' August 30, 1917. 



The Florists' Review 



19 



many groups indulging in recalling fa- 

 miliar scenes, past but never forgotten. 

 But, in the language of Robert Karl- 

 strom, landscape architect of A. N. 

 Pierson, Inc., "We take a vastly 

 broader view of things, and looking into 

 the grand perspective of the future we 

 see tremendous possibilities for our busi- 

 ness. " This seemed to be the sentiment 

 of all, and when the veterans, Eobert 

 Craig and E. G. Hill, spoke, their fire 

 enthused the younger element, who 

 eagerly listened to and absorbed the 

 words of wisdom so freely imparted. 



When Commodore Westcott presented 

 the beautiful chest of silver to Presi- 

 dent Kerr, with a speech full of punch, 

 Fred Lautenschlager remarked that the 

 outburst of enthusiasm exceeded the 

 noise made by the exhaust on their most 

 powerful boiler, and, as he is an expert 

 on such matters, one can imagine how 

 popular our president has made himself. 



No untoward incident happened to 

 mar the occasion, unless what might 

 have been a serious accident could be 

 called such. Julius Ludwig, of Pitts- 

 burgh, and C. Ford, of Philadelphia, 

 were in the act of boarding a car. The 

 car gave a lurch and threw both men 

 headlong, temporarily laming Mr. Lud- 

 wig and bruising Mr. Ford, also scat- 

 tering his books and papers. Gathering 

 them together, he commented that the 

 "bruising came easier than the orders." 



The meetings were most harmonious, 

 in direct contrast to the noise without, 

 where the rappings of a pneumatic ham- 

 mer on an immense hotel in course of 

 erection threatened to drown all other 

 sound, and even at the meeting of the 

 American Rose Society, when President 

 Benjamin Hammond invited all "to the 

 front as at a love feast," one had diffi- 

 culty in hearing the good things being 

 told about. W. M. 



WIND STORM INSURANCE 



ffdr?s?i!^tys?ir7S?ir^^s?ir?svi^stir?SYir?^ 



AT the time President Kerr ap- 

 pointed your committee on wind 

 storm insurance the State Florists' As- 

 sociation of Indiana was working to 

 organize a company among the florists 

 of the United States for mutual protec- 

 tion against damage from hail, wind 

 and snow. I will briefly review the 

 work that has been done and what led 

 up to it. 



March 23, as you all know, a cyclone 

 passed over New Albany, Ind., taking 

 a toll of fifty-one lives and approxi- 

 mately $1,000,000 worth of property. 

 Our place of about 250,000 square feet, 

 while not directly in tiie path of the 

 storm, was badly wrecked and, as near 

 as we can figure at this time, the loss to 

 our buildings amounts to about $35,000, 

 besides the loss in stock and trade. Mr. 

 Swift's place of about 7,000 square feet 

 was totally destroyed and the green- 

 houses of Gueltig, Pontrich, Laden and 

 Aebersold, all small places, were badly 

 damaged. About the same time torna- 

 does visited other places, notably New- 

 castle, Ind., and Mattoon, 111. 



The Search for Data. 



I had tried on several occasions to 

 get wind storm insurance, but the rates 

 up to about a year ago were so high 

 (about $30 per $1,000) that it was out 

 of the question to carry this kind of in- 

 surance. Too late I have learned that 

 for the last year it has been possible to 

 get insurance for about $11 per $1,000. 

 But the protection is not satisfactory. 

 You have to carry a full insurance to 

 get this rate; if only partial insurance 

 is carried the rate is double. The com- 

 pany will not pay for broken glass un- 

 less twenty per cent of the framework 

 is destroyed. The insurance only covers 

 the superstructure. Benches, steam 

 pipes, etc., are not included. After 

 what happened, which we had always 

 dreaded but hoped would not happpen, 

 I felt I had to have protection at any 

 cost. 



While I still have courage to rebuild 



Extracts from the report of A. Rasmugsen. 

 chairman of tl»€ S. A. F. committee on wind- 

 storm insurance, presented, , at the., New York 

 convention. 



and have faith in the future, I question, 

 if a similar calamity were to over- 

 take me ten years from now, whether I 

 would have the courage to go ahead. 

 I might face want in my old age; so I 

 took out $50,000 worth of insur- 

 ance, for which I paid $550 for one 

 year, although I felt this rate was 

 exorbitant and altogether out of propor- 

 tion to the losses from wind storms to 

 greenhouses. In the past I have often 

 thought of the possibility of forming a 

 mutual company among greenhousemeu 

 for protection against damage from 

 wind storms; in fact, I had proposed to 

 the Hail Association that it widen its 

 scope and include wind. The directors 

 of this association, however, were never 

 in favor of this, claiming that there 

 were obstacles in tlie way that seemed 

 insurmountable. Time may proVe that 

 they were right, but I had enough faitli 

 in it to at least give it a trial. To get 

 information on wliich to base rates and 

 get the sentiment in regard to such an 

 association, I sent postcards, with reply 

 cards attached, to 500 of the largest 

 growers in all sections of the country, 

 asking the following questions: 



How mucli have yon lost by wind storm in the 

 last ten years'.' 



In what year tliil loss occur? 



What is the size of your range? 



What construction? AH steel, or pipe or wood- 

 frame? ' •'' 



Would you join a mutual company for insuring 

 aitainst wind and luiil if rates could be made 

 reasonable? 



About 150 replies were received, with 

 more than two-thirds in favor of a 

 mutual company. The replies repre- 

 sented about 16,500,000 square feet of 

 glass, with a total loss of about $165,- 

 000 in ten years. Figuring the average 

 value of greenhouses at $500 per 1,000 

 square feet, this would make the losses 

 one-fifth of one per cent per year. How- 

 ever, it is reasonable to suppose that 

 the 150 who replied averaged more 

 losses than the 350 who took no inter- 

 est, and from this standpoint the losses 

 would average much less than one-fifth 

 of one per cent. After getting thig in- 

 formation for a working basi^"i'fta' re- 

 ceiving many letters indorsing the 

 movement, I brought 'the matter before 



the State Florists' Association of In- 

 diana. I realized that this was not a 

 one man's job and that I, being prac- 

 tically unknown to the trade at large, 

 could not inspire tlie confidence that 

 the Indiana society could. Further- 

 more, as the state of Indiana has been 

 the worst sufferer from storms this year, 

 many of her florists sustaining heavy 

 losses, it. seemed to me that more in- 

 terest would be taken there than any 

 otlier place. 



Covers Hall, Snow and Wind Damages. 



I was not disappointed. Money was 

 voted to carry on the preliminary work, 

 and a committee of five, Herman Junge, 

 A. F. J. Baur, Charles Pahud, Lennes 

 Elder and myself, was appointed to 

 draft a constitution and by-laws and to 

 formulate' a working plan. 



The first question that presented it- 

 self to this committee was the scope of 

 the association. Should it be confined 

 to wind storm insurance, or should hail 

 and snow be included. After careful 

 consideration it was unanimously 

 agreed that all three should be included, 

 for the reason that in many cases it 

 would be hard to determine what dam- 

 age was done by hail, wind or snow. 



We realized that, by including hail, 

 in some measure we would interfere 

 with the Florists' Hail Association, 

 which has been such a benefit to the 

 trade at large, so we decided to go no 

 farther before proposing to them that 

 they include wind storm insurance. 

 The matter was presented at the board 

 of directors' meeting at Trenton, N. J., 

 June 8, but it was found that the asso- 

 ciation's charter did not give it the 

 privilege to insure against any kind 

 of damage except from hail. We then 

 proceeded to draft a constitution and 

 Ijy-laws. In this work we were greatly 

 jis.sisted by having a copy of the new 

 constitution and by-laws of the Hail 

 Association, prepared by J. A. Valen- 

 tine, of Denver, Colo. He kindly con- 

 sented to let us copy as much of it as 

 we could use, we making such changes 

 as we found necessary for our ])urpose, 

 and to comply with the insurance laws 

 of Indiana. 



The Grading of Risks. 



We gave much thought to the grading 

 of the risk, but as there are hardly two 

 greenhouses built alike we divided them 

 into four classes. All steel or iron- 

 frame houses, with double strength 

 glass; all steel or iron-frame houses, 

 with single glass; pipe or wood-frame, 

 with double strength glass; pipe or 

 wood-frame, with single glass. As age 

 enters into wind resistance of green- 

 liouscs, any applicant will have to state 

 the year in wliich each house was built, 

 and the by-laws provide for inspection 

 in doubtful cases and the termination 

 of risks that have become unsafe. 



Mutual insurance, well managed, 

 means insurance at actual cost. Stock 

 companies are in the business to make 

 money. That means insurance at cost, 

 plus a profit for the stockholders. 



From the records we deemed it fair 

 and just to rate the wliole country 

 alike, as far as wind storms are con- 

 cerned. We, of course, provided a lower 

 rate for steel-frame houses, as there is 

 no question tliat they will with- 

 stand more wind than pipe-frame 

 houses. On account of the greater fre- 

 quency of hail in tlie west, we divided 

 the country into two districts, one 



