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BALKAN NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Sofia, Bulgaria. Wm. C. Scheide & Co., Hartford, Conn., United States managers. (Reinsurance business.)

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; George H. Stewart, secretary.

BARNSTABLE COUNTY MUTUAL FIRE COMPANY, Yarmouthport, Mass. Organized 1833. Weekes, president; John H. Clark, secretary.

INSURANCE
Alphonso L.

BERKSHIRE MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Pittsfield, Mass. Organized 1835. Henry R. Peirson, president; J. M. Stevenson, vice-president and treasurer; Robt. A. Barbour, secretary.

BIRMINGHAM FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Pittsburgh, Pa. Organized 1871; capital, $200,000. Charles Melling, president; Frederick Buchler, 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 organization in 1915, and a new constitution took effect January 1, 1916. The officers of the association elected in January, 1916, are: Secretary, R. J. Trimble; assistant secretary, J. E. Boobyer; treasurer, Thomas D. Kellar; governing committee, C. W. Gerwig, Teutonia Fire; W. J. Patterson, German American; William Steinmeyer, Allemannia Fire; (three years), Joseph S. Alexander, New Hampshire Fire; George M. McCandless, Fire Association; (two years), Paul Brown, Home,

New York; John C. Kohne, Phoenix, Hartford; (one year), Fred W. Kiefer, North British & Mercantile; H. E. McKelvey, Aetna, Hartford. Joseph S. Alexander is chairman of the committee and William A. Steinmeyer, vice-chairman.

BOARD OF FIRE UNDERWRITERS OF THE METROPOLITAN DISTRICT, Boston, was formerly known as the Suburban Underwriters' Association, organized in 1895, and re-organized in 1912 under the present title. The officers, elected in February, 1916, are: President, C. Fred Pierce, Cambridge; vice-president, Fred I. Robinson, Waltham; secretary and treasurer, T. H. Raymond, Cambridge; governing board, John J. Ahearn, Cambridge; F. M. Carter, Somerville; John F. Hund, Quincy; E. A. Stevens, Malden.

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, 1916, officers were elected as follows: Robert P. Fabj, Liverpool and London and Globe, president; C. A. Henry, vice-president; E. F. Mohrhardt, secretary. 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: W. W. Potter, J. C. Johnston, H. W. Fores, McClure Kelly, Geo. W. Dornin, E. G. Halle, (elected in May), Rolla V. Watt, R. W. Osborn, Sam B. Stoy, F. M. Branch, B. O. Selbach, and F. E. Beach.

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-second annual meeting, held in November, 1915, officers were elected as follows: President, Frank A. Dewick; vice-president, J. H. Carney; secretary and treasurer, F. Elliott Cabot; assistant secretary, James Davis; supervising engineer, Isaac Osgood; executive committee, F. H. Battilana, W. A. Muller, W. H. Rogers, W. B. Henderson, and Charles Haas.

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

BOSTON INSURANCE COMPANY, Boston, Mass. Organized 1873; capital, $1,000,000. R. B. Fuller, president; Herbert Fuller, William R. Hedge, and Henry R. Hedge, vice-presidents; Ward Williams, vice-president and assistant secretary; Freeman Nickerson, secretary; J. K. Hall, assistant secretary; 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. Kumhardt, 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 64 men. Samuel Abbott, Jr., was appointed superintendent in 1880 and continued at the head of the department. [See Cyclopedia for 1913-14 for history of the organization.]

The forty-first annual report of the department for the year ending December 31, 1915, gave the number of alarms as 5,532; of which 4,027 were for fires, and of these 1,594 occurred in brick and stone buildings, 1,374 in wooden buildings, and 1,059 outside. Of these fires, 2,681 were confined to the floors where they originated, 266 to the buildings where they originated; 14 extended to adjoining property, and 7 extended beyond adjoining property; originating in buildings, 110; not originating in buildings, 916; not originating in, but involving buildings, 33. The total loss on buildings and contents, $3,004,599.48; total insurance involved, $45,352,813.68; and the total insurance loss was $2,827,416.49. The insurance loss on buildings was $1,053,707.12 and on contents, $1,773.709.37. The loss on buildings and contents, direct loss, was $2,913,666.27, and on buildings and contents, exposure losses, was $90,933.21. Some of the

principal causes of fires were: matches, 599; smokers' carelessness, 148; gas, kerosene oil, and candles, 244; domestic heating and cooking apparatus and chimneys, 273; incendiary, 163; spontaneous combustion, 82; and there were also 465 fires of unknown origin.

The officers of the department elected at the annual meeting in March, 1915, are: President, Samuel B. Reed; vice-president, H. L. Hiscock; secretary and treasurer, Edward Spaulding; superintendent, Samuel Abbott.

BRITISH AMERICA ASSURANCE COMPANY of Toronto, Can., incorporated 1833. W. R. Brock, president; W. B. Meikle, vice-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.

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.]

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."

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."

The South Carolina legislature in 1916 enacted a law regulating brokerage business and Section I of the act declares the term insurance broker as used in the act to be such person as shall be licensed by the insurance commissioner to represent citizens of this state for the placing of insurance to insurers licensed in this state or in any other state or country."

BUCKEYE NATIONAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Toledo, Ohio. Organized 1914; cash capital, $100,000. H. M. Barfield, president; Charles Feilback and D. L. Durben, vice-presidents; H. S. Bassett, secretary; Melvin Barclay, managing underwriter.

BUCKS COUNTY CONTRIBUTIONSHIP, Morrisville, Pa., was organized in 1809 by the Quaker farmers of Bucks county, Pa., and is still doing business in a conservative way. It is a mutual company, insuring farm buildings principally, and its full name is "The Bucks County Contributionship for Insuring Houses and other Buildings from Loss by Fire." Its business is confined to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The officers are: Thomas C. Knowles, president, and William Balderston, secretary.

BUFFALO-GERMAN INSURANCE COMPANY, Buffalo, N. Y. Organized 1867; capital, $400,000. John G. Wickser, presdent; Edwin B. Eggert, vice-president; Fred Greiner, second vicepresident; Charles A. Georger, secretary; Louis W. Fisher and Geo. H. Hofheins, assistant secretaries.