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LIVERPOOL AND LONDON AND GLOBE INSURANCE
COMPANY BUILDING, PHILADELPHIA.

at No. 331-337 Walnut Street was erected by the company, and under the supervision of Mr. Atwood Smith. There are twenty-five other European and two Canadian fire and marine companies having agencies in Philadelphia. Their capital is altogether $32,556,000, and their assets $191,279,000. Then we have here the offices of twenty-three Pennsylvania fire and marine companies other than those chartered in Philadelphia, and they show $3,545,000 of capital, with $5,340,000 of assets. The offices of the fire and firemarine companies of other States are ninety-nine in number, representing capitals of $45,744,000 and assets of $100,426,000. Thirty-five life or accident companies of other States have agents in this city, who trade on assets of $432,737,000. Bringing all these figures into a mass, we find that we have a grand total devoted to indemnity and represented here reaching beyond $820,000,000.

The Philadelphia Fire Underwriters Tariff Association. A carefully-prepared statement of the experience of the local fire insurance companies for

the ten years extending from 1873 to 1883, compiled by George E. Wagner, of Philadelphia, showed that their losses and expenses, exclusive of dividends, had fallen but little below the income from their premiums, and in some years were in excess of them. In 1873 the ratio of the losses and expenses to the premiums was 100.23 per cent.; in 1874 it had fallen to 78.45 per cent., but after that there was a gradual increase, and in 1881 it stood at 102.71 per cent., and in 1882 at 101.37 per cent. As a result of this condition of affairs, the number of local fire insurance companies decreased in the period from 1873 to 1883 from twenty-eight to nineteen, and the existence of the remaining companies unprovided with a large surplus was endangered. The Philadelphia Fire Underwriters' Association was organized to remedy this evil, and to regulate temporary and term rates of insurance so as to obtain appropriate profits to the companies, and at the same time increase the security of parties insured.

The preliminary meeting to organize the association was held on Oct. 29, 1883, pursuant to a call issued two days before by Henry Darrach, secretary of the Board of Fire Underwriters. The meeting was held in the main room of the Merchants' Exchange, and the only business done was to secure the appointment of a committee to make nominations for officers. At the adjourned meeting held on the second day of November following, the nominees reported by the committee were elected as follows: President, Thomas H. Montgomery, president of the American Fire Insurance Company; Vice-President, George E. Wagner; and Secretary and Treasurer, Henry Darrach. A constitution and by-laws were adopted at the same meeting. These officers continued to hold their positions until Nov. 15, 1883, when they were re-elected to serve for the ensuing year.

The headquarters of the association are in the Merchants' Exchange, northeast corner of Third and Walnut Streets. Out of the 159 insurance companies at present in the city, 133 are members, being represented by forty-eight gentlemen. The expenses are met, as in similar organizations, by an assessment on the premiums received by each company on insurances within the city limits during the previous year, after deducting reinsurances and cancellations.

The primary object of the association has been to establish uniform rates of fire insurance, and this object has been pursued with noticeably beneficial results. Companies doing business in the city who are not members, nevertheless have concurred in the rates established by the association.

A second object, which naturally follows the first, is to secure greater precautions against fire. A standard is adopted for every class of buildings, and those coming up to it are charged a certain rate of insurance. If extra hazards are found to exist, the rates are correspondingly increased, fixed prices being charged for each deviation from the standard. In

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order to get a reduction of rates, the party insured is compelled to remove the hazard, and this has been done in a great many cases. Buildings presenting great hazards are sometimes rendered uninsurable. If the owner of a building makes certain provisions against fire above and beyond those required by the standard, or if the building is of superior construction, he is enabled to obtain a rate even below the standard. Every building in the city is examined by an inspector, who presents the results of his investigations to the tariff committee of the association, and they, after careful examination, decide upon the rates to be charged upon it. The magnitude of the work can be easily seen, and the beneficial results likely to flow from it must also be apparent. Already, owing to the examinations made by the association, precautions against fire have been adopted in hotels, theatres, churches, car-stables, and other buildings, which are calculated to be not only the means of saving thousands of dollars, but valuable lives as well.

As an example of the workings of the association, the insurance of theatres may be cited. Among its various qualifications, the standard theatre must be constructed of brick or stone, the roof must be of slate, metal, or other substantial composition; the floors in the boiler-house must be of cement or brick; the wood-work must be at least eight inches distant from the boilers, and two inches distant from a steam pipe, unless in the latter case protected by an iron shield; the border and foot-lights must be lighted by approved electric apparatus; the auditorium must be separated from the stage by a strong brick or stone proscenium wall, arched over the stage, opening and extending at least two feet above the roof; and the heating must be done by the steam or hot water system. The rate of insurance for such a theatre is $3.50. Deviations and deficiencies are charged as follows: if the structure is two-thirds or more frame, one dollar; if the roof is of shingle or defective, ten cents; if the floor of the boiler-house is of wood, five cents; if the lighting is by petroleum or its products, not insurable; if open torches are used to light the foot-lights, thirty cents; if there is no stone or brick proscenium wall, fifty cents; and if hot air flues are insecure, uninsurable. Among provisions against fire which, upon being adopted, will secure a reduction below the standard rate, are such as the following: night and Sunday watchman, and improved time-detector, five cents reduction; approved fire force pump, with two and one-half inch hose connection run by gearing, ten cents reduction; and automatic sprinklers protecting the stage and repairshop, twenty-five cents reduction. For certain improvements in the construction of the proscenium, and for an approved fire-proof curtain, a reduction of one dollar is made; for impregnating all scenery, gauze, etc., by an improved process, there is a reduction of twenty-five cents; and for approved electric lighting exclusively, a reduction of ten cents.

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The officers of the association are elected annually at a meeting in November.

Membership may be had by a written application from (or by nomination of) any fire insurance company authorized to transact business in the city of Philadelphia on approval by the association and by signing the constitution.

Stated meetings of the association are held on the third Tuesday of every month, at twelve o'clock

noon.

There are two standing committees,-a tariff committee, consisting of nine members, and a committee on rooms and supplies, consisting of five members.

The tariff committee have power to fix rates on such risks and classes of risks as may be referred to them by any member of the association, provided that two-thirds of the committee approve thereof. The rates fixed by them are binding when approved in writing by three-fourths of the members of the association.

Three of the nine members composing this committee are chosen each month for a term of three months.

Such figures convey, perhaps, even more thoroughly than the details, an adequate comprehension of the immensity of the insurance business in its many and divers branches. They represent guarantees upon real estate of every description, and amounting to many millions of dollars in value,-the great manufacturing establishments, warehouses, stores, and public buildings, as well as the residences of private citizens, from the stately home of the millionaire to the shelter which covers the thrifty workingman. The vessels whose owners are secured from loss by this huge capital float upon every sea, and carry the flags of all the maritime nations of the world. As to the beneficent power of life insurance, it is impossible to conjecture the number of persons who, because of it, rest assured that their deaths will not leave in distress the families dependent upon them. In commerce and in the homelife alike, insurance fills a most essential function, and may not inappropriately be styled a basis upon which some of the greatest practical interests of civilized humanity rest. In its ramifications it touches all departments of industry and investment, and holds them safe against the contingencies of peril and loss. Copson's and Bradford's humble enterprises of nearly two hundred years ago can be accepted as the foundation of the vast insurance business of Philadelphia in the present time, and as we follow its development from epoch to epoch it reflects the growth of the community in wealth, in population, and in the improvement and aggregation of resources. In past years unscrupulous men have founded companies for illegitimate purposes, and have defrauded those who placed confidence in them, but in recent years wise legislation has placed a ban upon illicit speculation in insurance, while guarding and encouraging the substantial corporations and agencies.

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1 First company chartered in the State for a general fire insurance business. Organized Sept. 1, 1817, as the Fire Association, and was an association of fire companies, who designed to render themselves self-supporting by the profits arising from insurances. 3 Originally the Safety Insurance Company; name changed Jan, 27, 1874. 5 Risks in force December, 1883, $2,012,000. Risks in force December, 1883, $13,650,000.

4 $400,000 allotted in shares of $400 each.

7 Oldest life insurance organization in the United States. Granted by the Penns to Rev. Francis Allison, vice-provost of the University, in 1755. Organized as "The Corporation for the Relief of Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of Presbyterian Ministers."

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8 Originally chartered in three States,-Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. It was resolved to separate into three corporations,-one for each State. The Pennsylvania branch was incorporated March 28, 1797.

Both an insurance and trust company. Other trust companies of chapter on "Bankers and Currency," though having a provision in their charter allowing them to do an insurance business, do not exercise the right to any extent, or not at all. Policies of the Provident Life and Trust Company outstanding March 31, 1883, represent $37,499,951.

CHAPTER LII.

TELEGRAPHS, TELEPHONES, AND ELECTRIC LIGHTS.

THE first telegraph of any kind by which intelligence was brought to Philadelphia was established in 1809, under the patronage of the Chamber of Commerce, and according to the plan of Jonathan Grout, who set it up. Grout was a schoolmaster, and of somewhat testy disposition and eccentric in character. He was a native of Belchertown, Mass., and had at an early period turned his attention to the subject of telegraphic communication. In 1798 he had established a line of telegraphs between Boston and Martha's Vineyard, ninety miles, over which it is recorded messages were sent in ten minutes. He received a patent from Congress in 1800. The character of his invention is not exactly known, but it is probable that it was upon the semaphore plan. There was enough merit in it to interest the merchants of Philadelphia sufficiently to raise the means for the establishment of a line of telegraph to Reedy Island, at the head of Delaware Bay, from which early news of the arrival of ships was important to business interests. A charter was granted by the Legislature to the Reedy Island Telegraph Company March 24, 1809. The line was shortly afterward constructed, and on the 8th of November of the same year the first dispatch received in the city announced the arrival in the Delaware of the ship "Fanny," from Lisbon. How long this telegraph was continued is not exactly known. Statements made years afterward were to the effect that it was soon abandoned, not for reason of inefficiency, but because the peculiar temperament of Grout led him into controversies and quarrels with his customers, who gradually withdrew their confidence from him, and eventually the line proved to be a failure.

Dr. John Redman Coxe took great interest in the subject of telegraphs, and published in the Emporium of Arts and Sciences for 1812, vol. ii. p. 99, a description of his plan for a revolving telegraph for conveying intelligence by figures, letters, words, or sentences. The machine consisted of a semicircular frame fixed upon a wooden frame, which could be made to rotate upon a turn-table upon rollers on the top of a tower or other high place. There were thirteen chambers or windows in the upper part of the frame managed by ropes. The telegraphing was done principally by the windows, in opening or shutting them, wholly or partially, and an arrangement was proposed by the use of lights for telegraphing at night. Dr. Coxe afterward turned his thoughts to the use of galvanism for telegraphic purposes, a suggestion which it has since been ascertained had already been acted upon by Dr. Samuel Thomas von Soemmering, in Munich, in 1807. The latter sent the galvanic current through ten thousand feet of wire, and arranged his signals to be produced by the decomposition of water. There is no suspicion that Dr. Coxe

ever knew of these experiments, which attracted no attention at the time, and could not be suspected to be of the importance which was afterward manifested, when electricity was applied to the wires instead of galvanism. Dr. Coxe, in 1815, wrote to Thomson's Annals of Philosophy a letter published in London, February, 1816, vol., vii. 1st series, in which, speaking of galvanism, he said,

"I have, however, contemplated this important agent (galvanism) as a probable means of establishing telegraphic communication with as much rapidity, and perhaps less expense, than any hitherto employed. I do not know how far experiment has determined galvanic action to be communicated by means of wires, but there is no reason to suppose it confined as to limits. Certainly not as to time. Now by means of apparatus fixed at certain distances, as Telegraph Stations, and by tubes for the decomposition of water and of salts, etc., regularly arranged, such a key might be adopted as would be requisite to communicate words and sentences, or figures from one station to another, and so on to the end of the line. I will take another opportunity to enlarge upon this, as I think it might serve many useful purposes; but like all others it requires time to mature. As it takes up little room and may be fixed in private, it might in many cases of besieged towns, etc., convey useful intelligence with scarcely a chance of detection by the enemy. How ever fanciful in speculation, I have no doubt that sooner or later it will be rendered useful in practice."

Actually this suggestion differed only in degree from the plan afterward adopted in the working of the Bain Electric Telegraph. It has been said that Dr. Coxe subsequently demonstrated the merits of his plan to his students by setting up wires and using the voltaic pile in the lecture-room of the University of Pennsylvania, for telegraphic purposes; but if such experiments were made, there is unfortunately no record of them.

There was for some years prior to 1846 a private telegraph between New York and Philadelphia of the existence of which the majority of the people were profoundly ignorant. It was established perhaps as early as 1840, and its operations were not made known to the public. The proprietor was William C. Bridges, stock and exchange broker of this city, and the dispatches were principally used to convey the drawn numbers in lotteries, and the prices of stocks for the benefit of the brokers who were interested in the line. The telegraph stations were placed on the high points across New Jersey, and there must have been some station in Philadelphia at a sufficient altitude from the nearest station on the east side of the river to observe the signals. The operations in daytime were somewhat upon the semaphore plan, and were visible from station to station, and sent on from one to the other. At night the signals were given by lights with flashes. This was done by the use of a box in which a lamp was placed in front of a parabolic reflector. A common wooden drop in front of the box, operated by a lever, could be raised so that the light would be shown, and allowed to fall so as to shut it off. By the length of time during which the light was shown signals were made, analogous to the short and long dashes and dots afterward used in the Morse telegraph. Long and short flashes conveyed the information, and these

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