AmMay!'i9{5arm'}  The  Importance  of  Insurance.  227 
to  be  made  under  oath,  so  that  any  attempt  to  sustain  an  unfair 
claim  will  make  it  very  unpleasant  and  embarrassing,  if  not  humili- 
ating, for  you.  Hence  I  would  advise  you  to  take  the  warning  and 
keep  out  of  all  such  embarrassing  predicaments. 
In  life  insurance  a  man  can  value  his  life  at  any  amount  he  chooses, 
and  the  company  issuing  the  policy  is  obliged  to  pay  the  claim  in 
full  unless  it  can  be  proven  that  the  insured  had  resorted  to  mis- 
representation and  fraud  to  secure  the  policy.  But  not  so  in  fire 
insurance.  The  claim  for  loss  has  to  be  sustained  by  actual  proof  of 
the  amount  of  damage. 
This  wise  and  conservative  rule  of  fire  insurance  companies  in  dis- 
criminating against  and  positively  refusing  to  pay  all  exaggerated 
losses  claimed  upon  excessive  insurance  policies,  prevents  many 
conflagrations.  If  they  made  no  resistance  and  paid  all  such  losses 
it  would  offer  a  premium  to  incendiarism,  and  neither  our  lives  nor 
our  property  would  be  safe  at  any  time. 
There  are  thousands  of  dishonest  and  heartless  people  who  would 
have  their  stock  of  goods,  furniture  and  other  property  insured  for 
excessive  amounts,  and  then  deliberately  apply  the  torch  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  the  large  amount  of  insurance,  regardless  of  con- 
sequences, endangering  the  safety  of  the  lives  and  property  of  a 
whole  neighborhood,  for  when  a  fire  is  once  started,  and  especially 
at  a  time  of  high  winds,  no  one  can  foretell  where  it  may  end,  or 
what  loss  of  property  and  life  it  may  entail. 
So  we  must  all  concede  that  this  prudence  and  conservatism  on 
the  part  of  insurance  companies  is  just  and  commendable  and  not 
for  their  own  interest  alone,  but  for  the  protection,  safety  and  wel- 
fare of  the  insured. 
Many  persons  think  that  insurance  companies  are  often  unfair 
and  unjust  in  their  adjudication  of  losses,  but  I  believe  that  in  most 
cases  of  this  kind  it  is  due  to  there  being  a  condition  of  confusion 
in  the  facts  or  circumstances  of  the  case  which  interferes  with  a  clear 
and  accurate  estimate  of  the  loss.  For  instance,  a  person  may  not 
have  had  an  inventory  of  his  stock  taken,  or  not  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  there  really  may  be  no  correct  or  reliable  data  to  guide 
him  in  estimating  the  loss,  and  so  may  have  entertained  a  very 
exalted  and  erroneous  idea  of  his  loss.  In  all  such  cases  doubt  and 
dissatisfaction  are  sure  to  result.  From  what  I  have  learned  from 
many  persons  who  have  been  so  unfortunate  to  have  had  losses  by 
