[Footnote 237-4: In Berlin, in 1871, the movable property of 30.4 per cent. of all dwellings was insured; but with this great difference, that of the smallest (without any heatable rooms) only 5.3 per cent. were insured; while of dwellings having 5-7 heatable rooms, 84 per cent. had taken this precaution. (_Schwabe_, Volkszahlung von 1871, 169) But it should not be forgotten that private insurance, especially when speculative, is not in favor of having much to do with persons of small means, while public institutions are, for the most part, obliged to reject no proposition for insurance in their own line, except when coming from a few manufacturing quarters especially exposed to fire.] [Footnote 237-5: Outside of Germany, public fire insurance is to be still found only in German Austria, in Denmark, Switzerland and Scandinavia. The Germans had, in 1871, an insurance-sum of 5,908,760,000 thalers, while the mutual private insurance companies had about 1,435,000,000 (of which, at most, 200,000,000 to 300,000,000 were on immovable property), and joint-stock insurance companies, after deducting re-insurance (_Rückversicherung_), about 7,000,000,000. (Mittheilungen der öff. F. V. Anstalten, 1874, 84 ff.) Between 1865 and 1870, it was estimated that the per capita insurance of the population was: in Saxony, 407 thalers; in Würtemberg, 410; in Baden, 365; in Prussia, 332; in Switzerland, 425. On the other hand, in the much wealthier British Empire, only 325 per capita; in North America, 215. (loc. cit., 92.) Even in the case of joint-stock insurance companies, the average receipts of premiums (1867-70) were, in Germany, 2 per 1,000 of the insurance-sums; in the United Kingdom, 4.06 per 1,000; in the United States, 10.77; and the damage respectively 1.25, 2.28, 5.92 per 1,000 of the insurance-sum. (loc. cit., 93.)] SECTION CCXXXVII (_a_). INSURANCE IN GENERAL.--MUTUAL AND SPECULATIVE INSTITUTIONS. All insurance institutions fall into two classes: A. Mutual insurance companies, in which the insured are also as a society the insurers, and share the aggregate damage, of a year, for instance, among themselves. B. Speculative institutions, in which a party, generally a joint-stock company, in consideration of a certain definite compensation (premium agreed upon and paid in advance), assumes the risk.[237a-1]