A Local Insurance Company Proposed

A meeting of a dozen or more of the buelnessmen was beid on Friday evening, lor the purpose of diseussing the advisability of organizing a local insurance company to be carried on a plan similar to the Washtenaw Mutual and the other eompanies in the county. Nothing definite was done bnt much was brouglit out showing tliat an orgnnizatjon of this character would result in a great sa ving annually to our cltlzens. Kotwithstnnding the i'aet tliat Ann Arbor now ha.s unexeelled water tjupply and a thorough cquipped iire department, g'iving Ann Arbor is good flre protcctioii as any place ol its sizr in the country, the iiisurancc rates are bnt littlc ii any lower tliau when the city depended upon cisterna, wells and reservoirs and an old band engine tor protocüo'.i agalnst the fiery element. 'i'iic loases li.v Hre are merely n iniinal since the organiza tioii of the present ffre department, last year but $1,600, and fche yo.ir bei&re lees than $10,000. It is safe to say that the average los-ses xvill not exceed $10,000 or $15,000 a year. with tlie present facilities. It is estimated that in the nelghborhood of $100,000 is taken out of tliis city annually by the insurance companics, .■nul the losscs paid by theiu will nöt average over one-tonth of thig amount. ünless the ïire Insurance companies can síiw the city a lower rute on insurance. a local eompany composed of all thoee who cárry insurnnce on tbelr property would resuli ia a saving of $80,000 or $90,000 annually to our citizens. Even if the estímate ol $100,000 a year is too high, the amount of aunual premiums is surely much greater thanthe loases, and there is no reason why our citizens should pay a 'large profit each year into the pockets of the stockholders of the large fire insurance companies. Of course there are ïnany arguments against the organizatlon of a local iusurance eompany. A heavy con üngration wold make a hueavy assessment on the members and perhaps reult in thelr paying more for insurance than they are now paying. But unless rates can be secured by our businessmen whioh are more in proportion to the fire protection that the city now has, the feeltng seems to bc galnlng ground among the businessmen and thosf w-ho own property here, that some steps toward a local insurance eompany hould be taken. The city paya a large amount yearly in maintaining a good íire departtnent and the benefit flerlved nhould be tr the citizons, not for the insurmce companies, (aa they alone re;eive the benefit when the losses are low on lnsuxed property), as it now íh.