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Show 1 NEWS OF THE INSURANCE WORLD The World's Life Insurance. The "Weekly Underwriter," in commenting com-menting on the report of the British Board of Trade on British life insurance for 1000, gives tho following world figures of llfo Insurance in force: In the United States, 115,000.000.000; In Great Britain. $5,000,000,000; In Germany, 51.FiOO.000.000; in JJYance. -$750,000,000: ln Russia, 552,-000.000. 552,-000.000. Total. $22,312,000,000. Estimated total for the world, $33,000,000,000. This latter total lncludos both legal rcservo and fraternal insurance. There are nlno billions of assessment and fraternal insurance in-surance certificates ln force in tho United States. This it will be seen that ns tho world's population Is estimated at one and a half billion the per capita of lifo Insurance Is about $22. Department Will Co-Operato. Letters have been sent from tho stato Insurance department to firms and corporations cor-porations that aro known to carry largo lines of fire and miscellaneous insurance, requesting them to furnish the commissioner commis-sioner with statements of their policies, especially as to companies patronized. Tho object of the Inquiry is to ascertain ascer-tain whether the insurance is in duly authorized companies that aro complying with the. slate insurance law, or whether it is void on account of non-cornpllance. It Is tho purpose of the department to aid these firms and corporations ln determining de-termining the validity and safety of their protection, by advising them as to any policy that is in the least degree questionable. ques-tionable. The insurance law passed by the last legislature laid down very strict requirements require-ments with which all companies must comply that dcslro to do business Jn Utah. Some companies, alrjuly here, wero unable, or unwilling, to jicet theso requirements, and withdrew from tho slate. Other companies and associations that have not complied with the law are thought to be operating surreptitiously in Utah. In cither case the policies are invalid in-valid unless they have been reinsured, and should be cancelled at once and rewritten re-written In authorized companies. Otherwise Other-wise if losses occur the Insured will bo entirely at the mercy of tho company or association, with no power of recovery. A prompt response to these letters of Inquiry Is ordinarily being made, and it Is thought that with tho co-operation of tho department all interested will be enabled en-abled to adjust their Insurance in such way as to place It above question. In the meantime If any to whom these letters let-ters have not boon directed desire to take advantage of this friendly co-operation, they are invited to communicate with the commissioner of Insurance, who promises prompt attention to all Inquiries. Of courso. the foregoing has no reference refer-ence whatever to tho generally recognized Rtmirlmvl rnmtis nlcs. Insurance Losses Small. Reports of fire insurance losses through forest fires at Wallace. Idaho, and other points aro at. hand and show they aro not as great as at first reported. Among the fairly large risks destroyed were tho Coeur d' Alone hardware warehouse, 5150,-000; 5150,-000; Sunset brewery. $80,000; Pacific hotel. ho-tel. ?fi0,000: Worstlll Furnlturo company. $50,000. and the Conor d'Alono Iron Works. ?SO.000. A change In the wind's direction prevented tho flames from rushing rush-ing up tho canyon to the towns of Gom and Burke, where tho covering on mining property alono Is many hundreds of thousands. thou-sands. Idaho lumbermen say they have no .basis from which to estimate the damage. United States Supervisor Welgle savs any estimate would be a mere guess. This estimated lumber loss in Oregon from forest fires this season is several millions. Valuo of Corporate Surety. The value of corporate suretyship has again been forcibly illustrated in Now York when a largo corporation appointed a man to a responsible position in its export department. The man camo with letters of recommendation from German houses, which turned out to be fictitious, and besides had a most pleasing personality. person-ality. After being with the firm for a short while he got away with $20,000 by forgery and then It was discovered that he was wanted In Hamburg on a similar charge. At a comparatively small cost tho company could have prevented this, for as one of tho surely company's officials offi-cials says, "no suroty company In the world would have passed the man on the credentials submitted." A Word of Appreciation. That tho efforts of The Tribune to furnish fur-nish Its readers with important Insurance news is appreciated by Insurance men and the public generally Is quite evident from the number of letters received commending com-mending this paper for the course taken Under date of August 29. F. 15. Francisco, Fran-cisco, state manager for tho West Coast Life Insurance company ln Salt Lake City, writes the editor of Tho Tribune as follows. "I wish to lake this opportunity of complimenting you over the. Interest you are creating among Insurance representatives represent-atives In this city and state and adjoining' adjoin-ing' states through the insurance columns of your paper on Monday of each week. As evidence of tho public Interest in the above, would state that some few weeks ago, mention was made of our company's Intention to extend Its field of operations opera-tions to tho Philippines and China. W.e have had at least live personal calls on tho part of Insurance man to represent us In the above locations and hnvo received re-ceived at least half a dozen letters from states outside of Utah seeking Information Informa-tion relative to representing us. "Whon one considers the great number of Insurance representatives in this and adjoining states. I for one wish to assure you that tho information contained in your Insurance columns is greatly appreciated appre-ciated and 1 am taking this small way of expressing to you my appreciation In this runnt'ut." An Entertaining Numhor. The Ocean Accident & Guarantee company com-pany In Its "Log Book" for September, offers a few unique Ideas on accident insurance. in-surance. It says. "Automobile: divide people Into two chissos, tho nulcl: and the dead." Also: "Banana peelings have cost accident Insurance companies more money than shot guns." On the question ques-tion of matrimony it says: "A wlao man sulci that tho two things necessary to make marriage happy are (1) that a man should bo deaf and (2) that a woman sh nild be blind." For the benefit or Impoverished bachelors It furnishes a list of the richest American widows, eleven In number, whose, combined wealth Is estimated at $338,000,000. Suicido la Alleged. The General Accident company and the Maryland Casualty are contesting the payment of accident policies aggregating $10,000 Issued to O. G. Lowder of Charlotte, Char-lotte, NT. C. on the ground of suicide. Some time prior to his death Mr Lowder took out ninety-day policies and. It Is said. IrJed to irel more from other companies, com-panies, but failed. He lalmed he was about to accent a position of traveling man and desired additional protection Mr. Lowder's death was attributed to the accidental discharge of a gun which he was cleaning to go on a hunting trip, Tho companies contend that thero were strong evidences of suicido a motive for which existed In the deceased's heavy losses in the cotton market and tho further fur-ther alleged fact that for weeks previous to tho tragedy ho had been greatly despondent. Belgium Exhihition Tire Losses. Tho dispatches announcing total losses of $100,000,000 by the burning of the International In-ternational exhibition at Brussels a few days ngo, caused considerable stir among tho fire underwriters of America. "Although "Al-though no definite estimate of instiranco losses have yet been made, It. is learned that the first news wns grossly exaggerated. exagger-ated. Foreign companies are mostly Involved, In-volved, with but little reinsurance, It Is thought. In American companies. Lloyd's of London carried a. largo part of the in-suranco in-suranco and the estimates of tho liabilities liabili-ties of this and other British companies will not fall far short of $0,250,000. The fire broke out among flimsy buildings build-ings and, ns usual, the fire protection facilities wcro found to be useless in the emergency, it Is reported that firemen were seen standing hclploss with hose all ready to turn on a stream, while no water wa-ter was obtainable. Within tho course of a very short lime there was reduced to dust and ashes buildings which had taken all of Ihrcc and four years to construct. con-struct. Tho exhibition officials and the Belgian soldiers rendered efficient aid, and It is due to their efforts that many of tho buildings were saved. Defective wiring ln the Illuminated a.ttlc and portico por-tico at. tho entrance to tho Bolgian section, sec-tion, whore the fire broke out. Is given as the cause. The European press wcro absurd In their estimates of the losses The Paris papers went up to $200,000,000. Consternation reigned among the manufacturers manu-facturers of Staffordshire. England, many of whom had sent priceless specimens of pottery to tho exhibition. Ono exhibitor named Bernard Moore, had sent some wonderful glaze effects of an old Chlnoso 3tylo, tho secret of which he rediscovered. rediscov-ered. Many of the specimens ho had constantly con-stantly refused to put a price on, and said he would not soil them for any amount. He lost all in tho fire. A Mg-nltlcant Mg-nltlcant fact of the catastrophe is that It. provcB to be the first great loss to insurance in-surance companies yet reported from any of tho world's expositions. Tho experience experi-ence of both this country and England ban been very fortunate In this resnuct. Old Plan Again Authorized. A recent amendment to the Xow York insurance laws re-establishes the "Ny-lle" "Ny-lle" system Inaugurated years ago by the Now York Llfo Instiranco company, for tho benefit of Its agents. Tt provides a definite monthly income for the field men, doing away with tho uncertainty and Irregularity of the ordinary renewable renew-able commission. Tho only condition the company imposes upon the agents is the production of $50,000 a 3-ear In new business busi-ness and continuance of services. In one sense it. is In tho nature of a pension, for it recognizes tho past work of agents In tho payment of a salary nnd naturally would load to better future results through the development of a persistent staff force. Utah Will Be Represented. The executive committee of the Utah Association of Llfo Underwriters reconsidered recon-sidered Its decision not. to send a delegate dele-gate to tho national convention at Detroit, De-troit, Mich., September S, 9 and 10, and as a result J. V. Smith, secretary of tho association, will represent tho Bee Hive state when the convention Is called to order. Mr. Smith loft Sunday on the Overland Limited for Detroit ami will be absent from tho city for about ten days. Insuranco Notes. C. R. Ailing and J. T. Banasch, connected con-nected with the Underwriters' Laboratories Laborato-ries of Chicago, stopped off for a few days in Salt Lako last week on their way homo from the const. The work of Underwriters' Laboratories is confined to Investigations having a bearing upon the fire hazards, and is undertaken as one means of securing correct solutions of many of the problems prcsonted by tho enormous and disproportionate destruction destruc-tion by Jlro of property in tho United Stales. Wisconsin seems to bo a model stato as far as fire Insuranco matters are concerned. con-cerned. Tho fire companies, their agents, tho Insuranco dopartment and the insuring insur-ing public are united In their determination determina-tion to put the ban upon all futuro legislative legis-lative Insurance measures The agents with no grievances to report, when not writing or talking Insuranco spend their time reading of the troubles in other states. A picture of the home of F A. Tlmby, general agent of tho Preferred Accident company in Salt Lake City, adorns the company's August number of the "Perambulator" "Per-ambulator" Tho text of the half-tone reads: "This Is tho 'House the Preferred Built." W. J. Llttlejohn. for the post sixteen years manager of the North British & Mercantile company at Chicago, has announced an-nounced his early retirement from active business. When the retirement Is offect-ed. offect-ed. about tho first of the year, tho department depart-ment will bo transferred to New YorVy Tho news will be of particular Interest to western agents, where Mr. Llttlejohn has long been popular. Electric light, takes first place whon it comes to firo loss mysteries, but It would appear that tho lowly lamp caused 310 deaths In the United States last year by explosion I. M. Fisher. Jr . for the past five years surveyor for tho Sanborn Map company In San Francisco, bus been appointed special agent of the Norwich Union Firo Insuranco company with headquarters In Salt Lake City. His present field of op-orations op-orations will be Montana and Idaho. Mr. Fisher Is a nntlvo of Salt Lake and served about $60,000 upon the owners with but with the Utah troops In trie Philippine war. With two fires within twelve days of er-.eh other entailing a comploto loss of little Insurance, ought to eorvo as a forcible rominder to those similarly situated sit-uated the need of protection. But will it? Alfred ID. Duncan, president of the Franklin Fire Insurance company of Philadelphia, Phil-adelphia, Pa Is ln Salt Lake City. Mr. Duncan was a business man of this city about fifteen years ago and daring his stay has been renewing old acquaintances. acquaint-ances. He could hardly believe his eyes upon beholding the great change which has come over the city since ho was last I here. 1 J. B. Trumbcll, special agent for the Reliance and Franklin Firo Insurance companies, with headquarters in Seattle, spent last week In Salt Lake. The late David S. Murray, It Is learned, carried $7500 life insurance in one of the standard companies of America. It 1b also said that he carried a $10,000 accident acci-dent policy; but thiB latter contract will be of no benefit to his family, because of the manner In which he met death. |