RISKS 213 



The financial risk is in reality a summary of the factors 

 enumerated above plus the economic risk of failure to 

 secure remunerative prices (Chapter XII). The economic 

 situation, except in certain inaccessible localities, is so 

 favorable that the only serious risks are those discussed in 

 this chapter. 



209. Control of Risks : Insurance. Insurance against losses 

 follows rather than precedes other measures for the control of 

 risks. When the risk is large, and the probable amount of 

 damage uncertain, the premiums will be prohibitively high. 

 At the present time, no insurance against fire is in force on 

 standing timber in the United States, and no companies will 

 accept such risks. Lloyds of London have insured a large 

 tract of timber in Canada.* 



The unreliability of appraised values in case of damage, and 

 the great variation in value of stumpage, adds to the difficulty 

 of such insurance projects. Standing timber in European states 

 is widely insured at low rates. Tornado insurance on timber 

 is available in the United States, but has not been taken ad- 

 vantage of by owners of timber stumpage. 



210. Public Measures. Within the last decade it has been 

 demonstrated that the fire risk can be largely eliminated in 

 northern and western states by the enforcement of efficient 

 fire laws and the organization of state and local forces of fire 

 wardens. These systems are as yet not completely successful, 

 but promise to become so, especially in states where politics 

 has been eliminated from the organization. Education of the 

 public, punishment of offenders, and prompt detection and sup- 

 pression of incipient fires form the groundwork of these systems. 

 Through their operation, risks will eventually be reduced to 

 the point where it will become possible to insure standing 

 timber from fire. 



These state forces are aided materially by semi-public co-oper- 

 ative associations of land owners, which expend large sums in 

 fire patrol and suppression. The operations of these associa- 



* " Logging," by Ralph Clement Bryant, p. 37. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New 

 York, 1913. 



