states. It has subsequently deposited an additional $100,000 in New York, and it has also $100,000 deposited in Ohio, $10,000 in New Mexico, $50,000 in Virginia, $10,000 in North Carolina, and $10,000 in Georgia. The headquarters of the company for the United States are in New York. The company operates with three independent underwriting branches, of which Frank Lock is manager for the eastern and southern states at New York, Geo. E. Haas is manager of the western department at Chicago, and Frank J. Devlin is manager for the Pacific department at San Francisco. In 1898 the company purchased the King's County Insurance Company and in 1904 absorbed the Manchester Assurance Company of Manchester, England, and continues the greater part of the agency plant so obtained. It transacts a large business in England and has branches in most parts of the world. Samuel J. Pipkin is the general manager at the home office in London. 1908 was the centennial year of the company. Assets, United States branch, December 31, 1917, $3,433,839.30; liabilities, $2,361,411.34; surplus to policyholders, $1,072,427.96.

AUSTIN FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Dallas, Texas. Organized 1902; capital, $250,000. G. W. Jalonick, president; A. F. Pillet, secretary.

AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Hartford, Conn. Organized 1913; capital, $2,000,000. President, Morgan G. Bulkeley; vice-president, Morgan B. Brainard; vice-president and secretary, J. Scofield Rowe; treasurer, C. H. Remington; assistant treasurer, M. G. Bulkeley, Jr.; secretaries, H. R. Clough and J. C. Barden, J. J. McGivney (Marine), John S. Turn (Secretary N. Y. Branch); assistant secretary, W. Ellwood Jones (Fire); auditor, W. E. A. Bulkeley.

AUTOMOBILE

MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA, Providence, R. I. Organized 1907. A. T. Vigneron, president and treasurer; Frank N. Phillips, vice-president; Frank M. Barber, secretary; Herbert B. Vigneron, assistant secretary and

treasurer.

AUTOMOBILE UNDERWRITERS CONFERENCE. [See National Automobile Underwriters Conference.]

B

BALKAN NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Sofia, Bulgaria. Wm. C. Scheide & Co., Hartford, Conn., United States managers. (Reinsurance business.) The company ceased business in 1917 under the provisions of "Trading with the Enemy act.

BALTIMORE AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY, Baltimore, Md. Organized 1880; capital, $500,000. John C. Distler, Jr., president; George A. Hax, vice-president; R. W. Macdonald, secretary; Louis Huether, Jr., assistant secretary. [Formerly German American. Name changed in 1918.]

BALTIMORE EQUITABLE SOCIETY, Baltimore, Md. (mutual fire insurance_company). Organized 1794. Wilton Snowden, treasurer; H. E. Rawlings, secretary.

BALTIMORE MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY Baltimore, Md. Incorporated 1885; began business 1886. William H. Purcell, president; Ernest Schmeisser, vice-president; George H. Steuart, secretary; Charles W. Grant, Jr., assistant secretary.

BARNSTABLE COUNTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Yarmouthport, Mass. Organized 1833. Alphonso L. Weekes, president; John H. Clark, secretary and treasurer; J. E. Howes, assistant secretary.

BERKSHIRE MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Pittsfield, Mass. Organized 1835. Henry R. Peirson, president; Robt. A. Barbour, secretary and treasurer; Chas. F. Reid, Jr., assistant secretary.

BIRMINGHAM FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Pittsburgh, Pa. Organized 1871; capital, $200,000. Wm. Henning, president; Frederick Buehler, vice-president; A. J. Henning, secretary; A. G. Kaufmann, assistant secretary.

BLACKSTONE MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Providence, R. I. Organized 1868. William B. McBee, president; Ernest W. Brown, vice-president and secretary; Howard I. Lee, assistant secretary.

BLANKET POLICIES. In American underwriting a blanket policy covers different kinds or different pieces of property under the same form. Blanket policies are not considered good underwriting, but are found to be necessary in many cases.

BOARD OF FIRE UNDERWRITERS OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. The association was reorganized as a company or

ganization in 1915, and a new constitution took effect January 1, 1916. The officers of the association, elected in January, 1918, are: Secretary, R. J. Trimble; assistant secretary, J. E. Boobyer; treasurer, Thomas D. Kellar; governing committee, William Steinmeyer, J. E. Stone, A. M. Hart, A. H. Eckert, Fred W. Kiefer.

BOARD OF FIRE UNDERWRITERS OF THE PACIFIC came into existence in February, 1895, as the successor of the Pacific Insurance Union, and inherited most of its dissensions. [For an account of the struggle through the years 1885 and 1886 to bring the competing and warring companies into harmonious combination, with partial successes and failures, while demoralization in rates and commissions continued, see the Cyclopedia for 1896-97, pages 63 and 64, and for events in 1887 see the Cyclopedia for 1897-1898.]

At the annual meeting in May, 1918, officers were elected as follows: President, James C. Johnstone; vice-president, J. B. Levison; secretary, E. F. Mohrhardt. The president and vice-president are members, ex-officio, of the executive committee and under a board rule five members of the committee are elected in May and six in November. The following compose the present executive committee: Edwin Parrish, A. A. Maloney, W. A. Briggs, Frank M. Avery, A. M. Brown, W. A. Blodgett, Thomas H. Anderson, W. W. Alverson, W. H. Breeding, Benjamin Goodwin, and W. J. Houge.

BOARD OF UNDERWRITERS OF NEW YORK, which represent ocean marine companies doing business in New York, was organized in 1820, and has been in uninterrupted operation since. The office of president is occupied by A. A. Raven, chairman Board of Directors Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company; Herbert Fuller, vice-president. The other officers are: J. H. Platt, secretary; Cornelius Eldert, treasurer; A. C. Spencer, clerk. The members of the board are the Atlantic Mutual of New York, Boston Insurance Company, Union Marine, Limited, of Liverpool, Mannheim, Fireman's Fund, and Insurance Company of North America.

BOSTON BOARD OF FIRE UNDERWRITERS was organized November 14, 1882. At the thirty-fourth annual meeting, held in November, 1917, officers were elected as follows: President, J. H. Carney; vice-president, Charles H. J. Kimball; secretary and treasurer, F. Elliott Cabot; assistant secretary, James Davis; supervising engineer, Isaac Osgood; executive committee, George S. Rosencrantz, Harrie H. Whitney, John J. Cornish, Alfred Davenport and Edmund Winchester.

BOSTON FIRE INSURANCE LOSSES. [See Boston Protective Department.]

BOSTON INSURANCE COMPANY, Boston, Mass. Organized 1873; capital, $1,000,000. William R. Hedge, president; Herbert Fuller and Henry R. Hedge, vice-presidents; Ward Williams, vicepresident and assistant secretary; Freeman Nickerson, secretary;

Wm. J. Chisholm, and John M. Eaton, assistant secretaries; Edmund Winchester, manager fire department.

BOSTON INSURANCE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. [See Insurance Library Association.]

BOSTON MANUFACTURERS MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Boston, Mass. Organized 1850. Joseph P. Gray, president; L. H. Kunhardt, vice-president and engineer, H. Dwight Hall, secretary; Otto F. Hauck, assistant secretary; John B. Seward, treasurer; E. F. Robinson, assistant treasurer.

BOSTON PROTECTIVE DEPARTMENT has grown and developed out of small beginnings. In 1849 its sole equipment consisted of two canvas bags, each containing three oil covers. The headquarters were located in the insurance office of Dobson & Jordan, No. 50 State Street.

October 1, 1868, the first company was organized by Assistant Engineer W. A. Green of the fire department, and consisted of nine men, the driver being the only permanent man and up to March 29, 1874, the department was maintained by voluntary contributions. In 1874 the legislature granted a charter to the organization, which was accepted March 11, immediately after its passage, and a code of by-laws adopted. The original title The Boston Protective Department," was retained in the corporate name, and the fire insurance companies doing business in Boston are required to maintain it.

The department consists of three companies and a force of 71 men. Samuel Abbott, Jr., was appointed superintendent in 1880 and continues at the head of the department. [See Cyclopedia for 1913-14 for history of the organization.]

The forty-fourth annual report of the department for the year ending December 31, 1917, gave the number of alarms as 5,025; of which 4,263 were for fires, and of these 1,686 occurred in brick and stone buildings, 1,305 in wooden buildings, and 1,217 outside. Of these fires, 2,776 were confined to the floors where they originated, 248 to the buildings where they originated; 15 extended to adjoining property, and 7 extended beyond adjoining property; originating in automobiles, 141; not originating in buildings; 1,048; not originating in, but involving buildings, 28. The total loss on buildings and contents, $4,056,887.34; total insurance involved, $51,469,575.46; and the total insurance loss was $3,733,439.82. The insurance loss on buildings was $1,245,925.13 and on contents, $2,487,514.60. The loss on buildings and contents, direct loss, was $3,546,331.19, and on buildings and contents, exposure losses, was $510,556.15. The total rent losses were $23,345.02. Some of the principal causes of fires, involving loss, were: matches, 563; smokers' carelessness, 199; gas and petroleum and its products, 101; open lights, 154; stoves, boilers, and pipes, 159; incendiary, 25: spontaneous combustion, 56; electricity. 63: explosions, 77; and there were also 262 fires of unknown origin.

The officers of the department elected at the annual meeting in March, 1918, are: President, Edward F. Woods; vice-president, H. L. Hiscock; secretary and treasurer, Charles W. Booding; superintendent, Samuel Abbott.

BRITISH AMERICA ASSURANCE COMPANY of Toronto, Can., incorporated 1833. W. B. Meikle, president and general manager; John Sime, assistant general manager.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY (Limited), of Liverpool, Eng. W. L. H. Simpson, manager and attorney; John E. Hoffman, secretary, New York.

BRITISH DOMINIONS GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, London, Eng. The company changed its name in 1918. [See Eagle, Star and British Dominions Insurance Company.]

BROKER, TERM DEFINED. The insurance laws of a few states define who are brokers. Such laws are in force in Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington. [For full text of the laws enacted prior to 1914, see Cyclopedia for 1913-14. See also Cyclopedia for 1915, fire section.]

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The laws in their terms are with few exceptions practically the same, and define a broker as: Whoever for compensation acts or aids in any manner in negotiating contracts of insurance or reinsurance, or placing risks or effecting insurance or reinsurance for a person other than himself, and not being the appointed agent, or officer of the company in which such insurance or reinsurance is effected, shall be deemed an insurance broker."

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The Kansas law, however, limits the definition to any one placing insurance in an unauthorized company; and the New York law defines a broker as any person, partnership, association, or corporation, who for money, commission, or anything of value, acts or aids in any manner on behalf of the insured" in negotiating or placing contracts of insurance, including surety bonds. The Virginia law defines a broker as any person who shall solicit for compensation any policy of insurance "either on account of any person desiring to effect such insurance or any insurance company, except the duly authorized agent (or a clerk actually employed in his office) of any insurance company licensed to do business in this state," and " any insurance agent (or a clerk actually employed in his office) who shall solicit, directly or indirectly, any fire, marine, or other insurance, either on account of any person desiring to effect any such insurance, or on account of any insurance company licensed to do business in this state, other than for the insurance company or companies for which he is the duly authorized agent."

The Washington law defines a broker as "any person who solicits insurance to be. placed in an insurance company other than represented by him.”