INSURANCE: Jesse Sets the Odds

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Jesse Jones sent all the fire-insurance agents swarming out over the country last week to sell (at little if any profit to themselves) war-damage policies for a new billion-dollar corporation of his. The days of free Government war-damage insurance end July 1.

Rates will run up to half as high as fire insurance, about one-twelfth as high as war-damage insurance in much-bombed England. Presumably, therefore, Jesse thinks the likelihood of bombing in this country is about one-twelfth as strong as the likelihood of bombing in Britain. Either that or the Government is about to make a cleanup in insurance.

If Kansas homeowners decide that Jesse's odds are too long, they can pass up his insurance. In any event, people in exposed U.S. outposts will almost certainly find Jesse's offer a bargain.