226  The  Importance  of  Insurance.  \^'^l$v£xm' 
and  destroys  everything  he  has  and,  as  he  is  not  insured,  what  is  to 
become  of  him  ?  He  has  lost  all  and  is  without  reserve  capital  to 
fall  back  upon  to  refit  and  restock  another  store.  The  very  build- 
ing which  he  occupied  has  been  destroyed  and  he  is  left  neither 
business,  money,  nor  perhaps  home  with  maybe  a  wife  and  small 
children  to  take  care  of  and  provide  for.  Under  these  distressing 
circumstances  he  may  not  have  a  kind  and  generous  friend  to  appeal 
to  for  aid,  for  friends  at  a  time  like  this  are  generally  very  scarce. 
The  friend  who  would  have  been  willing  to  have  loaned  you  in 
the  days  of  your  prosperity  a  thousand  dollars,  when  you  didn't 
need  it,  would  not  now  loan  you  a  dollar.  He  would  probably  not 
even  as  much  as  give  his  sympathy,  for  he  would  more  than  likely 
say,  "  Served  you  right.  Why  didn't  you  have  your  property 
insured  as  any  sensible  and  good  business  man  would  have  done  ; 
for  the  sake  of  a  few  paltry  dollars  you  neglected  to  perform  one  of 
the  most  important  business  duties  of  your  life,  which  was  to  have 
your  stock  and  fixtures  and  your  household  goods  insured  as  soon 
as  they  were  put  in  place" 
In  taking  out  your  insurance  policy  do  not  make  the  mistake  that 
many  persons  do  of  greatly  overestimating  the  actual  value  of  your 
property,  but  rather  take  the  exact  cost  with  an  allowance  for  such 
increase  of  stock  as  you  would  reasonably  expect  from  the  growth 
of  the  business  during  the  year  or  period  for  which  you  are  insured. 
You  may  have  a  stock  which  at  a  liberal  valuation  is  worth  33,000, 
and  you  have  it  insured  for  55,000  or  S6,ooo,  thus  encumbering 
yourself  with  a  premium  nearly  double,  which  you  will  have  to  pay 
every  year  and  from  the  half  of  which  you  will  never  derive  any 
benefit  in  case  of  loss  by  fire,  because  all  first-class  and  reliable 
insurance  companies  ignore  all  claims  for  imaginary  losses. 
Insurance  companies  and  their  adjusters  thoroughly  understand 
their  business  and  are  very  quick  to  detect  any  attempt  at  deception 
or  fraud  ;  and  the  fact  of  a  person  having  his  property  insured 
greatly  above  its  value  at  once  excites  the  distrust  and  suspicion  of 
the  company  and  its  adjusters  as  savoring  of  an  attempt  to  defraud, 
which  may  militate  against  your  securing  a  generous  or  even  a  fair 
adjustment  of  your  loss. 
If  you  show  the  least  disposition  to  take  any  undue  advantage 
of  the  company  they  will  be  likely  to  fight  you  at  every  step  of  the 
adjudication.    All  of  your  statements  of  claims  for  damages  have 
