In all cases, the company makes a careful survey of the property to be insured, and on this report the amount of the premium is based. Premiums on fire policies must be paid in bulk and in advance. Policies should be renewed some days before the expiration of the old ones. Fire premiums, taking into consideration the amount to be paid, are much lower than life premiums. We know that a man must die, but a building may never burn down, therefore the risk is less. COLLECTING A man may insure in a dozen life insurance companies, and each must pay the amount of the policy on his death, but not so with fire companies. A man owning a house worth, say ten thousand dollars, can insure it in ten companies, each taking a risk of eight thousand dollars. If this house burns down the man does not receive eighty thousand dollars. The actual loss is calculated and the companies divide it up, each paying its part. Fire companies, while anxious to issue policies on every insurable house, are more than willing that their business rivals should do the same, as in the event of fire the burden of loss will not be borne by one. After every fire the company's agent examines the damage and estimates what is saved. On this the payment is based. INSURABLE PROPERTY A building is classed as real estate, but personal property is just as liable to be destroyed by fire. Fire policies can be secured on goods, furniture, machinery, live stock and other things, and the method is about the same as where buildings are insured, but as a rule the premiums are higher, for such things are apt to be ruined by smoke and water, when the building in which they are stored may not be much injured. MUTUAL COMPANIES Men can associate for any legal purpose, and mutual protection against loss by fire is one of these. In many neighborhoods throughout the country, but particularly in the eastern states, there are mutual insurance companies, usually composed of a number of men who know each other and who agree to share the losses of a member, in proportions agreed to in advance. This form of insurance is cheap and effective, but the field of its operations is necessarily limited. STOCK COMPANIES The stock companies start with a fixed capital, each member receiving stock in proportion to the amount contributed. The capital and the interest from it, after paying the necessary expenses, is invested, and reinvested, till it often reaches a large sum. At the end of every fiscal year, usually June 30th, the expenses and the losses paid are deducted from the earnings and the net gain may be divided as dividends. Often there are not only no dividends, but a great conflagration, like that of San Francisco, may wipe out all the earnings, all the reserve and even the capital itself, leaving the company bankrupt and heavily in debt.