Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1887 — The Accident Insurance Craze. [ARTICLE]

The Accident Insurance Craze.

Accident insurance has made a steady, running growth during the present year, and seems to be a popular craze. I kpow of canvassers who are taking in as high as twenty polic es a day. All railroad men are going into it* and I find the workingmen following. Men who can carry regular insurance on their lives only take accident policies when going on journeys, but poor men, who cannot afford regular premiums want some guarantee of support if disabled. Speaking about insurance, this branch of insurance has gone into many peculiar ramifications. Did you know that railroads insure more than other corporations? Railroad cars are all insured, and the companies figure very close—so close that there is not much profit in it, the only inducement being the large amount that can be taken owing to the small quantity of property that can be destroyed at one time. Then there are tornado policies that have a large area of country to cover. \\ hen a cyclone strikes a district, the company’s agents catch all the farmers. There are also tornado companies, which insure against loss by wind. There used to be live stock companies, but several of them failed so easi y that the others lost confidence. It was easy enough to insure an animal, but it was not so easy to identify a dead beef or sheep as the same one insured. Then you can get window plate glass insured—well, I may say, anything of any value.— Globe-Democrat.