The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-03-26
Shall Jmys be Insnred3

Shall jews be Insured!
IT would seem from the action of the General
Agent of the Insurance Companies of New
York that as the Spanish amusement of having
an auto d0 fG with Jew or a Protestant has
gone out of date, that the present age designs
to have conhagration of Jewish properties,
if it cannot have of Jewish persons. Mr.. A.
Stoddart, General Agent for some companies
unknown has issued a circular directing his
sub-agents to refuse to insure any property
belonging to Hebrews, except such as can
prove Give years residence, and fair
| Christian character" 1t seems that notwith-
standing this injunction an officer accepted of
a respectable Israelite hispremium, and issued
policy. As soon as the name in the policy
was seen by Mr.. Stoddart, he scented Jew
afar off, and ordered that the money be re-
turned and the policy cancelled. This rule,
we are told, is to be enforced in every parti-
cular, and all Jews to be excluded from the
benefit of an insurance, unless he would
consent to abure his faith, when he can be
Immediately received into the fold of reliable
citizens.
We think, without exception, that the rule
is the most preposterously ridiculous of any
thing we have seen the bigots Of the day agree
upon. 1t may be very well for Mr.. Stoddart
to publish a card, in which he states that the
outside world knows nothing about the bust
ness of insurance, and insinuates that course
of training is necessary to become an insurer
similar in secrecy to that essential to admis-
sion to the Druids thousand years ago. 1t
is not a satisfactory explanation to say that
''the Jews, as a class, have blistered and swim
died the Insurance Companies most unmerci-
fully, and doubtless will continue to do so, so
long as unrestricted insurance is granted
them.'
1t may be true that there are rogues in every
Sect and it is probable that the Jews have a
full, and possibly more than fair proportion
of fscoundrels in their ranks. But that is not
the question. Numerically considered, there
are certatainly more rogues among the Chris
tians than there are among the Jews and
how do insurance agents protect themselves
against the former? Why, by trying each
applicant on his individual merits-not in
quiring whether he is Jew or a Gentle, or
a Greek or a Saracen, but seeing if he is a re-
liable man; if he has good name, and his
property is of kind to be insured. If a Jew
peddler is proved unreliable, and agents are
warned against him, should not Christian
peddler be equally carefully examined? If it is
true, as Mr.. Stoddart says, that cit is absurd
to suppose insurance companies prescribe any
one for opinions sake; religious considera-
tions do not enter into its practical business
operations; every shade of religious belief and
non-belief, from frigid skeptic to red-hOt en-
thusiast, from Pagan to Jew and from Jew to
GENTLE being represented in the profession"
then, why is it that peddling Jew cannot
be trusted and peddling Gentle canH 1t is
clear that the whole force of this new rule
rests on the idea that man being Jew is
prima tdcie evidence that he is rogue. Such
an assumption savors too strongly of the days
of the Inquisition, and of that perverse old
gentleman, King John. There are, however,
reliable gentlemen among the Jews as well as
among the Christians; and while it might have
been proper for the General Agent to warn his
sub-oficer against any class of tradesmen,
and might have mentioned that the greater
part of certain class were Jews, to in
clude a whole class is gross injustice, and
the whole idea utterly discOnsonant with the
spirit o the age. WehOpe that'this ridiculous
and obnoxious rule will be speedily revoked,
and that if the charity and common sense of
the Companies do not induce them to amend
their rule that the effect on their pockets will
bring about speedy reformation of the evil.
At the present day. the prescribing of any
race or sect because ofdifterence in opinion or
color, is opposed to the principles of our
national economy.