42 



Insurance against Los-i, by Fire. 



Vol. IIL 



the breed of cattle. From the laudable spirit 

 that is now pervading the agricultural com- 

 munity, in this respect, the best results may 

 be anticipated. And the time is not tiir dis- 

 tant when good farmers generally, will esteem 

 animals of inferior breed, such as do not pos- 

 sess the requisite points, according to their 

 merits, — of little worth. The time has come 

 when every farmer who studies his own inter- 

 est will look well to his stock as well as liis 

 farm, having every thing about him in the 

 first order and the highest condition. 



Kor tho Farmers' Cahiiii-t. 

 Insurance against I^oss by Fire- 

 Let the thunder teach thee. 



•No. a> 



On the day of our National Tudependpncp 

 celebration, I wrote for the Cabinet an essay 

 on the subject of firmers effecting insurance 

 against loss by fire, which was published 

 about the middle of that month and distribu- 

 ted amongst your ten thousand subscribers. — 

 How many of them were induced from read- 

 ing it to seek security at so cheap a rate as 

 was there pointed out 1 know not ; but many 

 admitted the importance of it, and expressed 

 surprise that it cost so little. The essay was 

 re-published in many papers in various parts 

 of the country, with comments calculated to 

 draw the attention of farmers to a subject so 

 vitally important to their interest. 



At the time it was writing, I had sad fore- 

 bodings that the coming season would furnish 

 strong practical arguments in favor of insu- 

 rance, and it now appears that nriore than a 

 dozen barns have been consumed within 

 four weeks from the time of that publica- 

 tion, within a distance of thirty miles of 

 Philadelphia, but I have not learned that! 

 one of them was insured. A valuable barn 

 in Delaware county, had been protected by 

 an insurance for $3000, which was suffered] 

 to expire, perhaps through forgetfulness, a 

 short time before it was burned ; another in 

 New Jersey had been surveyed for insurance, 

 but it was consumed before the premium was 

 deposited. It would be useful if editors of 

 country newspapers would carefully collect 

 and publish all the facts relative to fires in 

 their respective counties, particularly noticing 

 the amount of property lost, and inform 

 whether or not it was insured. 



Considering that an honest man ought to 

 practice what he preaches, I had insurance 

 effected on a house and barn ; $1000 on each, 

 the former at two and a lialf per cent, and the 

 latter at three and a half, making in all sixty 

 dollars deposited ; the expense of survey, (be- 

 ing some distance from the city where the 

 office is) was four dollars, and one dollar for 



to relieve the office from the risk and re-as- 

 sume it myself. The annual interest on $66 

 is tliree dollars and ninety-six cents; now 

 where is the iarmer who would not be willing 

 to pay this amount to protect his house and 

 barn from the contingency of fire for a 

 year. I think there are but few who would 

 not have been willing to have lugjred out a 

 five dollar bill, during one of the late thunder 

 storms to have paid for security for his build- 

 ings for half an hour, if an insurace office had 

 been at hand to have received it. But when 

 it is fair weather we forget the dnnger, and 

 when it is foul, we have not time to protect 

 ourselves in season, and so we go on, from 

 year to year, considering ourselves as safe as 

 onr neifftibors, who are fr,ually unprotected. 

 Every one of those who have recf^ntly suffered 

 such severe loss from fire, and some of them 

 it is understood are entirely ruined, thought 

 themselves as safe as any of their neighbors a 

 short time before the sad event happened, 

 which destroyed their property and their fair 

 prosprcts. 



Lightning rods are unquestionably a valu- 

 able security, and ought to be erected to every 

 house and barn that is considered by its owner 

 as worth the expense; .some of the offices re- 

 fuse to insure unless at an ad\anced rate with- 

 out them, and an old and experienced farmer 

 recently informed me that he considered his 

 buildings to have been preserved by them 

 during thunder storms for a long course of 

 years. 



If an act of the legislature was passed to 

 make each county in the state the insurer 

 against fire of each and every building in it, 

 it would scarcely increase our county tax one 

 cent in the hundred dollars, each yf ar, on an 

 average. It could be effected on the follow- 

 ing plan, viz.: Render it obligatory on the 

 assessors, at each triennial icssei-smmt care- 

 fully to value the buildings separate and dis- 

 tinct from the land at a fair and reasonable 

 valuation ; then if there be a loss sustained 

 by fire without the improper agency of the 

 owner, should it be total, let the county trea- 

 surer be directed to pay, say two thirds of the 

 amount at which the building was assessed, 

 to the loser. If the loss be only partial, let 

 the county court appoint appraisers to a.ssess 

 the damage to be paid. Alanufactorif s, where 

 the risk of fire is greater than ordinary, should, 

 perhaps, receive a less amount, say one lialf 

 the assessed value of the building. On this 

 plan, the details of which should be very plain 

 and simple, every freeholder would be an in- 

 sitrer and iirsured^am] certainly at a cheaper 

 rate than insurance can now be effected, cheap 

 as it is, inasmuch as there would be no extra 

 expense whatever, connected with the system. 



each policy made altogether $60, The sixty I [as the county treasurer's salary, or assessor's 

 dollars can be withdrawn when I am disposed" compensation need not be increased in conse- 



