Show HOME FIRE INSURANCE No business yi the United States has grown with more vigor than that of fire insurance It has come to be regarded re-garded as one of the first obligations of business to protect goods and property against loss by fire It is a commercial necessity and is taken into consideration considera-tion in the dealings of commerce as a collateral security It is one of the safeguards demanded of business men in the handling and storing et goods and characterizes the trade of modern times in all civilized countries The great benefits bene-fits of fire insurance and its universal adoption in business have been so frequently fre-quently demonstrated that the first question now asked on hearing cf afire a-fire is What is the insurance 1 Astonishment As-tonishment is expressed if the reply should be that there is none The necessity for every safeguard being provided against fire losses in business is scarcely greater than that the home and household goods of every man should be protected from such loss Insurance of dwellings and their contents in the older States and most ot the Territories is almost universal uni-versal It should be so quite There is no duty a man owes to himself and family more important than to provide a home and to throw around it such protection as to prevent its inmates from suffering unusual un-usual hardships or want It takes the savings of years of the common mans earnings to secure a house and to furnish furn-ish it comfortably for his family These savings are to a certain extent always in ieoparSy they may be swept away in a single hour and the commonest cause of such disaster is fire It is in making good such losses that fire insurance insur-ance companies have gained their wonderful won-derful hold upon popular favor After the great fires of Chicago Boston and St Johns in which thousand of homes were burned to the ground end millions of dollars of goods destroyed the ministry of the fire insurance companies was the most effective in reviving trade and rebuilding rebuild-ing the habitations of the people While a hundred companies were bankrupted bank-rupted by the Chicago fire their assets went to the relief of the stricken people peo-ple and companies which survived draining their treasuries of millions for the same purpose In Utah there has been except in the principle cities cit-ies and in business circles a prejudice against fire insurance This has been due mainly to the pastoral simplicity of the people who mostly occupy their own houses and to the security felt against incendiarism or carelessness of tenants Yet there is scarcel a town or village in the Territory Terri-tory but has had its fires which have been more or less destructive With some objection to taking out II fire insurance policies especially up n dwellings has been based on the indisposition i I indis-position to pay premiumsto foreign or outside companies They have argued that in a community like ours there i should be mutual protection and the hit a has been urged upon those acquainted with the business to form a home company com-pany which would save the accumula tion of premiums paid in the country and afford opportunity for investments upon which reasonable returns might be anticipated We are glad to chronicle the formation of itch a company and to note that it is based upon a sound business principle with men and means supporting it that are a guarantee of ito solvency and success Insurance is worth nothing unless it insures y t and it is better that we have waited many years for a Home Company with brains and capital back of it than to hays been flooded with wild cat concerns drawing a few gasping breaths and expiring with the first alarm of fire We believe the Home Fire Insurance Company of Utah has been timely organized and is hero stay We wish it unqualified prosperity and success and commend it to the universal patronage of the good people of our fair Territory |