Note 237d-5 — Chapter III

Oberländer, loc. cit. 108, calls insurance without classification of risks, a "mutual benevolent institution;" and one rigidly classified according to the probable period of burning, "an institution for the making of advances" (Vorschuss-Anstalt.) In Baden, even in 1737, there was no difference made between a massive building and a wooden hut with a straw roof in the Black forest. (Rau, Archiv., III, 324.) Here, there was in 1844 to 1849, an average damage by fire in houses with brick roofs of 1,302 florins, with thatch roofs of 1,786 florins, with shingle roofs of 2,292 florins, to say nothing of the greater frequency of such damage in each succeeding class. (Rau, Lehrbuch, II, 1, § 26, a.) In Württemberg, before 1843, the owners of insured personal property, in houses with thatch roofs, had, in the same time, received 22 per 1,000 compensation for damage; in houses with brick roofs, from 8 to 9 per 1,000. (Rau, loc. cit.) In 17 German insurance companies, between 1866 and 1869, massive buildings with hard roofs paid 1,003,000 thalers and received 612,000 thalers; the not massive with hard roofs paid 1,544,000 thalers and received 1,339,000; houses with soft roofs paid 2,420,000 and received 2,792,000. (Preuss, Statist. Zeitschr. 1861, 327.) Similar observations made in Berne during 23 years.