340 Our Farming. 



an honest man who pays on $1,000, should get $1,000, if a fire 

 occurs. The company must see that they do not let rascals get 

 the start of them. On contents of buildings, however, companies 

 are not bound to pay only what they are worth in cash at time of 

 fire, no matter how much insurance you may be carrying. On 

 this point I have lately asked some of our great companies to tell 

 me just the facts. One question was, " In case of loss, will you 

 pay me for my tools, wagons, etc., what they would bring at 

 auction, considering that the cash price?" "No," they said, 

 ' ' that would be wrong. We intend to pay what they are actually 

 worth to you in cash. Not what you paid for them, but what 

 you paid or what they would cost now, less a reasonable sum for 

 what you have used them. You do not want to sell, and it would 

 be wrong to make you take a forced sale price. You should have j ust 

 what they are worth to you to go right on with." That is fair 

 and square, isn't it ? And the same holds good with furniture, of 

 course. You should not, then, insure such articles at cost, but at 

 a fair cash value, allowing for depreciation from use. If you 

 insure for too much you are losing. The agent will not often tell 

 you this. He will usually take as high an insurance on such 

 articles as you choose to carry, but it is not to your interest to get 

 it too high. The companies tell me they will pay for hay, grain, 

 etc., at the market price at time of fire, for ordinary use. For 

 example, I had some potatoes in my cellar last winter, raised 

 under contract, for which I was to receive $i a bushel in the 

 spring. The insurance men said they would only pay me, incase 

 of fire, the market price of eating potatoes say thirty or forty 

 cents. This is what they say of potatoes and grain, valuable for 

 seed, etc. But it is a question whether, if I could prove that those 

 potatoes were contracted to a reliable party at a $i a bushel, they 

 would not have to pay that. We may carry insurance on farm 

 products safely at market price, on tools, furniture, etc., at a 

 fair reduction for wear, from cash price of new ones, and on 

 buildings (in Ohio) at well up to what it would cost to replace 

 them. 



As stated, we carry now $8,400 fire insurance on buildings 

 and contents. The cost in a large, safe company at present is 

 $76.40 for five years, or $15.28 per year. This is not a great deal 

 to pay for security from fire and lightning. I would not dare run 

 my own risk for ten times that amount . I am not an insurance agent , 

 friends, and never was, but just a common farmer, trying to do 

 business in a safe way. It is a terrible thing to be burned out, 

 but it helps greatly if one is well insured in a good company. 



One large company names the contents of house in its printed 

 blanks, as " household furniture, clothing and provisions." I find 

 many farmers are in doubt as to just what this covers. This ques- 

 tion has been brought up when discussing this matter at our 

 institutes. I did not feel entirely certain, and so inquired of the 



