its members, but all companies doing business in New Eng- land have reaped benefit from its work. The assured have also felt its influence of helpfulness in preventing the occurrence of fires and its periodical inspections convey an impression that the companies have a commen interest with the property owners in the good results attainable by systematic and United Inspection. Underwriters' Bureau of New England Henry A. Fiske. HE Underwriters' Bureau of New England, otherwise known as the “Private Bureau," is an organization among fourteen com- panies for inspection of the sprinklered risks on which they carry lines and for the collection of information and experience in relation to underwriting this class. During 1887, the New England special agents of the Phenix Insurance Company of Brooklyn and the Queen Insurance Co. of England, Messrs. U. C. Crosby and E. G. Richards united in a friendly exchange of their inspection reports and information on numerous risks including the then small but rapidly growing class of risks protected by automatic sprinklers. These gentle- men are still interested in the Bureau, Mr. Crosby as president of the New Hampshire Fire Ins. Co., and Mr. Richards as United States manager of the North British & Mercantile Insurance Co., both Bureau members. They first employed for their companies as inspector, Mr. George F. Smith, who afterwards became assistant manager of the Factory Insurance Association. After a short time, Mr Richards became secretary of the National Fire Insurance Co. of Hartford and that com- pany then shared in the inspection work. The next company to join was the New Hampshire, all four com- panies having then their local office at 30 Congress St., Boston, Mass. An assistant inspector, Mr. Everett U. Crosby, was soon added. In 1892, it became apparent that additional inspectors were needed and two more were employed. At about that time, the work was con- ducted under the title "Department of Sprinkled Risks,” with Mr. Everett U. Crosby as manager. Several additional companies joined in the movement in the years 1892 to 1894, so that when the Bureau was established as such in November, 1894, there were thir- teen companies members and four inspectors. Mr. Everett U. Crosby was the first manager and secretary of the Bureau and held the position until February, 1900, when he resigned to become general agent at New York with the North British & Mercantile Insurance Co. Under Mr. Crosby's management, the Bureau steadily grew in size and value to its members and did much pioneer work in the line of organized and scien- tific inspection, investigation of hazards, and application of advanced methods of fire protection. The writer, for a number of years inspector with the Bureau, was appointed manager and secretary to succeed Mr. Crosby, and holds these offices at the present time, there now being a large office force and corps of inspectors, the Bureau occupying one-half the building 93 Water St., Boston, Mass. The Bureau is unique in several respects, among which may be mentioned: limited number of companies mem- bers and the disinclination of the members to materially increase this number; the governing principle of making all inspections and investigations from the view point of the improved risk underwriter; and finally the meet- ing of the special agents every other week to carefully consider the reports and the work of the Bureau, and to exchange ideas or information which may be of mutual interest and value. Great credit must be given Mr. U. C. Crosby and his superior officer Mr. C. C. Little of the Phenix Insurance Company, for their active assistance and guidance in the early years of this work, and they were among the first to realize the value of automatic sprinkler pro- tection when coupled with intelligent inspection. It then, this work was found to be valuable at that time, how much more important it must be at the present time with fire protection methods becoming more and more complicated and the number of protected risks rapidly increasing. The membership of the Bureau consists of: Phenix Ins. Co., New York. Queen Ins. Co., New York. National Fire Ins. Co., Hartford. German American Ins. Co., New York. Phoenix Insurance Co., Hartford. New Hampshire Fire Ins. Co., Manchester. Springfield Fire & Marine Ins. Co., Royal Ins. Co., Liverpool. Liverpool & London & Globe Ins. Co. Aetna Insurance Co., Hartford. Scottish Union & National Ins. Co. Home Ins. Co., New York. North British & Mercantile Ins. Co. Fire Association of Philadelphia. H. A. Fiske, Secretary and Manager. E. B. Cowles, Treasurer. Executive Committee-J. B. Cornish, G. A. Furness, H. L. Hiscock. Inspectors-C. M. Whitaker, Gorham Dana, H. C. Newell, J. H. Derby, R. S. Cleaves, F. M. Blake, G. H. Spooner. Boston Board of Fire Underwriters --- B. B. Wºuri-to- IE first attempt at organization by insurance companies occurred in 1866, when in many cities in the country tariffs of rates were ar- ranged and printed for general distribution. * This proved, as it afterward appeared, to be the most unfortunate experience in the business, since it introduced an army of agents and solicitors into the field, who, but for the information afforded them by these tar- iffs would never have been able to intelligently solicit business. These organizations continued with varying fortunes and very little beneficial effect up to 1871, when the conflagration of Chicago produced a loss of nearly $200,oooooo followed by the failure of a large number of insurance companies. The survivors being sadly crippled, immediately came together in an organization known as the National Board of Fire Underwriters, who proceeded to establish tariffs of rates throughout the country on a scale hitherto unknown and so high that the companies were justified in believing that their fallen fortunes would soon be retrieved. This hope, however, was rudely dispelled by the con- flagration in Boston in 1872, when many companies, in- cluding all but two of the Boston companies, twenty in number, were compelled to suspend business. Immedi- ately another upward turn was given to the rates by a decree of the National Board and a large flow of premi- ums was realized by the insurance companies. Mean- while sixteen of the Boston companies had re-organized and local affairs were administered by the Boston Fire Underwriters' Union. As had been expected, the extra- ordinary success of the business under ordinary losses became so pronounced that many new companies were organized and competition set in with such vigor that in 1875 a rate war followed so aggressive, that organiza- tions throughout the country became disintegrated and finally abandoned all attempts at rate making. The busi- ness of fire insurance thereafter fell into a most demor- alized condition, discouraging alike to companies and their representatives, and so continued until 1881, when the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters was organized and proceeded to the business of rate making with the utmost caution and with the determination that conserve atism should mark its future operations. The results which the past twenty years have shown, -- 7 H E S TA W D A R D amply justified the prudence of these early times, lue al-uly 9 uus boaru uas been soulethung unique in the history or such organizations and it may be said has are--y utpºuaca on the character of the agents consu- tuuus its includership. wulie some ucreuctions irom uu-y and ºtpartures iron strict aucrºtuce to tuc concil- tious or its rules may nave occu suspected, yet on the wuoit the unswerving all-giance of its incumbers has been -- auturallic as it ua- loccin citective. line urst president on thus association was Albert Bowker. His successors in once were in the Iollowing oruer: Samuel Appleton, J. Edward Hollis, John we Porter, ºilaries tº uuud, B. B. Whittemore, Aured M. Bullard, Robert A. Boit, Edward D. Blake, and Freder- ick B. Carpenter. Among the persons whose character and innuence or good were let by the association in its earlier uays, we would mention Isaac Sweetzer, president oi tue washington insurance Company of Boston; John C. abbott, pressuent on the Snoe & Leather insurance Coupany, une Balches, father and son, of the Boylston; ºrcs.ucus ºsborne of the Neptune and Curtis of the Luot but we shall long remember the presence of John º, range, whose brilliant intellect and persuasive power easily placed hunu in the toremost rank of the under- --------- our tune. or our secretary, Osborne Howes, who has occupied his position continuously since the organization of the Boston rare underwriters' Union to the present time, a period or more than thirty years, it is our duty, as it is our privilege, to say that to his wise counsels, his large experience in the operations of our association, his in- teugent study of the best methods pertaining to his de- paruent and to his persuasive tongue and facile pen, we owe very much of the success which our association has achieved. A veteran, indeed, we cannot better signalize our twentieth anniversary than by here and now extend- ing him our most hearty thanks and best wishes for his unure well are and happiness. Concerning the value of the services rendered by the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters during the past twen- ty years, it may be said, briefly, that it has demonstrated the act that such an organization may be maintained, alike ior the benefit of the insurance companies, whom it represents, and the public, whom it serves. Conserva- tism has been the foundation of its past success and pru- dence must be the guarantee of its future maintenance. While it has sought to uphold a reasonable tariff of rates, it has been the patron of every device that could success- fully check the fire waste, and consequently reduce the cost of insurance. It has been instrumental in securing wholesome building laws, and has been prompt in recog- nizing by reduced rates all improvements in the construc- tion of buildings and every form of effective fire protec- tion. By its intelligent supervision, it has rendered it possible ior the public to use the various forms of elec- ºrical energy which modern discoveries have developed, with facility and comparative safety. Its system of sched- ule rating, adopted some years since, has secured rea- sonable advantages to the insurance companies, and has won the confidence of the public in the fairness of its ap- plication. In short, this association has entered so large- ly into the mercantile and industrial life of our city that it is difficult to conceive of other than the most cordial relations existing between it and our citizens, who are familiar with its operations. The New Hampshire Association --- * One Who Knows.” N the 31st day of August, 1885, the day on which Gov. Currier signed the valued-policy law, and on which all the foreign fire insur- ance companies doing business in New Hampshire cancelled all their agencies and left the state, five or six men, at the invitation of an in- surance agent, organized a mutual company under the general laws. Within two or three months that example was followed by others and there were soon both stock and mutual companies in fullblast in the Granite State. 1 he laws of 1885 prohibited a combination of the com- panies organized under the laws of other states, but said nothing about such a combination of domestic compa- nues. 1 he oncers of the new companies reit the need of concurrent action to secure the conduct of the busi- ness on a sound basis. It was not so much a question of rates. There were not companies enough to provide for all the business that was to be done. 1 he new coin- panies were also getting their knowledge by experience— a severe teacher, who generally exacts a high rate of tui- tion. But it was felt that concert of action would be beneficial in more ways than one. After some preliminary conferences, on February io, 1886, the officers of four stock and thirteen mutual com- panies met at the Eagle Hotel in Concord and organized the New Hampshire Board of Underwriters. At an ad- journed meeting a constitution was adopted which has controlled the Association down to the present day, with- out change except in the number of the executive commit- tee, and in the provision by which the loreign companies were invited to be present as advising visitors, on their return to the state in the winter of 1889-90. During this period there have been ten stock compa- nies and seventeen mutual companies that have becn members of the Board. At the present time there are six stock and two mutual companies, the others having gone out of existence, when the return of the non-state companics rendered their continuance unnecessary. Hon. Oliver Pillsbury, the insurance commissioner, who had agreed to accept the office of president of one of the new companies, was the first president of the board. He decided, however, to retain his office as com- missioner and soon withdrew. He was succeeded by A. F. Howard, the secretary of the Granite State Fire Insur- ance Company, who is the present incumbent. The duties of the Board have been discharged by an executive committee which has varied in number from five to nine. This committee has always held monthly meetings with frequent extra meetings. As these meet- ings always take a whole day, it will be seen that a very considerable amount of the business life in every year of the members of the committee has been devoted to the general supervision of the insurance business of the state. In 1892 the Board assumed the duty of the inspection of electric light wiring. Since then, so far as known, every installation of wires for electric lights has been inspected and many of them several times. The "Na- tional Electric Code" has been rigidly and uniformly en- forced. The Board has also furnished plans and specifications for the equipment of a large number of manufacturing establishments with sprinklers. In this of late years the Board has had the co-operation of the Underwriters' Bu- reau of New England. During the first years of its ex- istence this work was wholly done by its own members. The Board has also done a large amount of police work in the examination by its own inspector of mercantile as well as manufacturing risks and secured thereby the elimination of a great deal of hazardous defects in con- struction, such as defective and insufficient chimneys, and the removal of accumulation of rubbish in store cellars and in the proximity of stores. The prevention of the keeping of benzine and naphtha, and the removal of ex- cessive quantities of this dangerous substance from druggists' store, plumbers' shops, etc., has also been a subject of special care. The prevention of fires has been no less the aim of the Board than the establishment of rates and the securing of the observance of the rules by the agents and compa- nies, and it is believed that the efforts in both directions have been of value not only to the insurance companies but to the people of the state. In 1895 the Board prepared a schedule for the rating of the summer hotels and boarding houses in the state. No attempt was made to make it applicable to this class of risks in other localities and conditions dif- fering from those in this state. It has been found to pro- duce a more equitable rating of this class of risks than previously existed and has caused the elimination of many defects and the introduction of improved protec- tion. The experience of seven years has not resulted in any material change in the schedule first adopted. The Board has made use of the various schedules adopted elsewhere in New England for the rating of tex- tile manufactories, paper mills, electric light and power stations and car barns, as well as those for wood workers, which have not been put to actual use elsewhere. It has not yet been deemed expedient to apply the mercantile schedule, though the plan has frequently been seriously considered. The Insurance Association of Providence, R. I. --- W. P. Goodwin. El COMPLETE history of the formation and | work of the Insurance Association of Provi- | dence would involve so much that only a brief outline can be given on this occasion. The older underwriters will always remem- ber the bitter experiences during the years just previous to 1883, when competition in rates and irregularities in practice had carried rates to a point which made the work of the agent unprofitable to himself or his compa- nies and in the outlook there seemed to be no prospect of relief. Shortly after the New England Insurance Exchange had crystallized from an unorganized body into a work- ing organization, the urgent need of relorm and reor- ganization in Providence was brought to the attention of the local underwriters and led to the first steps toward reform. On March 2, 1883, a few of the Providence under- writers assembled at the office of Snow & Barker. There were present at the meeting, Geo. T. Paine, C. C. Arm- strong, Herbert M. Shove, Geo. L. Shepley, Geo. H. Bunce, Henry R. Barker, Charles S. Durice, John R. Dorrance, Frederick W. Arnold, Edward S. Babbitt and Asa Lyman. The meeting was called to order by Mr. Shepley and Geo. T. Paine was chosen chairman and C. C. Armstrong secretary. The business then considered was the subject of establishing a tariff of rates on summer hotels in Rhode Island, resulting in the appointment of a committee of three, comprising Messrs. Barker, Shepley and Durfee to act and report at a subsequent meeting. In this small beginning the Insurance Association of Providence originated, and of those present only five are still in the business. In the latter part of March the above committee re- ported, submitting a tariff of rates proposed on summer hotels in Rhode Island. This tariff was adopted by the meeting, which comprised nearly all of the local under- writers. After this business President Paine stated to the meeting that a committee of the Insurance Exchange was in the city and desired to meet the underwriters of Providence, whereupon it was voted that said commit- tee be invited to meet the local body that afternoon. Of the eighteen local underwriters then present there remain in the business Messrs. Geo. H. Bunce, James E. Tillin- ghast, Geo. L. Shepley, Charles H. Beach and William P. Goodwin, the remainder having died or gone into other business. Twenty-two members of the Exchange were present. The meeting was addressed by Mr. N. A. Clark, for many years the Nestor of the insurance business in New England. He ably presented the subject of forming a Local Board of Underwriters, and, after a discussion of the subject, a resolution was presented by Mr. Charles H. Beach whereby it was voted, “That a committee of three from the Providence Underwriters be appointed to prepare and present for signature of the local underwriters a paper agreeing to form an associa- tion for the purpose of making and maintaining rates of insurance on property in Providence and vicinity, and to report at an adjourned meeting together with some plan of organization.” The resolution was adopted and the committee, com- prising Messrs. Geo. H. Shepley, Charles H. Beach and Samuel Shove was appointed. For the enlightenment of the committee as to the views of the local underwriters, an expression of approval of the formation of the pro- posed local board was given by a unanimous rising vote. The next day the meeting reassembled and Mr. Shepley reported on behalf of the committee, presenting a paper - - T H E S T A M D A R D. signed by eighteen agencies, and stated that the proposed action was approved by the local insurance companies, although none of them had signed the paper. Later in the day the meeting again assembled and a temporary organization was formed with Geo. T. Paine president, Chas. C. Armstrong secretary, and a Committee on Rules and Regulations, comprising the Equitable and the Providence Washington insurance companies and Messrs. Henry R. Barker, Geo. L. Shepley and Addison H. White Within a few days the committee reported to a meeting of the association offering a form of Constitution and Rules. This report was duly received and adopted. Thus the Insurance Association of Providence was or- ganized and for nearly twenty years it has continually done good work in the interests of the insurance busi- --s- The first organization contained the principle of joint membership by all of the companies doing business in Providence and all the agents in Providence, respect be- ing given to the idea of independence, which is so promi- ment amongst all true Rhode Islanders, by giving to the local members of the Insurance Association full control of all questions of rules and rates, and this principle has continued to this day. Immediately the question of jurisdiction arose and a committee of conference with the Exchange committee took up the subject, resulting in an agreement that the territory of the Association should cover all of Rhode Island, except Newport and Washington counties, and Woonsocket and vicinity. The system of stamping Daily Reports was adopted and when it was proposed to stamp the books of the local companies they demurred, but after consideration all of them permitted the surveyor of the Association to stamp their books. At once the method of rating became a subject of con- tention. The first plan contemplated rating by a commit- tee of the Exchange, but the Rhode Island spirit of indi- viduality became prominent amongst the members and opposition to the plan became acute. President Arnold of the Equitable Insurance Company voiced the opposi- tion and the difference led to the withdrawal of the Equitable from the Association. As the subject of rating was further considered the opposition to the proposed method increased, it being felt that there was sufficient underwriting knowledge in the membership of the Asso- ciation to properly attend to this part of the work. All this resulted finally in forming a new plan of rating and management wholly under the control of the local mem: bers, which, after a conference, resulted in the approval of the Exchange and its withdrawal from taking any active part in the proceedings of the Providence Board. very soon the same discontent in the matter of rating developed within the territory of the Association, the agents outside of Providence objecting to the making of rates by Providence men without their having a voice in the business, “soul liberty" again being the spirit. This resulted in a system of Rating Committee, for a part of Providence and vicinity, and another part having repre- sentatives of the outside territory which attended to their needs. This continued in one form or another until the segregation of the outside territory in March, 1892. After the settlement of this controversy, the Equita- ble withdrew its resignation and all of the Providence companies entered into the Association. - on June 5th, 1883, Henry Harris was appointed sur- veyor for the Association and shortly afterwards offices in the Atlantic Building were taken which were the head: quarters for a number of years. In the latter part of June Mr. Armstrong resigned and Mr. Harris was ap- pointed to act as secretary in connection with his work as surveyor. July 16, 1883. Mr. H. R. Barker was elected president in place of Geo. T. Paine resigned. The relations of the numerous mutual insurance com- panies with the stock companies developed a serious problem and it was many months before the situation was satisfactorily adjusted. At the annual meeting Sept. 17, 1883, Mr. Barker de- clined re-election and Mr. J. L. Spencer was elected, continuing in office until his death in Aug. 1886. Following Mr. Spencer the next president was Asa Lyman, who continued in office until Sept., 1892, at which time Mr. Henry R. Barker was elected and continued in office until his death in March, 1901. The present incum- bent succeeded Mr. Barker. The first surveyor, Mr. Henry Harris, faithfully served the Association until his resignation in 1895, when he was succeeded by Mr. Charles B. Mackinney, who continued in office until Dec., 1899, when he resigned for the pur- pose of entering into the service of Starkweather & Shepley, with which firm he still continues. The succes- sor of Mr. Mackinney was Mr. F. A. Waldron, who is still in the service of the Association. At the time of Mr. Harris' resignation the duties of clerk were separated from those of the surveyor, and Miss H. A. Bligh was appointed and is still in office. In 1892 the necessity of a modification of the constitu- tion and by-laws was met by the revision of same, which continued until 1895, when further revision took place, resulting in that which is now in force. Under the present system the Rating Committee which had proved to be an unwieldy body, was discontinued and greater authority given to the surveyor, thereby securing prompter service in the matter of new rating or revis- ions of existing rates, his only material limitation being that he cannot reduce rates except on application of the agent controlling the existing insurance. The association has always been alive to the changes incident to the business and has never been a laggard in the adoption of improved practices. When the use of co-insurance clauses came into vogue in 1892 the subject was immediately taken up and the 80 per cent clause adopted. As far as possible the Association has endeavored to have all its forms of permits, co-insurance and other poli- cy riders uniform in phraseology with those of the Ex- change, but in a few instances they have retained their own forms. Through the working of a committee of the Association with the fire department the city government was induced to introduce a high pressure water service for fire pur- poses, covering the congested sections of the city so that even our modern skyscraper may be reached by a stream from the fire hose in the street. For this improvement the Association in 1807 granted a general reduction of 5 per cent in the rates on risks under protection of the hip-h service. In July 1896, the card tariff system was adopted, which has greatly improved the rating facilities of all the offices of the members. June 6, 1808, the District of Johnston, which had been annexed to the city of Providence, was accepted as a part of the jurisdiction of the Association. The great increase in the use of electricity compelled the annointment of a skilled insnector, which office has been filled for several years by Mr. A. A. Moffett. The relations of the Association with the Narragansett Flectric Lighting Company became very friendly, largely through the efforts of our former surveyor, Mr. Mackin- nev, and a thorough understandino and co-operation ex- ists between that corporation and the electrical depart- ment of the Association. In addition to electrical survey of risks in its jurisdiction the Association has inspected the electrical equipments in surrounding territory wh-rever the Narragansett Electric Lighting Company's wires extend, which has added to the cost of maintainino. this department of its work and properly should be paid for by the rating body of such sections. In the latter part of roof the Association, realizing the ne-4 of higher rates on account of the severe losses which the companies were meetino, although Providence had an enviable record of ex-mntion from severe losses. nroceeded to advance rates in the m-rrantile and manti- facturing portinns of the city thus anticinating the general movement which began early in rooz at the request of the companies. However, in March tooz, a general advance of 25 per rent on merrantile and anecial hazards to nº nace at the rent-et of the ramranies, which was ºr nºnlicated somewhat hºw their anticination of the need- ºf the commanºes necessitatinº ranºid-rable revision of the advanced rates in order to avoid making a 25 per cent, raise on risks which had already in some cases been in- crº-sea more than was rentired by the enminanies. The Inertrance A-enrºatian of Prºvidenre is in many respects a n-cºllar body, almost unique, but it serves its purpose well, and is an outgrowth of the particular con- ditions of the community in which it works. There is much in the customs of a community which can only be well known by those who live in it, and these pecu- liarities often have an important bearing on the fire hazard. It is this feature which the Providence Board fully understands and therefore is able to stand between the insured and the insurer, securing harmony, and on the whole better results for the companies and justice to all concerned than any other organization for the same purpose could perform. Massachusetts Association of Local Fire Insur. ance Agents Henman Burn. AVAIL myself of the opportunity offered me as president of the Massachusetts Associa- tion of Local Fire Insurance Agents to write a short article for the special issue of the Standard devoted to the Twentieth A- niversary of the New England Insurance Exchange. The Massachusetts Association of Local Fire insur- ance Agents is now in the third year of its history, and much has been accomplished during that time to verify the hopes of those agents who were so earnest in pro- moting its organization. It had been felt for some time that the need was great, indeed it may be said as abso- lutely essential, that agents should adopt some method for conference to meet new conditions continually arising in agency underwriting, and after many conferences it was decided to form an association to become a part of the National Association of Fire Insurance Agents. It has accomplished to a great extent one very desirable object for an association such as we have. It has brought together agents from different parts of the state who were known to each other merely by name, and of whose personality much was unknown. By being brought into closer association many seeming incongrui ties vanish immediately under the influence of personal contact, and business methods which are criticised as being unbusinesslike are found in many instances to be governed largely by local conditions and environment For this reason alone it would seem that every agent in the state would welcome such an association and be de- sirous to join it. But there are other benefits to be gained if agents are in earnest, and harmonious, and willing to work in uni- son with the companies for the mutual interest of an There are certain well-defined principles which should be recognized by the companies as due to agents which seem to have become lax in the greed for business, sel- fish interest and motives may sometimes prompt, but a moderate policy of concession should prevail. The fact should never be lost sight of that companies are not to be met in a carping or antagonistic spirit, but with a clear comprehension that each have rights, which, it properly recognized, will benefit both agent and company alik. To try and correct every grievance of every agent will be as difficult as to attempt to correct all that we would have different in company management. The desire should be to advance the interest of all, rather than ºf the individual, to manifest a conservative spirit, which will bring us the moral support of the company man- agers, and make us more of a factor in the insurance sº- uation than we have been heretofore. With a disposition to be fair in our deliberation we can meet the companies on common ground and anti- pate good and substantial results. Nor is this all we have hopes that marked benefits may be gained tº ºur association by the organization of a New England ----- ciation. In each of the New England states there now is, or will be during the coming year, associations simi- lar to our own. When all are in working order there will without doubt be a New England association formed. This is deemed desirable, as it will cover the same territory now covered by the New England Insur. ance Exchange. Local agents have come to recognize the fact that the New England Insurance Exchange has done most effective work in bringing more nearly into 7" H E S TA w D. A. R. D. harmony rules and rates covering the territory of the Ex- change than could possibly be done by the local agents themselves. With objects in view such as stated above may our association not feel warranted in asking every local agent in the state to join with us, but also feel that we will have the hearty co-operation of the companies we represent. Connecticut Association of Local Fire Insurance Agents --- John C. North. |OST organizations are the outcome of some pressing need or are created to forestall some threatened calamity. The Connecticut Association of Local Fire Insurance Agents is an exception to this rule—as it was conceived in a time of comparative peace among the agents of the state, was suggested at a social gathering on the occasion of the annual banquet of the Bridgeport Board, and was intended primarily to promote the acquaintance and good will among the agents of the state. From the first the Association had the hearty support and encouragement of the best agents in Connecticut and is today, I believe, one of the most enthusiastic and best organized state associations in the country. The social element has made its gatherings popular and has been the means of bringing into close friendship and sympathy scores of the leading agents in the state who before were strangers to each other, but who, now, feeling the touch of elbows, would make a powerful force, should occasion require, in any enterprise that they might undertake. while the social feature of the Association has been a prominent one, yet it has not been satisfied to exist merely for social purposes, but has been able to give a good account of itself on several occasions when work was to be done which should be undertaken by such an organization. Through its Legislative Committee the fire marshal bill was prepared and presented to the Gen- eral Assembly of the state and became a law largely through the influence of the Association. Other bills were promoted and one law repealed entirely through the good work done by members of the Association be- fore the committees of the legislature. The Association has an Executive Committee repre- senting every section of the state. A Legislative Com- mittee which watches all insurance bills offered and a Membership Committee in every county which is ex- pected to promote interest in the Association with a view of increasing its membership. It is estimated that the membership in the Connecticut Association represents about 75 per cent of the premiums written. It can be seen therefore, that it is ably equipped for business when occasion demands. Much of the success of the Connecticut Association I attribute to the character of the agents who inaugurated the movement in its inception. Nothing is truer than the axiom that “well begun is half done." When the first meeting was called to consider the project of forming a state association, personal invitations were sent to the leading agents in each of the larger places in the state and their presence at this preliminary meeting was thus secured before any steps were taken towards forming the organization. In this way the Association had the back- ing of the leaders in the business from every part of the state and with their endorsement and membership se- cured its success was insured from the start. This pre- liminary conference was held July 12, 1800, when commit- tees were appointed to effect the organization. Tempo- rary ºfficers were elected and delegates appointed to at- tend the National convention to be held in Buffalo in August. A permanent organization was the outcome Inter in the vent. The Assºciation sent delegates to the National Conven- tion in Milwaukee in rooo, who had a prominent part in the doings of that important convention. Delegates also - , chronicled in our columns. attended the Convention the following year in Put-in- Bay, Ohio. The largest delegation, however, attended the last Convention, held in October of 1902 at Louisville, Ky., when eight delegates were present from Connecti- cut, being one of the largest delegations from any state in the Union. At this Convention an urgent invitation was extended by the Connecticut delegates to the Na- tional Association to hold its next Convention at Hart- ford, Conn., and this action was heartily ratified by the Connecticut State Association at its annual meeting re- cently held in Meriden, Conn. Since its organization the Association has held twice each year its regular meetings, the annual meeting in November, which is followed in the evening by a banquet, and the mid-summer meeting, usually at the seashore, where a shore dinner is one of the principal features. Connecticut appears small on the map, but insurance- wise ranks foremost among the states of the Union. It means much, therefore, when it is said that we have the good will and sympathy of the fire insurance companies of the state of Connecticut. The Association is officered by men of conservative yet progressive ideas and so long as it is guided by this type of agents it must continue to hold the position it now occupies in the esteem and con- fidence of both the agents and the companies they repre- sent. Pre-Digested History --- Gayle T. Forbush. [Extract from The Standard, 7 January, 1913.] t is indeed quite bewildering to study the accumulation of noteworthy events which combine to make the last decade of fire in- surance history in New England, by far the most noteworthy period which has been We have seen conditions described in 1903 as quite satisfactory so altered and amended that we blush to acknowledge the former praise. And yet the present would not be possible without the past, and the firm base builded during the early years of the life of the New England Exchange, which has steadily led the insurance fraternity and the public to higher planes of policy and method. On the occasion of the thirtieth birthday of this powerful organization, too much praise cannot be accorded it for its accomplish- ments and well-earned reputation. Like a great univer- sity, its influence has gone abroad by its alumni, its lit- erature and its high standards of ethics. Ten years ago, who would have imagined the whole territory of the New England States under uniform in- surance statutes? It was then but a dream, a fancy which was too impossible to harbor for second thought. States were jealous of one another and were clinging to legis- lation which benefited lawyers and mulcted the public so indirectly, however, that the blame was easily shifted to the shoulders of the “trust” and the corporations. Yet today many of our younger field men would be wholly unprepared to pass upon their business, if it in- volved “valued policy,” anti-coinsurance,” or other old- fashioned and hardly-remembered conditions. They would smile, too, at the thought of four separ- ate and inharmonious tariff organizations, and at the in- consistencies of “standard" policy forms and permits, rates and rules, which once confronted their company- offices on the New England daily reports. In those days Portland. Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, were painted in contrasting colors on the insurance atlas, and policy forms from Boston, Providence and Worces- ter were sometimes printed in the same style of type on similar sheets of paper, but otherwise they were not re- lated. The credit for reforms in this respect should be divided among the parties to the conferences of toos, whose results are so well known that we need not rom- ment upon them here, except to emphasize the arression of dignity which they brought to the business. Con- sistent and harmonious forms and rates were not enough to save the day, however, and we take most pride in the system evolved after long-continued effort and in the face of stubborn opposition, which has made it possible to adjust tariffs to the actual and exact results of under- writing different classes of risks under varying degrees of protection. Is it not amusing to picture a committee of fifteen years ago, solemnly arguing rates up or down, with an entire absence of exact information to guide them? It is surprising that so much success was achieved under such conditions, and that such imperfect knowl- edge led to comparatively little disorder or criticism. The convincing and conclusive data accessible at pres- ent leave little to be desired, and have gained public support and co-operation to a most gratifying extent. The other point of contact with the public, the adjust- ment of 10sses, has benefited much by experience and thoughtful observation, and now approaches nearer to the ideal than would have been prophesied by an ob- servor of a few years ago. Then adjusters flocked to a loss from north, east, south and west, and the list of their names was sometimes the major item of the “state- ment.” Some of the largest companies, too, were with- out representative adjusters, or sent mere clerks who made settlements as liberal as pension bills, or else so rough-hewn that no divinity could shape their ends, and the insured were exasperated or amused, as the case might be. Naturally something had to be done to save reputations and funds from annihilation, and the present system, under which the insurers' representation, even on the largest losses, is limited to three men of experi- ence and ability, was the outcome. A prominent mer- chant recently told the writer that this move on the part of the fire insurance interest added a hundred per cent. to the respect accorded it by himself and his associates ºn trade. It is to be feared that few field men realized the demoralization which was the inevitable end of loose adjustments, whether intentional or from carelessness or incompetence. With greater care in the settlement of claims has come a notable reduction in the number of fires from incen- diary and “unknown” origin. This fact has been the subject of frequent comment among underwriters gen- erally. The remarkable case just decided in our Supreme Court, where was secured the conviction of the managet of a large corporation, and his sentence to a long term of imprisonment for arson, is a striking proof of the value of painstaking investigation and deliberate treat- ment of an apparently well-founded claim for a quarter of a million dollars. Certainly a system of such worth to the honest policy-holder is most praiseworthy. The headquarters of the fire insurance interest in New England is still at the office of the “Exchange” in the new Insurance Building. This statement has now a broader significance, by far than ten years ago, as no other city or office now divides the honor. At that time there were other independent boards and inspection bu- reaus which had entirely separate maintenance. One by one they have merged with the Exchange, so that their machinery is all emploved under centralized direction, to carry out the multitudinous details of inspections and rate-making with a minimum of friction and at the east possible cost. An important result has been that co- operation has also strengthened the individuals, so that each town or city Board, and there are hundreds of them flourishing, realizes its necessity, and that its membership constitutes an integral part of the whole—one of the nourishing roots which has enabled the great plant to stand firm and grow while often assailed by storms, or frosts, or malignant internal attacks. A brief description of the new offices of the Exchange, and of its methods, may perhaps serve to give a clear impression of its present value and standing. In the sixth story, just below Boldt's restaurant, is the print- ing office, where all inspection reports, tariff promulga- tions, circulars, etc., are put into type, and whence they are published to members, companies, and agents. Ex- cept for temperary disturbances caused by labor unions because of the necessary emergency work, this depart- ment has been uniformly satisfactory, and has shown a decided financial economy. Because of its equipment it is peculiarly fitted for the preparation of forms for agents, and has built up a large “side-line” of this kind of work. Directly below is the Inspection Department (formerly the Inspection Bureau). The corps of inspec- -- T H E J T A M D A R D tors have their desks in the large office in the south wing, and the rest of the floor is devoted to the files of inspection reports and plans, which now number about ten thousand. With each survey is filed the tariff rating, with all changes, for the convenience of examiners. The efficiency of inspections in inducing improvement of risks has increased wonderfully since the consolidation of the Bureau with the Exchange, which gave the inspector the support and backing of the rate-making organiza- tion, and gave the latter periodical and circumstantial in- formation concerning the risks under its jurisdiction. All reports are carefully examined and edited by the Chief Inspector, before they are published, thus preserv- ing consistency, and eliminating the personal element which occasionally appears. Any changes of importance are noted and a memorandum of them is sent to the chairman of the rating committee having jurisdiction. On the fourth floor are the general offices and com- mittee rooms. Of the last, four are about twenty feet square, and are used only by the general committees, and the Executive Committee. The remaining six are smaller, but equally well furnished. Each is provided with a carrier system and telephone, so that tariffs, sur- veys, etc., may be had as required without delays. The extension of the stamping office system has made it possible to discontinue entirely the book-tariff, which was published for many years in that form to meet the requirements of company offices. Now that all daily re- ports are examined by the Exchange stamp-clerks, it is no longer necessary for any office to keep a file of books of rates, and the card system is used everywhere. While this may seem a trifling detail, yet it has saved thousands of dollars expense of reprinting rate-books, and has met with the approbation of agents far and wide. The cost of promulgations has been cut down, too, by printing only the building rates, all contents being rated auto- matically by fixed graded additions thereto. The assembly room of the Exchange is on the third floor, with the Insurance Library. Meetings are held every Saturday in continuation of a custom which has probably been responsible for the notable good-fellow- ship and considerate relations of its members, more than any other single influence. Portraits of former mem- bers have multiplied with the course of years, showing the affection which clings to the memory of life-long friends, and the active membership of today cannot help but feel the force of the examples of predecessors who look down upon them from the walls—the men who tem- pered enthusiasm with conservatism and kept persistent- ly at work for the success of their companies and the Exchange. Electrical Inspection in New England George Neilley. Fin 1884 the art of electric lighting began to | assume such importance in New England that the New England Insurance Exchange thought it prudent to appoint a standing committee, to be known as the Electric Light Committee, to have entire supervision over electric lighting plants, installations and attendant risks. At this time the lighting was chiefly by arc lamps for outside street uses, but they were soon introduced into stores, requiring constant watchfulness because of crude or un- safe lamps and the high voltages used, forty, fifty and even sixty lamps on a single circuit being not uncommon. The generating plant was seldom in a building fitted for the work, and it is hardly an exaggeration to say that each day's experience brought to light some new and unsuspected danger to life or property because of faulty design or construction of apparatus or equipment. From the beginning the art developed tremendous activity and changes followed each other rapidly. Gradually, incan- descent lights began to appear on arc light circuits, both for street and inside use, and many new devices for sub- dividing and distributing the current were introduced. The first rules devised and issued by the committee were for arc lighting only, but now it became necessary to es- tablish quite different regulations governing the installa- tion and operation of incandescent systems. Experience had not yet justified the establishment of standards for installation, or the numerous devices con- stantly being introduced, and the eyes of the committee and the inspectors were necessarily kept on the sharp lookout. Fortunately, the Exchange secured in 1880 the services of Capt. Wm. Brophy, who had from the start the fullest confidence of the electric lighting companies- the “Thomson-Houston,” “Edison,” “United States," "Sawyer-Man," "New England Weston," "Sun," "Ameri- can,” and others, all of which co-operated even to the extent of willingly paying a considerable proportion of the expenses incurred by the Exchange, upon a basis of apportionment devised by the committee. There is little room for doubt that through this means of willing co- operation the art assumed from the outset a greater de- gree of perfection and safety in this field than prevailed elsewhere. The prominence and good work of the Ex- change were early recognized by the National Electric Light Association and the Association of Edison Electric Illuminating Companies and its representatives were reg- ularly and cordially invited to take part in all their annual and semi-annual meetings. Indeed, so pronounced was the recognition of the beneficial effects of the rigid super- vision exercised by the New England Insurance Ex- change that the electrical interests copied its methods in the organization and maintenance of the New England Electrical Exchange, located in Boston. Much credit is due to the late Col. C. M. Ransom of the “Standard," also proprietor of "Modern Light and Heat,” for his deep interest and great influence in advo- cating the benefits which would flow from due recog- nition of our rules and recommendations by the electric lighting interests, and their willing submission to them. I would gladly devote all my allotted space to these days of pioneering, were it not that the wonderful evolu- tion and development of the electrical art in other fields of usefulness demands a review of the conditions today. But before passing over the intervening years, it is only fitting that we should remind ourselves to give all honor to those who led the way through the forests of inexpe- rience, and blazed a straight line to the National Code of today—Stephen E. Barton, first chairman of the com- mittee, and whose invaluable services are still actively enlisted in the work; Capt. William Brophy, lately as- sistant Commissioner of Wires in Boston, now enjoying happy retirement; C. M. Goddard, as ready now as ever to defend and support our cause; E. C. North, not with us, but near by, willing to lend a helping hand, and all the rest of the little band, who can well say, “Of this also was I a part." The work of the committee today, so far as the inspec- tion and rating of electric lighting stations is concerned, is along practically the same lines as in 1884, although the construction, equipment and devices for generating and distributing current are radically different. The light wooden building, with its sheathed walls, greasy floors, and roof surmounted with a wire-riddled wooden tower, has given place to a building of heavy construction, open, brick walls, tiled roof, incombustible floors, boiler and fuel house in a fireproof building, instead of a wooden lean-to, and the varnished sheathing against a wooden wall, which concealed a tangle of poorly insulated wiring and supported devices whose unpleasant peculiarities were a constant menace, has been replaced by a switch- board of marble or slate, with modern apparatus, and every known safeguard in the way of protection against accidents. With adequate external and internal protection, and constant, intelligent attendance, what wonder is it that the committee feels that a 25c or 30c rate on a risk of this class promises a greater increment of profit to the companies than the type of 1884 at 31-2 per cent or 4 per cent, and is offering all possible encouragement for compliance with our standards. The supervision and inspection of electric lighting in- stallation is a very different and far more serious mat- ter. While every day notes improvements in methods of wiring, and in devices for controlling and insulating cur- rents, and architects and contractors are generally alive to the dangers of imperfect equipment, yet ignorance, carelessness and cupidity still neutralize their best ef- forts, at a tremendous cost to the companies. The Ex- change system of requiring that contractors file certifi- cates that installations have been made according to our rules has had a certain influence in the right direction, but it is of course absolutely impossible that the Ex- change inspectors should make examinations of all in- dividual work, and as extensions and changes are con- stantly being made, it is so incomplete and unsatisfac- tory that we have lately been devoting our energies to the encouragement of what we find to be the only effec- tive and practical method of supervision, that is, by the appointment of municipal inspectors in all the important cities and towns, acting under ordinances and rules in practical conformity to the National Code. It is illogical and unjust that insurance companies should be burdened with the expense of inspecting and supervising work, which is as much a part of municipal housekeeping as the erection of buildings, or their plumbing, their sewer connections, or the water supply. The carrying of high tension currents along the streets of a town should be at least as important to the citizens as the laying of a gas pipe, and the merchant or hotel keeper ought willingly to pay directly to the town his small contribution for the assurance that the menace to life as well as property by imperfect work has been re- moved by prompt inspection and conformity to proper ordinances. In addition to the injustice of asking com- panies to bear the tax directly is their powerlessness to enforce corrections in any other way than by cancella- tion of insurance or increase of rates-slow, troublesome and doubtful remedies, whereas under a proper munici- pal system the current will not be turned on a faulty equipment, and a defiance of ordinances will be promptly punished by law. The objection is naturally raised that these inspectors will be chosen for political rather than expert qualifications, and the committee at first feared that this feature might be extremely troublesome, but we are glad to bear witness to the excellent work already done by municipal appointees at Arlington, Brookline, Brockton, Cambridge, Chelsea, Haverhill, Newton, Salem, Somerville, Taunton, and Worcester, Mass., Lew- iston and Portland, Me., so satisfactory, in fact, that the Exchange has voted to grant in these places unrestricted permits, without charge, for the use of electricity for light and power. The inspectors at these points are in frequent communication with our own inspectors, and their work is practically in entire conformity to our rules. Local agents can do no better service for themselves, the public and their companies than by using their influence towards the appointment of such inspectors, and local committees by allowing in their tariff ratings, whether by schedule or otherwise, a percentage reduction in rates for satisfactory municipal inspection, can do yeoman work in this direction. We hope that the next decennial will see this plan universally adopted in our field, to the great advantage of all. It was not until 1887 that the first electric railway in New England was put in operation, at Meriden, Conn., and from this beginning the industry has grown so mar- velously that today the annual premium income from these properties in our field is about $400,ood. The pow- er stations, while rather better than the earlier lighting stations, were generally inferior in construction and equipment, and the car houses were almost universally old horse car barns, to a greater or less extent remod- elled, but utterly unadapted to their new use. Fires were numerous and losses heavy, and the committee, to which in 1889 had been delegated rating power, was in 1893 given jurisdiction over this class under the new title of “Electrical Hazards Committee." Rules and schedules were formulated looking to the betterment of existing conditions, and in 1895 the work had so far progressed that it was thought worthy of favorable mention in the official resume of the events of that year. The power stations in this field are being rapidly brought up to our highest standards, and the modern system of distributing current from a central plant, at high voltage, to transformer stations along the line, has resulted in a considerable diminution in their number. eliminating to a great extent the risks pertaining to the - -- 7" H E S T A M D A A' D generation and use of steam, such as the boiler and fuel hazards, and the use of oil inseparable from engine- driven dynamos. The additional electrical hazard would appear to be trifling, in view of modern methods of in- stallation, as compared with the general improvement due to the reduction of the risks of the steam generating plants. Of all the special classes in our charge, car houses have perplexed us most; necessarily of large area, and filled with inaccessible and extremely combustible material, fires spread so rapidly and with such intensity as to be generally uncontrollable unless stopped at or near the point of commencement. It was at first believed that by means of inclined floors and uninterrupted tracks, con- siderable salvage might be realized by removal of cars, but experience has proven this to be only an iridescent theory, as the modern car is too heavy to be moved by manual power, and the current cannot of course be safely utilized. It became doubly necessary, therefore, that areas should be limited to the lowest practical point, and that fire protection should be installed, with the impor- tance of the extinguishment of fires at their inception constantly in mind. To this end small hose and fire ex- tinguishers were recommended for inside use, leaving the heavier apparatus for outside assistance, and in several instances has their efficacy been demonstrated. Lately, however, the building of car houses of substantial con- struction, with incombustible floors and pits, open walls, plank roof, cut off by heavy fire walls into divisions of moderate area, one-story and of only the height neces- sary to their use, has encouraged us to believe that under these conditions automatic sprinklers would give by far the most reliable protection. It is true that fires have generally started inside cars, and that they could not have been at once reached by sprinklers, but we have believed that they would, undergood water pressure have prevented the flames from immediately reaching surrounding cars and so given the attendants the needed time to bring other apparatus to bear, if necessary. Their use in these risks is of such recent date that it would be assuming too much to assert that the solution of the question has been reached, but already in several instances experience has confirmed our opinion, and there have been no failures to record. In our schedules we are giving every possi- ble encouragement to this mode of protection wherever construction justifies it, by offering rates low to a point of criticism by some companies, but we believe that the difference in the loss ratios of the modern car house and the old type will warrant the heavy discrimination. The limits of this article will not allow discussion of the many special hazards incident to the class, but in a general way we are constantly working along the line of good construction, moderate areas, immediate protection against fire and the elimination from car houses of all unnecessary attendant hazards, such as painting, repair- ing, storage and use of oils, etc., wherever possible. A street railway schedule includes usually other property than the risks mentioned, and the establishment of an average rate, involving as it does the valuation of sta: tions, measurements of the trackage of car houses and examination of equipment, in order to arrive at an es: timate of the maximum value possible to be endangered at one time, surveys and valuation of summer property, repair shops, sub-stations, etc., at specific rates varying from say 30 cents to 4 percent, is in itself work of no small magnitude, but we feel that no other method is justifiable either from the standpoint of the companies or of the assured. The committee was recently given jurisdiction over gas works, with a view to more consistent ratings, and a considerable number of these properties have been sur- veyed and rated under a tentative schedule. We hope that our action will result in the securing of a large share of this desirable business for the companies. Any summary of our work would be radically incom- plete were the efficient and important services of Secre- tary Goddard and our inspectors to pass unnoticed. Through their membership in the Underwriters' Electric Association and the American Institute of Electrical En- gineers the Exchange is ably represented at all confer- ences over the vital questions of the day, and Mr. Sweet- land's invaluable work in connection with electric railway - º : ; and lighting risks is so universally recognized and appre- ciated that comment here is unnecessary. In truth, might they be called the “dii ex machina.” In dealing with the various classes under its charge, the committee has been very fortunate in that the assured have had an interest no less lively than that of the com- panies in guarding in every possible way against inter- ruption of their service to the public, and while differences as to means have been many, the Exchange may be justly proud that its efforts to the common end have been so generally appreciated by those expert in their profession, in their general approval and compliance with our recom- mendations. The committee deserves and asks for no more credit for what it has been able to accomplish in the line of duty assigned it, than that due to any other of the committees of the Exchange, jealous of its honor and true to the great common interest of companies and assured—the reduction of fire waste. Factory Mutual Insurance System Edward Atkinson. HE governing principle on which this system has been built up is that the function of an insurance company can only be to give a contract of indemnity to the owner of property, assuring to him the payment of a sum of money in the event of injury or destruction of such property by fire; the money for the payment of such indemnity being derived from the premiums paid to the insurance company by the claimant, and by his associates who have taken out similar contracts of indemnity on other property. The expenses incurred in the conduct of insurance companies must also be derived from such premiums. It therefore follows that all contracts of in- demnity issued under the name of policies of insurance are based upon a mutual principle. They serve to dis- tribute particular losses among the assured who have not themselves at that time been subjected to a loss. In the Stock System of Insurance the capital stands be- hind the contract of indemnity merely as a guarantee or safeguard, subject to be drawn upon if the premiums paid in by the assured should not suffice to meet annual losses and expenses. When, however, the capital is impaired by the payment of losses and expenses, then it must be restored by the stockholders or the insurance company may be enjoined. In most states it will be enjoined from issuing any further policies as soon as the impairment is disclosed. All insurance against fire is therefore based upon a mutual principle. In the Factory Mutual System the premiums or de- posits of cash constitute the fund from which annual losses and expenses are paid. But in place of capital the members of a mutual company, that is to say, all who are insured are subject to an assessment or call for an ad- ditional premium whenever the annual premiums prove insufficient to meet the losses and expenses of that year. This liability to assessment stands as a guarantee to the assured in place of the capital stock of a stock fire insur- ance company. It has never been necessary to resort to an assessment in the last fifty years or more, during which period the Factory Mutual System has been de- veloped. The oldest existing company, the Manufactur- ers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Providence, Rhode Island, established by the late Zachariah Allen in 1835, is reputed to have made a small assessment in one of its earlier years, but there is no record by which even that can be proved. Since 1850, when the development of the system began in Massachusetts, there has been no assessment. On the contrary, taking the records of the Boston Manufacturers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company as a standard, other so-called "Senior Mutual Compan- ies" having substantially the same record, the annual dividend or return of premiums not required to meet an- nual losses and expenses during fifty-two years of its existence, has averaged 77 per cent year by year. Dur- ing the last six years, on a record of exemption from loss by fire and water for seven years of less than four cents per hundred dollars of risk carried, the average dividend year by year has been a fraction over 90 per cent. There are seven or eight of the older Factory Mutual Companies which have averaged fifty years in their record. Their losses by fire during this whole period have been somewhere between twenty-five (25) and thirty (30) per cent of the average loss of property in- sured to the general public outside their special lines. Yet in the judgment of underwriters the average danger in the special hazards covered by the Factory Mutual Companies is greater than the outside hazards. We have even the conflagration hazard in the large factory cities where lines of mills exist in close proximity to each other, and yet such adequate provision has been made for the protection of each of these mills by all the rest, that the losses where this conflagration hazard exists have been less than among the isolated hazards of other towns and places. No fire has ever been permitted to pass with any destructive energy from one mill or building to another in any one of these factory cities. Again: In several instances the apparatus belonging to the mutual risks has stopped very dangerous fires in their neighborhood. In a very recent instance the con- flagration in Paterson, New Jersey, came down under a gale of wind upon a group of silk factories which had been equipped with apparatus under the instruction of the Factory Mutual Companies. Six powerful steam pumps were prepared for action; four used, I think; two kept in reserve. Lines of hose were sent out to meet the fire, and for seven hours that conflagration was held in check, although at one point it reached and burned a building fifty feet distant from one of our risks. The Standard Underwriter hose vºtood the test without a break: the pumps worked cºntinuously without a stop and the members in charge of the silk mills thus saved perhaps to the extent of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) had no claim upon the underwriters. What then is the principle governing the conduct of the Factory Mutual Fire Insurance System? It is that only the owner or occupant of insured property can es- tablish safeguards for the prevention of loss by fire; that is to say, only owners and occupants can control the con- struction, put in apparatus and establish the rules for the conduct of work, by which loss by fire may be prevented. All that an insurance company or its agents can do is to develop rules and practices by which losses may be pre- vented, advising those to whom they have given con- tracts of indemnity to adopt these safeguards. It rests wholly with the owners of the property to decide whether or not to adopt these plans and rules. The only power which the executive officers of the Factory Insur- ance Companies have or can have is the power to refuse to insure the property unless it is properly constructed and protected, or to cancel their policies if negligence and danger are disclosed by their inspectors in the con- duct of the work upon the insured premises. On one occasion after I had persuaded a somewhat un- willing member to protect what he considered a part of his property with automatic sprinklers, where he thought no fire could occur, by telling him that that was the most necessary place to put them, he replied, “Well, I suppose I shall have to do it. When you go on into another world you had better take a sprinkler with you: you will be sure to need it.” To which my rejoinder was, “If you will provide a good static and constant pressure of water I will undertake to hold even that kind of a fire in check and to cool off the atmosphere.” . It will be remarked that one of the most useful fune- tions of automatic sprinkling is to hold a fire on each side by a shower of water, promoting rapid evaporation. That evaporation tends to cool the atmosphere and to prevent the extension of the fire by preventing the rais- ing the heat of the room to an igniting point of 600 to 7oo degrees F. Few persons can imagine the rapidity with which a high temperature is reached when very com- bustible material suddenly takes fire: nor could any one imagine, unless it had been proved, that a fire may con- tinue to burn within a little limited circle immediately over a sprinkler head which the water does not reach, burning through a three-inch floor, showing itself above while the sprinklers were in full operation, protecting a T.A. E. S. T.A. W. D.A. R. D. burning mule and the stock thereon below. Yet such cases have been observed. The relation of the officers, inspectors and experts who represent the Factory Mutual System is therefore very different from the relation occupied by the executive offi- cers and employes of Stock Insurance Companies. It ought not to be different and with the progress of mak- ing the prevention of loss an applied science, it will cease to be different with lapse of time. The executive officers, inspectors and experts of the Factory Mutual Companies are merely the agents of the assured to whom the duty has been delegated by the assured to investigate the whole subject and to supply the members with such in- formation as may enable them to protect their own prop- erty. It follows that although new members may for a short time look upon the visits of inspectors and experts as a sort of necessary evil to be tolerated, yet after a very short experience owners and managers alike welcome the visits and suggestions of the officers and inspectors, oc- casionally uttering a mild complaint, sometimes a strenuous one when they think that each successive in- spector tries to find some fault and to vary his report from that of the last who visited the works; to which our reply is, “What do you employ us for? Do we not in a certain measure perform the functions of the Spanish fly or porous plaster, working up a slight irritation in order to cure a previously existing evil? If each of our inspec- tors did not look through a different pair of spectacles and find faults that others had not found, how soon would your losses begin to increase and your dividends to di- minish?" Moreover, it is incumbent upon the executive officers and has been their practice so far as they were capable of exercising judgment, never to make a sugges- tion, constructive or corrective, and never to promote the introduction of a safeguard against fire, which a prudent and judicious owner would not adopt on its own merits for the protection of his own property and to save him- self from the danger of interruption to his business, irre- spective of any assumed interest of the underwriters in the matter. In order that the executive officers may exe- cute such a function, it is of course held to be unfit for any executive officer or employe in the Factory Mutual System to have any personal interest whatever in any fire apparatus, patent right, or safeguard which in the course of their practice they are called upon to test or to recom- mend. On the other hand, several valuable inventions have been made in the conduct of the Factory Mutual System, notably the automatic, self-closing door on which no patent rights have been claimed, but on the contrary, these inventions have been immediately published so as to cut off any claim that others might make. Again, it is equally important to the conduct of the Mutual System that the quality of every member shall correspond to the quality of the risk itself. The Mutual underwriters are as careful not to incur what is called among underwriters “a moral hazard" in the admission of members, as they are not to permit a physical hazard that can be remedied to be continued in any of the risks covered by their policies. It is to be observed that in the fifty-two years' existence of the company of which the writer is president, there has been but one suspicion of a fire set by the owner or his agent in order to collect money from the insurance companies, and after a short time that suspicion was removed by the confession of an incendiary who had no interest whatever in the property. The Factory Mutual System therefore rests on a mu- tual principle of good faith among the members, a recog- nition of their mutual obligations and upon the abso- lutely judicial conduct of the work of the executive offi- c-rs. It is often alleged that the very great gain derived by the members of the Factory Mutual System through the preventiºn of loss by fire may not all be put to the credit of a profit and loss account. It is alleged that the cost of the apparatus and any excess of cost in construction should be charged to this account before the balance is struck. To this it may be replied that the methods of construction which have been established and brought into practice under this system give economic results which may be passed to the credit of the account entirely aside from the matter of insurance. The method of mill construction developed under this system costs less than any other type of construction sufficiently strong and stable to carry the loads and to stand the vibration of the works. Moreover, by constant study of the several de- partments of factories, workshops and paper mills, the most suitable and convenient arrangement of the differ- ent departments and the most suitable types of building for the conduct of each separate art, have been evolved, so that members who now come for consultation before rebuilding old mills or works, or before extending them, or before building new works of any kind, have saved large amounts. Other persons frequently consult the Mutual underwriters in respect to arts which are not taken into the Factory Mutual System for purposes of in- surance. This subject is now being dealt with by the Insurance Engineering Experiment Station under whose supervision their Report, No. 5, has but lately been is- sued, giving all the plans, rules and facts regarding mill or slow burning construction, with the layout of a com- plete mill yard, with all its appliances. As this document may become a text book, the director offers this number for sale at twenty-five cents per copy. Again: Objection is taken to the heavy expense in- curred for pumps, pipes, hydrants and sprinkling appara- tus, and it is alleged that the cost of such apparatus should be charged to the debit account of the profit due to prevention of loss. This is upon the assumption that if the owners of the insured property did not provide their own apparatus, their fires would be extinguished by public fire departments from the public water supply and the public hydrants. In reply to this, admitting the skill, capacity and energy of the city fire departments; admit- ting the fact that more heroism is exhibited by the mem- bers of the fire departments in saving life and property every year than has been shown in any year of war or warfare; yet unless the factories insured under the Mu- tual System did provide for their own safety, the losses covered in the risks of the Factory Mutual System would be far greater than they are in outside property, because it would not be in the power of any fire department ex- isting to cope with some of the fires that have occurred in these factories. There are factory cities in which a greater volume of water can be thrown from the mill ap- paratus upon any one building, from two different sources, than could be put upon that building by the en- tire fire department of any large city if all the steamers could be placed in position so as to throw water upon it. Again: Even if it were suitable to charge the cost of the safeguards and apparatus which are put in to pre- vent loss by fire against the saving that has been made, it would still appear that if the average cost of pumps, pipes, hydrants, hose and sprinklers, such as are estab- lished now as an integral and necessary part of the prime cost of the factory or workshop, chargeable to construc- tion as much as the cost of the building and machinery, were set off against the saving in the period between 1880 and 1902, inclusive, when we began and nearly com- pleted the introduction of automatic sprinklers, the bal- ance of the saving of property over and above the entire cost of this equipment, would show an enormous profit and would prove this expenditure to be the most produc- tive expenditure in the whole establishment. A careful computation has been made of what the fire insurance of a factory would have been from the year 1850 to the present date, beginning at less than the out- side rates in 1850, ending at the lowest rates that can be obtained outside the Factory Mutual System at the pres- ent time. Against this has been put the cost of insur- ance year by year under the Factory Mutual System. The difference has been struck. Assuming that that dif- ference or gain had been considered a loan at the be- ginning at six per cent, then at five per cent, and of late at four per cent, and had been used as working capital in the conduct of the factory, the sum of this saving with interest thereon at the end of fifty-one years, amounted to more than the entire value of the insured property. There are several members who have been insured in the older mutual companies for an average period of fifty years who had they kept the saving in this way would now have a fund at the credit of mutual insurance equal to the entire value of that part of the property now exist- ing which had been carried through that period in the Factory Mutual Companies. - During the last seven years the actual losses by fire in the Factory Mutual risks of the older companies have been less than four (4) cents annually per hundred dollars ($100) of insured property. Outside, in property less hazardous as a whole, the losses have averaged sixty (60) cents per hundred dollars ($100) of insured prop- erty, and yet more than half, probably more than two- thirds of this outside loss has occurred in large work- which could be constructed and could be protected near- ly up to the standard of the Mutual System. The prob- lem before the country now is, if under the Factory Mu- tual System losses have been reduced in the ratio of fif- teen to one, or from sixty (60) cents per hundred dollar- ($ioo) annually to less than four (4) cents per hundred dollars ($too) annually, how can these benefits be ex- tended over risks and in places where the Factory Mutual System cannot be applied; that is to say, over ninety-five (95) per cent of the property now covered by contract- of indemnity against loss by fire? The Factory Mutual Companies cover less than five (5) per cent of the prop- erty insured against fire in the United States; about twelve hundred million dollars ($1,200,oooooo) in all the companies both Senior and Junior. Whereas, the latest computation of the total amount of insurance against los- by fire in the year tool came to twenty-five thousand million dollars ($25,000,oooooo). While the Factory Mutual System must be limited to what may be called the self-contained risks, or to the risks which although in some places are subject to a con- flagration hazard among themselves are not subject to any neighborhood, proximity or conflagration hazard as a whole, seldom being exposed to serious danger from fires without the yards in which the works are situated,— yet the Mutual System must be limited to these so-called self-contained risks. There are many factories and workshops in the heart of cities, each an excellent risk in itself but so much subjected to neighborhood hazard as to preclude admission into the Factory Mutual System. It therefore follows that so far as an applied science of preventing loss by fire has been developed within the limits of the Factory Mutual System, its application out- side their lines must be gradual and must be mainly pro- moted by stock insurance companies until owners and occupants become convinced that the high rates of prem- ium to which they object are not yet high enough in many places to cover the risk which is due to their own neglect of their own property, and that the heavy losses of which they complain and which induce them in many instances to blame fire departments, are due to their own folly, ignorance and neglect. There must be a survival of the fittest among insurance companies and that is now taking place. Until those who survive shall have the power to put conditions upon the risks or otherwise de- prive the owners of property, badly constructed and ne: glected, of their opportunity to get any safe contracts of indemnity against loss by fire at any rate of premium whatsoever, “cheap and nasty" insurance by wild-cat companies may continue to encourage "cheap and nasty." construction and dangerous occupation. The remedy for these wrongs is rapidly proceeding at the present time, very great progress having been made in the last ten years in the inspection of the risks carried by the stock fire insurance companies, in the establish- ment of conditions and in putting on rates of premium in some measure commensurate to the hazard of each risk. The old method of betting that bad risks will not burn with the odds against the underwriters has come to its inevitable end. The science of underwriting is making more rapid progress at the present time than ever before. It is with a view to the development of this science and to raising the profession of the underwriter to one of the most useful that can be followed, that the writer has made a beginning in the development of an Insurance Engineering Experiment Station and in feeling the way toward a course of instruction which may become a net- essary part of the training of all architects, engineers. builders and of men occupied in the higher branches of underwriting. This effort has been sustained by volun- tary contributions mainly from the members of the Fac- tory Mutual System, but in part from stock underwriters. architects, engineers and others. Its reports, up to and including No. 5, have attracted attention and are already exerting an influence in the right direction. It is an undertaking in which all underwriters may well join. - -- 7" H E S T A M D A A' D putting aside the little rivalries which exist and the slight competition between the two systems, in order that a common end may be reached and that within a reasona- ble time as great progress may be made in saving a part of the disgraceful ash heap of the United States out- side the lines of the mutual underwriters by following and developing the rules and practices which it has taken fifty years' experience to establish within the lines of that system. Maine as a Fire Insurance Field George E. Macomber. S my knowledge of Maine from an insurance standpoint dates back practically twenty years, although I was doing a local business some years prior to that, it has seemed that a comparison of old conditions with those of today may be of interest. That Maine is an important factor in the New England field is seen from the fact that one-tenth of the entire premium income of New England is secured in this state, while the losses are about one-eighth of the total in the six states. That Maine has prospered in the past two decades is apparent on all sides. With an increase in property values of too per cent and of the deposits in the Savings Banks of 112 1-2 per cent, which latter is regarded as a very true barometer of a people's thrift, there has come an increase of fire insurance premiums received by the companies of 135 per cent in the twenty years. In 1881 there were but three systems of public water works in the state, viz., at Portland, Bangor and Lewis- ton, while today there are fifty-nine complete systems, some of them covering more than one town so that every city and all the larger villages now have hydrant protec- tion. At the beginning of the period covered by this article, outside of a few cotton manufacturing plants, not a sprinkler system was in use, while today every consider- able city or town has more or less of them. There existed on our statutes, up to ten years ago, what was known as the “Fox Law," which, nulifying, as it did, every printed condition in a policy, was supposed to affect injuriously the fire insurance companies, while now, and for some years back, we have the Massachu- setts standard policy, which, although possibly not re- garded as favorably by the companies as the New York standard form, has, I think, worked no great hardship to any company. At no time in the history of the state has so much at- tention been given to methods of construction as in the past ten years. With the constantly increasing price in lumber, brick has been substituted and substantial build- ings have gone up in most of the larger places, replacing those of frame. As my data practically covers the existence of the New England Insurance Exchange, the work accomplished by that organization is seen in the increase in rates, which in 1881 averaged 1.17, in 1891 was 1.35 and in 1991, or prior to the 25 per cent increase, 1.33; a slight falling oft in the last decade. Notwithstanding these changes for the better, inaugurated in the past twenty years as stated, the fact remains that losses keep apace with in- provements while one would naturally look for a de- crease. For the ten years ending 1891 the losses were 62 per cent of the premiums, while the following ten year period, up to January 1st last, they were 63 percent. and this per centum of losses to income follows right back as far as figures are obtainable. Is there no way to check this fire waste and are all our efforts both as to construction and protection in vain? This is a pertinent question and it seems to be up to the men of Maine to answer it. Will an increase of rate meet the situation? * The average rate on property in Maine for ten years was higher than elsewhere in New England, except Ver- mont, which was just the same, and it seems as though we must look to some other means for insuring future profits. That the business has greatly changed in other re- spects, none who have followed it can deny. Farms used to be much sought for at 1 per cent for four and five years; now they are universally regarded as undesirable, and increasing the rate to double and more the old price still leaves them unprofitable. The saw mills which used to line the banks of the rivers and streams have (outside of Aroostook County) all been paid for by the ever-handy insurance company, and in their places have come the pulp and paper mill of the interior, and the summer cottage and hotel of the coast counties. The ice business which formerly yielded a large volume of insurance premiums in some sections is now only a memory. The three great industries, agri- culture, lumbering and ice, have apparently, so far as in- surance profits or premiums are concerned, all dropped out of the calculation. Maine has an area equal to all the other New England states combined and owing to the scattered nature of the business, the labor of the field man is correspondingly larger. But here also have been great changes for the better in the way of steam and electric railroad exten- sions, so that the special of today can reach the most re- mote border of the Commonwealth without leaving his cherished Pullman. How very different the experiences of the “Old Guard," Hilliard, Leighton, Clark, Smith (L. D.) and a host of others long since passed to the great beyond, and yet these pioneers did grand work and achieved results which speak for themselves and we of these later days will be extremely fortunate if we better their figures even with all our new-fangled ideas. One of the innovations of the past few years is the lo- cating of special agents, by some ten or twelve com- panies, in this state with only Maine and in some in- stances New Hampshire and Vermont as their territory; thus dividing New England up and giving them a more contracted section to supervise. Whether this will bring better results is perhaps not as yet fully demon- strated, but it is of interest to note that the loss ratio of companies' commissions in the Pine Tree State. As a average in the state. I have faith to believe that field men so situated can keep in closer touch with the busi- ness than otherwise, but to the Home Office in large measure must we look for the reforms that will make a business, now just passable, one that will show regular profits. - The man on the outposts and to whom we must look in the first instance and on whose good judgment and integrity so much depends, is the local agent, and I think it safe to make the statement that no more loyal and faithful set of men can be found than those holding the companies' commissions in the Pine Tree State. As a rule they devote their whole time to the business and the bank cashier, lawyer and huckster, who takes insur- ance as a side line is a rare exception, not the rule. Agents are generally prominent men in their communi- ties and make insurance their whole business. Because of this there is less trouble over excessive commissions in Maine than most states. Agents generally recognize the fact that a large business cannot be successfully done by companies with a large expense ratio as well as ex- cessive losses and they look to the future as well as the present when considering the commission question. There is very little friction in local boards among this class of agents and I hazard the guess, that companies have sustained as small loss from failure of the agents to pay up in Maine as in any state. There is still a large volume of premiums on Maine business that is at present controlled outside the state. This rightfully belongs to the Maine local agent, and when their association takes hold of the matter, as it is bound to do in the near future, then they will receive fair compensation for the work they are now doing at one-third or one-half what the companies allow. All things come to those who wait patiently, and the Maine agent is bound to win out in time. It is easy to theorize as to losses and their means of prevention, but to prevent them is quite another proposi- tion. The co-insurance clause, owing to the small re- bate allowed for its use, has not been much utilized, and whether its general adoption would change the result materially is questionable. The three northerly New England states have, for years, run along with very near- ly the same loss ratio, while the three more southerly states maintain a similar but considerably lower per- centum of loss. The same feature is noticeable in the states on the Northwest border, such as Minnesota, Dakota and others. I surmise it may be due to natural conditions difficult to overcome, yet there should be no let-up in the effort to better the situation by every means in our power, for it not only helps the companies but the good old state as well. Property wiped out by fire is a distinct loss to the state, no matter how well it may be covered by insurance. When this fact comes to be fully realized means may be taken to reduce fires and fire losses as is done in some European countries, but until then we seem to have only to wait. New Hampshire as a Fire Insurance Field --- W. B. Burper. N considering the state of New Hampshire from the viewpoint of a field man I can see but very little to distinguish it from its neighboring states of Maine and Vermont. For about one-half of the year it is a most delightful state to travel in, with the excellent summer train service and the many splendid summer hotels and boarding houses to interest and instruct, and long about June if a special agent is fortunate enough to be able to find a fair amount of his time available for such work, he will hail with delight his long-lost slips which have been carefully hibernating for several months, and study the railroad time tables which will carry him to Bethle- hem, Jefferson, Fabyans or numerous other sections well known to us all. And this happily is as it should be, for the time to study any industry is in the midst of its particular season. As the writer happens to be connect- ed with a company doing a general business throughout the state, and as loss claimants are not inclined to wait for the return of summer for attention, it has been his privilege to view the sugged grandeur of the hills and mountains in all seasons and in all weather, not only from the windows of a comfortable car, but also from the slower-moving and better ventilated sleigh or carriage, If you should ask the insurance fraternity of New England what particular feature was of peculiar interest in the state of New Hampshire, nine out of ten would undoubtedly reply that it was the valued-policy law. This we all-appreciate is the one great difference between the state in question and the balance of New England, but I shall make no effort to decide the merits or defects of this law and shall speak of it only as it appears to me to necessarily influence the methods of conducting the business of fire insurance. As it operates only in case of total destruction of a building insured, it is evident that our energies must be exerted in such direction that the unscrupulous person or persons, scattered though they may be, shall not be allowed to procure over-insurance on any building that would in all probability be entirely consumed should it catch on fire from any cause. This necessitates most rigid scrutiny and frequent inspections of all unprotected buildings by the agents and underwrit- ers and the rule in force in the state that the total amount of insurance allowed on any building shall be clearly stated in each contract, is of the utmost consequence and must be rigidly adhered to. This law also carries with it a virtual prohibition of the “Reduced Rate Clause,” and this special agreement so well understood where in common use, acceptable to the assured for the good reason that he can procure so much additional protection for the same money, and to the insurers for the reason that the contribution from each company in case of a partial loss is not so heavy, cannot be taken advantage of by either party except by a special pro- :* for a guaranteed amount of insurance to be car- --~1. In one very essential matter from the standpoint of the insurers, the state of New Hampshire is very deficient, in the judgment of the writer. I refer to the lack of fa- - TA/ E S T A M D A A' /) cilities for the proper investigation of the causes of fires. While it is quite true that the statutes of the state provide for the keeping of a proper record of all fires by the city or town clerk, and direct the fire wards, en- gineers or selectmen, as the case may be, to investigate the cause, circumstances and origin of each and to ex- amine particularly as to whether it was the result of carelessness or design, such investigations are necessa- rily perfunctory and unsatisfactory. Those who are fa- miliar with the work of the special officers detailed for such investigations in states that have a fire marshal or similar official provided by law, realize fully the great good accomplished and the value of such a department, not only for the apprehension of those guilty of arson, but also for its deterrent effect upon those who would be if they dare. The state of New Hampshire is not alone in this respect, but in company with many others should provide a special department for work on fires only, and the money to pay these officials. Speaking personally and from a selfish point of view, I might add that I have no doubt that the field men who have the ad- justment of claims in the state would very much appreci- ate it, if they were able to “turn it over to the Fire Mar- shal,” rather than draw on whatever energy they may possess in an attempt to play the part of amateur de- tective with a “past-master” in the art of deception as an opponent. A great improvement could also be made in the state by more stringent regulations in regard to construction and the creation of the office of building inspector in all the cities and large and important villages. A study of the geographical situation in the state would show that a line drawn East and West through Concord, only about 40 miles from Massachusetts, takes in eight of the eleven cities with a population of approximately 150,000, leaving North of this line three cities with a population of only about 23,000. This, however, is by no means a relative proportion of the premiums collected, and while the writer has no statistics on which to base his judgment, it is his belief that at least one-third of the total pre- mium income is derived from this northern section. To offset the climatic conditions and other important fea- tures which should always be considered, the companies have apparently and wisely kept in mind a gradual in- crease of the rates from the South to the North, so that with comparatively very few exceptions the results show a commendable degree of uniformity throughout the state. There are about fifty agency points in New Hampshire that have what we would rate as fair to good protection against fire, and many beautiful little villages with a population made up largely of old patriarchs who do not know the meaning of the term “moral hazard," but with little or no facilities for coping with the fire fiend except wells that are not dry and buckets that do not leak. I can bear evidence that these improvised fire departments generally fight like fiends. The summer hotel business is recognized as one of the big industries of New Hampshire, and the most notable addition to this class is of course the Mt. Washington, opened the very last of July, 1902, and without doubt the most expensive building of its kind in New England, of superior construction and with excellent private protec- tion. From this very pretentious structure one can fol- low down through the line of hotels and boarding houses to the thousands of farm houses where the man of mod- erate means can take his family for his short vacation and find perfect rest with plenty of plain food, largely fresh products of the farm. With comparatively very lit- tle exception, the summer hotel and residence business of the state appears to be satisfactory to the underwriter. Here as elsewhere, the methods of disposing of the tim- ber lands have been slowly but gradually revolutionized and the saw-mills have been growing less by abandon- ment or destruction, giving place in turn to the paper and pulp mill. I refer to the large mill and not to the small water power or steam mill which is purely local and will always be needed for custom work. These large paper mills using pure pulp, have naturally in turn dis- placed the many small mills which used mixed stock. One of the largest operators in this line in the state has within two years built alongside of its lumber plant a modern, ground wood pulp mill, a sulphite mill and a paper mill, all of these buildings being of so-called fireproof construction, thoroughy up to date in all re. spects, and most everyone is familiar with the very ex- tensive plans for paper making on a large scale now in process of completion in the city of Portsmouth. Even the farm business, that bane of the underwriters' existence, shunned by all and tolerated by few, has been going through a period of metamorphosis, so that of late years the companies carrying this class have been able to balance their accounts without so large an amount charged to net loss as was in the days of yore. Perhaps this condition exists because so many of the poor farms have burned, quite likely the values of this class reached bed rock some little time ago, and possibly the systemat- ic effort which has been made by the State Agricultural Society, headed by Gov. Bachelder of Andover, to resur- rect the abandoned farms and improve the standard and conditions of the others, have borne fruit and contrib- uted to the improvement. Who knows? May the good work go on. The premium income for the entire state has shown an average for the last ten years of about $1,050,000 per annum, an amount that is slightly exceeded by the little state of Rhode Island, while Vermont with nearly the same area, has shown an average premium account of only $550,000, and Maine with her tremendous territorial expanse, about $1,600,ooo. The statistics also show us that the record for the state of New Hampshire for the last ten years, compares very favorably with her neigh- boring states, Maine and Vermont, in spite of the adverse conditions that we all so well appreciate, the loss ratio being several points lower for this period of time in the first-named than in either of the other two northern states of New England, but at that, a few points heavier than the New England field as a whole. Vermont as a Fire Insurance Field Elmer B. Bailey. HE topic suggests an agriculture application and as fields differ from forests and jungles in this respect, to wit, a beneficent Provi- dence takes care of the forests, but man by the sweat of his hired man's brow must take care of the fields, therefore it follows that if I am to say anything about Vermont as a field I must not forget the farmer, for it requires both field and farmer to produce results. Whether this information will be used to farm the field or to farm the farmer I am not advised, but will give you a brief review of Vermont as I see it on my regular business rounds of the state. First, I would observe that Vermont is a pretty good farm and is owned by a pretty thrifty farmer; if support- ing a family of 340,000, including his uncles and his aunts, and laying by forty-two millions in the savings banks of the state, is any criterion. A good field is one in which a variety of crops may be grown with suitable cultivation, and this can be truthfully said of Vermont, which though small in area, stands at the head of the column in products of the farm, such as butter, cheese, maple sugar and Morgan horses; in marble, granite, slate and copper from her quarries and mines; in valua- ble timber from her mountains and in the products of her many mills and factories. Unlike many of her sis- ter New England states, Vermont has a deep, rich soil even to the tops of her green hills. Many of her most productive farms are on the hilltops or far up the moun- tain side. So much for the farm; now a word about the farmer. I believe you could quarantine him within the limits of the state; blockade all ports for one year or twenty and he would still grow rich and fat on the products of the soil and the fruit of the loom. He is so thrifty that I, not being native born, would hesitate and think twice before trading horses with him. Many amusing stories might be gleaned from my ex- perience in dealing with the Vermont farmer, but as my space is limited I will simply relate a couple of incidents to show what I meet with from time to time in inspecting risks. I frequently have occasion to call the farmer's attention to a rickety stove-pipe going through a dark attic, un- chinked chimneys toppling over or other equally hazard- ous features of the risk. I am oftentimes met with this statement from the owner, “Why my dear boy, that is all right, that has been jes that way for twenty years and we hain't burned out yet." Again, in adjusting losses you may depend upon the Vermont policy holder's mem- ory being absolutely infallible. He never omits anything from his inventory or schedule that could possibly be in- jected into it. For instance, not long ago in adjusting a loss the policy holder insisted that I should make a liber al allowance on account of his child catching cold as a result of the fire, and when I tried to explain to him that I was not conducting a life insurance business he still failed to see the justice of my position and I left him in- consolable. So much in general, now a candid word in particular. Vermont as a field for commercial enterprise is a good one. I have done business with Vermonters for the last twenty years and have found them honest, capable and industrious. Having no large cities, Burlington, the larg— est with less than zoooo inhabitants, the population is about evenly divided between the village and the country. Life in Vermont is natural, homelike. We have no aristocracy and no tramps; everybody works; every able-bodied citizen takes a more or less ac- tive part in local politics; everybody is intensely loyal to his state and his home; he believes in the well known language of the poet: "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home"-a place on the winning ticket. Nearly every village and hamlet has its improvement society, having for its object the beautifying of homes and high- ways, the preservation of shade trees and the care of cemeteries. There is the look of thrift and enterprise even in the back towns miles away from railway transportation. While it is admitted that the population of Vermont has not materially increased since the last generation, wealth and prosperity have largely increased. This is chiefly due to the fact that the large cities of other states do not need our money, but must have our young men and women to recruit their ranks. Country-bred boys and girls have the brain and brawn necessary to stand the strain of life under the high pres- sure of modern commercialism, and the Vermont brand is always at a premium. So great is the demand and so generally do we supply it, we would eventually decline into numerical insolvency were it not for the constantly increasing tide of summer travel that flows in from the cities by the sea. When the tide goes out in the fall some of the big fish as well as the small fry linger longer than they intended and find themselves stranded on the beach, or, mayhap, the matrimonial drag net is set between them and the deep sea, and there they are. You know the result, so in this way and that way and the other way new life is added to the body politic, new . . . . but why pursue the met- aphor further. Vermont is all right, so say I. Massachusetts as a Fire Insurance Field Srºtº-E-Ba- FASSACHUSETTS as a field" should be con- sidered, very largely, in a comparative way, Looked at in that light, there is none bet- | ter. But the man from Maine and the other one from California will ask, Why? My answer is, "Because." Now, before I finish this epistle I may have shown why, to the satisfaction of some one besides myself, and I may not. At all event- I really don't know why until I ask myself. Perhaps 1 naturally think so because I am a Massachusetts Yankee and have trod her illustrious old soil so many years. But I have also cruised over every square mile of Maine and have been pretty well over California. I have an excessive liking for both and that fact will make T.A. E S TA W D A R D it difficult for me to show why Massachusetts is one whit better as a field for the insurance tramp. First, let's look at her geographically. She runs 200 miles or so East and West and some 50 miles North and South. Crossing her East and West are two of the great trunk line railroads-the very best in the land, and two-thirds of the distance from Boston to the Con- necticut river is a third line. Intersecting these great parallel lines of track are more than half a dozen North and South roads, cutting and connecting the state at convenient intervals. From the great Hub (God bless her for her greatness and the quality of her blood) there radiates the great net work of the Old Colony system to the South and the Cape, and the Boston & Maine (comprising the old system of the Eastern, Boston & Maine, Lowell and Fitchburg roads) to the North, bringing into easy touch the many spindle and shoe cities North and South. Then, just think of the trolley roads paralleling, crossing and opening up to ready ac- cess every little town and village. If one wants to be safe he must “get aboard," because otherwise he will be warned to get off the track by a steam or an air whistle, a bell or a gong. As rapid, easy and convenient means of travel is, per- haps, the most important element in the life and duties of those who must travel constantly, it cannot be denied that Massachusetts fills the bill in that respect, probably better, as a whole, than any other state. It is difficult, in fact, to find a remote, “way back" place in the state now —unless, indeed, we are represented by our good old friend Col. Warriner of Springfield. I have often thought that the Colonel discovered unknown realms and planted broker agents there just to make us ask, “Where is this place at?" So much for the travel phase. Probably nearer to the heart of the average travelling man (insurance or other "line") than any other feature is the hotel ques- tion-the places where he must find bed and board. Southey or some other old misanthrope once said: Who ever has travelled life's dull round, Where e'er his stages may have been, Will sigh to know that he has found, His warmest welcome at an inn. Perhaps that was so in the old days, before the in- vention of bath-tubs, and when the wayfarer was met at the entrance of the inn by the proprietor, his good wife and buxom daughter and surrounded by big tank- ards of good old ale. But I must return to Massachu- setts and the beginning of the twentieth century. As I count over her hotels, in my mind, beginning with Young's in Boston (the best in the world) I incline to the belief, that barring some dozen or so, they do not compare favorably with those in the tier of states on the North as a whole. But then, thanks to those many rail- roads and numerous express trains, one can always eas- ily strike Boston, Springfield, or Pittsfield. Considered in the light of comparison, however, Massachusetts as a hotel state ranks far ahead of those in the South, West, Middle Atlantic and Pacific, and I speak whereof I have known to considerable extent. I don't want to dwell too much on the tourist side of the insurance life, but speaking of tankards of ale re- minds me of the “Maine liquor law." The first debate I can remember was a soliloquy by my respected grand- father (whose name I bear), an old soldier of 1812, as he sat mixing his toddy in his little humpback blue pitcher. I won't repeat the argument, although it would be apropos today. The same old law exists today, I guess, though it don't trouble me. Well, when I was last at the old Falmouth Hotel in Portland (the same old house but now called the "New" Falmouth), I asked Boothby (the one who inspected the Pacific field "from the tail end of a Pullman") to come to my room, up one flight, first door to the right, No. 21. As he came in he exclaimed, "Hello, the old bar-room, what tales and cocktails it could tell if it dared to speak." He said no more on the subject, presumably because he knew my habits. Later on I was visited by the two members of the firm of Dow & Pinkham, and again the ghost impersonated through Pinkham who said, simply, "The old bar-room.” The hint was too much for me. I said that I should like to renew the hospitalities of the old room (now the best sleeping room in the house) if he would undertake the negotiation. With a doubtful shake of the head he approached the room telephone. Many minutes conversation with the office from head clerk to proprietor, brought forth a foaming pitcher of Sebago lake ice water. Perhaps there are others who will agree with me that Massachusetts is ahead of Maine as a field. I was told by Pinkham next day that after January 1st Portland would have a new Sheriff. Its significance I did not fathom. Returning from refreshment to labor, I will speak of the more serious features of the Massachusetts field—the class of business as a whole, the calibre of agents and the laws under which we strive to do business. Here again I must speak comparatively and confine myself to the New England States for such purpose. Leaving out farms, which nobody writes, because they are all “abandoned," as Warriner says, “by the insur- ance companies," the field contains a dozen thriving, industrious, prosperous mechanical towns, ranging from 3oooo to 125,000 inhabitants each, besides twice that number ranging from 5,000 to 25,000. There is scarcely any business in the line of mechanical arts that is not carried on and in the line of cotton, woolen, leather, and metal working the industries are enormous. Add to these the mercantile, residential and other accompany- ing risks, and the field furnishes a variety that cannot fail to develop a "field man,” with an experience which must fit him for the best service possible, as a special agent, in any field. Nor does it stop at equipping its men as special agents. It is needless to point to the conspicuous managerial chairs so ably filled by men who were either born or trained in the Massachusetts field. Of course, it is difficult to make any distinct separation of the states composing the New England field; still, from the great variety of her industries, and the early lead which she established in modern and up-to-date un- derwriting, Massachusetts must carry the palm. I cannot speak with any distinction as to the per- sonnel of the agents in the several New England States. The influence of the New England Insurance Exchange has worked so much good, in an educational way, that there is really little difference on the scores of intelli- gence and reliability between the man from Mattawam- keag, Me., and Pittsfield, Mass., or any intervening places. They are all a blooming good lot of fellows. But when we come to the laws under which we strive, there is where the influence and levelheadedness of the local agent in Massachusetts has prevailed to avert the riotous acts that have transpired in the states North of her. I am writing this essay in a hotel in a New Hampshire town, and doubt very much if I am not violating the law in so doing. I shouldn't dare submit the case to Linehan. He would surely rule that I have no right, legally, to express my views in New Hampshire, except through a resident agent—that, having so transgressed I must pay the face of my folly regardless of value and that if I didn't walk up and settle within fifteen days I could be tried by a jury. In Maine I should be almost as unsafe. But in dear old Massachusetts, the field which furnishes profit generally and experience always, the insurance laws wouldn't restrain me, and they are no better there than they should be. After all, the field, to the fieldman, depends very largely upon his mood. Rhode Island as a Fire Insurance Field --- * Rhone Islann.” HAVE been asked to contribute an article to the “Standard" on the advantages and disadvantages of “Rhode Island as a Fire Insurance Field." The advantages and disadvantages of doing business in a certain state resolve themselves largely into a question of comparison with other sec- tions of the country. We know that certain states, owing to peculiar conditions, such as bad laws, unscrupu- lous commissioners, burdensome taxes, etc., have proved steadily unprofitable to the companies. Other states, owing largely to an absence of these adverse and annoy- ing conditions, and to a better feeling on the part of the community towards the companies, have as a rule shown a fair underwriting profit year after year. Although the smallest state in the Union, the annual fire insurance premiums of Rhode Island are about twice those of Vermont and a little more than the premiums of New Hampshire. Our loss ratio for the past ten years has been about 50 per cent and for American stock companies running as low as 27 per cent in 1895 and 41 per cent in 1898 and 1901. We have adopted the New York Standard policy, and have a resident agent law. Our insurance laws are not oppressive, and com- panies have little to worry them in the way of adverse legislation. The history of the state has been that very few of the bills so harmful to fire insurance interests which are continually being brought forward in other states, and which require the constant vigilance of the companies to defeat, have ever appeared before our legislature. We have a good insurance commissioner, who be- lieves that the interests of the companies are closely interwoven with the interests of the great insuring public. Rhode Island agents show a commendable spirit in maintaining rates. A risk written in violation of the tariff is an exceedingly rare occurrence, and I think the New England Insurance Exchange has in the past ten years been obliged to send out only two or three pink slips on Rhode Island risks. This is especially com- mendable when we realize that much of the business outside of the city of Providence, is written by Provi- dence agents, and that the Providence Board rules allow unlimited vacancy and non-occupancy permits and in other respects are in direct violation of Exchange rules. One reason for this close observance of the tariff is our stamp clerk system. The agents of the city of Providence, Providence County, including the cities of Pawtucket and Central Falls, Bristol County and Kent County, send their daily reports through the same stamp clerk, and they are well aware that the least irregularity in rates, clauses or forms will be picked up by this efficient and painstaking official. The territory so re- porting probably embraces about 80 per cent of the premiums of the state. These daily reports are all mailed to the stamp clerk, who is thereby relieved of the necessity of visiting the agents' offices, thus making the expense of the system small. This arrangement meets with no opposition even from the companies who are ordinarily opposed to stamp clerks, and who always object to daily reports leaving their agents' hands ex- cept for direct mailing to the home office. I know that there are many who will disagree with me on the stamp clerk question, but I think if the present Exchange system could be extended to cover New Eng- land, instead of as now an occasional city and town, it would be an excellent thing for the business. It seems to me that this might be accomplished at a relatively small expense, by arranging to have the agents of a county or several counties, or perhaps a considerable portion of a state, send their daily reports through a single office, as in Rhode Island, thus greatly simplifying the work. The whole state of Rhode Island, exclusive of Provi- dence, has been rerated within a few years, and I believe we have no tariff more than five years old. The rates on our sprinklered country textile mills, where the equipment is not up to standard, have been materially increased recently. This is a class which has in the past been most unprofitable, and which on account of more adequate rates and the prosperous condition of the woolen business, should in the future make a better showing. - Providence has a good protective department. An independent system of high service mains for fire pur- poses has been installed throughout the centre of the city. The rules of the Providence Board as to the ap- proval of electrical installations, and the inspections of the same, are most excellent. The state boasts of some good dwelling house mutuals, who have always shown a desire to work in harmony with the stock companies as to rules and rates. One of the advantages of Rhode Island as an insurance field, which will probably appeal less to the companies -- T H E S T A M D A A' D than to their hard-working specials, is the fact that Providence is within an hour's ride of the city of Boston. As to the disadvantages of the state, I hardly know what to say. After all, a company's premiums and loss ratio in a given territory tell the whole story. Rhode Island has no fire marshal law, and there is not a rigid enforcement of fire ordinances by the cities and towns of the state. It seems to me unfortunate that Providence is not under the jurisdiction of the New England Insurance Exchange. The experience gained by members of the Exchange in weekly meetings, in serving on rating committees and by consultation with rating bodies having jurisdiction in other parts of the country, certainly gives them advantages in making rates which no body of local agents can hope to obtain. This applies especially to the handling of sprinklered business, and to the present system of schedule rating manufacturing plants. Whether within or without the portals of the Exchange, I think a city the size of Providence, should be rated under some approved mercantile schedule. The in- creased care as to details of management, and the im- provement in construction which would follow such a system, would result eventually in lower rates, especially on the better risks, would show up the defects of and increase the rates on the poorer risks, and would bring about conditions more satisfactory, it seems to me, to the companies, the agents and the insuring public, than can be obtained under the present system of judgment rates. Boston gives us an excellent example of the advantages of schedule rating. In view of the firm foothold which the schedule idea has obtained in this and other sections of the country, it is certainly fair to hope that we may see it applied in the city of Providence. The Rhode Island rates on unprotected dwelling prop- erty are very low, and I think this class has proved steadily unprofitable. Many companies have two, and some companies more agents in Providence, and possibly the commission question figures to quite an extent in the distribution of preferred business, although I do not know that the conditions in this respect differ much from other places. On the whole, I think the state of Rhode Island pre- sents certainly a fair field for the fire insurance business, and compares very favorably with the other New Eng- land States. Connecticut as a Fire Insurance Field --- Charles W. Parker. EFORE touching on this particular state from a fire insurance standpoint, it may prove interesting to go back may years, and to note that it was in the latter days of the eighteenth century that the subject of un- derwriting the risks of the public, was undertaken in this country, and from the small beginning then inaugurated, has sprung many of the strongest institutions that have not only rendered valuable aid to all branches of the mercantile pursuits, but have made Connecticut and par- ticularly Hartford, noted the world over, as an insurance centre. The beginning was carefully managed in the issuance of marine and fire policies, afterwards branching out into life and other kinds of policies, and the success met with by Connecticut companies, has found many imitators, many of whom, however, have succumbed to the drains on their treasuries, through the serious disasters that have from time to time visited the country. Hartford companies have gained an enviable reputa- tion, not through luck or favorable circumstances, but by careful forethought and a study of facts and principles involved in the business, and by the intelligence of those entrusted with the management of the different com- panies. Upon many occasions have the companies been called upon to meet adversities, and serious calamities, but in nearly every case, have they been able to pay to the public, dollar for dollar for loss sustained. The failures of the Connecticut fire insurance compa- nies, have been few, and of rare occurrence, the compa- nies being managed by men, who have been educated to be careful, conservative, ever mindful that the interests of the stockholder as well as the insured, must be pro- tected. The large growth of the country and insurable inter- ests, has necessitated the appointment of representatives, so that today the agency system extends throughout the entire country, nearly every hamlet and village having an agent, contributing to the income of the various com- panies, as well as turnishing a livelihood for himself. The condition of the fire insurance interests until with- in the past few months, has been most trying, calling tor even more careful study than formerly. The companies on account of excessive losses during the past few years, have been obliged to transact business, a new on a small margin of profit, and the balance at a loss, from an un- derwriting standpoint; the profit to the stockholders, coming from the investment of the assets. While it is true that losses have been somewhat lighter during the latter half of 1902, and most of the companies will make quite satisfactory statements, it is a fact that the conditions connected with and surrounding fire un- derwriting in this country today, present a curious phe- 10111-1-on- It is an admitted fact that an organized system or method for collecting premiums from property owners, and distributing same in payment of losses, or in other words, equalizing the burden of loss by fire, is an abso- lute necessity. Remove at once the security offered by the various fire insurance organizations, and there would be almost an entire suspension of business. Capital would not dare to invest; monied institutions would not loan if menaced with a constant danger of entire destruc- tion by fire of property, and of security. Carefully prepared statistics for a period covering ten years prior to 1902, developed the fact that the profit to the companies from an underwriting standpoint, was less than one-half of one per cent, on the combined net premi- um receipts of all companies transacting business in the United States, showing that not sufficient premium had been collected to pay losses, and expenses, and have a margin sufficient to pay a dividend to the stockholders, which the most exacting must admit to be reasonable. To meet these conditions, early during the year just closed, the companies decided upon a percentage advance on certain classes of risks, and to subject other classes to a system of schedule rating, which would produce more premium to pay losses with. The results of the past year, with the reduced loss ratio, have proven the wisdom of this action. At the same time, there has been thus placed in the hands of agents, a most convincing argument for them to show to the public, wherein their rates may be reduced, and their risks improved through the applica- tion of the schedule, an opportunity which many agents had longed for, but coming in this way, they did not, at first, in all cases, take kindly to, but gradually they have become converted, and nearly, if not quite all of the agents, are now, most decidedly in favor of the present system. Connecticut, nicknamed the “Nutmeg State” and the “Land of Steady Habits,” depends upon its products and manufactures largely for its source of income. The farm- ing industry is quite large in certain parts of the state, but awing to excessive losses on that class of property, there are but few stock companies of today, that are writ- ing farm property; the bulk of the risks on farms, being insured by mutual companies under certain restrictions. In variety of manufactures, Connecticut stands pre-em- inent among the states. Nearly all the clocks, about one- half the hardware and india rubber goods, and a very large proportion of all the sewing machines, plated ware, silk and woolen and cotton goods, hats, caps and edge tools manufactured in America, are manufactured in Con- necticut. Shipbuilding is also quite an industry, espe- cially in the eastern part of the state. It is pleasing to note during the past year, that a num- ber of new industries have been started in various parts of the state, and in some places, large additions have been made to different factories, notably in Waterbury, New Britain, Torrington and Bridgeport, localities were the brass and hardware industries form the chief production, thus increasing the output of products, as well as furnishing employment for an increased population, which is always an attraction from an insurance stand- point. Again, during the past three years, there has been located the plant of the Eastern Ship Building Company at Groton. It is stated that in this yard, the keels or two of the largest steel steamships ever constructed, were laid. This should prove a most valuable industry to the eastern section of the state. Electric railroads are coming to form an important part in the growth of population of the state, tenuing to build up the suburban districts with homes for the work- ingmen, and at the same time, bringing the mercanule trade into the large centres. Large investments of cap- ital have been made in this direction, in this state during the past few years. Connecticut from a fire insurance standpoint, has been until the past year, a profitable field for the operations of home and foreign capital. Statistics show that during a period covering the ten years prior to 1902, there have been risks assumed by stock and mutual companies covering Connecticut prop- erty, amounting to $2,610,050,186 for which there have been premiums received amounting to $23,730,590. The losses incurred amounted to $10,908, oto, showing that during this period the ratio of losses to premiums was 45.9 per cent. During the year 1902, however, the experience of the companies has been far different. There has occurred se— rious conflagrations at Waterbury and New Mutord, the former under date of February 2, 1902, when many busi- ness blocks in the centre of the city were destroyed en- tailing a property loss of about $1,400,000 and a loss to the companies in round numbers, of $984.779 os; and the latter under date of May 5, 1902, practically the entire business section of the town being wiped out, not a build- ing in the square bounded by Main, Bank, Bridge streets and Railroad avenue, being saved, causing a loss of some $400,000. Added to these serious blows to the resources of the companies, have come numerous other losses throughout the state, such as the St. Mary's Church at New Britain, for which the companies paid $75,000; the Frank Goetz Bakery at South Manchester, causing loss to the companies of about $27,ooo. While not as heavy as the two first mentioned, in the aggregate amounting to large sums, so that there will be very few companies rep- resented in the state, that will for the year, be able to show any profit on the business written in this state. It is pleasing to note, however, that through the medium of the payment of the losses by the companies, at Water- bury and New Milford, these places are rapidly recov- ering from the calamities. While Waterbury has been somewhat slow in rebuild- ing, owing to the fact that the price of materials advanced at about the time of the fire, and also that there were elements of labor strikes to contend with, the buildings will be replaced with safer and better constructed ones than formerly, making a recurrence of the conflagration quite unlikely. Great credit should be given to New Milford for the active spirit shown by the citizens of that town. Hardly had the ruins ceased smoldering, before there had been erected on the park facing the burned section, many tem- porary buildings for the accommodation of the different merchants who had suffered. Today, eight months since the fire, nearly the entire burned section has been rebuilt, with substantial buildings, of brick construction with but two exceptions, modern in every respect, presenting an entirely new appearance from that of the old town. While from an insurance point of view, conflagrations such as nearly swept New Milford off the map, operate to our disadvantage, yet how providential to the citizen- of the town that they were amply insured in most cases, thus enabling them to replace unsightly and rickety struc- tures, with modern buildings, which are a credit to any community. It is of interest to note that the size of the water mains in the streets has been increased to 12 inches, and with an abundant water pressure, the com- panies now stand a fair chance to recover some of their losses. At the session of the Connecticut Legislature two years ago, there was passed a bill creating the office of fire marshal. The operations of this new official will be watched with interest, as it is believed that there will be 47 TA/ E S T A M D A A' D less incendiary fires than formerly. While it is somewhat difficult to secure sufficient evidence to convict in a case of arson, there is no doubt that thorough investigation has a good moral effect on a community, and deters others from an attempt at incendiarism. Already have come re- ports of convictions, demonstrating the wisdom of the jaw, and that the present official is on the alert. Another good effect, will be the removal of rubbish, combustible and inflammable materials which, when allowed to accum- ulate, endanger surrounding property, especially in thickly settled districts. The state of Connecticut has the distinction of having the largest amount of fire insurance capital invested of any state in New England ($10,050,000), and Hartford is the recognized centre of insurance interests, being the home of eight stock and sixteen mutual fire insurance com- panies, and the home office of three foreign companies. This article would not be complete without reference to the local boards in different parts of the state which are well organized and officered by gentlemen of intel- ligence, commanding the respect of the public with whom they daily come in contact. Another live organization is the Connecticut Associa- tion of Local Fire Insurance Agents, which was organ- ized in Hartford, November 16, 1899. This association has done much to bring the local agents together, and to enforce good practices, and is looked upon as being a power, by companies as well as agents. New England as a Fire Insurance Field William B. Medlicott. FROBABLY the persuasive manager of the “Standard,” in considering whom he would ask to write on the above topic, thought that as a “field” was to be dealt with, a =" country man from a farming district would be the man to do it. Whether it was purpose or acci- dent, the topic seems to have come to one who (when occasionally at home) still dwells in a farming town in the fertile Connecticut Valley, one with generations of farmer ancestors behind him. Perhaps then, as a son of the soil, it may be as well to treat the field as an agriculturalist, to see what it is, what crops it can yield, how best to raise them and to overcome the tares that inevitably will come into the wheat. The field of New England is one that can and has raised almost everything that any portion of the earth above or the waters beneath have ever been guilty of producing, to say nothing of much that even these ºom- prehensive areas have never succeeded in bringing forth elsewhere. From the wooden nutmeg and paper ham plantations of connecticut to the potato starch fields and imported French sardine fisheries of eastern Maine is a far call. From the ministerial salt water gold mines of the Bay of Fundy to the genuine quartered oak basswood coffin factories of Vermont is a range that has been contem: plated with sorrow at both ends. Yet the Special Agent armer, especially if his “talents" are spread all over the New England field, has to face the possibilities of crops even more diverse than these. He must indeed be versatile it when the year ends he has so conducted his farm that many of his crops have not disappeared skyward and his company's "talents" been invested in blºckºned ceilar holes, to say nothing of a sort of chill- ing blight that appears when in his home office he con- frºnts the purchasers of these special products of his farm. in our school days, as we took up the study of gºos- raphy, the products of each country were impressed on ºr minds. Now as the special Agent farmer looks over his field, iſ that field be the one we are writing of, he must conclude that what remains of his mind is far too small, for a range of subjects confronts him more varied ºn than those attempted by the Ladies' Home Journal, and almost calling for an encyclopedia to enu- merate them our farmer finds that not only must he know what these multifarious products are that are raised in New England, but in what part of the field they will thrive and what sort of men must be employed to cultivate them. Our New England field man finds that he has six dis- tinct farms to look after, that each has a fence around it peculiar to itself, that each is presided over by a sort of head granger or Grand Vizier, called an Insurance Commissioner, whose authority inside his fence is ab- solute, one who if he does not say just what you must get for your crops or how you shall sell them does rig- idly enforce the form and terms of the bill of sale. His presence is no hardship so long as he does not say that if your crop disappears in smoke you shall forfeit so much regardless of the value, but even this is required in one of these particular fields. In general we may truly say the presence and the requirements of this auto- crat are a blessing to the honest, legitimate insurance farmer of unquestioned pedigree, whose name appears duly enrolled on the Vizier's herd book and well worth the tax he imposes for allowing us to work on his farm. Far otherwise than a friend, however, does he appear to the irresponsible pirate farmers, who seek to crawl in under the fence and reap where their honest brethren have sown. So all the reputable Special Agent farmers regard this Vizier as truly their friend. we often hear the insurance farmers whose ill-luck it is to have to cultivate the farms outside of New Eng- land speak of our especial field as “God's country." The name is all right, but we must admit that if it is a true one there are many living in this country who never knew the owner, those who regard the eighth rule of the Decalogue as not binding when it comes to a mat- ter of insurance, many who feel that an insurance com- pany is purely an Eleemosynary Institution. Doubtless this degenerate class is to be found in other fields as well, but the last few years have seen a startling increase in the breed all over this field, not only along the “Ski" line, but among the genuine old New England stock. As a whole, though, our New England Insurance farms have proved fertile. Of late years, however, the crops have been more disappointing and their cultivation at- tended with increasing difficulties. A variety of blights have appeared. The soil seems overworked; the bac- teria of high commissions, cultivated by well-meaning if short-sighted friends, have entered the hitherto healthy brains of many of the local laborers, and those who year after year have befriended the public, have cultivated for and sold to them produce of unquestioned value; have stood promptly and often by the ruined fireside, the smoke-grimed family home, the drenched household gods and the wrecked store or factory; have brought the alleged mourners not only refreshing drafts to com- pensate their loss and renew fresh courage in their heart; yet, after all this, these old friends now often have to stand to one side and see a new man with a new draft step in and administer the comfort and consolation as well as compensation that was formerly their privi- lege. The new draft usually seems to be as satisfying as was the old that did not originate from remedies sweetened in the local dispensary with a high flavored commission, To the old school of homeopathic commission prac- titioners this treatment it is feared will tend to an en- feeblement of the help used to cultivate the field, and already it seems to have brought into the work more than seem necessary or wisely economical; in fact we find lawyers, grocers, undertakers, railroad men and even clergymen being called in to perform the duties that formerly were carried out with credit and profit by the old-time reliable fire insurance agent, one who did this work only and farmed in a manner that pro- duced a good crop of premiums for his companies, promptly paid indemnity for his customers and a more than living income for himself. But now-a-days how different! --- This digression on high commission fertilizers, gen- eralities and mixed metaphors applies not to any one of the New England farms, but may be found in all of them, it is a sorrow to some, and a sort of mixed blessing to others of the Special Agent farmers, who go up and down the land telling their local laborers what to plant and what to reap. Unfortunately in this particular branch of farming the seed sown is often no guarantee of the crop reaped. They may order the seeds put in that should bring forth a crop of nice sub- urban residences and find too late that the smoke aris- ing from an unsuccessful land scheme is all that comes up. They may make a special push for churches even to the extent it is said of one of these peripatetic farm- ers of joining every church in New England he could get into, and find that even some of these have been carried away by a doctrine warmer than the strictest Calvinism ever promulgated. They may decide that a nice little summer hotel garden is an ornament and a profit, and too late discover that no summer was ever long enough to properly develop it. They may believe that they have a sort of snap hook-and-eye cinch on some preferred manufacturing plant and find that com- bustion and that plant were more closely linked together than were ever the hook and the eye. And so on we may multiply the list of ills that come as freely to the Insurance farmer in New England as do the grasshop- pers, floods, hail, frost, crows, blight, potato bugs, elm tree beetles, and all the other trials that beset the ordi- nary agriculturalist. For surely the regular farmer has no ill that cannot be found in another form by his insur- ance brother in New England. If the latter has not the grasshopper to face, he has the seeds of Abraham drop- ping down here and there, often fertilized by the refined products of the Standard Oil Company and sweeping away the profits of an otherwise productive field. If hail has no terrors for this wandering cultivator, the lightning surely has. If he has no fear of the floods of nature, those of the average country fire department often drench him in woe. If he dreads not frost, he does shiver with apprehension lest the plumber with his innocent little gasolene torch shall remove that frost too rapidly. If the crows do not pull up the seeds of his careful planting the Lloyds and wild cats may scratch them up. If the blight cannot affect his crop, the aver- age general court or state legislature can cause him anx- iety and at times prevent his crop from attaining its legitimate fruition, while in place of the potato bugs he has the innocent, well-meaning but very dangerous citizen who habitually indulges in every sort of “didn't know it was loaded” performance, who kindles his fires with kerosene, affects ballet dancer lamp shades, gaso- lene vapor lamps, etc., etc. Unfortunately the Insurance farmer cannot use the agriculturalist's remedy of Paris green on this pest. And as for the elm tree beetles, the pests that mutilate and sometimes kill nature's grand- est vegetable product, the Insurance farmer has the well- intending but too often ill-advised rating organization to denude him of the grand and inspiring foliage of green back leaves that he expected to gaze on with much satisfaction. The Inter-State Board of Insurance Agriculture, sit- ting on the fifth floor of 55 Kilby Street, Boston, is of untold value to the New England Insurance farmer. Its chief prognosticator, like his brother of the U. S. weather bureau, has a series of storm signals which he floats out every few moments. These are to tell the farm hands what is going to be, what may be, what is, what was, and what ought not to be; also the price of crops and how to put them up in marketable shapes, Sometimes a brown leaflet, a warning signal, is waſted into the hands of the man not with the hoe, but the pen and the policy, and it tells him what to expect, that there may shortly be a frost that will take all the beauty and flavor from a few bushels of carefully culled forms and clauses that have cost time, thought, paper and printer's ink; or it may be that this same brown danger signal will warn him that to save his crop he must mar- ket it in a new and unrecognizable shape, bewildering alike often to the insurance man and to the public, who sometimes cannot tell whether they are dealing in pure Boston terriers or 80 per cent. Irish setters. This is the may-be signal; it is the work of a prophet, and it is rumored that some of them are called “tracts for the propagation of profanity." Once in a great while a yellow signal, a might-be sort of an affair, is flown. This is more for information than warning or instruc- tion; asks the farmers how they are and what they are going to do about it. It is the offspring of the statis- tician. Then and most often comes the what is white slip, a regular tract, telling what to do not only in the future, but sometimes for a few weeks back: a guide, a price list, how to live justly and deal uprightly towards -- T H E J T.A. W. D.A. R. D all the neighboring farmers, and in fact everything our insurance friend must do until disaster comes and his crops vanish skyward. Then it is discreetly silent and leaves him to his own resources, and yet not wholly, for the society that has sent out these instructive tracts, while recognizing that this is not its funeral, does seek to gather the mourners that by mutual bearing the sor- row may be lightened. Then, too, we have the contagious disease warning of the pink slip. It tells us that a certain crop has the smut of a cut rate, or the gangrene of a vicious clause, or the appendicitis of a disallowed permit; or it may be that it is immodestly masquerading in our midst devoid of the becoming garment of co-insurance, confined with the girdle of 80 per cent. When these shocking lapses are discovered or even suspected, every Special Agent farmer is warned to look carefully over his farm, and if such disease is found, to destroy at once the offending produce or remove from his field the helper whose care- less or wilful negligence has allowed such vicious germs to thrive. The enforcement of these drastic measures by the honest co-operation of the New England Special Agent farmers has surely tended to render the spread of these diseases less prevalent here than in most other insurance fields. There are certain axioms that lie back of these various rules and warnings, and the delibera- tions of the Board referred to have resulted in the col- lecting of many facts that are of great value to the New England Special Agent farmer. We can only cite a few: Dwellings and mercantile buildings may be grown in Boston and vicinity with profit (?), even when not looked after; but in Worcester and other New England cities and towns constant care, occupancy and attend- ance are necessary. Acetylene gas plants must not be allowed to bloom in the house. They spoil the house. Hotels with forty-one guests cost much more to cul- tivate properly than those with but forty, even if the forty-first guest did not come from Danbury or Great Barrington. Gasolene, while very dangerous in any manufactur- ing plant, even when cared for by persons familiar with its idiosyncrasies, is a nice thing to have in one's home, and its use must not be discouraged by taxation. Vines of electric wires may be cultivated with suc- cess and profit, provided wooden trellises are not used. Tile chimneys are not only a blot on the landscape, but are so unhealthy for all the surroundings that they should not be grown. Cooks should not make a practice of pouring kero- sene on the kitchen fire. Only the wealthy can afford this, and in these days of too rapid changes among cooks it often hastens their departure. Combustion in ice houses usually occurs at the end of a cool summer. Codfish curing plants may be raised successfully in Gloucester, but do not thrive so well in Montpelier. While a summer dwelling may be cultivated at Man- chester-by-the-Sea for twenty-five cents a year and the same one continue to bloom year after year, at Salis- bury Beach it costs two dollars for the same period to raise one, and a new dwelling usually has to be set out each year. The soil and climate of Pittsfield, Mass, while well adapted to the successful raising of many crops, is not so suitable for sardine canning as is Eastport, Maine. The putting up of “No smoking" signs, especially in plants cultivated only by female help, acts as a scarecrow and frightens away combustion, The presence of automatic sprinklers about any plant is a sure indication of a profitable crop, even when no water is available, and should materially lessen the cost of cultivation. If a crop is to be lost for the need of a proper remedy, and its days are surely numbered, the doctor may be called at any time, but must administer no help until a proper amount of red tape has been tied about th patient. - While the value of these and many other useful and practical rules is of great benefit in the raising of good healthy crops, the determining and fixing of adequate selling prices for each of the multitudinous products of New England is of greater value. Whether or not the prices determined are adequate is a very open question. The effort to make them so, however, is an honest one, and often serves to reconcile the Insurance farmer to selling his crops year after year at less than cost. It cer- tainly would seem that what is sorely needed is some sort of a clearing house where the selling price based on the actual, not imagined cost of planting, tilling, and reap- ing, can by the combined experience of each Special Agent farmer be with certainty determined. Too often now the item of reaping is entirely overlooked. But it is easier to criticise than to suggest, and as a whole our Board of Insurance Agriculture does its work well, and if its warnings and advice were more closely heeded the better would our farms produce What we have thus far said of New England is equally applicable to any other field. We hear much of "barren New England,” especially in the popular historical nov- els of the day. These novelists evidently are none of them Special Agents, for the latter well know the varied scenery, the evident thrift, the advanced civilization that is so apparent as they wander from end to end of this, the first settled corner of the new world. "Barren"- far from it—not in variety surely. Where can one find such varied products, such diversity of land, such heter- ogeneous climate? In fact the Special Agent who some- times in the course of a very few days is on each of his farms, appreciates the truth of the well known humor- ist's remark that "New England has no climate, but just simply weather." One sometimes thinks the New Eng- land field man today is in many respects a prototype of those Pilgrims of 1620, who started in to set down agen- cies on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. There is much of the same grim determination in them both. The tar- iff, it is true, has replaced Sternhold and Hopkins and in place of the shorter catechism the equally dogmatic publications of the F. I. C. and the S. R. C. are used. Armed with these he goes forth, not to conquer or con- vert the Indian, but to face representatives of every na- tion on the earth; and if the red man is now of the past, the inflammable wigwams of the ten lost tribes are too often found by him. In place of the blunderbuss he car- ries a grip loaded with varied ammunition to exorcise the non-board witches of the South and West, and to expose the Mormon missionaries of the Empire state with their plurality of rebates. He must also be a sort of muezzin as well as a cultivator and missionary and from the minaret of his Special Agency cry abroad early and late, "Great is the New England Exchange and C. M. G. is its prophet.” Woe to the worker who hearing that call does not at once bow down and yield obedience. Should he not do so, the usually smiling but then stern Special Agent will load his grip with the latest tract from Kilby street, reinforced often with a clean collar and a toothbrush, and as a missionary or a physician go forth, no matter what the day, the hour, the weather or the state of his family, to apply the admonitions or treat- ment that seem best needed. Should his crops fall off in any particular field the same prompt action on his part is necessary. In cases of this sort when ordinary means fail in producing approved methods or profitable crops, remedies put up in concentrated form by one Huyler are found to work well with the better (and fairer) portion of the laborers. For the more degenerate among the help it is found that certain choice Havana narcotics work well and even it is rumored that in some cases cer- tan forms of liquid stimulants are resorted to. It is said that the average Special Agent is not sufficently ac- quainted with the last remedies to be trusted to admin- ister them properly. Numerous cases to the contrary, however, could be cited, one of the latest being found in 1903, Mass., 1-8. Special Agents et al. vs. The Somerset. New England as a field, in spite of the seeming sar- casm that appears at times to enter into what has thus far been said, is the best, the dearest, the most fertile of all insurance fields. Those who cultivate it realize more than can any other that it may more truthfully be called "God's country" than can any other. The great Maker and Giver of all has purposely created the rugged, vary- ing and sometimes forbidding conditions that are found here, to offer greater incentive to work and to make the tillers of its farms, whether those farms be of the soil, of mercantile pursuits or of insurance, on which all rely to supply them with credit, and to furnish that which at times is needed to build up their impaired financial con- stitutions, a race more sturdy and unconquerable than could be possible were conditions easier. Massachu- setts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, a galaxy of fair and glorious states, whose virtues are many, whose natural beauty is a de- light, whose civilization and cultivation is unequalled, whose hospitalites are unbounded, whose products-ºs- pecially from their insurance fields-are the most varied upon earth. Truly it is a privilege and an honor to su- pervise the cultivation of fire insurance in such a coun- try. If the fairness of this Eden and the beauty of its life are sometimes marred by the fiery serpents of moral and physical hazard, there is still so much to aid in the extermination of these monsters, and so much of good that they cannot contaminate, that the work in the New England field is a pleasure, a pride and an inspiration. Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Union --- Altºn L. Bannoun. UTUAL Insurance in Massachusetts was first instituted in 1790, when the Massachu- setts Mutual Fire Insurance Company was ormed, and was, I believe, the first known insurance company in New England. The mutual companies began in 1824; the Old present Worcester taking the lead, followed by the Norfolk in 1825, and the Middlesex and the Hingham in 1826, It was a matter of self preservation, or mutual pro- tection at that time, as, previous to 1830, there were only a few stock companies in the state, and those mostly located in Boston. The people outside of Boston were in a measure forced to form mutual companies to obtain protection. Merchants, farmers and manufacturer- came to the Legislature seeking incorporation. Four were incorporated in 1828, five in 1829, and sixteen be- tween that time and 1850. There were also very few insurance agents, and not a "broker." In early years, the mutual companies insured all classes of property; shoe factories, lumber yards, tan- neries, farms, churches, dwellings, and stocks of goods: all were freely written. The risks taken, both in amount and character were such as would appall a prudent insurance manager of today, and frighten any good mutual underwriter. Think of a $4,000 line on a stock of dry goods, a $2,000 risk on a lumber yard, $1,000 on a pile of bark in a tan yard, or $2,000 on a stock of looking-glasses, pictures, etc. - Think of $4,000 on a three-story brick building on Main street, $2,000 on the two-story frame building next east, with $2,000 on a stock of groceries therein, with $3,000 on the brick and frame dwelling house and stable next south on Canal street, and $4,000 on the brick building on the opposite side of the street, 40 feet in width, thus combining in these risks $15,000 in a radius of 300 feet, and no reserve fund at that, and no fire department, only a bucket bri- gade. As risks were gradually classified into Hazardous, Non-Hazardous, Special Hazards, and Manufacturing Risks, there came a division of the mutuals into Manu- facturing Mutuals, Marine Mutuals, and Dwelling and Mercantile Mutuals, each having a system of its own. Latterly came a shower of “Wild Cat Mutuals," or what were termed “Surplus Mutuals," with no financial standing or support. They lasted but a short time, doing little good and a great deal of harm. People not understanding the difference between these mushroom concerns (that -oon burst like a bubble) and the good mutuals, became prejudiced against all mutual companies. This prejudice has now passed away and mutual insurance is more sought for than ever, In the Spring of 1879, the managers of two or three of the companies, conceived the idea of forming an or- ganization that should bring together all the mutual companies writing dwelling house and mercantile rulº, for the purposes as stated in the preamble: "Of conside ering all matters affecting mutual companies, and adopting such measures as will work for the benefit ºf that system of insurance. For social and fraternal pur- - - TA/ E S T A M D A A' D poses, to the end that peace, harmony, and good-fellow- ship may hereafter reign." Messrs. Charles A. How- and of the Quincy Mutual, E. M. Tucke of the Traders and Mechanics' Mutual, and Alfred L. Barbour of the Cambridge Mutual, issued a circular inviting all the mutual companies to send representatives to a confer- ence to be held at Boston, in July, 1879. This conference was attended by the representatives of sixteen companies. H. C. Bigelow of the Citizens Mutual was temporary chairman, and Alfred L. Barbour was chosen temporary clerk. Fifteen of the companies signed the agreement to form such an organization; and at a meeting held September 10th, 1879, a constitution and by-laws were adopted, and the "Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Union" was launched forth with the following officers: E. B. Stoddard of the Merchants and Farmers' of Worcester as president; Charles B. Cummings of the Massachusetts Mutual and George B. Faunce of the Dedham Mutual as vice-pres- idents; Alfred L. Barbour of the Cambridge Mutual as secretary and treasurer; George Heywood of the Mid- dlesex, Charles H. Miles of the Worcester, L. H. Brad- ford of the Fitchburg, E. M. Tucke of the Traders and Mechanics', and Charles A. Howland of the Quincy Mutual were elected as executive committee. Meetings were to be held quarterly or at the call of the president. Successive meetings proved so profitable and enjoya- ble that it was only a few years before all the prominent mutuals except the mill mutuals (who had an organiza- tion of their own) were enrolled as members and taking active part in its work, all feeling and enmity between the mutual companies began to melt as dew before the sun, and a kindly spirit prevailed. Rates were made, agreements entered into, and a more systematic method of doing business adopted, which not only commended itself to the officers, but to the policy holders of the companies. Between the Mutual Union and the New England Insurance Exchange there exists the best of feeling. Exchange rates have been adopted by the Union, adding differential rates to meet the benefits to the insured from the dividends paid to the mutual policy holders, and co- operation along all lines of business is becoming the rule. The social features of the Union have been a large factor in bringing about this good feeling and co-opera- tive action. At each quarterly meeting a dinner is served, and many plans are made there. About ten years ago, the secretary, with the advice of the executive committee, inaugurated what is known as the "Au- tumnal Outing of the Union" or “Ladies' Day" occur- ing once a year. The secretary arranges for an excur- sion, usually in September, generally by rail, to some pleasure resort, which shall not take more than two or three days (as insurance men are usually very busy men) at which the members invite their directors, friends, and ladies to accompany them. These excursions have roved to be very enjoyable, and are looked forward to or many months with anticipation, and some years they have had an extra excursion in June. On several of these occasions managers of the stock companies and members of the New England Insurance Exchange have accepted invitations to accompany the Union, and its ef- fect has been to create good feeling with all. Numerous advantages have come to the Union through organization beside the good feeling and in- creased business, United inspection, mutual notification of cancellation of poor risks, concerted effort (through our executive committee) towards securing wise and in- telligent legislative action and informing the public and policy holders of any proposed unwise measures. The growth and increase of the business of the com- panies forming the Union during the period of its exis- tence is shown by the following figures: 1879 1902 At risk…...................sistoºd,381 $480,279.093 Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,531,863 7,940,684 Liabilities (re-insurance fund), 2,143,053 3,637,532 Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,257,167 2,268,555 Premiums received annually about . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . notatº 1,919,126 Dividends paid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458,156 920,654 Losses paid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381.885 500,721 Among some of the measures which the Union has been instrumental in bringing about, has been the adop- tion of a “standard policy"; causing the valued policy law in Massachusetts to be further considered; creating the office of State Fire Marshal, and ferreting out several incendiaries, two habitual incendiaries now doing service behind the stone walls and iron bars, having been placed there partially through the work of our Insurance Union. A few years ago, in consequence of fires becoming more frequent, either from carelessness or design, or from unfavorable circumstances, the question was dis- cussed as to what could be done to prevent such heavy losses as had been occurring. As it was seen, a good many agents did not inspect the risks or clearly repre- sent the hazard in or around the risks they were offer- ing the companies, it was evident that the companies for self protection must have more frequent inspection. To accomplish this end, ten of the largest mutuals in- augurated a system of co-operative inspection. They secured the services of an inspector and set him to work taking the cities and large towns first, and making a thorough inspection of the risks in those places, for the companies who had united together for the work. It proved to be an exceedingly wise measure, for it was found that in the rear yards or areas of many large mercantile buildings, heaps of rubbish, straw, old papers, etc., were allowed to accumulate, making a dangerous element for the promotion of fires in congested dis- tricts. Owners and tenants were notified that their premises must be cleaned and the dangerous elements removed, or the policies would be cancelled. In other instances buildings were found with cases of goods blocking up nearly all the windows in the upper stories, so that in case of fire, it would have been impossible for the firemen to obtain access to the floor or even to get a stream of water into the inside of the building through those windows. Most of these objectionable features were removed, yet in some cases obstinate insurers and offended agents prevented the eliminating of these haz- ards. This inspection included the notifying of all the companies in the compact, of any and all poor risks, or cancelled policies thus giving the companies warning, so that when a policy was cancelled because it was a poor risk, it could not be saddled upon another company. This inspection proved so good, and by co-operation so economical, that the number of companies in the deal have increased from ten to eighteen. Rooms have been secured for the weekly gatherings or committee conferences of the Union, on the third floor of the Converse Building, ior Milk Street, and business is there transacted every Saturday. Agents and managers meet, risks are bound, and large lines on buildings are taken and distributed to the various com- panies by Secretary Barbour. The Union during its twenty-four years of existence, has had six presidents and but one secretary, as follows: Hon. E. B. Stoddard, an ex-Mayor of Worcester, sec- retary and manager of the Merchants and Farmers' Mu- tual Fire Insurance Company, was the first president, and served the Union faithfully for nine years. His ex- perience in financial affairs, broad acquaintance through: out the Commonwealth, and political prominence fitted him exceptionally for the position which he occupied so honorably for so long a time, and during the first nine years of the history of the Massachusetts Mutual Union, a steady and gratifying increase of business and prestige was feit, which made an excellent foundation for the succeeding presidents to build upon. Maj. T. H. Johnson, vice-president and treasurer of the Holyoke, was the second president of the Union: was re-elected for three consecutive terms but declined to serve longer. - The third president, Charles A. Howland, the presi- dent of the Quincy Mutual, also gave three years' ser- vice to the Union. He is an able officer anywhere. The fourth president was Roger F. Upham of Worces- ter, the secretary and treasurer of the Worcester Mutual, one of the largest companies of the Union. His insurance experience was gained by service under both stock and mutual systems, having been assistant secre: tary of the Peoples Fire Insurance Company of worcester before his engagement with the Worcester Mutual. This gave him an excellent equipment for his three-year presidential service. The fifth president, Hon. Edward M. Tucke of Lowell, the secretary and manager of the Traders and Me- chanics' Mutual Insurance Company has been a mem. ber of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate, and made an honorable record in these positions. The sixth and present president, Col. Richard F. Bar- rett, president of the Middlesex Mutual of Concord, one of the oldest and most prosperous companies of the state, was many years its secretary, succeeding his father Richard Barrett. He is one of the most prominent, hon- ored, and beloved citizens of Concord. He was a mem- ber of the Legislatures of 1891 and 1892 and of Governors Ames’ and Brackett's staffs. The writer of this article, the secretary and treasurer of the Union, has held this office and performed the duties since the inception of the Union, and has won the respect and love of all who have been associated with him. He is the secretary and manager of the Cambridge Mutual, and has been for nearly thirty years, commenc- ing with that company when it was a local one, and building it up to its present high standard. The Union has twice honored him by substantial tokens of their esteen. The Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Union is supposed to be the oldest organization of the mutual fire insurance companies in the United States. Several have been formed since then, one in the Pacific States, one in Maryland and one in Delaware, and have received valuable aid and co-operation from this the parent or- ganization. During the twenty-four years, thirty officers of the companies belonging to the Union have passed away from this to the other life. Nineteen of these were pres- idents and eleven were secretaries. Fifteen of them were actively engaged in the work of the Union. L. H. Bradford and Amasa Norcross, presidents of the Fitch- burg Mutual; Charles M. Miles, president of the Worcester, George B. Faunce, president, and Elijah Howe, secretary of the Dedham; William Barrett, sec- retary of the Middlesex, and Thomas H. Johnson, vice- president and treasurer of the Holyoke Mutual. The members of the Union have felt the loss of these men of energy and strength very much. Especially that of Maj. Johnson, who was one of the recognized leaders of the Union in Massachusetts, The benefit of the Massachusetts Mutual Union, not only to the officers of the companies, but to the policy- holders, has been inestimable. In mutual companies, the policyholders are the company and the ones bene- fited by every measure for improving the business, the risk, and the prevention of fires. The surplus not needed for better protection of the policyholders is re- turned as dividends, which help greatly in paying the new premium for renewal of a policy. This is what Mutual Insurance does for its patrons, as well as giving them sure protection and indemnity for loss. The Gasolene Smoker's Reverie --- *A Dreamer.” 55 Kilby St., 1903. ºn CE there was a dandy Building. It was All N. Right, because it had been constructed ac- cording to the combined requirements of l the Factory Improvement Committee, the Scheduled Risks Committee, and the Uni- versal Mercantile Schedule. After it was done, a hand- power carpenter from Newton Upper Falls had to put some braces in it with Nails, and fixed up the Roof with Shingles, But it Surely would resist Fire. The Windows were of Wired-in Glass and the Elevator had Hatches on it, and Traps, and Fire doors with Incontestible Thresholds and Confusible Links, so that it would do everything but Move. This Building was heated by di- rect radiation from the Factory Improvement Committee room for a while, as Coal was high, but Conversation - T H E S T A M D A A' D remained bearish. But the asbestos Pipes became cor- roded, so that they were really nothing more nor less than Asworstos, and they had to make a Change. Then they put in a High-Potential, around-the-table combina- tion system for Light, Power, and hot Heat, which was the most incandescent Bunch that ever lit up a Room. There was no more Trouble. There were Sprinklers, too, and some little Competi- tion about the Rate, for it was understood that the Mu- tuals did not require any Water Supply at all, and would send their policies, free of charge, securely sealed in a Plain Envelope, for 2 cents postage. Now in this Dream Fabric was the weekly Muster of the Rate-Machinists and Form Casters Union No. 13, K. of R., whose High Moral Purpose it was to spread a 25 per cent solution of Joy from North Lubec to Cos Cob. Here textile remnants were masticated Every Little While, and an anxious world looked on and won- dered at Police Inactivity. As a Matter of Fact, any Clerk at the Massasoit could tell these Operators all about Rates, and their ideas of Forms would be valuable only to a Corsetiere. But they kept on pushing out Trouble, Never The Less. The Worst is yet to Come. After they made Rates, sometimes they would split them open in the back and remove the Stuffing. On other Occasions it was a Great Joke to take a Rate and Sew. Buttons on it till it was twice as Big, and set it Loose again. Once they tried this on some Hogs, but there was Butter or Something on them, and Nothing was Doing. That was one of the sunshiny Golf days, when there were plenty of Matches in the Box. At other times, when the Soft Coal made them Sticky, it was tres difficile to get Justice, and it was better for the property owner to tie a Sinking Fund about his neck, or join the Grange Mutual. There was a Green Suspich, too, that owing to Re- peated Strains, the Femurs of Some were not up very Firm in their Acetabulums, which made them stub a Toe now and then, even while trying to frog along the Rectitudinal Narrow Gauge. But it. All Came Out in the Wash, at the Anniversary Banquet and Bouquet Tossing Fest. It took Lots of Soap, and more than seven Quarts of Suds, sec, with a good deal of Rubbing. It In, but when they rose from the Bath, Aphrodite was to Them as a Total Loss is to New Goods in Cases. Since when they are distended with High Moral Purpose, like a Pressure Tank. It was there. Before, but it hadn't been made Plain to them. It is so Plain now that they wonder why People don't notice them More on the Street. They have on their Shoulders a load of Responsibility.-A few of them have been in the habit of carrying their loads somewhere Else-The Country must Again be Saved (the Large Cities can take care of themselves), and so the Gang goes Forth arrayed in glad Whitewash, and chanting old *Colonial battle hymns, to Strive to Make Good in Twenty years more, all they Said and Heard about themselves in Two Hours. - and cº-ino, Present Officers and Members of the Executive Committee. +---|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|-- C. D. PALMER, † Vice-President. GEORGE A. Furness, President. +++++++++++++++++++ GEORGE shaw, Vice-President. 1903–1904. J. W. GROVER, Vice-President. Executive Committee, C. M. GoDDARD, T. H. D00LEY, Secretary. Executive Committee, H. H. soul-E, Jr., Executive committee. ----|--|--|--|--|--|-- ++++++ - GAYLE. T. PORBusin, Chim. Executive Committee. + ----------------|--|--|--|--|-- C-C-C-L-I-Poºl), ---ºut------itt- -- T // E S T A M D A R D Membership of the New England Insurance Exchange. BIOGRAPHICAL Snet CHES AND PHOTOGRAPHS. Walter Adlard, special agent of the Continental Insurance Com- pany, was born in May, 1866, in the city of Brooklyn, N. Y. He entered the New York office of the Queen Insurance Company, |February, 1883, as a boy, passed through most of the departments | and was appointed special agent February, 1893, for New Jersey and Long Island. In June, 1894, Mr. Adlard was appointed assist- ant New England special agent of the Queen and five years later became special agent of the Continental for Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He was a member of the Middle Department Association from 1893-1894 and was elected a member of the New England Insurance Exchange, December, 1894. Mr. Adlard was a member of the Executive Committee in 1900 and 1901, and has served on the following Exchange committees: Amherst, Brookline, Newton, Chicopee, Mass., Farmington Valley, Conn., Chairman of the southern Berkshire, Mass., Spen- cer, Brookfield and Warren, Mass., Winsted, Conn., Worcester County, Mass., South, Lynn, Mass., Sched- uled Risks Committee; is chairman of the Brookfield, Mass, committee and others. H. B. Alden, president of the India Mutual Insurance Com- pany, started in the insurance business in the agency of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Com- of which Mr. G. Win- throp Coffin was manager in 1872. Two years later he went with the India Mutual Insur- ance Company as fire clerk, was appointed assistant secre- tary in 1886, and on the death of Mr. L. Caverly in November of that year was elected secre- tary. In the year 1894, on the retirement of Mr. John H. Dane, the first president of the company, Mr. Alden was elected to fill that office. He became a member of the New England Insurance Exchange in April, 1898, and is a member of the Attleboro, Mass, com- mittee, - Elmer B. Bailey, state agent for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont of the Home Insure ance Company of New York, be: gan his underwriting career in 1883, with the old Griswold & Frissell agency, Burlington, Vt. | After Mr. Griswold's death Mr. Bailey purchased an interest in the agency and the firm of Fris: sell & Bailey continued until 1888, when the interest of Mr. Frissell was sold and the firm - became Hickok & Bailey in 1893. Mr. Bailey went with the Home as special agent for Vermont New Hampshire was added to his field in 1897 and in 1899 he was made state agent. Mr. Bailey is a member of the following Exchange committees: South- ern Kennebec County, Me, Franklin, Montpelier, Wind- sor and Northeastern Vermont, and chairman of the Rutland County, Vt. - Frank Bancroft began his in- surance career in 1893 in the New York office of Hall & Hen- shaw, United States managers for the Union Assurance So- |ciety, the Law Union & Crown and other companies, as a clerk in the agency department, serve ing in various positions, advanc- ing along the line for six years. He was then selected as special agent for the western agencies with headquarters in Chicago, and for three years took charge of the work in that territory. Afterwards he was re- called to New York to take the survey department and sprinklered risks and to do general special agency work. Mr. Bancroft has just been appointed special agent for the New England business for his companies, succeed- ing William Gilmour, but still retaining supervision of the sprinklered business in the New York office. He is a member of the National Fire Protection Association, and has just become a member of the New England In- surance Exchange. J. F. Barley, special agent of the Phenix Insurance Company of Brooklyn, N. Y., with head- quarters in Boston, entered the employ of that company in Feb- ruary, 1886. He was appointed inspector for the company's |Sprinkled Risks Department in January, 1893, became assistant special agent for the New Eng- land field in November, 1894, and was appointed special agent of the company, succeeding U. C. Crosby, in 1899. Mr. Barley joined the New England Insurance Exchange in 1894, and has served as chairman of the Maine division of the Factory Improvement Committee, of the Bennington County, Vt., Eastern Hampden and Quincy, Mass., com- mittees, and has been a member of various other com- mittees. Martin F. Bartlett, special agent of the Hamburg Bremen, Mercantile, Mass., and American Central, Mo., entered the insur- ance office of L. T. Boothby & Son at Waterville, Me., as a | clerk in November, 1886, the firm at that time being composed of Col. W. A. R. Boothby and his father, L. T. Boothby. On the death of the senior member of the firm in 1900, Mr. Bartlett joined with Col. Boothby in or- ganizing a corporation. The L. T. Boothby & Son Co., to continue the business, be- coming secretary and treasurer, which office he still holds. Previous to 1895 Mr. Bartlett had done some out- side independent work for the companies, and in Octo- ber of that year was appointed special agent for the Hamburg-Bremen and the Mercantile, having for his ter- ritory the state of Maine. February, 1901, Mr. Bartlett was appointed special agent for the same territory of the American Central and still represents the three com- panies. Mr. Bartlett has been a member of the Ex- change since October 1896, and is now chairman of the Aroostook and Sagadahoc County, Me., committees, and sº Lº - also a member of the Penobscot, Knox, Franklin and Southern Kennebec committees. Stephen E. Barton, general agent of the Commercial Union Assurance Company, was born at Oxford, Mass., Dec. 24, 1848. He rendered valuable services in the Civil War through his knowledge of telegraphy, and at its close returned to Boston. Mr. Barton's first experience in the insurance business was in 1872 as bookkeeper and clerk in the Worcester, Mass., office of the Royal Insurance Company. From 1874 to 1881 he was a member of the agency firm of S. R. Barton & Co., and assistant to the secretary of the Worcester Manufactur- ers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company. From November, 1881, to March, 1890, Mr. Barton was special agent of the Royal, Pennsylvania, and London & Lancashire in their New England departments, and for the next two years president of the Electric Mutual Insurance Com- pany of Boston. He served some time as secretary of the Lancashire in its general American department in New York, was an independent adjuster on the Pacific Coast, from 1893 to 1894, becoming three years later agent of the sprinkler department of the Commercial Union at its New York office, and in 1900 returned to Boston as general agent of the company. Mr. Barton is a member of the Electrical Hazards Committee of the Exchange. F. H. Battilana, special agent of the Pennsylvania lºire for New England, was born in Bos- ton, May 13, 1869, and on leav- ing school went to New York City where, in the office of R. F. Barry & Co., commission and insurance agents, he received his first insight into the business of fire insurance. Later on he was in the law office of W. H. Seeley, and then in the Mutual Fire of New York. During the - administration of William A. Francis as secretary of the Mutual Fire, Mr. Battilana acted as special agent. In 1898 he was appointed special agent of the Boston Insurance Company, and in July, 1902, was appointed by Manager Brush as special agent of the Pennsylvania Fire for New England. Mr. Bat- tilana joined the New England Insurance Exchange in 1898 and is a member of various committees. F. W. Bauer, special agent of the Liverpool & London & Globe, entered an uptown insur- ance agency in New York City in 1875, where he remained four | years. In May of 1879 he be- came associated with the office of the Liverpool & London & Globe in New York City, where most of his time was spent in the loss. department and in ad- justing in the metropolitan dis- trict. Seven years ago Mr. T. Bauer entered the field, the company having placed in his charge eastern New York State, Vermont and western Massachusetts. Mr. Bauer -- S. T A M D A A' D has never been active on any of the Exchange commit- tees, as most of his time is spent in New York State. He has served effectively, however, on various commit- tees of the Underwriters' Association of New York State, of which organization he is now president. E. G. Beardsley, special agent of the American Central Insur- ance Company of St. Louis, Mo., and the Mercantile for western Massachusetts, received his insurance education in the well-known office of Beardsley & Beardsley of Hartford, Conn. In February, 1902, he was ap- pointed special agent of the American Central. Before en- gaging in insurance Mr. Beards- ley had several years of valuable - experience in mercantile busi- ness, both in the office and on the road. He is an ac- complished accountant and possesses many qualities which will serve him well in his chosen profession. Mr. Beardsley joined the New England Insurance Exchange in May, 1902, and is a member of the Chicopee, Holyoke, and Northampton, Mass., committees. Guy E. Beardsley, state agent for the Home Insurance Com- pany of New York, was born at Coventry, N. Y., Dec. 14, 1874. He was educated in the | Hartford, Conn., public schools and Yale University, where he graduated in 1896, having taken | a course in mechanical engineer- ing. In the summer of 1896 Mr. Beardsley entered the home of fice of the Aetna Insurance Company as map clerk, and in April, 1902, went with the Na- tional Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburg as special agent for Allegheny County. In September of that year his territory was enlarged to the western half of Pennsylvania, and Jan. 15, 1903, he returned to Hart- ford again as state agent for Rhode Island and Con- necticut for the Home of New York, succeeding E. J. Sloan. Arthur L. Berry, special agent for New England of the New York Underwriters' Agency, was born in Gardiner, Maine, Feb. 2, 1859. In 1882 he estab- lished a local agency at Gardi- ner, which he sold in 1894. He was special agent for New Eng- land for the California from Jan. 1, 1890, to Jan. 1, 1891; assistant special agent for the New Eng- land field for the Queen until March 1, 1891; from that time until March 1, 1896, special agent for New England for the Lancashire. March 1, 1896, Mr. Berry became special agent for the New York Un- derwriters. He has been a member of the New Eng- land Insurance Exchange since June 3, 1891, and is a member of the Executive Committee, also of the Sched- uled Risks Committee, Maine Div.: chairman of the Penobscot County, Mei, Washington County, R. I., and Hudson, Mass., committees, and a member of the fol- lowing committees: Cumberland County, Somerset, county, Southern Kennebec County and Washington county, Me., Orleans County and Rutland County, Vt. Plymouth, Salem, Southern Berkshire, Springfield, Stoughton, Canton, Lynn, Chicopee, Randolph and Nor- wood, Mass.: Woonsocket, R. I.: Hartford County (North), Norwalk and Westport, and Stamford, Conn. Robert Bennett, special agent of the North British & Mercan- tile for southern New England and eastern New York, entered the insurance business in 1885 as local agent in West Newton, Mass. He became special agent of the North British & Mercan- tile for eastern New York, and a member of the New York Un- derwriters' Association in 1899. As chairman of Clinton and Es- sex Counties, Mr. Bennett had the territory from Ticonderoga, N. Y., to the Canada line. He was also a member of the New York State Paper Mill Committee. In October, 1902, Mr. Bennett was given charge of the southern New England field for the North British with headquarters at Boston, and is one of the new members of the Ex- change. A. L. Bliss, special agent of the New Hampshire Fire Insur- ance Company, started as a clerk in the office of the Orient in 1884, remaining there until 1896, when he was appointed inspec- tor, becoming special agent No- vember, 1899, for the same com- pany. Mr. Bliss was appointed special agent for the New Hampshire, March, 1900, and has his headquarters in Hartford. He is chairman of the Farming- ton Valley and Willimantic, Conn., committees, and a member of the following com- mittees: Bridgeport, Danbury, New London, and Northern Hartford County, Conn.; Holyoke, Northamp- ton, North Berkshire County, Mass., also of the Sched- uled Risks Committee, Connecticut division. --~ Herbert F. Blood, special agent of the Spring Garden In- surance Company, started in the insurance business in 1886 in the | A. C. Munroe agency at Wor- cester, Mass., where he re- mained for four years. He was with the American Fire Insur- ſ ance Co. of New York seven years, two of which were spent at the home office, and five as special agent in New Jersey, New York State and New Eng- land, most of the time, however, being spent in New England. Mr. Blood went with the Spring Garden in 1897, and was at the home office for two years, since which time he has been special agent in New England for the company. He has been a mem- ber of the Exchange since February, 1893, and is a mem- ber of several Exchange committees, W. A. R. Boothby commenced his insurance career in 1873 in the fire insurance agency of his father at Waterville, Me. The \ following year he became a member of the firm of L. T. Boothby & Son, and for several | years was general adjuster. In October, 1887, Mr. Boothby en- tered the service of the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, and is now special agent for eastern New England with headquarters at Boston. the Brookline, Newton and Water- He is chairman of town Committee, chairman of the Eastern Massachusetts Division of the Factory Improvement Committee, in which work he has been particularly active, and a member of the following committees of the Exchange: Electrical Hazard, Cumberland County, Penobscot Coun- ty, Washington County and Oxford County, Me. Wo- burn, Worcester, Milford, Brockton, Newburyport, and Salem, Mass.; Bristol and Providence Counties, R.. I W. H. Boutell, special agent for New England of the Equita- ble Fire & Marine Insurance Company of Providence, R. L. was born in 1864, and com- menced his insurance line with the Equitable, under whose banner he has always served. Mr. Boutell joined the New Eng- and Insurance Exchange in 1892 and is chairman of the Hol- yoke and Fall River, Mass., and the Kent County, R. L., com- mittees. He was a member of the executive committee of the Exchange during the years 1896 and 1897 and is one of its most loyal support- ers. Mr. Boutell has his headquarters at Providence. Charles L. Briggs, assistant special agent of the Springfield Fire & Marine Insurance Company, was born in Springfield, Mass., November 15, 1868. He was educated in the schools of his native city, and entered the employ of the Springfield at its home office, Decem- ber 12, 1887, as clerk; holding various positions there for thirteen years, during the last five of which he was ex- aminer. Mr. Briggs was appointed by the company on May 1, 1901, as inspector for the eastern New England field, with headquarters at Boston. On Jan. 1, 1903, he received the appointment of assistant special agent, be- ing associated with John B. Cornish, special agent of the company. He is one of the new members of the New England Insurance Exchange. Edward C. Brush, manager of the New England department of the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company, was born in Florida, but has lived in New England many years. His first insurance connection was with the Girard Fire Insurance Company, serve ing as assistant to P. C. Royce when he was secretary of that company. In 1881 Mr. Brush became special agent for Penn- sylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia for the Fire Insurance Association of London, later as su- pervising special agent for the Commercial Union for the Southern states, with headquarters at Richmond, Va. In 1889 Mr. Brush was transferred by the Commercial Union to New England, succeeding Colonel A. H. Wray, which position he occupied until 1896, when he became manager of the fire branch of the Boston Fire Insurance Company. In July, 1902, Mr. Brush became manager of the New England department of the Pennsylvania. He joined the New England Insurance Exchange in 1889 and has been a member of several of the more im- portant committees. George C. Buell, special agent of the citizens Insur- ance Company of Missouri, was born in New Haven, Conn., in 1850, and was educated in the public schools of that city. He entered the insurance business in the sixties in the agency of George S. Lester at New Ha- ven. After serving in minor capacities with Mr. Lester and in the head office of the Home of New Haven, he came to Boston in 1871 as chief clerk in the office of 7" Aſ E S T A M D A A' D Foster & Cole (now Field & Cowles), which position he held until 1893, when he embarked in the brokerage business in Boston. In 1897 Mr. Buell became an inde- pendent adjuster, making a specialty of complicated and questionable claims, and counting among his clientage many of the leading companies. He entered the service of the citizens as New England special agent in Sep- tember, 1901 J. F. Burnside, special agent of the Rochester German Insur- ance Company, has been in the business twenty-two years, first with the Shawmut of Boston, then the Commonwealth of Boston, the Boston office of the | Liverpool & London & Globe, and the Northern Assurance of London. He was for some time at the head office of the North- ern in New York, and became familiar with home office de- tails. Mr. Burnside returned to New England as special agent for the Svea of Gothen burg, Sweden, and early in 1902 was appointed special agent for the Rochester German, succeeding George A. Eastman, deceased. Mr. Burnside is now serving on several of the Exchange committees, being at present chairman of the Taunton, Mass., committee. william B. Burpee, special agent of the New Hampshire Fire, entered the business in May, 1884, when he was fortu- nate enough to connect himself with the New Hampshire as junior clerk, obtaining all the perquisites that generally go with such a position. He was tried in every line of work con- nected with the office, and final- ly put on outside work as spe- cial adjuster for several. years, - giving attention to claims in New England and the Middle States as directed. For the last five years he has been special agent in charge of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Mr. Burpee is a member of the Factory Improvement Committee of the Exchange, the Scheduled Risks Committee, chair- man of the somerset County, Me, and Winsor County, vt., committees, and a member of several other Ex- change committees. M. R. Buxton, special agent of the Granite State Fire In- surance Company, was elected secretary and manager of the Indian Head Mutual Insurance company in October, 1885, as- sisting the next year in organ- |izing the Capital Fire Associa: |tion of which he was elected secretary and manager on its organization. In 1889 Mr. Bux- ton reinsured both companies in the Granite State, since which - time he has been special agent of that company for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, with office in Boston. He is a member of the New Haven, Bridgeport, New Bedford, Fall River, Norwalk, Norwich and Fitchburg committees. He con- duets a general insurance agency at Nashua, N. His of ganized in 1887, in which is included the Aetna. Home, and New Hampshire. J. H. Campbell, special agent of the Continental Insurance Company, went into the office of A the New Hampshire Fire Insur- Mance Company in 1885, being, as he tersely puts it, “end man." Previous to this he had some experience in writing policies for his father who ran a local agency at Hillsboro Bridge, N. H. Mr. Campbell was in the of. fice of the New Hampshire about seven years, after which - he began inspecting and doing special work for the company. In 1898 he went with the Continental as special agent for Maine and New Hamp- shire, which position he now holds. Mr. Campbell is chairman of the Waldo County and Northern Kennebec County, Me., committees, a member of the Factory Im- provement Committee and also the Cumberland County, Penobscot County and Androscoggin County, Me., com- nºtt- Frederick Banker Carpenter, general agent of the Western and British America, entered the office of his father, George O. Carpenter, at the age of eighteen, becoming a member of the firm of George O. Carpen- ter & Son five years later, and head of the firm at the age of thirty-four. Mr. Carpenter is an ex-president of the Boston Pro- tective Department, ex-president and trustee of the Insurance Library Association, ex-vice- president and ex-member of the executive committee of the New England Insurance Exchange, treasurer of the New England Bureau United Inspection, and also ex- president of the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters. Mr. Carpenter is a 32d degree Mason, and Lieutenant Colonel and Assistant Inspector General on the staff of Governor Bates of Massachusetts. Col. Carpenter became a member of the New England Insurance Ex- change in 1883. John B. Cornish, special agent of the Springfield, was born in Barnstable, Mass., July 11, 1846. In his early life he engaged in mercantile pursuits, being a member at one time of the firm of Crocker, Cornish & Co., Boston. He was Special Dep- uty Collector of the port of Barnstable from 1883 to 1887, and joined the field force of the Phenix of New York as assist- ant to Uberto C. Crosby in 1887. At the end of this period Mr. Cornish accepted the invitation of the Springfield to take the position of special agent for Eastern New England. He was a member of the Executive Com- mittee of the Exchange in 1892, vice president in 1895. and president during the year 1899. He has served as chairman of the Barnstable County Committee for four- teen years, chairman of the Provincetown Committee for ten years, chairman of the West Norfolk Committee for four years, and chairman of the Lawrence Commit: tee for eight years. Mr. Cornish was also chairman of the Non-paying Hazards Committee which was appoint- ed by the Exchange January, 1901, to take into consid: eration the classes that had proven to be unprofitable to the companies for many years, and which was carry- ing out the recommendation in his valedictory address when retiring from the presidency of the Exchange, covering the subject of equity in rate-making. C. C. Clifford, special agent of the New Hampshire Fire Insur- ance Company, entered the of— | fice of that company at Manches- \ter, December, 1885, serving for eight years as clerk. He was made assistant special agent in April, | 1893, and later in 1895 became special agent for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Mr. Clifford's present field is east- ern Massachusetts and the state of Rhode Island. He served on the executive committee of the New England Insurance Exchange in 1899, and is at present a member of that committee. Mr. Clifford is chairman of the Fitchburg and Leominster and Somer- ville, Mass., committees, and also a member of various local committees throughout the New England field. Warren S. Colgrove, special agent of the American Fire In- surance Company of Philadel- phia, entered the employ of the Greenwich Insurance Company of New York as office boy in September, 1880. He accepted a position as field man for The Merchants of Newark, N.J., Jan. 1, 1897, covering New Jersey and part of New York state. On Feb. 1, 1901, Mr. Colgrove was transferred to the Pennsylvania - - field. He entered the employ of The American Fire, Oct. 20, 1902, as special agent for New England. Mr. Colgrove was elected to membership in the New England Insurance Exchange, Jan. Io, 1903. He is an honorary member of the Underwriters' Asso- ciation of the Middle Department. John J. Cornish, special agent of the Phoenix Insurance Com- pany of Hartford, was born in 1871. He started in the fire in- surance business in Boston, with A. M. Bullard in 1890, was ap- pointed special agent of the Home in 1891, and special agent of the Madgeburg in 1897. In 1901 Mr. Cornish became special agent of the Phoenix of Hart- ford. His field is the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Mr. Cornish, who belongs to the younger element in the Exchange, is chairman of the Newport, R. I., Meriden, Conn, Wey- mouth, and Plymouth County, North, Mass, commit- tees, and also a member of the Factory Improvement and Scheduled Risks committees. Norris P. Colby, manager of the sub-agency department of John C. Paige & Co., was born in Manchester, N. H., November | 17, 1871. In 1889, immediately after fitting for college, he en- |tered the office of the People's Fire Insurance Company of Manchester, remaining with that company until its failure some eight years ago. In 1897 Mr. Colby came to Boston to enter the office of Frank A. Colley, in whose employ he remained four years, the last year being spent in the New England field as special agent of the North German, Erie, and the - T.A. E. S. T.A. N. D.A. R. D. Manhattan. In 1901 Mr. Colby was appointed assistant special agent of the Agricultural Insurance Company, which position he resigned January 1, 1903, to accept the appointment as manager of the sub-agency department in the office of John C. Paige & Co., and assistant spe- cial agent of the Fire Association of Philadelphia. J. L. Collins, special agent of the Queen Insurance Company of America, has always been a “Queen" man, starting with the company August 24, 1885. He entered the field as special agent for a portion of New Jersey |and New York June 1, 1895, and was transferred to Maine and New Hampshire May 1, 1900. Mr. Collins is not on any of the Exchange committees, but is an enthusiastic, loyal member. His work in New England has given him a good insight into the conditions of the business in the two states over which he has jurisdiction, and the interests of the Queen in New England are faithfully conserved. J. Winthrop DeWolf, special agent of the Providence Wash- ington Insurance Company, en- tered the employ of that com- pany as a special agent in the year 1893, after a mercantile ca- reer of about eight years. He joined the New England Insur- ance Exchange in the latter part of 1894. He is chairman of the Bristol and Providence County, R. I., Wallingford County and Danielsonville, Conn., commit- tees, and a member of the Kent County, Pawtucket, Woonsocket, R. I., Middletown, New Haven, Sub., Bridgeport, Torrington, New Brit- ain, Farmington Valley, Conn., Westfield, Northampton, Mass., and the Scheduled Risks Committees, Conn. Div. Mr. DeWolf is closely in touch with insurance in- terests in Rhode Island and Connecticut, and has served ably on the various Exchange committees. W. F. Dearborn, Jr., special agent of the Caledonian of Scot- land, entered the insurance arena in 1877 as a clerk, with | Henry N. Baker of Boston, after graduating from the Worcester | Polytechnic Institution. Two | years later he connected himself with the agency firm of C. D. Fullerton & Co. of Brockton. In 1880 he became fire clerk in the Boston office of the Liver- pool & London & Globe. Three years later Mr. Dearborn en- tered the New England field as representative of the Brit- ish America of Toronto, Can., joining the New England Insurance Exchange at the same time. He was special agent for this company for New England for four years, then the Union Insurance Company of California, for the same field for two years, or until its retirement from the East. He then joined the California Insurance Company with Geo. W. Eastman, manager for about a year, becom- ing then special agent of the Delaware Insurance Com- pany for the New England field, remaining with that company ten years. In July, 1900, Mr. Dearborn was ap- pointed special agent for New England of the Cale- donian. He has been chairman of the following Ex- change committees: Boot & Shoe, for three years; New- buryport, Hingham, Brookline, and Newton, Natick, and Beverly, Mass., and member of the following commit- tees: “Old” Special Hazards, Electric Light, and twice on the Factory Improvement Committee, also Malden, Newburyport, Cambridge and Somerville, Quincy, Hing- ham, Beverly, Taunton, Brookline and Newton, Spencer, Weymouth, Milford, Haverhill, Natick, Woburn Pitts- field, Fall River, Lowell, Everett, Northern Berkshire, Brockton, Fitchburg, Framingham, Mass.: Westerly, Washington County, Bristol and Providence County, Newport and Pawtucket, R. L.; Bangor, Portland, South- ern Kennebec County and Penobscot County, Me, New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford, Naugatuck Valley, Rock- 3. Waterbury, Danbury, New London and Winsted, O-11. Frank E. Dunham, special agent of the North American Insurance Company of Boston, received his appointment to that position in July, 1900, previous to which time he had served in various responsible positions in the offices of two of the leading fire insurance agencies of Bos- ton, acquiring thus a thorough knowledge of the business as transacted in the Metropolitan district. Mr. Dunham joined the New England Insurance Ex- change in 1900 and is at present a member of the Lowell, Lawrence, Chelsea, Beverly, Cape Ann, Plymouth and Plymouth County, North, Mass., committees. J. D. Eaton, special agent of the Continental, began his insur- ance career about thirty years ago in a New York broker's of: fice, in which place he served about five years; later on, spend- ing two years in another broker's office. This service, Mr. Eaton facetiously remarks, was on the other side of the fence. He then became general agent of the Long Island Insurance Co. of Brooklyn, since defunct, and passed seven or eight years of his time in that place. Later on Mr. Eaton entered the service of the Continental as special agent in the west- ern New England field, and as he says, has managed to continuously hold the place from that to the present time. In his connection with the Exchange, of which he has been a member for about ten years, he at one time acted with the Factory Improvement Committee, and has been chairman of the Franklin County, Vt., Mer- iden, Conn., Colchester, Conn., Farmington Valley, Conn., and Pittsfield, Mass., tariff committees. W. G. Everett, special agent of the Granite State Fire Insurance Company, was born in Boston, July 10, 1837, and has resided in Manchester forty-two years. He started in the insurance business when the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company began oper- ations in 1870, and has repre- sented that company as local agent ever since, being the senior member of the Manches- ter agency firm of Everett & Scott. Mr. Everett made in- spections for the Continental in 1882 and 1883, and after that for the New Hampshire and other companies until 1889. Since that time he has been special agent for the Granite State for the states of New Hampshire and Ver- mont. Mr. Everett was chairman of the Windsor Coun- - - - change Assurance. ty, Vt., committee until 1899, and is still a member of both that and the Lamoille County committees. Herbert G. Fairfield, special agent of the Royal Exchange Assurance, was born in 1870. He studied civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology, then acted as surveyor and draughtsman for the New England Bureau of United In- spection for three years. Mr. Fairfield was assistant special agent for the Merchants of New- ark for two years, and since 1898 has been special agent for New England for the Royal Ex- He is chairman of the Stamford, Conn., and Malden, Mass., committees, and a member of the Factory Improvement, Schedule Risks, chemical Hazards, and some thirteen local committees Edwin Farwell, special agent of the Traders Insurance Com- pany of Chicago, Ill., is just forty years old. He went into the local agency of R. E. Far- well & Son, Natick, Mass., in 1881, was special agent for the Frank A. Colley office for the years 1895 and 1896, since which time he has been New Englandſ special agent for the "Traders. Mr. Farwell has been a mem- ber of the Exchange for many years, having joined in 1896. He is a member of the Knox County, Penobscot Coun- ty, and South Kennebec County, Maine, and Rutland County, Vt., committees, - Allen C. Frink, special agent N of the Thuringia Insurance . - Company of Erfurt, Germany, -- after spending several years in a local agency at Bloomington, |Ill., engaged with the North- western National in April, 1896, ſº assistant special agent to George W. Russell, state agent for Ohio and Michigan. For the last eighteen months he served as manager for Cleve- land, Ohio, and Vicinity. In March, 1899, Mr. Frink accept- ed a position with the Thuringia as special agent for Ohio, being transferred to the New England field Jan- uary, 1901, Mr. Frink joined the New England Insur- ance Exchange in 1901, and is a member of the New Haven and Bridgeport, Conn., Exchange committees. Gayle T. Forbush, general agent of the German-American, was born in Natick, Mass, in 1870, and is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology, class of 1892. While at- tending school he gained his first knowledge of the business in his father's office at Natick, and on graduating from "Tech," became special for the German- American at Philadelphia under W. N. Kremer, then general agent of the company. In 1893 he returned to New England as special agent under his father and since 1895 ha. - 7" H E S T A M D A A' D had entire charge of the field for the German- American, and since 1896 for the German Alliance. In 1900 he was given the title of general agent. Mr. For- bush joined the Exchange in 1893 and was elected chair- man of the executive committee in 1902, being re-elected to this important position in 1903. He has the distinc- tion of being the youngest chairman the executive com- mittee has ever had, and is one of the most loyal and enthusiastic members of the Exchange. Arthur B. Fowler, special agent of the Providence-Wash- ington Insurance Company, was born at Salem, Mass., and early became associated with the insur- lance business in his father's of: fice. He was inspector for the | Boot & Shoe Factory Committee of the New England Insurance Exchange, from which he went to fill the position of special agent of the American Insurance Com- pany of Boston for the New England states. For the last ten years Mr. Fowler has been connected with the Provi- dence-Washington as its special agent for the eastern New England states. He was a member of the Execu- tive Committee of the Exchange during the year 1895, and is at present chairman of the Marlboro, Plymouth and Middleboro, Mass., committees, as well as a member of various other committees of the New England Insur- ance Exchange. R. M. Fullerton, assistant spe- cial agent of the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society for New England, was born in Massa- chusetts in 1868. He was edu- cated in the public schools, Wor- cester Academy and Harvard College, graduating from the last-named institution in 1890. He first became identified with the insurance business in Brock- ton, having, with his father, pur- chased the agency of C. D. Ful- lerton & Co. in 1893, his interest in which he still retains. In 1897 Mr. Fullerton accepted a position with the Norwich Union as New England as- sistant special agent, and has been uninterruptedly in that company's employ ever since. Mr. Fullerton was for a short time a member of the Factory Improvement committee and is at present a member of the Knºx County, Me, Northern Berkshire County and Brook- field and Spencer, Mass., committees, having been chair- man of the last-named committee for two years. charles B. Fowler, special agent of the Detroit, began his insurance career when quite young with the Holyoke Mutual A Fire Insurance Company of Sa- | lem, Mass, where he remained over twenty years. At the end | of that time he entered the real | estate, insurance and auctioneer business, still holding his connec- tion with the Holyoke as its agent. During that period he did independent adjustment and - inspection of risks. Later on he was appointed special agent of the National of Hartford for New England, and part of New York and Pennsyl- vania, remaining with that company some six years. Mr. Fowler later became special agent of the Hanover. and afterward special agent of the Franklin of Philadelphia, - remaining with that company till June, 1899, a period of nearly ten years. He then became stamp clerk at Lynn, Mass., and from May, 1901, to April, 1902, was with Jordan, Lovett & Co., representing the Detroit. At present Mr. Fowler is not connected with any company. His Exchange record is as follows: In 1899 chairman of the Executive Committee; 1891, vice-president; 1893, president; 1899 and 1902, vice-president. Mr. Fowler has been a member of and chairman of many Exchange com- mittees. George A. Furness, special agent of the Liverpool & Lon- don & Globe Insurance Com- pany, was born in Boston. He is about forty-five years of age, a graduate of the Massachusetts | Agricultural College, and lives in Salem. He began his business career with the Commonwealth National Bank of New York. When it was overtaken in 1873 by Black Friday and forced to suspend, he entered the New York office of the Liverpool & London & Globe and has been with that company ever since. In 1877 he was appointed special agent for New York state, with headquarters in Rochester. Eight years later part of Pennsylvania was added to his terri- tory. In 1891 Mr. Furness came to Boston as special agent for the company, his field embracing, then as now, the larger part of New England. Since his election to membership in the New England Insurance Exchange, Mr. Furness has served as vice-president, general chair- man of the Factory Improvement Committee, chairman of Brockton, Fitchburg, Steamboats, Oxford County, Me., Lynn, Cumberland County, Me., committees and is a member of fourteen other committees. At present Mr. Furness is president of the Exchange, having been re- elected in January for a second term. A. B. Gillett, general agent of the Girard Fire Insurance Com- pany of Philadelphia, was born in Ellington, Vt., June 9, 1846. He has the distinction of having begun and continued his insur- |ance career with one and the same company, the Girard, which company he became asso- ciated with in January, 1887. Mr. Gillette is a member of the Holyoke, Mass., Committee, and has served on various other Ex- change committees. He has his headquarters in Hartford and has been a member of the New England Insurance Exchange since 1887, when he entered the business of fire insurance. Frederic R. Galacar, special agent of the National Union Fire of Pittsburg, prepared for the business by spending a few months in a local agency in Springfield, Mass, and a year in traveling with inspectors of the Underwriters' Bureau of New England and the New England Bureau of United Inspection and with two New England adjust- ers. He was then appointed special agent of the Madgeburg - for New York State, with head- quarters at Syracuse. After a year and a half in that field, Mr. Galacar became special agent for New Eng- land of the Union Assurance Society of London. This position was held for two years when he was appointed first special agent for New England of the National Union. Mr. Galacar has served on several local commit- tees, and for three years has been a member of the Fac- tory Improvement Committee. William Gilmour, general agent of the Union Assurance So- ciety, began his insurance life in 1880 in a broker's office in New York City. He was then as- sociated for seven years each with * the Clinton and with the Ger- man-American Insurance Com- panies. In 1896. Mr. Gilmour was appointed special agent of the Union Assurance Society for New England and the Middle States, with headquarters in New York City. In August, 1899, he came to Boston to establish the firm of Hall, Henshaw & Gilmour, as local agents and New England managers for the companies represented by this New York firm. In May, 1901, the firm of Hall, Henshaw & Gilmour and El- lison, Coolidge & Co., were consolidated, since which time Mr. Gilmour has been general agent for New Eng- land for the Hall & Henshaw companies as well as Bos- ton agent. Henry Weedon Gray, Jr., spe- cial agent of the Orient Insur- ance Company, was born at Louisville, Ky., May 25, 1864. In 1881 he entered the office of his father in that city and in 1884 went to Chicago in the office of the western department of the Queen, filling various places in that office until 1887 when he was appointed special agent in Illi- nois and later on the same year special agent for the large cities - of the Queen's western depart- ment. In June, 1888 Mr. Gray became special agent of the American of Pennsylvania for Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and West Virginia, with headquarters in Louis- ville. Five years later he was appointed special agent of the London & Lancashire for the same territory with the exception of Indiana, and the addition of Virginia, and in May, 1889 went with Weed & Kennedy as special agents for their companies in Missouri, Kansas, Ken- tucky, Tennessee and part of Illinois, with headquarters in St. Louis. In June, 1900, Mr. Gray was transferred to the middle department with headquarters in New York. In January, 1902, he became special agent of the Orient in New York state, being transferred in November of that year to the New England field with headquarters in Boston. William R. Gray started his insurance career at Erie, Pa., in 1868 as agent of the American Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia. In 1872, while still writing life insurance, he became special agent of the Ger- man Fire of Erie, coming to Boston for the first time in 1873 in. the interests of the German. Finally abandoning Erie he re- moved to Boston late in 1874, and became special agent of the - - St. Paul, which position he re- tained until May, 1875. Mr. Gray was elected secretary of the Globe of Boston, transferring later to the old Shawmut, of which he was special agent. February 1, 1880, he entered the employ of John C. Paige as general - - T. H. E. S. T.A. N. D. A. R. D. agent of the Metropole and Reassurances Generales, being associated later with the City of London and Im- perial in a similar capacity. At the death of Mr. Paige in the Spring of 1897, Mr. Gray, in company with four other attaches of the office, organized the present firm of John C. Paige & Co. Although not now practically active in Exchange matters, Mr. Gray had much to do with its original organization, being one of the founders and charter members. G. B. Greenslet, special agent of the Glen's Falls Insurance Company, entered the of: fice of that company Septem- ber, 1864, as clerk, and in Janu- ary, 1871, was elected assistant secretary, which position he held until January, 1881, when he re- linquished it to take the field, in which capacity he has continued until the present time. Mr. Greenslet has charge of about one-third of the state of New - York, also Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the three New England states in which the Glens Falls transacts business. He has done no active work on committees in New England, most of his time being spent in New York state where he is on several committees. Mr. Greenslet is a Glens Falls man through and through, and believes firmly in the “Old and Tried.” James Grover, special agent of the Delaware Insurance Com- pany of Philadelphia, was born in New Jersey in 1870. He has the distinction of having been associated with but one com- pany during his entire career. Mr. Grover entered the employ of the Delaware, at its home of— fice, in October, 1891, and served there in various capacities with steady advancement for eight years, when he became special agent for the company in the Middle Department. In 1902 he came to Boston as special agent for the New England States. Mr. Grover was elected a member of the New England Insurance Exchange the same month. - J. W. Grover, special agent of the Phoenix Assurance Company of London, entered the New England territory some four- º teen years ago, coming from º Middle department field. the º Since that date he has served nearly three years as secretary of the Philadelphia Fire Under- writers' Association, one year as adjuster at the home office of the Continental, and one year as general adjuster at the New York office of the Phoenix, of which company he is now special agent for New England. Mr. Grover was vice-president of the New England In- surance Exchange in 1900, was a member of the Execu- tive Committee for three years and has been a member of many of the other important Exchange committees, among them the Connecticut division of the Scheduled Risks Committee. Ralph F. Goddard, special agent of the Ame Cen- tral, Mercantile, Hamburg-Bremen and Albany fºr east- ern Massachusetts, was born in Aiken, S. C., April 19, 1873, and was educated in the Boston public schools, also taking a course at a business college. He entered the insurance business as a clerk for Bullard & Davenport in 1890, remaining there for a year, then leaving to en- gage as a partner in the local agency firm of S. B. God- dard & Son at Woburn, Mass. In 1895 Mr. Goddard was appointed assistant special agent of the Western & British America for New England, serving about five years in that capacity, at the end of which time he re- signed to devote more of his time to local agency mat- ters. In June, 1901, Mr. Goddard engaged with Simpson & Ide, the well known general agency firm, as special agent for their companies in eastern Massachusetts, which position he now holds. Arthur T. Hatch, special agent of the Sun Insurance Office, was born at Somerville, Mass., in 1866. He entered the office of | Crosby & Boit, general agents of the Commercial Union Insur- ance Company, as clerk in 1880; was inspector for the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters from 1889 to 1890. In January, 1891, Mr. Hatch was appointed assistant special agent of the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society. He was special agent of the Northern Assurance Company from 1893-1897, since which time he has been special agent for New England of the Sun. Mr. Hatch served on the Factory Improvement Committee and the Executive Committee of the Exchange, and is at present chairman of the Naug- atuck Valley and Arlington Committees and a member of twenty-one local committees. William H. Hellyar, special agent of the Fire Association of Philadelphia, was born at war- ren, Mass., May 14, 1861, and began his insurance life at the age of eighteen in an insurance agency at Palmer, which agency he purchased before the expira- tion of one year. In 1884 he sold his insurance agency and came to Boston, later on enter- ing the service of John C. Paige, who soon appointed Mr. Hell- yar assistant superintendent of agencies, in which capacity he served until 1892. He then accepted the position of special agent of the Fire Association, for which company he covered New York state at first and later on New England. Mr. Hellyar was elected a member of the New England Insurance Exchange April 28, 1888, was vice-president in 1896 and 1897, and is now chairman of the Worcester (South) and Middletown, Conn., committees and a member of numerous others. E. H. Hildreth, special agent of the Springfield Fire and Ma- rine Insurance Company, was born in November, 1869. He \began work for the Springfield in 1887, was appointed special agent in 1894, in which capacity he has continued to the present | time. Mr. Hildreth's territory embraces the western New Eng- land field, including Vermont, part of New Hampshire, west- s Lº ern Massachusetts and Connec- --> ticut. He became a member of the New England Insurance Exchange in 1895, and is chairman of the Franklin County, Mass., Northern and Windham also a member of other local County, Vt. Exchang- Hartford County, Conn., committees; committees. Willard C. Hill, special agent of the American Insurance Com- pany of Boston, has served that company since early in 1890, having left the office of the Boston Manufacturers Mutual Insurance Company in order to accept a position in the New England department of the American. He was appointed special agent for the company in 1893, his territory including the New England states, except - - Vermont and the city of Boston. Mr. Hill has served the Exchange on the following committees: Chelsea, Fitchburg, Haverhill, Hingham and Hull, Hyde Park, Newburyport, Malden and Mel- rose, Quincy, Salem; Worcester County, North, Mass.; Hancock County, Washington County, Me, Washing- ton County, R. L., and New Haven, Conn. George W. Hinkley, formerly a special agent, now the presi- dent and treasurer of the Citi- zens' Mutual of Boston, started as an insurance clerk in 1874 in the office of Brown, Smith & Whittemore, general agents for | New England of the Germania of New York and the Standard and Star of N. Y. In 1876 he entered the insurance office of J. W. Smith, Waterbury, Conn., and in 1885 became New England - special agent of the Royal, Penn- sylvania, and London & Lancashire in the office of Scull & Bradley, New England managers of the above named companies. In 1887 he resigned from the Royal and ac- cepted the special agency of the Phoenix of Hartford for eastern New England. Mr. Hinkley was elected presi- dent of the New England Insurance Exchange in 1895, having served as vice-president and on about all of the various local committees for eastern New England. In 1889 he was elected chairman of the Executive Commit- tee of the Underwriters' Bureau of New England, and also made Boston manager of the Phoenix of Hartford, and in 1902 accepted the presidency and treasurership of the Citizens' Mutual of Boston. H. L. Hiscock, special agent of the Aetna, began his life in- surance-wise in 1880 in the office of Jordan, Lovett & Co., Boston. From 1882-1886 he was in the Boston office of the Fire Insur- ance Association of London in | 1886 Mr. Hiscock did special work for the New England In- surance Exchange, applying the first schedules to shoe actories, and in June, 1886, he became manager of the sub-agencies of the German American, and in January, 1888, assistant special agent. In 1891 Mr. His- cock was appointed special agent of the Aetna in the western New England field, with headquarters at Hart- ford, and in April, 1897, was transferred to the eastern division of New England, succeeding A. C. Adams, who had been called to the home office. Mr. Hiscock's terri- tory embraces Maine, New Hampshire, eastern Massa- chusetts and Rhode Island. He was elected a member of the Exchange, Nov. 12, 1887. While in the western 7" H E S T A M D A A' D field Mr. Hiscock was chairman of the Danbury, Conn., and Montpelier, Vt., committees of the Exchange, and a member of several other committees. For a time he was general chairman of all the Vermont committees. Since taking the eastern New England field Mr. Hiscock has been and is now chairman of the Southern Kennebec County, Me, and New Bedford, Mass, committees, also chairman of the Rhode Island division of the Factory Improvement Committee. He is also a member of thir- ty other committees, the most important of which are Cumberland County, Me, Lawrence, Lynn, Salem, Som- erville, Woburn and Worcester, Mass., Bristol and Washington Counties, R. I., also the Summer Hotels Committee. Mr. Hiscock was on the Executive Com- mittee of the Exchange in 1898, serving as a vice-presi- dent in 1900 and 1901. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the New England Bureau of United In- spection, the Underwriters' Bureau of New England, agent of the Munich Re-insurance Co. of Germany for Massachusetts, and a member of the Insurance Library association. - I. L. Holt, special agent of the Royal, was born in Connec- ticut September, 1851, receiving his education in the public schools of Rockville, Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass., and Sheffield Scientific School and Yale College, class of 1874. On leaving college Mr. Holt entered the employ of the Meri- den Fire Insurance Company as bookkeeper, was appointed as- sistant secretary in 1886, and upon the company's reinsurance in the Royal Jan. 1, 1892, was appointed special agen: for connecticut for the Royal, which position he still holds. Mr. Holt is also a member of the firm of Holt & Stevens, local agents at Meriden, Connº for thirty- five companies. He is a member of the Branford and Milford, N. Hartford and Stamford, Conn., committees of the Exchange. Henry J. Ide, second vice- president of the Mercantile, en- tered the fire insurance business as a boy in the Boston agency office of Alfred M. Bullard, Oct. 2, 1881, with which he was asso- ciated for nine years, in various capacities, during the last three years inspecting business. He entered the employ of the Mer- cantile Fire & Marine of Bos: ton as special agent in 1891, and about five years ago was made general agent º º de- - t of the company. In 1896 the firm of Simpson º state agents of the Hamburg- premen, was organized with Mr. Ide as junior partner, the firm later being made Boston agents of the company. when the American Central of St. Louis and the Mer- cantile came under joint management º 1901, Mr. Ide was made second vice-president of the Mercantile. The local agency firm of Simpson, Ide & Co. was also º ganized at this time representing locally several well- known companies. Simpson & Ide are at present gen: eral agents for the American central, Mercantile, Ham- burg-Bremen, and Albany. - william J. Kelly, special agent of the Phenix. Insuſ: ---- º º, was connected for º years with the agency of John Sise & Co. at Portsmouth, N. H. He was appointed special agent of the Phenix ºr Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, Dec. º. º. Mr. Kelly, who is one of the newer members of the Ex- change, having joined two years ago, is a member of the Androscoggin and Hancock Counties Committºº: of Maine, Bennington county of Vermont, and the Sched- sled Risks committee (Vermont Division). Henry A. Knabe, special agent of the United Firemen's Insurance Company of Philadel- phia, entered an insurance brok- er's office on leaving school and, after a few years, accepted a po- |sition offered in an agency of | fice, remaining there about two | years. From this he entered the office of the United Fire- men's, and three years after- wards, or in 1888, was appoint- ed special agent for New Eng- land and New York State. In December, 1902, Mr. Knabe was elected assistant sec- retary of the company in charge of the underwriting branch of the agency department. He has served on several of the committees of the Exchange, but the ex- tent of the field covered by Mr. Knabe has practically prevented his active duty in that direction. John B. Knox, Jr., was born in Hartford in the fall of 1879; went through the public schools of that city, and afterwards took \ a course at Huntsinger's Busi- ness College. At the age of 16 | he entered the employ of Dickinson, Beardsley & Beards- ley, insurance agents in Hartford, in whose employ he remained for five years, with the exception of the time spent in the Spanish- American war. Mr. Knox then became secretary of the Hartford Board of Fire Underwriters, which position he retained until April, 1902, when he entered the employ of the Re- liance Insurance Company of Philadelphia as its special agent for New England. Mr. Knox joined the New Eng- land Insurance Exchange in May, 1902, and is one of the youngest members. Fred"k M. Lloyd, special agent of the Security Insurance Company of New Haven, Conn., with headquarters at New Haven, entered the fire insurance arena, January, 1894, in the home office local agency of the Security. He was appointed special agent of that company for New England, June 1, 1896, and in that same month was elected a member of the New England Insurance Ex- change. Mr. Lloyd is chairman of the Winsted, Conn., Commit- tee, and a member of the New Bedford, Newburyport, No. Berkshire, Mass., Norwalk and Westport, and Wa- terbury, Conn., committees of the Exchange. W. H. Lewis, special agent of the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, was born at Williamstown, Mass., Dec. A 19, 1868. He commenced his in- surance career in the agency of the late Clarence F. Whitaker, which was later purchased and conducted by George F. Miller. After spending thirteen years with Mr. Miller, he accepted a position on March 19, 1899, in the home office of the National - Fire. In February, 1901, Mr. Lewis was appointed special agent of the National for the eastern New England field with headquarters at Boston, being associated with W. A. R. Boothby, also special agent for the same field. Mr. Lewis became a member of the New England Insurance Exchange in March, 1901. F. W. Mathews, special agent N of the Aetna Insurance Com- pany. graduated from Yale, class \ of 1896, and spent a few months in a local agency at Waldoboro, |Me. Later on he traveled for three months with the inspectors of the New England Bureau of United Inspection and the Un- derwriters' Bureau of New Eng- land studying inspection of fac- tory hazards and protection. Jan. 1, 1897, Mr. Mathews was appointed inspector for the Aet- na for the eastern New England field under General agent A. C. Adams, continuing in the same position un- der Mr. Adams' successor. H. L. Hiscock, with whom he is now associated. Mr. Mathews was appointed as- sistant special agent Jan. 1, 1897, and became special agent Jan. 1, 1902. He is a member of the following committees: Scheduled Risks, North Kennebec, Me, Barnstable County, Milford, West Norfolk County, Mass., and Chairman of the North Middlesex County, Mass., Committee. F. A. Morley, general agent of the Royal and a member of the firm of Wakefield, Morley & Co. of Hartford, Conn., was born in Hartford in 1872. In 1888 he entered the employ of the Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, and in 1893 became a member of the agency firm of Eldridge & Co., continuing, however, his connection with the Connecticut until 1895, when he purchased the interest of Mr. Eldridge in the firm of Eldridge Some time later he left the Connecticut and be- & Co. came a member of the agency firm of Cross & Morley. In 1898 Mr. Morley was appointed special agent of the American Central of St. Louis, which position he held until January, 1901, when he became a member of the local agency firm of Wakefield, Morley & Co., the firm of Cross & Morley having consolidated with W. L. Wakefield. general agent of the Royal, today. It was at that time Mr. Morley became which position he holds George E. Macomber, special agent of the Insurance Company of North America and the Gran- ite State, was born in Augusta, Me., June 6, 1853. In 1876 he purchased the insurance agency º the late David Cargill, in which the Aetna of Hartford was the principal company. Several large companies were added to the agency, and after the death of of Benj. G. Davis, who with his father had transacted the princi- pal insurance business in Augus- ta for many years, the Davis & Farr Agency was consoli- dated with his own, forming a copartnership with M. W. Farr, which still continues. This consolidated agency, which was one of the strongest in point of companies and capital represented in the state, was continued with Mr. Macomber's brother as a partner up to 1897, when S. T A M D A A' D Charles R. Whitten retired from the position of State Bank Examiner to take Harry Macomber's interest in the agency. In 1886 Mr. Macomber commenced doing field work for the Granite State, representing that com- pany several years in New England outside of New Hampshire, but in 1889 took on the field work in Maine of the Insurance Company of North America and later on the Philadelphia Underwriters, since which time he has confined his work to Maine for these three compa- nies. Mr. Macomber has a large acquaintance with the business and prominent men throughout the state and the three companies named do about one-eighth of the entire business in Maine. Mr. Macomber is a member of the Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Hancock, Oxford, Penobscot, Washington, and chairman of York County, Me., committee, also the Summer Hotels Com- mittee. º William Bliss Medlicott, spe- cial agent of the Manchester Assurance Company, was born in Longmeadow, Mass., Sept. 4, \ 1857. He was educated at the Springfield High School and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, | graduating as a civil engineer in 1876. For two years Mr. Medli- cott taught mathematics and sci- ence, and from that time until 1894 was engaged in the manu- facturing business. He acted as consulting engineer on various waterworks and sewerage plants, and in 1887 was called by the late E. S. Winchester as referee in a textile ma- chinery loss, doing more or less of this work for the next seven years. In 1895 Mr. Medlicott took the general agency of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of New York, becoming later on New England special agent for the company. In January, 1898 he resigned to take the special agency for Massachusetts, Connecticut and Ver- mont of the Manchester and the American of New York, and in November, 1901, took the special agency of the Manchester for all New England, which position he still holds. Mr. Medlicott is an associate member of the National Protection Association, was chairman of the Executive Committee of the Exchange in 1898, vice-presi- dent the next year, and has been chairman of the Ver- mont and Western Massachusetts divisions of the Fac- tory Improvement Committee, member of the committee on Revised Schedules, chairman of the former Paper Mill Committee, member of the Chemical Hazards and Fire Appliance Committees, chairman of the Burlington, Vt., committee and member of various local committees. Ralph S. Norton, special agent of the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company, entered the employ of that com- pany in its Portland branch of. fice in September, 1889, under the late Augustus Champlin, then resident secretary of the company. Upon the death of Mr. Champlin in 1897 the branch office was discontinued and Mr. Norton, together with Albert B. Hall, formed the agency firm of Norton & Hall (which was later changed to Norton, Hall & Webster) to continue the local business of the North British and to conduct a fire and marine agency. Mr. Norton was appointed Feb. 1, 1898, special agent of the North Brit- ish for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, which po- sition he now holds. He has served on the Northeast- ern Vermont Committee, and is now on the Androscog- gin and Somerset County committees. Leo F. Nadeau, special agent of the Norwich Union Fire In- surance Society, was born at Pawtucket, R. I., in the year 1874. He graduated at Mowry and Goff's English and Classical School in 1894, and was a student at Brown University for two years. On leaving college he en- tered the insurance business, as junior member of the firm of Paine & Nadeau at Providence. In September, 1897, Mr. Nadeau withdrew from that firm to enter the branch office of the German-American Insurance Company at Providence, remaining there until he was appointed special agent of the Norwich Union in Feb- ruary, 1902. Mr. Nadeau's headquarters are in Provi- dence, R. I. Frank A. Nutt, assistant spe- cial agent of the Palatine In- surance Company, was born in Council Bluffs, Ia, and re- ceived his early education in the | public schools of the city of Boston. He began his insur- |ance career in the office of the / late John C. Paige in February, 1893. Mr. Nutt was elected to membership in the New Eng- land Insurance Exchange on Feb. 9, 1895, having received his special agency appointment shortly before for the territory in which the Palatine was represented by the agency of John C. Paige & Co. Mr. Nutt was particularly fortunate in having gained his experience in the business in one of the best known offices in New England. J. Richard North, special agent of the Atlas Assurance Company of London, and the Kings Coun- ty Fire Insurance Company, was | born in New Haven, Conn., in |1874. Graduating from Yale Sci- | entific Department in 1895 he en- |tered his father's, John C. | North's, office at New Haven, 7 one of the largest and most in- fluential in Connecticut, and be- gan, as he says, “to find out what I didn't know about insurance, and I am still on the same hunt." Mr. North continued with his father until May 1, 1902, when he entered the field as special agent for the Atlas. Insurance runs in the North blood and J. Richard announces that he couldn't very well be anything but an insurance agent of some sort or other. George Neiley, special agent of the Royal Insurance Com- pany, was born in Boston, July 1, 1860, and was educated in the Boston public schools. After finishing his education Mr. Neiley was in a lawyer's office some five years, at the end of | which time he entered the office of Scull & Bradley as loss clerk. In 1889 he was appointed special agent of the Royal and the Penn- sylvania in Connecticut with headquarters at Hartford, and the next year became New England special agent for these companies with Field & Cowles of Boston. Mr. Neiley joined the New England Insurance Exchange tº 1889, was elected president in January, tood, and re- elected at the close of that year. Mr. Neiley has served as chairman of some of the important committees and as a member of other committees. Charles E. North, special agent of the Fire Association of Philadelphia, began his insur- ance life as a clerk in the Bos- ton agency of John H. Eddy & Co., in the employ of which firm he remained until February 1, 1899. At that time he was ap- | pointed New England special agent of the Merchants' Insur- ance Company of Newark, N.J., which position he retained un- til March 31, 1901, when he transferred his allegiance to the which company he has since Fire Association, for been special agent. Mr. North joined the New Eng- land Insurance Exchange in 1899, and while one of the younger members, has been quite active in committee work. He is chairman of the Waltham, Mass, and Franklin County, Maine, committees, and a member of the Scheduled Risks and several local committees. C. D. Palmer, special agent of the Hanover Fire Insurance Company, was born in Boston, Oct. 17, 1855. He commenced his insurance career August, 1868, with the North American -- Insurance Company of Fir- Boston, remaining with that company, after its reorganiza- tion following the Boston fire, until 1882. He then became spe- cial agent of the Boylston In- surance Company of Boston, with which company he re- mained until its retirement from business, when he was engaged by the Hanover as special agent, September, 1894, with which company he has continued since that time. Mr. Palmer joined the Exchange January 5, 1884, and is one of its oldest active members. He is first vice- president of the Exchange, has served on the executive committee for three years, is a member of the Factory Improvement Committee, chairman of two committees, and a member of nine. *amuel G. Parsons, special A agent of the Fire Association of N. Philadelphia, was born in Fred- ericton, N. B., in 1824. In 1846 the came to Boston and was em- ployed by a large woolen house. |He first entered the insurance business in 1857 and was a part- | ner in the agency firm of Kent & Parsons. In 1864 this firm dissolved and Mr. Parsons went with the old Putnam Fire Insur- ance Company of Connecticut as - - bookkeeper, becoming later on assistant secretary, and in 1868, secretary. The Putnam went under in the Chicago fire, and in 1872 Mr. Parson- returned to Boston. Working under the New York gen- eral agents of the Fire Association he planted the com- pany's first New England agencies. In 1878 the general agency was abandoned, and for three years Mr. Parson- travelled New England for the Traders' of Chicago, and three for the old Commonwealth of Boston. In 1882 he -- T ºf E S T A N D A A' D worked in the New York field for the City of London Fire under John C. Paige, and in 1884 again joined the Fire Association to work in New England. Mr. Par- sons resides in Boston and is the oldest active member of the Exchange. Charles E. Parker, of the firm of Kimball & Parker, Hartford, Conn., managers of the Insur- ance Company of North Amer- \ica for New England, entered |the New England department of- | fice of that company in the year | 1880 and has been connected with the company ever since, covering a period of twenty-two years, during which time he worked his way up from office boy to the position he now holds. Mr. Parker believes that the success of the department of which he is joint man- ager, speaks for itself. The agency of Kimball & Par- ker has handled the New England department of the Philadelphia Underwriters since its organization was ef- fected in 1896, and the firm is one of the best known in the field. Charles H. Philbrick, special agent of the German-American Insurance Company of New York, was born May 10, 1863, at Manchester, N. H. His in- surance career began after grad- uation from the Providence High School in 1881 with the Providence Washington, which company he served in va- rious capacities. For the last four years he was with the com- pany, or until 1891, Mr. Phil- brick was in charge of its Rhode At that time he went with the Ger- Island business, man-American as manager of its Rhode Island depart- ment. He was made special agent in 1895, and with the advent of the German Alliance in 1897 Mr. Phil- brick was appointed special agent of that company. Mr. Philbrick, while an enthusiastic member of the Ex- change, has not participated in committee work. Daniel Prentice, general agent of the Pennsylvania and the Western of Pittsburg, began his insurance career in Norwich, Conn., spending four years in an agency in that city. He then connected himself with Frame, | Hare & Lockwood, general agents of the Pacific, Cal., in New York City. When as a re- sult of the Chicago fire that company passed out of exist: - ence, the American Fire of - Philadelphia succeeded it in Frame, Hare & Lockwood's general agency. Mr. Pren- tice continued in an office capacity until 1874, when he became a special over wide territory, covering Pennsyl- vania, Ohio and Kentucky. In 1882 he was transferred to the New York and New England field, continuing with the American until February, 1900, when he be- came New Jersey department manager for the Pennsyl- vania and general agent for New York and New Eng- and of the Western of Pittsburg, with offices in New York. Mr. Prentice is also a member of the insurance firm of Eastman & Prentice, Brooklyn. Samuel B. Reed, assistant special agent of the Springfield, was born in Boston June 20, 1857, his boyhood being spent at Brewster, Cape Cod. He re- ceived his education in the Bos- ton public schools and in 1875 started his insurance career as a boy in the office of the old Commonwealth Insurance Com- pany. In 1882. Mr. Reed was engaged as fire clerk of the Boylston, and in 1890 was made - special agent of that company. In 1894 he was appointed assistant special agent of the Springfield. In 190o Mr. Reed became a member of the Boston agency firm of Reed & Bro., of which he is now the sole member, in addition to which he retains his field position with the Springfield. Mr. Reed is a member of the executive committee of the Boston Board, also of the brokers' committee. He is chairman of the Chelsea committee of the Exchange, and a member of the Lynn, Weymouth, Waldo and Somerville committees. William F. Rice, general agent for New England for the Scot- tish Union & National, was born \ in Hartford, in 1850. He began his insurance life when a mere - lad in the office of the Merchants of Hartford. After the Chicago fire he served with a general agency firm, then joined Brown, Smith & Whittemore at Boston. Mr. Rice at the end of the year accepted a position with the At- las Fire of Hartford. In 1880 he - associated himself with Martin Bennett, Jr., and did good work in assisting Mr. Ben- nett to establish the American branches of the Scottish Union & National and the Lion, acting as special agent of the company in New England, New York and the Middle states. Mr. Rice served as vice-president of the exchange for three years, was a member of the Execu- tive committee in 1897, and is chairman of the Bridge- port, Hartford, Worcester and South Framingham com- mittees, and a member of various others. s ~ George S. Rosencrantz, special N agent of the German Insurance Company of Freeport, Ill., started with P. B. Armstrong's mutuals as general inspector when the Lancashire reinsured them in 1892. He then went with the general American depart- ment of the Lancashire as gen- eral inspector in the South. When that department ceased to exist Mr. Rosencrantz went with the Suburban Tariff Association of New York and in March, 1896, came to New England as special agent for New England of the Lancashire. When that company rein- sured he joined the German of Freeport as special agent for New England. Mr. Rosenerantz is a member of the following committees: Bridgeport, Housatonic Valley, waterbury, and Willimantic, Conn., Franklin County, vt. Franklin, Northern Berkshire, West Norfolk and Northampton, Mass. He is also a member of the Chem- ical Hazard Committee, and served three and one-half years on the Factory Improvement Committee. John F. Rice, general agent of the Prussian National Insurance Company of Stettin, first saw the light of day at Milwaukee, Wis., February 9, 1864. He received his education at the Milwaukee Academy, and entered the fire insurance business at an early age. For three years Mr. Rice was in the Chicago local agency of E. M. Teall & Co., and later on was appointed special agent of the Fire Insurance Associa- - - tion of London. For two years, or until 1891, he was assistant manager for the Union of San Francisco, Call, at which time he was appointed as- sistant United States manager of the Prussian National. In March, 1897, Mr. Rice was given charge of the east- ern department of the company, with headquarters at New York City. Mr. Rice is a member of the Bridge- port and Danbury, Conn., committees. - Frank W. Sargent, secretary of the New Hampshire Fire Insur- ance Company, was born at Candia, N. H., March 7, 1860. | He obtained his education in the schools of that village and at | Phillips-Exeter Academy. In 1882. Mr. Sargent entered the mercantile business in Boston, where he remained a short time, spending a brief time later on in the office of the master mechanic of the New York & New Eng- land Railroad. On October 25, 1882, Mr. Sargent entered the employ of the New Hamp- shire Fire, beginning as an office boy. Becoming deeply interested in the business of fire insurance he worked his way through all the departments and finally reached his present position. Mr. Sargent's insurance education was secured under the tutelage of that famous under- writer, John C. French, to whose memory the company stands as a monument. George Shaw, special agent of the Agricultural Insurance Com- pany of Watertown, N. Y., be- gan the fire insurance business in 1880 as clerk in office of the old Eliot Fire Insurance Com- pany of Boston, becoming later on secretary of the company. When the Eliot reinsured in the Niagara of New York he was taken on as special agent for Howe, Post & Co. In 1893 Mr. Shaw entered the local agency business in Lynn, Mass., as a member of the firm of Newhall, Atkins & Shaw, remaining there until 1895, when he was appointed New England special agent of the Agricul- tural. Mr. Shaw is chairman of the Attleboro, Mass., committee and is also a member of the Stoughton, Salem, Lynn, Middleboro, Natick, Pittsfield, Springfield, Northampton, Cambridge, Chelsea, Medford, Mass., Ox- ford, and Cumberland County, Me., and Naugatuck Val- ley, Torrington, Conn., and Washington County, R. I., committees; also a member of the Western Massachu- setts division of the Scheduled Risks Committee. A. W. Sewall, special agent of the Union Insurance Company of Philadelphia, was born in Boston, July 31, 1853. He is distinctively an insurance man, having al- ways been in the business, starting in the insurance of: fice of Foster & Cowles, now Field & Cowles. He re- mained in that office for twelve years, going from there -- T H E S T A M D A R /) to Rockland, Me., as junior member of the firm of Coch- ran & Sewall, representing twenty-two of the leading fire insurance companies. In January, 1889, Mr. Sewall sold out his interest and accepted a position in March of the same year as special agent of the Union for New Eng- land. Mr. Sewall was a member of the Executive Com- mittee of the Exchange in 1899. He is a member of the Androscoggin County, York County, Southern Kennebec County, Me., Brookline, Newton, Worcester, Fitchburg, Weymouth, Haverhill, Mass., Meriden, Waterbury, Nor- wich, Stamford, Naugatuck Valley, New London, Nor- walk and Westport, Conn., Newport, Woonsocket, R.I., committees, and chairman of the Knox, Rockville and Westfield committees. George L. Shepley, general agent of the Hamburg-Bremen Fire and a member of the well- known firm of Starkweather & |Shepley of Providence, R. I., en- |tered the insurance business in |January, 1872, in the firm of | Shepley & Eddy, brokers. Three | years later he was appointed agent of the Hamburg-Bremen Fire, and in September, 1876, formed a partnership with Caleb Farnum, under the firm name of Farnum & Shepley. In January, 1878, J. O. Starkweather was admitted, the firm name changing to Farnum, Shepley & Co. In March, 1879, the firm dissolved and the partnership with Mr. Starkweather was formed, under the name of Stark- weather & Shepley. In 1883. Mr. Shepley was appointed general agent for the Hamburg-Bremen. Mr. Shepley is one of the oldest members of the Exchange in point of membership, having joined in 1889. Charles F. Simmons, special agent of the Home Insurance Company of New York, was born on Cape Cod. He served his first apprenticeship in the fire insurance business in the office of Hollis & Snow, Boston, as a | clerk for several years, and was | appointed special agent of the Home in 1888, being attached to the office of the late Moses R. Emerson, general agent of the company. Since April, 1901, Mr. Simmons has had supervision of the business of the Home in the Metropolitan district. Mr. Simmons joined the New England Insurance Ex- change in February, 1899, and is a member of the Plymouth, Mass., committee. H. M. Shove, special agent of the National Assurance Com- pany of Ireland, was born April 26, 1853. He first entered the | insurance business in the office of his father, Samuel Shove, in | Providence in September, 1868, | continuing as clerk and later as partner under the firm name of Samuel Shove & Son. In 1891 he entered into a partnership with A. H. White under the firm R. name of A. H. White & Co. In Sº 1893 Mr. Shove formed a part- nership with D. C. Sweet of Wickford, selling his inter- est in the same in January, 1896, to Charles H. Beach, the firm name being changed to Beach & Sweet. Mr. Shove at this time intended to retire from the insurance business, but was induced by the Citizens' Insurance Company of New York to look after its Rhode Island business. The field work grew rapidly until the whole of New England was covered by Mr. Shove. He con- tinued with the Citizens until it retired from business in January, 1902, when he became special agent of the National, succeeding the late Horace B. Clapp, having charge of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Arthur Kenmere Simpson, as- sistant manager of the Fireman's Fund and the Home Fire & Marine of California, was born \ in Ohio, Aug. 27, 1855. After |leaving school he was employed |by a railroad company for four years, then entered the office of the Allemannia Fire of Pitts- burg, remaining until 1880 when he joined the Citizens. Mr. Simpson was appointed special agent of the Citizens when its - agency system was started, have ing charge of its business in the East and the West where he planted agencies. In 1887 he entered the employ of the eastern department of the Fireman's Fund as special agent for New England, with headquarters in Boston. In September, 1893, Mr. Simpson was made assistant manager, which position he now holds. He joined the Exchange in 1886, was vice-president in 1890, and has served on many of its more important committees. He is one of the trustees of the Insurance Library Associa- tion. E. J. Sloan, special agent of the Aetna Insurance Company, was born some thirty years ago and had his first taste of the fire in- surance business in 1888 in the office of Joseph C. Hart, Hart- ford, Conn., where he remained | until 1891 when he accepted a position in the home office of the Phoenix of Hartford. So valu- able were his services in that of. fice Mr. Sloan was appointed ex- aminer, which position he held - - until 1897 when he resigned to accept the position of special agent for the Home of New York. Mr. Sloan's appointment as special agent of the Aetna dates from Jan. 1, 1903, his territory including the states of Connecticut, western Massachusetts and Ver- mont. Mr. Sloan has been a member of the Exchange since 1897, is a member of the Factory Improvement Committee, chairman of the Stafford Springs committee, and a member of various other committees. William H. Smith, special agent of the Insurance Co. of North America, was born in Boston in \ 1859, attended the public schools \ of this city and the Allen Pre- paratory school in anticipation of a course of study at the Massa- |chusetts Institute of Technology | to which he was admitted later on but for various reasons did not attend. Nov. 1, 1875, Mr. Smith entered the service of the Commonwealth Insurance Com- pany of Boston as clerk, re- maining until Feb. 1, 1882 when he became bookkeeper of the Manufacturers' Insurance Company of Boston. In November, 1885, Mr. Smith was appointed assistant sec- retary of the Granite State, officiating in that capacity for about five years. In 1890 he entered the field as special agent for the Providence-Washington, and in November, 1894, became associated with the Insurance Company of North America in a similar capacity, which position he still holds. Mr. Smith joined the Exchange in 1890, was president in 1896 and 1897, and has been a member of the executive and other important committees. Horace H. Soule, Jr., general agent of the London Assurance Corporation, began his insurance \ life as clerk for the Washington Fire & Marine in 1883, his uncle, Isaac Sweetser, being the presi- dent of that company. He re- mained with the Washington un- til it retired from business in 1888, Mr. Soule then entered the Boston department of the German American as chief clerk under Manager James Bruerton, and in 1891 was appointed special agent for New England for that company under General Agent James M. Forbush. In 1893 he became special agent for New England for the London Assurance. In 1902 he was made general agent for the same field. Mr. Soule is chairman of the following Exchange committees: New Haven, Branford, Milford, and Greenwich, Conn., Hyde Park, Concord and Lexington, Mass, and a mem. ber of the Executive Committee. A. K. Slade, Jr., special agent of the Aachen & Munich, entered the fire insurance business as clerk in an agency in Fall River in 1873, continuing in the business at that city until 1887 as clerk and local agent. In March, 1887, Mr. Slade entered the employ of the American Fire of Philadelphia as special agent in its Eastern department, holding that position until April, 1897, when he went with Weed & Kennedy, nited States managers of the Aachen & Munich and other companies, re- maining in their employ until January 1, 1902, when the United States management of the company was transferred to J. A. Kelsey, Mr. Slade became New Eng- land special, which position he now holds, Mr. Slade joined the Exchange in January, 1888, and has served on the Factory Improvement, Brookline, Fall River, Haverhill, Brockton, Hyde Park, Lowell, Cape Ann, Penobscot County, Newburyport, Plymouth, Salem, Stoughton, Waltham and Woonsocket committees. F. E. Stone, special agent of the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, was born in Warren, Conn., Feb. 19, 1867. After graduating from the Hart- ford High School in 1884 he en- tered the employ of the National Fire, and during the ten year- | following familiarized himself with the business by occupying, with various promotions, nearly every clerical position in that company's office. In January, - - 1895, Mr. Stone was appointed special agent for the western New England field. He is chairman of the Northeastern, Vt. Northampton, Mass., and New Britain, Conn., committees of the Exchange, member of the Addison and Chittenden Counties, Mont- pelier, Vt., committees, Bridgeport, Housatonic Valley, Meriden, New London, Conn., and the Scheduled Risks committees, Conn. Div. Walter S. Thompson, special agent of the Hamburg-Bremen Fire Insurance Company of Germany and the Mercantile | Fire & Marine Insurance Com- pany of Boston, is a compara- tively newcomer, having been in the insurance business only about five years. He is a mem. ber of the firm of C. S. Thomp- son & Co., New Haven, Conn., and for the last three years has - been special agent of the Ham- - - burg-Bremen and the Mercan- tile for the state of Connecticut. For the last two years - - S. T A M D A ſº D Mr. Thompson has been vice president of the New Haven Board of Underwriters and is well known throughout the state of Connecticut. He is a member of the Waterbury, Norwich and New Haven, Conn. committees of the Exchange. Henry R. Turner, special agent of the Greenwich Insur- ance Company, was born in Norwich, Conn. His first knowledge of the insurance busi- - ness was gained in the Thames |Fire Insurance Company of | Norwich, later on with the Yonkers and New York Fire. He then became general agent of the Fairfield Fire of Connecti- cut, and afterwards served as secretary of that company for seven years. Mr. Turner en- tered the service of the Niagara Fire in 1880 and for fourteen years acted as its general agent for New Eng- land, outside of Connecticut. In 1894 he resigned to ac- cept the New England special agency of the Greenwich, with headquarters in Boston. Mr. Turner is one of the charter members of the New England Insurance Ex- change, was president in 1888, is chairman of the Sum- mer Hotels Committee, and has served on various local committees. Philip Foster Turner of Port- land, Me., special agent of the German - American Insurance Company of New York, entered \ a fire insurance office in Portland as a boy on leaving school, and has been connected with the business in that prosperous city for more than thirty years. He was appointed special agent of the German-American Feb. 1, 1892, and is also special agent of the German Alliance for the states of Maine and New Hamp- shire. Mr. Turner belongs to several patriotic societies, is treasurer of the Maine Society of American Revolution and historian of the Maine Society of Mayflower Descendants. He is a member of the Aroostook, Han- cock, Western Kennebec County and York County com- mittees of the New England Insurance Exchange. Clarence K. Underhill, general agent for the United States Fire Insurance Company, entered the \ New York office of the Liver- A pool & London & Globe Insur- ance Company as inspector Feb. 21, 1898. He was appointed New England special agent of the United States Fire Aug. 1, 1899, and general agent Oct. 1, 1901. Mr. Underhill has served on the following Exchange committees: Factory Improvement, Cumber- land County, and Penobscot County, Mel, Framingham, Lawrence, Pittsfield, and Springfield, Mass, and New London, Conn, Mr. Under- hill belongs to the younger school of special agents in the New England field, the members of which are rapidly earning their spurs, and becoming an important element in the business. Wellington H. Wart of Port- land, Me., special agent of the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford, Conn., entered the em- A ploy of the Phoenix in its home office, December 12, 1892. He was appointed special agent for the states of Maine and New Hampshire some eight years lat- er, March 1, 1900, and to this field was added the state of Ver- mont, April 1, 1902. Mr. Wart is an active member of the Ex- change, being chairman of the Orleans County, Vt., and Wash He is also a member of other Ex- following committees: ington County, Me. change committees, all in the state of Maine, as follows: Cumberland, Lincoln, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Sagada- hoc, and Southern Kennebec. Frederic A. Wetherbee, state agent of the Home of New York, was born in Newton, Mass., in 1853, and has always resided in that city. From the | Newton High School he entered the office of the Citizens' Mutual, | doing clerical work. In 1876 Mr. Wetherbee formed a co-partner- ship with Charles A. Nutter, un- der the firm name of Wetherbee & Nutter, representing the Home of New York, Continental, Niagara, Royal and Pennsylvania in the suburban dis- tricts. In 1883 he was appointed special agent of the Niagara under General Agent Henry R. Turner. In 1887 Mr. Wetherbee was elected secretary of the Prescott of Boston, which company soon after re-insured. He was then appointed special agent of the Home, and is now state agent of that well known company for Massachu- setts. Mr. Wetherbee joined the New England Insur- ance Exchange in 1884, was a member of the executive committee in 1888 and 1890, chairman of the executive committee in 1895, and was elected president of the Ex- change in 1898. Clarence H. Wilkins, special agent of the Franklin of Phila- delphia, was born at Deering, N. H., in 1855. In 1874 he became clerk and inspector for the New | Hampshire Fire at Manchester, in 1886 assistant secretary of the | Granite State, joining the Ex- change in 1888 as special agent for southern New England and New York for that company. The next year Mr. Wilkins became special agent for the British America of Toronto, New England special agent for the United States Fire in 1892, and since 1899 has been New England special agent of the Franklin. Mr. Wilkins served as chairman of the Boot and Shoe Factory Committee in 1892-1901, from 1890-1897 as chairman of the Quincy, Mass., committee; from 1893-1899 as chairman of the Eastern Hampden committee; has been chairman of the Brockton commit- tee since 1897, and chairman of the Bridgeport com- mittee since 1899. Mr. Wilkins was a member of the original Schedule Conference Committee of 1901, and is now a member of the Scheduled Risks Committee, the Sagadahoc County, Me, Beverly, Brookline, Lowell, Lynn, Newburyport, and Westfield, Mass.; New Haven, New London, Naugatuck Valley, and Norwich, Conn., committees. He has served on the Factory Improve- ment Committee and the Cumberland County and Penobscot County, Me...; Brookline, Fitchburg, Framing- ham, Holyoke, Lawrence, New Bedford, Pittsfield and Springfield, Mass.; Danbury, Naugatuck Valley, Stam- ford, Stonington, and Waterbury, Conn., committees. Mr. Wilkins was a member and clerk of the executive committee from 1896-1897, vice-president of the Ex- change in 1898, and chairman of the executive commit- tee in 1899. Henry F. Whitney, special agent for the Farmers' Fire In- surance Company of York, Pa., was born at Porto Cabello, Ven- ezuela, in 1838. His first con- nection with the insurance busi- ness was in 1854, when he en- tered the office of Isaac F. Dob- son in Boston, since which time he has been continuously in the business, a period of 48 years. Mr. Whitney is probably entitled to be known as the pioneer of the insurance business men in Boston. He was appointed special agent for the Peoples of Manchester, N. H., in 1889, for New England and New York state, continuing with the company until its failure. For a few years he covered the field as an independent adjuster, and then accepted a position with the Farmers' as special for Massachusetts. Mr. Whitney served on several Exchange committees while with the Peoples, but has not been on any during the last few years. B. B. Whittemore, Boston de- partment manager of the Aetna Insurance Company, and special agent of the Newark Fire, was born in Troy, N. Y., Sept. 14, 1829. He began his business ca- reer as a teacher in Massachu- | setts, and in 1864 became secre- tary of the Thames Fire Insurance Company. Seven years later he was appointed general agent of the Merchants' of Hart- ford, Conn., and the next year - served the National of Hartford in a similar capacity. In 1873 Mr. Whittemore moved to Boston, since which time he has been a conspicuous figure in fire insurance circles. He is president of the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters, having previously filled the position with dignity and honor. He has al- ways been active in Exchange work of which body he has been a member for some fifteen years. L. H. Williams, special agent of the National Assurance Com- pany of Ireland, was born in Norwich, Conn., Sept. 27, 1854, and commenced his insurance career about thirty years ago by entering a local insurance agen- cy in that city. He has contin- ued in the local agency business ever since, and at the present time is one-half owner in the agency conducted under the firm name of J. F. Williams & Son, Norwich. For about eighteen years Mr. Williams was connected with the New London County Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Norwich, holding the position of assistant secretary and field man for Con- necticut for about eight years. When his father, J. F. Williams, secretary of the company died, he severed his connection with the company by resigning. For the last -- T H E J T.A. N. D. A r D four years Mr. Williams has held the position of special agent for Connecticut for the National Assurance. (Mr. Williams died Wednesday, Feb. 18, 1903.) A. M. Wood, general agent of the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company of San Francisco, Cal., A commenced his career as a sup- - \ply clerk with Manager Charles W. Kellogg, when the Eastern department of the Fireman's Fund was established in 1885. He - ) was appointed special agent of the company for New England in 1893, becoming general agent in 1900. Mr. Wood has also looked after the interests of the Home Fire & Marine Insurance Com- pany, the running mate of the Fireman's Fund, in the same territory since its advent in the eastern field. Mr. Wood became a member of the New England Insurance Exchange in January, 1894, and has served on various Exchange committees, giving as much of his time as the constantly increasing business of his two companies will permit. - Charles L. Woodside, Secre- tary of the North American In- surance Company of Boston, Mass., entered the office of that company as a boy in December, 1874. In 1887 he was promoted to be cashier, and in 1891 had so developed that he became special agent of the company. Mr. Woodside was elected to mem- bership in the New England In- surance Exchange many years ago, and in 1894 perfected the well remembered “Woodside mercantile schedule" which, while never as such placed in practical use, nevertheless furnished many ideas of value, many of his general suggestions being now in use. In 1900. Mr. Woodside was made secretary of the North American, which office he occupies at present. Mr. Woodside was prominent in his advocacy of the co-insur- ance clause and has been and is a close student of the business. Members Who Have Passed Away. W. T. STEERE B. S. Horner Geo. E. Underwoon . Edwarn Hutton . D. L. Miller Geo. A. French . N. A. Clarke L. D. Smith E. J. Bassert C. C. Walker . Hammond Vintos W. B. BARTLETT H. W. Fºremax S. B. Clarke W. L. Fay O. B. Chapwick . . D. J. DECAMP W. S. Newell . G. O. Carpenter . E. A. Curtiss A. Champiºn J. E. Hollis W. B. McCRAY . . . W. De L. Boughton . E. P. Connºr H. L. Hurons . Horace B. Clapp . M. R. Emersox Amos SHERMan . died February 24, -- May 7. October 13, March 10, March 21, October 27, December to, November 15, July 25, September 9, December 27, October, March 2, June 23, June 27, September 25, March 7, May 4, December 25, June 10, September 10, January 20, January 22, May 26, September 30, March 6, May 8, July 19, September 7, 1884 1884 1885 1886 1886 1886 1886 1887 Officers and Pr-d--- 1883 : U. C. Crosby. 1884 U. C. Crosby, 1885. Geo. P. Field. 1886 Geo. W. Taylor. Henry E. Hess, 1888 . Henry R. Turner, 1889. Benj. R. Stillman. | | | | } | sº Frank A. Colley. U. C. Crosby. 1892 } Moses R. Emerson. 1893 | Chas. B. Fowler. 1894 | - 1895 | G. W. Hinkley. 1896 . W. H. Smith. 1897 } W. h Smith. 1898 } 1899 John B. Cornish, 1900 \ Geo. Neiley. l 1901 & Geo. Neiley. 1903 1902 } George A. Furness. } George A. Furness, - Died Feb. 24, 1824. Members of the Executive { { Frederic A. Wetherbee. { J ------------- Geo. P. Field. W. T. Steere. James H. Leighton. Geo. P. Field. -W. T. Steere. C. E. Galacar. Jas. H. Leighton. A. C. Adams. Fred Samson. Geo. A. French. Geo. A. French. Robert H. Wass, +N. A. Clark. Wm. R. Gray. Sam'l G. Parsons. Amos Sherman. Moses R. Emerson. H. S. Wheelock. E. B. Cowles. Frank A. Colley. E. B. Cowles. Frank A. Colley, Geo. E. Kendall. A. K. Simpson. Geo. W. Hinkley, C. G. Smith. W. G. Fitch. O. B. Chadwick. C. B. Fowler. Frederick B. Carpenter. º J D - C a in p . F. Hastings. i w . H. Smith. . B. Cornish, . J. Downey, H. E. Hess. . C. North. . H. Hellyar. - E. Hess, E. C. North. W. H. Hellyar. G. A. Furness. W. F. Rice. C. H. Wilkins. W. B. Medlicott, C. B. Fowler. W. B. McClellan, W. F. Rice. H. L. Hiscock. $J. W. Grover. } . I I J. L. Liecty. W. F. Rice. H. L. Hiscock. J. L. Liecty. C. D. Palmer. George W. Eastman. C. B. Fowler. C. D. Palmer. J. W. Grover. George Shaw, Resigned Sept. -- -cr-tary - Tr-ur- James Bruerton. Arthur A. Clarke. Arthur A. Clarke. Arthur A. Clarke. Arthur A. Clarke. *Arthur A. Clarke. Oliver P. Clarke. Oliver P. Clarke, Oliver P. Clarke. C. M. Goddard. . Goddard. Goddard. - Goddard. . Goddard. Goddard. . Goddard. - Goddard. . Goddard. Goddard. - Goddard. - Goddard. . Goddard. Committee—1883-1903. e--------- A. C. Adams. L. D. Smith. F. H. Steven- A. C. Adams. L. D. Smith. F. H. Steven- Henry R. Turner. Frank A. Colley. James Bruerton. Chas. E. Galacar. as E. Tillinghast. am-Bruerton. H. S. Wheelock. Edward Lanning. B. R. Stillman. Amos. Sherman. Horace B. Clapp. B. R. Stillman. Chas. B. Fowler. G. W. Hinkley, Henry N. Baker. J. H. Burger. W. G. Fitch. Arthur A. Clarke. E. C. Brush. . F. Hastings. rederick B. Carpenter. Henry N. Baker. C. M. Slocum. S. G. Parsona. W. H. Smith. G. W. Hinkley. J. J. Downey. W. H. Smith. G. W. Hinkley, J. J. Downey. ; G o - - . B. Fowler. Bartow. - Teale. 1. Boutell. Bartow. - Teale. . H. Bouteil. º - - . B. Medlicott. L. Liecty. - Grower. - Wilkins. T. Forbush. Clifford. . } C. - G. - f Howe. D. Palmer. alter Adlard. S. G. Howe. C. D. Palmer. Walter Adlard. Gayle T. Forbush. A. L. Berry. C. C. Clifford. Gayle T. Forbush. T. L. O'Brion. E. G. Snow, Jr. T. L. O'Brion. E. G. Snow, Jr. Jas. E. Tillinghast. a. E. Willian- A. H. Wray. Frank A. Colley. Geo. E. Kendall. Geo. W. Eastman. F. A. Wetherbee, S.J. whyte, A. K. Simpson. J. H. Burger. R. Jas. Tatman. F. a wetherbee. J. W. Grover, A. S. Burrington. W. H. Smith. J. B. Cornish. C. L. Woodside. G. Herbert de C. L. Woodside. G. Herbert ide. N. S. Bartow, A. T. Hatch. W. F. Ric- C. H. wil-in- W. F. Rice. C. H. Will-in- Gayle T. Forbush. H. L. Hiscock. C. H. Rice. a. W. Sewall. W. H. Winkley. J. J. Cornish. W. H. Winkley, J. J. Cornish. H. H. Soule, Jr. J. W. Grover. C. C. Clifford. T. H. Dooley. T.A. E. S. T.A. W. D. A. R. D FIRE INSURANCE in NEW ENGLAND is º ºs 1883-1903. By States-Classes of Companies—Totals for Twenty Years. FHE growth of the business of fire in- surance in New England in the last two decades will be seen from the ac- companying tables, the data having been arranged by classes of companies in order to give the varia- tion of each class in each of the six New England states. Taking the American companies it will be seen that whereas the total risks written in New Eng- land twenty years ago were $575,367,124, in 1901 they had about doubled, amounting to $1,114,986,- o4.o, with a corresponding increase in premium re- ceipts. Coming to losses incurred it will be found that they have not kept pace with the increase in premium receipts, the amount so incurred in 1882 being $4,364,918, as against $5,529,657 in 1901, the ratio for the former year having been 82.4 per cent, for the latter only 50 per cent, making a total average for all the American companies in New England for the entire twenty years of 55.1 per cent. The foreign companies show about the same relative increase in business written and premiums received at the beginning and the end of the twenty-year period as the American companies, the amount of insurance written in 1882 being $292,- 893,574, premiums received, $2,701,300; in 1901, £518,564,964 written, premiums received, $4,991,- 581. The decrease in the loss ratio for 1901, as compared with 1882, was not quite so marked as in the case of the American companies; the rate for 1882 being 83 per cent, and for 1901, 54.1 per cent, making a total loss ratio for all the foreign companies in New England for the twenty years of 57.9 per cent. - ºri-º- written. Total-for-20 Years. Premium-º-ceived. Totals for 20 Years. Losses incurred. Tot-i-o-20 Year- Ratio- Losses incurred - Premium-Received. Aver---or 20 Year- AMERICAN COMPANIES. Total new En- ---. - Hampshire. +----ont. -chu-tt- Rhode Laland. Con-cticut. land B-in- 493,735,902 *78,612,120 -29,220,949 -604-192,696 -92,662,312 -216,562,061 $1,114,986,040 88,348,746 68,807,038 27,260,967 620,276,973 97,617.204 217,230,717 1,119,541,645 62,701,450 74,355,575 25,403,476 578,543,955 88,558,448 204,662,607 1,034,323,511 82,585,211 65,212,648 26,415,490 567,043,893 84,042,487 205,835,869 1,032,136,598 82,331,250 57,714,381 24,863,229 558,735,761 78,682,985 200,338,184. 1,002,665,790 78,056,562 63,126,377 26,613,199 521,022,559 74,530,172 194,298,232 957,747,101 78,058,393 58,372,823 28.003,003 484,711,018 59,532,988 177,885,854 881,564,079 70,107,551 52,826,915 23,058,844 454,789,873 69,241,814 158,581,416 828,606,413 73,307,143 70,100,039 25,123,333 472,949,949 63,544,071 172,985,746 878,010,281 69,140,450 55,015,931 24,888,802 456,555,876 64,918,946 171,619,409 852,139,414 82,237,574 50,190,667 24,018,742 298.712,661 62,247,449 149,892,353 742,299,445 61,947,534 49,060,382 21,010,090 382,069,890 58,816,780 140,210,521 708,115,197 61,118,326 60,274,232 22,955,034 428,225,349 47,589.741 142,444,913 762,607,595 55,926,247 50,797,909 20,185,691 420,704,564 47,307,992 134,090,875 729,014,278 58,884,117 44,68-,209 19,883,601 384,784,721 6,865,486 129,480,316 694,581,450 54,571,410 31,936,240 17,777,797 349,184,544 41,389,097 126,513,945 621,378,133 47,912,909 *10,836,054 13,971,450 831,454,003 40,032,723 118,910,341 563,127,490 48,063,313 30,744,055 16,023,818 829,165,471 38,700,175 115,791,144 578,487,976 50,467,577 31,277,519 ------ 368,429,294 42,232,216 124,296,984 616,703,590 47,575,856 29,550,316. ------ 344,043,899 42,607,074 111,489,969 575,367,124 -1,338,078,581 -1,033,594,430 *416,678,525 *9,060,706,949 *1,236,218,160 *3,213,121,556 *16,293,398,151 -1,231,117 -989,657 -390,503 *5,679,302 -782,266 31,881,069 *10,954,014 1,143,359 881,169 395,716 5,529,157 770,246 1,888,733 10,708,880 1,209,398 919,553 365,058 5,520,275 738,316 1,821,893 10,574,593 1,148,424 834,513 352,822 5,272,132 714,482 1,774,724 10,097,097 1,124,950 740,185 357,020 5,485,726 730,446 1,770,759 10,209,087 1,099,075 831,026 370,677 5,374,203 718,777 1,786,384 10,175,142 1,098,311 746,283 389,958 5,859,641 680,606 1,670,573 10,445,372 1,044,030 733,030 346,304 4,734,128 657,782 1,577,572 9,092,846 961,396 762,832 370,614 4,669,806 611,983 1,578,498 8,955,129 916,502 622,528 384,371 4,528,116 577,633 1,511,881 8,541,031 817,888 578,899 295,752 3,979,066 559,375 1,391,148 7,621,628 816,772 579,065 252,857 3,818,538 506,148 1,312,188 7,285,568 805,639 673,983 291,926 4,336,562 502,510 1,875,111 7,985,731 768, 167 578,965 243,292 4,349,113 503,247 1,343,811 7,786,595 759,904 543,409 256,223 4,181,326 478,743 1,334,659 7,554,264 714.395 555,924 225,587 3,944,515 456,276 1,322,424 7,229,072 646,640 -132,070 180,764 3,722,711 452,716 1,244,288 6,379,189 629,371 899,621 209,560 3,536,777 425,251 1,196,679 6,397.269 610,557 355,992 ------ 3,453,041 4.17,400 1,165,404 6,015,404 553,083 351,709 ------ 2,982,001 - 1,017,712 5,294,900 -18,095,489 -12,820,514 *5,679,054 $91,056,188 *11,679,608 -29,968,510 *169,302,311 -871,727 -674,738 -161,305 +2,666,67 *325,803 -829,409 $5,529,657 730,523 579,082 225,300 2,629,676 559,475 920,935 5,644,991 761,503 497,075 218,782 3,181,575 401,930 826,574 5,882,539 691,028 430,569 214,367 3,137,697 293,751 764,245 5,531,657 651,331 342,639 108,918 1,971,008 282,341 688,621 4,044,858 921,633 355,006 135,467 2,500,585 353,813 832,008 5,108,512 561,207 279,640 348,147 2,013,427 184,358 743,437 4,130,216 711,222 344,436 316,522 2,657,275 328,923 717,142 5,075,520 561,508 269,381 258.959 4,296,579 346,329 761,789 5,494,555 535,549 850,789 231,915 2,088,860 374,695 810,982 4,492,890 524,519 200,641 328,403 2,509,004 289,417 515-451 4,358,445 446,872 283,871 108,808 1,836,875 376,275 568,254 3,555.955 879, 236,848 233,450 6,215,824 155,293 574,629 7,795,120 872-948 194,584 184,808 2,556,670 458,339 658,357 4,485,716 374,001 290,800 144,338 1,749,331 211,955 680,901 3,450,826 746,877 112,030 100,547 1,771,717 116,626 364,226 3,212,023 sº-828 -50,567 227 1,803,2 149,323 698,591 8,139,895 425,204 160,209 116,387 2,145,954 189,019 491-716 8,528,489 380,508 215,881 ------ 2,052-168 220,900 717,894 8,586,751 448,010 224,346 ------ 2,799,416 287,747 655,399 4,354,918 -11,548,864 -6,042,482 *3,511,670 *52,583,175 *5,876,412 *13,821,080 *93,383,533 70-8 58.1 41.2 45.9 41-6 +4.0 50.0 º-s, 65.7 56.9 46.7 72.8 48.1 51.3 tº- 5-0 58-3 59.4 54.4 45-3 50-9 50.1 51-5 50-7 59.5 -1-1 43-0 54.7 57.8 -º- Sº-º º-º 38-6 38.8 39.5 -8. -º-º: º-s, 45.5 50.9 45.5 50.1 51-0 cº- Sº- 84-8 27.0 +4.5 38.5 º-1 -8.9 91- 55-1 50.0 45- 55.8 º- sº-º 59.8 º-0 55.5 48.2 72-5 cº- º-s, ºu-º 45.4 5-8 53.5 52-5 -1. --- 111-0 tº-0 51.7 37.1 57.3 --- -º-º: ---0 -8-1 74-8 43.3 48.9 -7-0 cº- -Q 1-s-s 30.9 41-7 97.8 -º-º: -5 75-9 58.7 º-0 48.9 55-9 -º- º- 55-g -1.8 --- 51.0 45.5 10-5 -º- 4-5 --- 25.0 27.5 ++- -5 ºs- +7-1 48- --9 55-1 47.7 º-s, -o-0 55-5 50-5 +--- +1-0 55.1 --- ºs-- --- 59- 52.9 51-3 59.5 --- tº- --- ºs-s 50-8 5-3. º,4 º-1 -1. ºl.8 57.7 -º-º: -8.4 55.1 * Foreign and other state companies left New Hampshire in 1885. * No figures attainable for Vermont prior to 1884. - T H E JS. T.A. N. D.A. R. D. FIRE INSURANCE IN NEW ENGLAND, 1883-1903. By States–Classes of Companies–Totals for Twenty Years—continued. Coming to the mutual companies it will be found that their business during the two decades has about trebled, the total amount written in the six New England states in 1882 being $338,510,177, in 1901, $937,818,255. Premium receipts were more than twice as much in 1901, the amount having grown from $3,241,843 in 1882 to $8,503,600 in 1901. New England has been a specially favor- able field for this class of companies, the average loss ratio for 1882 for all these companies having been 42.1 per cent, while for 1901 it was only 18.7 per cent, making the total average for all the mutual companies in the New England field for the twenty years but 28.1 per cent, the total aver- age loss ratio for all of the companies in this field for the period covered being only 46.7 per cent. Summing up the record it will be noted that the mutual companies have had the most favorable showing for the two decades, the American com- panies coming in second best, and the foreign companies bringing up the rear. Taking the ex- hibit as a whole, and comparing it with that of other territories, New England has yielded the companies for the last twenty years an average loss ratio that is under rather than above the nor- mal average. Considering the question of fire insurance in New England, from the standpoint of the several states, it will be found that the largest amount of business written in 1882 and 1901 by the Ameri- can companies was in the state of Massachusetts, $344,043,899 in 1882, $604,192,696 in 1901, the smallest, probably in Vermont, for 1882, the figures for which year are not obtainable, but for 1901, $29,220,949. The largest loss ratio was found in Massachusetts in 1882, 93.8 per cent, the lowest in Rhode Island, 60.8 per cent, while for 1901 Risk-Written. Total-for-20 Year-. Premium- received. Total-for-20 Year- Losses incurred. Tot-i-tor 20 Year- ºr-to-: Loa-e-Incurred to Premiums. Received. Averages for 20 Years. - Foreign companies left New Hampshire in 1885. did but a months busine- FOREIGN COMPANIES. --- -- -in- --------ºr- ---. ---. 1901 -39,570,258 -22,479,897 -10,751-15 --19,150,784 1900 42.997,737 -ºl. 10,840-18- -º-º-º: 1899 36,759,561 19,849-508 10,947,702 -11.5-tºn 1898 31,060,000 14,855,828 9,157,842 -º-º-º-º: 1897 26,824,278 13,850,551 8,952,743 29-291-11- 1895 27,459,185 13,782,378 8,805 704 ---------- 1895 25,599,036 18,885,958 10,903,104 ---00-70 18- 25,021,637 11,955,556 9,857,922 219,801.587 1893 26,794,879 14,742,888 10,694,133 21-305,852 18- 75,911,085 19,331,876 11,769,602 198,527,367 1891 23,405,776 7,862,689 11,092,818 19-º-103 1890 -555,924 º,355.45- 8,593-9 174,815,701 1889 24,271,674 582,049 8-979-97 100,----- 1-8- -2.550,091 -- 8,274,998 ---------0 1887 24,731,902 -- 8,580,705 188,238,883 1885 23,450,516 ----- 8,517,297 170-tº-700 1885 20,719,840 ----- 8,387,144 1-ºº-ºº- 1884 22,895,235 11,384,507 10,556,355 17-ºl-4- 1883 24,005,737 10,822,767 ------ 187,328,776 1882 21,985,754 10,440,584. ------ 20-507,7- -539,409,904 +217,533,998 -175,771,721 -4,525,528,300 1901 -531,158 -253,212 -145,389 -3,010,503 1900 553,241 265,430 189,549 -1---- 1899 590,239 245,153 147,705 2,997.559 1898 445,040 205,886 133,138 2,797,970 1897 4.17,908 196,353 143,549 º,091,875 1895 400,087 191,012 135,301 2,733,822 1895 400,452 191,195 147,887 2,585,071 1894 -º-º-º: 179,039 147,512 2,497-11 1893 430,212 108,419 155,353. -º-º-º: 1892 380,274 140,520 153,895 2,114,900 1891 344,956 105,838 143,144 1,902,007 1890 351,250 90,557 123,119 1.-1.--> 1889 342,475 8,284 12-218. 1-92-5- 1888 318,537 ------ 132,267 2,027,550 1887 356,239 ------ 119,700 -01-300 1884, 354,100 ------ 120,244 1,942,000 1885 3-7,940 ------ 128,899 1,857,027 1884 336,467 178,145 140,157 1,859-540 1883 832,741 158,773 ------ 1,794,519 1882. 281,591 149,777 ----- - 1,749,184. -7,861,555 -2,772,944 -2,409,828 ---,-15,-89 1901 -372,993 -156,495 -7,883 -------00 1900 292,747 149,225 129,554 1,588,385 1-ºxº 346,162 150,721 81,915 1,581,235 lada 210,108 150,248 146,584 1,702,825. 1897 185,949 119,235 40,080 978,198 1896 20. 108,157 alº 1,317,297 1-95 240,248 30,385 179,000 1,171,459 1894. 260,701 94.031 157.274 1,480 1892 -º-º-1 121,557 125,956 2.379,018 1802 320,050 84,800 10-8-1 1,000,421 1891 215,803 wo-º-º: 138,507 1,250,902 1890 192,785 10.527 45,080 ºw-7 1882 173,111 3,340 77,127 2-0-930 1-8- 151,913 ------ 120,780 1,207,810 1887 183,800 ----- - 71,730 --- 188- 424,558 ----- 87,337 905,944 1885 186,107 ------ 58,485 838, 1984 319,757 102,027 99,948 1,143,047 1883 229, 105,905 ------ 1.-1.----- 1- 194,729 124,491. ------ 1,472,270 45,030,593 -1,618,218 -1,754,880 -º-º-º-º: 1901 70-2 wº- --- --- 1900 wº- º- º- --- 1999 º- --- --- --- 1898 47-1 7-1 11-0 --- 1897 4-5 --- --- --- 1896 º wº- --- --- 1895 -0 --d 1--- --- 1894 ºl.1 --- ----- --- 1-93. 75-5 wº- --- --- 1-7. --- --- --- --- 1-21 --- ---0 --- -- 1890 -0. 17-2 -- ---- Laº ---, --- --- ----- 1-8- -- ---- --- --- 1-27 *1-5 -- --- --- 1880. --- - -, --- º, tº-7 - -º-º: -- 1- --- 7.7 71- --- 1-23 º- --- ---- --- 1-- tº-1 --- ---- --- --- --- ºu.- ºn- No foreign com *. --- -º-o-º: --- º-1- º-1-1 --- -ºo-ºº. -7-7-071 ------ -º-o-º-º: --------- -------- -------- -------10 -------0 ºis ------- ----- alº.º. 297,7- --- ----- -o-º-º: -º-º- 228,202 221-01- --- -5,-15 -º-º- ----- -11,000 200- ----- -º-º-º: -139,927 ------ 120,015 -a, 117,-- ------ ------ --- ------ -------- ------- -. - - - º: : º º - - -- 7. -" - - - -- - - - º: º : - -- - - - : - i - - º- -- - : - --- -- ---0-1- -º-º-º: --- --- --- --- --- --- 277.717 ----- ------- 179- : i i ------ --- -º-º-º- --- ------- -º-º-º- -º-º- -º-º-º- º ---------- ------ --- ------ ------ ------ -º-,-,-7 ------- --------- 7--- ----- --- --------- --- º # º: --- º º - i º : - º -- - - s - : --- º: --,-,-- i anies authorized in New Hampshire, tºº-ºº-º-º-º-º-º-º-ey figure-attainable for Veruant prior to -- - º 7" ºr E S T A M D A Az D FIRE INSURANCE IN NEW ENGLAND, 1883-1903. By States–Classes of companies–Totals for Twenty Years—continued. the largest loss ratio was in Maine, 70.8 per cent, MUTUAL COMPANIES. V he high --- M- - Hannahi 7 t -sachusetts Rhode Island. cºat ºf - - -1 ina. +New Hampshire. ------- : ------- - - ----------- ------ the lowest in Vermont, 41.2 per cent, the highest 1901 49,037,751 $10,113,074 $24,125,904 $434,791,348 $422,034,884 $37,715,294 $937,818,255 1900 7,288,166 9,293,787 24,552,741 325,785,452 468,548,677 §: #: - - - 1899 9,117,117 11,034,961 21,383,588 277,150.287 459,375,497 --- 17,892, average loss ratio for the twenty years was in Maine, 1998 8,090,101 10,353,475 18,175,591 ; :::::::::: *:::::: º: 1997 8,002,787 9,728,815 18,923,525 1997,94 ,102, 1,143, 87,899, 63.1 per cent, the lowest in Connecticut, 46.4 1895 9,440,347 11,827,435 17,589,817 268,729,538 412,454,223 41.588,090 761,624,550 1895 8,290,292 11,127,523 19,797,191 270,038,656 418,293,800 39,317,841 766,865,303 1894 6,919,540 11,284,854 15,596,496 296.010,068 404-758,541 35,945.7 770,615,332 per cent. 1Fºº 5,888,235 12,171,193. 11,978,107 298,874,670 386.354,870 34,402,892 749,669,968 1892 5,975,426 10,213,483 10,389,348 251,745,479 357,676,232 33,954,053 669,954,021 - - Riska Written. 1891 5,821,151 8,035.030 8,972,581 222,579,949 343,146,748 32,623,303 621-179,762 The largest amount written by the foreign compa- 1800 º 9,741,580 º ſº 321,127,229 81,157,816 598,070,813 1889 5,312,958 12,106,555 11,507,207 207,148,808 302,935,251 :::::::::: ::::::::::: - - - 1888 5,152,109 10,012,288 9,327,751 205,792,409 274,794,217 ,194,7 ,273, nies in 1882 was in Massachusetts, $204,597,744, 1887 4,870,946 9,893,540 º 192,280,442 **** *::::::::::: 501,540,387 - H hi 84 : i - 1885. 4,304,797 11,818,540 11,334,271 174,633,012 244,359,098 *::::::: :::::::::: - 1895 4,059,406 ------ 11,272,909 156,317,974 219,814,326 25,791 ,266,51 and the lowest in New ampshire, $10,440,5 4; in 1884 4,173,263 1,879,790 14,968,908 *::::::::::: 211,191.358 26,519,773 414,288,317 1883. 3,896,166 1,750,812 ------ 154,439,444 192,520,033 26,589,157 379,193,612 1901 the largest amount written was also in Massa- 1882 3,853,466 1,585.145 ------ 137,388,529 170,124,550 25,558,277 838,510,177 Totals for 20 Years. $125,037,078 -173,972,981 3271,386,956 ±4,831,108,751 $6,719,694,829 $661,831,687 312,783,032,282 chusetts, $319, 160,784, and the smallest in Ver- - - - 1901 $105,726 *156,578 -378,492 +4,086,901 $3,452,702 $318,201 -8,508, mont, $10,751,215, whereas the highest loss ratio in 1900 92,518 - 119,951 º 3,558,861 3,730,917 256,849 8,091,476 1899 115,244 150,239 328,550 2,926,740 3,505,640 287,986 7,414,899 - . - 1898 112,198 128,954 305,965 3,029,732 3,459,695 287,852 7,325,896 1882 was in Connecticut, 92.3 per cent, and the 1897 103,965 138,644 294,198 3,174,356 3,529,960 *:::::: 7,528.010 - - - - 1896 123,681 169,349 281,773 2,949,441 3,481,586 290,978 7,296,808 lowest 69.1 per cent, in Maine; the highest in 1895 107,788 159,490 276,848 3,073,183. 3,630,682 271,767 7,519,758 1894 85,417 182,024 245,499 3,115,312 3,705,205 ::::: º: - - 1893 77,874 166,926 210,397 3,013,366 2,358,207 225, ------- 1901, 70.2 per cent, was in Maine, the lowest, 1892 79,430 149,149 194,659 2,820,326 3,149,125 215,932 6,508,621 - Premiums. Received. 1891 86,787 144,505 213,555 2,452,541 8,027,634 204,968 6,139,991 - - 1890 73,632 127,348 214,539 2,435,570 2,829,707 194-911 5,875,707 32.9 percent, in Vermont, the highest total average 1889 68.212 *:::::: #: 2,340,863 :::::::::: *::::: :::::::: 1888 74,553 155, - 2,325,343 --- 179,21 ,432, l tio for the entire twenty years being found 1887 69,080 156,167 198,621 2,176,088 2,289,207 179,842 5,069,005 oss Tatlo. IOT y y g toun 1885 54,492 180,978 228,849 1,951,904 2,171,520 180,509 4,768,252 1885 48,761 ------ 170,605 1,822,845 1,925,016 182,252 4,147,479 - - 1884 61,076 31,168 99,577 1,510,732 1,827,478 161,945 3,852,076 in Vermont, 70.6 per cent, the lowest, 49.6 per 1883 44,956 ; :::::: 1,646,707 1,683,297 164,192 3,568,422 1882 -42,212 251 ----- 1,512,868 1,503,592 157,920 3,241,843 cent, in Connecticut. Totals for 20 Years. sº $2,501,464 $4,895,709 $52,091,689 $56,585,459 $4,474,875 sºlºs Coming to the mutual companies we find that - łº, *:::::: *::::: *:::::: $635,189 $442,593 *120,320 $1,597,174 1. - -84” 4,605 741,079 841,918 153.214 1,540,484 for the year 1882 the largest amount of insurance 1899 § 95,954 ; : 842,641 189,853 1,834,672 1898 -851 58.891 ,421 551.4 4.17,056 199,753 1,503,430 was written in the state of Rhode Island, $170,- 1897 58,336 58,110 161,748 704,835 850,608 193,091 1,521,728 1895 49,102 103,475 147,089 945,487 429,198 209,310 1,883,661 - - 1895 49,247 80,589 205,294 872,009 1,169,969 - 159,183. 2,545,291 124,660, the smallest in New Hampshire, $1,585,- 1894. 42,686 97,717 179,790 847-792 594,956 167,009 1,929,950 1893. 45-231 84,354 144,930 1,142,195 1,068,536 142,839 2,628,085 - - - 1892 65,256 101,881 148,726 784,004 545,425 152,508 1,797,900 145, while in 1901 the largest amount was written | Lesses incurrea. 1891 45,093 65,833 161,577 965,514 940,888 120,469 2,301,174 1890 40-891 89,515 157,824 689,397 458,595 131,011 1,567,033 - 1889 28,899 87,257 181,475 760,210 771,904 114,255 1,944,001 in Massachusetts, $434,791,348, and the smallest 1888 41,875 55,262 iºsº 679,835 tº: 128,904 1,502,940 1887 30,438 117,920 166,981 479,212 369,332 98,920 1,252,805 - - - 1885. º,248 40,684 185,248 691,883 672,415 83,089 1,706.317 in Maine, $9,037,751. In 1882 the mutual compa 1885 º,591 iºns; º: 490,570 812,474 122,452 1,080.218 1sº sº.268 14. 76, 576.955 607,920 91.750 1,399.211 - - - - - 1883 31,140 28,944 ------ 597,195 255,976 94,944 1,021,199 nies lost most heavily in Maine, 66.8 per cent, hav 188- 28,235 11,885 ------ º 589,980 92,978 1,357,330 - l .2 per cent... th where the loss ratio was only 39.2 p , the 1901 º: -º- ;: : # : 18.7 1900 - 80.7 -5 -8. - -5 20.2 - - - 1sº sº-0 tº-8 78-7 30.1 8.1 65.7 24-7 same relative showing being found for the year 1sº : ºs- 55-9 -1.8 º 59.3 -1.8 1897 -1 ºs-3. --- --- - 57.3 20.2 1901, viz: Maine, 78.6 per cent, Rhode Island, -wº º 51-1 5- sº-0 12-3 71.9 25.8 1sº -º-º: 50-5 74-1 28-3 º-2 cº-2 º-s, - - 1894 --- 7-0. Tº 2 27-2 15-0 67.0 25-6 12.7 per cent. The highest total average loss ratio 1sº º- 50-5 58-8. sº-9 +5.3. 53-3 --- Losses º: ta lº. sº-1 58-3 78.4 27.8 17.3 70.5 27.2 - - - 1891 º-1 -º- 75-6 sº.” 31-0 58-7 37-4 for the twenty years was in Vermont, 71.4 percent, premianº received tº º: º: : 28-3 #: 57-2 25.5 1sº - 1-8 º º- -8. 62.2 84-3 - 1888 *º- sº 79.1 29- 21-2 71-9 22.5 the lowest in Rhode Island, 19.8 per cent. 1887 --0 75-5 sº --0 15-1 sº 24.9 I ider h - f h d b : §: --- 81.8 35- 30.9 48.0 85.7 -- --- -º- 25-9 15.2 67.1 25.0 in considering the question of rates charged by *: º: § 78.4 ---- 33-2 55.8 35.3 1. 75. -8. --- sº 15.8 57.8 20.2 the three classes of companies on business written -º- ** ** º º sº ses ** Average-for-20 Year- º 55- 71- -s-s 19.8 º 28.1 In New England, the data has been published for -Partly estimated. *New Hampshire-No report for 1885. No New Hampshire Mutual figures for 1882-1884. Massachusetts figures * *ºº º - º report to º º states. In 1900 *...* Island Manufacturers - - . utuals began to file reports in Massachusetts, which explains increase over 1899. the sake of Cºmparison. In five-yCºll. periods, be- Rhode Island figures include Manufacturers Mutuals º do not report to the other states. - - T.A. E. S. T.A. W. D.A. R. D. FIRE INSURANCE IN NEW ENGLAND, 1883-1903. By States–Classes of Companies–Totals for Twenty Years–Concluded. ginning with 1882. The American companies Summary for Twenty Years by Classes of Companies. - --- averaged In New England for the twenty years -i- --p-hire. --- --- --- --- º * American-----1-333,078,531 -1,033,594,430 --1a, 878,525 -º-o-º-º-º-º: ---------- ----------- ------1-1 I.O th for i - - in Risks Written. Foreign ----- 539,459,904 217,533,903 175,771,721 -º-º-º-º: º,000- -º-º-º-º- ---------- 3, the eign I o6, the mutuals 95, mak g a Mutual ------ 125,037,078 172,972,981 271-ºº-º- --------- º,719,-- -------- -º-º-º: total average for all classes of companies in all the *1,997,585,513 -1,425,101,404 ±858,837,202 +18.415,--Dºº -8,490,91-501 -ºo-oº-o- -ºº-º-º-º- states for the twenty years of 1.or. The average - - American--- $18,095,498 -12,820,514 -5,579,054 -91,058.1% -11,079,408 ------0 ------- rate charged by the American companies for the Premiums Foreign ----- 7,851,555 2,772,944 2,499,828 48,516,489 º 10-00-7-1. ------- Received. Mutual ------ 1,525,712 2,501,484 4,305,708 º,091,580 -º-º-º: --- ------ entire period was the highest in Maine and Ver- sºsºsºs sisº, sº sisº, sº sº sº mont, 1.36 in each, the lowest in Connecticut, -93. - - - American---- *11,548,864 -8,042,432 +3,511,570 -52,583,175 -º-,-12 ----1-0-0 -º-º-º- The foreign companies average rates for the two || Losses incurred. Foreign ----- 5,030,593 1,618,218 1,754,880 26,973,352 3,117,482 ----- -º-º: - - - - Mutual ------ 923,821 1,381,040 3,142.92. 14,79-88 11-0.077 --- -º-º- decades were highest in Maine, 1.45, the lowest in retal, ºr an companies ...... sºns -9,039,590 -8.419,472 sºns ºn --ºo-ºº- -17-0----- Connecticut, .97, while the mutual companies aver- age charges for the twenty years were highest in American---- tº-1 -1 ºl.8 7.7 --- --- --- Ratios. Foreign ----- º-º --- 70.5 57-9 --- --- -- - - Mutual ------ º- º- 71.4 --- --- -- --- Vermont, 1.61, lowest in Connecticut, .67. The ------ - - - - - - - Totals for All Companies ------- tº- -o-º: ºn-º --- --- ---- --- highest average for all three classes of companies for the entire twenty years was in Vermont, 1.45, lowest in Rhode Island, .86. In other words Rates Charged by Companies During Two Decades by Five-Year Periods. - - - - Dec. *:::: --- d - th tºt t t h v 31 -in- n-Hampshir- -------. ------. --- ------- ------ uring the past twenty years, property owners nave 1901 1.31 1-2- 1.-- --- --- -- --- - - - 1895 1-40 1.01 --~~ 1-tº- -- --- --- paid on the average the highest rates in Vermont American companies. 1891 1-31 1-15 --- --- -- --- --- 1880 1-30 1,74 1.25 1-12 1-1- --- --- and the lowest in Rhode Island for the protection 1882 11. 1 is º _* _* _* _* - Averages for 20 Year------------------. 1-5 1-2- --~~ 1.00 --- - --- of their property. The amount of insurance written in the New 1901 1.34 1.17 --- --- --- --- -- 1895 1.45 1-ºº. --- 1-10 --- --- --- England field during the two decades has in- Foreign Companies. 1891 1-7 1-º 1- --- -07 -- --- 1885 1.51 --- 1.49 1-1- --- --- --- 18- 1-2- 1-43 ---- --- º º --- creased 113 per cent, and the number of agents - - - - - Averages for 20 Years.---------------- - 1.45 1.27 --- --- --- -7 --- grown from about 1,250 in 1882 to 5,815 in 1902. Taken as a whole New England, exclusive of the 1901 1.18 1- ---- --- -- - -- 1890 1.21 1.43 1-0 --- --- --- --- - - Mutuals. 1891 1-40 1.79 -º-º: --- --- - --- mutual companies, contributed Io.3 per cent of 1880 1-2- 1-º -01 --- --- --- --- - - - - . . 1882 1.00 1-tº- ---- 1-10 -- -- -- the entire business written in the country In 1901, Averages for 20 Years----------------. - 1-40 1,4- -ºl 1-7 -- -- º and cost the companies 8.7 per cent of their entire - - - - - - - 1901 1-81 1-2- 1.-1. --- --- --- --- loss ratio, making a showing which is alike credi 1995 1-15 1.d4 --- --- -- -- -L- All Companies. 1891 1-Gº, 1.25 1.48 --- --- -- --- table to the agents, the property-owners and the 1885 1-ºº: --- 1.-- --- -- --- --- A. f All C. 1- 1.19 1.--> ---- --- -- -- -- - verages tor on- - - - - - - companies. panies for 20 Years.------- ----------- 1-º 1-2- --- -º- --- - --- uſº/ºſſ ſ/MNº. 7" ºr E S TA wid A. R. D 29.9999999999999999999999999999999999999 THE AMERIEAN FIRE esse ** |NSURANGE ||MPANY . . . PHILADELPHIA . . . ------ --- º º - - - - - - - - - : - - - ºr , § :: --- ******************: ºº::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ******************************: --- - - * - º :****************** - ::::::::::::::- - ------------------------------- Kº - --- --- --- --- --- Cash Capital, - - - - $5CO,OOO.OO THOMAS H. MONTCOMERY, President JOHN H. PACKARD, Jr., Vice-President and Secretary WILLIAM F. WILLIAMS, Assistant Secretary WILLIAM B. KELLY, General Manager FIELD & COWLES, Agents WARRENS COLEGROVE, Special Agent 85 Water Street, Boston, Mass. º f -- - º § |º & -- §§§§§ººººººººººººººººººººººº. T H E S T A M D A R D. 1803 =ORGANIZED JULY 25, FIRE INSURANCE ONLY - CHARLES S. HOLLINSHEAD, President EDGAR R. DANNELS, Secretary M. JOSEPH NOWLAN, Assistant Secretary The U N IO N–of PHILADELPHIA A-INSURANCE COMPANY “The “OLD UNION OF PHILADELPHIA"-than which no name more honorably graces the annals of insurance, will soon enter upon the one hundredth year of its existence.” L0SSES PA/D S/WCE ORGAN/ZATION, $18,293,338 A. vºl. SEWALL, 55 railbºy strº-elet. Boston, MASS. |N|A MUTUAL INSURANCE BUMPANY 72 KILBY STREET, BOSTON. Jpecial Jºgent for l Weuw England. J H. B. ALDEN, President. GEORGE H. CROWELL, Secretary. 5tatement, 3anuary 13t, 1903. Ass-Ts. L1-ary 11-1TI-s. Bonds and Stock, $101,895.00 Losses reported, . $5,513.19 Cash, 9,004.47 Reinsurance reserve, . 61,201.75 Loan, 100.00 Interest uncalled for, . 762-93 Premiums in course of All other liabilities, 3,573.24 Collection, . 13,031.52 $71,051.11 Guaranty Fund, . 155,000.00 Surplus as regards Policy Holders, $279,030.99 $2O7,979.88 Directors. NATHAN CROWELL, John G. MOSELEY. BENJAMIN W. WELLs, ANDREW NICKERSON, SYLVESTER B. HINCKLEY, KING UPTON, JOHN H. DANE, H. B. ALDEN, ARTHUR E. MANN, ROBERT wi Lord, J. ELIOT BAKER, EMERY BEMIs. POLICIES NON-ASSESSABLE. . . CAPITAL PAID IN CASH, S1,650,900.00. . THE United States Fidelity & Guaranly Company or BAL-TIMORE. JOHN R. BLAND, Pres. GEO. R. CALLIS, Sec'y-Treas, THE MOST REL/ABLE, MOST LIBERAL AND MOST PROGRESS/VE SURETY COMPANY //W AMER/CA. HAS AGENTS EVERYWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES, BONDS We Bond Officers of Fraternal Orders, and also write Fidelity, Contract, Official, Judicial, Court, Railroad and Transportation . . . BURGLARY, |NSURANCE United States writing this class of business. Watchmen, Caretakers, We write the most liberal and protective Policy insuring against BURGLARY, THEFT and LARCENY of any obtainable, our Corn- pany being the largest and strongest in the Burglar Alarms, etc., are merely precautions, but not protection. A Policy of our Company, guaranteeing you against loss at the hands of Burglars and Thieves, IS PROTECTION. Write us for rates, etc., or request your broker to do it for you. Merchants who sell goods on credit in any part of the United states or Canada will save money by subscribing to our DEPARTMENT OF CUARANTEE AT TORNEYS. Through our connection, direct credit reports are fur- nished subscribers, and FREE judicial bonds. we w EnvcLAMD OFFICE: 48 Wuter St., COr, Congress, Boston, Mūss, T. J. FALVEY, Manager. -- - 7" H E S TA w D.A. R. D - - 1903 | 794 OLDEST INSURANCE COMPANY IN HARTFORD Ninety-third Annual Exhibit --OF THE -. HARTFORD. FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY OF HART FORD, conn. =J R N U Fv R. Y 1, 19 O -- º ASSETS. Cash on hand, in Bank, and Cash Items, . $8 ſ 5,948.22 Cash in hands of Agents and in course of Trans- mission, . . . . . 1,989,742.87 Rents and Accrued Interest, . | 2,218.34 Real Estate Unincumbered, - - 950,500.00 Loans on Bond and Mortgage (1st lien), . 781,869.00 Loans on Collateral Security, - - - 4,800.00 Bank Stock, Hartford, Market Value, 4ſ 3,993.00 -- New York, -- 497,229.00 -- Boston, -- 62,037.25 -- Albany & Montreal, " 92,383.33 Railroad Stocks, . . . . . . . . State, City, and Railroad Bonds, . . . . . 1,093,545.00 6,694,724.59 Other Assets, . - - - _34,569.77 ToTAL ASSETs, . $13,443,560.37 LIABILITIES. Capital Stock, . . . . . . . . . $1,250,000.00 Reserve for Reinsurance, . - 7,812,840.94 Reserve for all Unsettled Claims, . 1, 199,565.70 Net Surplus, . - - 3,181,153.73 Surplus to Policy-holders . 4,431,153.73 Assets-increase, - - $1,184,483.92 Reinsurance Reserve-increase, 1,014,336.26 Surplus – increase, 180,298.29 CEORCE. L. CHASE, President. CHARLEs E. CHASE, Vice-President. R. M. Bissell. Vice-President. P. C. ROYCE, Secretary. Thos. TURNBULL. Assistant Secretary. -OFRAN - Bissºu-L. General ---nº- BELDEN ºr PALACHE, Man-r- Westem Department . . . . . . Chicagº, Ill. Pacific Department . . , , San Franciscº, Cal Metrºpºlitan Department , , , 80 and 82 William Street, New Yºrk City TºS. J. LASHER, Manager. CHARLES A- VI-ADE---istant Man--ar. --ºncºs in all the Prºminent Localitie-throughout the United states and Canada. - - - ..THE STRONGEST SURETY COMPANY IN THE WORLD. ~~~~ FIDELITY AND ºn |EP|S|| ||MPANY - - OF MARYLAND - - ************************** t=======================