The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-03-29
The Jews and the Insurance oompanie.

Tho Jews and the Insurance ,Companies.
AS . great outcry Of persecution has been raised,
and been taken up almost unanimously by tho
press of the whole land against certain insurance
companies, We print the following from reliable
and well informed source, which will both explain
the cause of the difficulty, snd, at tho same time,
state the case from the other side," which, IN
controversies, should alway be heard:
tFros the TaN Street Unde'7oriter, Feb 28)
JEW R1sHs.-The Jewish Messenger, secta-
rian paper published in this CITY, has lately MADE
q great outcry Of persecution, because some In.
agents to refer Jewish applications for insurance
to tho home Office before granting policies. That
paper endeayors to remove the question from the
field Of business expediency to that OF religious
We hope that the catch penny nature Of this ef-
fort will be evident to the better class fJews, and
that they will refuse to make themselves the
champions of the itnerant class which it is noto-
riously unsafe to insure.
In this country religious freedom is happily Sc
ieye or disbelieve whatever he chooses and be So
man for a. that" It is moi to be supposed that
any class Of business men, having largo rlsks SUP,
ject to losses from physical and moral causes, Will
incur such risks blindly. It is their duty to dis
criminate between risks and to avoid such as are
proved too hazardous to leave margin OF profit
Tor the capital entrusted to their management
Thus some will exclude all factories, others wood
suffers property others transient property in gen
eral terms, others 'sJew Risks" The religious
meaning of the word Jew does not enter INTO thus
designation at all. Every respectable Jew Ill the
country knows that it does not mean him hlm nor
condemn his faith; for, in all probability, heis
himself insured in one or the other OF the comFa-
MES, who from time to time, have gwen similar
instructions concerning "Jew Risks" He knows,
therefore, from his own personal experience, that
these companies will insure him IS respectable
man, without regard to his faith or nationality.
What good can accrue to him, therefore, from
rushing blindly to the van to fight the battle OF
the man Of questionable respectability, whose risk
is termed jew Risk p Does he not realize that
the religious discrimination which he deprecates,
and which no sane business lGan would make, un-
less compelled in self-defence The probab bihty
is that he will cancel his policy in one company
which, he fancies, has attacked his religion, anu
same thing, only without his being aware OF it.
We happen to know that this has Goen the case in
several instances during the last month.
II the Jewish Messenger will only recognize the
fact that sJew Risks is business term entirely
Der basis for argument. Eut it strs up the pas
sions Of good and true Jews against compa-
MES who want to examine into the character OF
their applicants before granting insurance, it must
1Al OD16Cts 1OC bu0 llHUhStuout
Of gives evidence of circumspecion, which will
enlist for ~ patronage among business men fully
equal to that whose withdrawal the Jewish Mes
senger may bring about. The term Slew Risk, y
in the insurance world, applies to no Jew who has
stalks in the community in which he resides, O
permanency Of residence, and known respectable
name. It does apply to the itinerant venders OF
stocks (their only property so largely released
lately from folloy ing the army as suffers, con-
tractors, speculators, and adventurers. They are
uninsurable characters, and any company taking
their risks will lose more than it gets This class
embraces many man who is not by faith, de-
SCENT or nationality, Jew. It is the entire class
Of mushroom traders, whose morality is 30 loose
that fall in the market is almost sure to bring
about q sale to an Insurance Company.
: In this light we view the question Of Jew Risks,
and we cannot see wherein the good Jew who is
insured can suffer by the exclusion Of this class
of risks from the books Of the company insuring
him. Its policy will secure him all the better If
it's Golfers are not drained by claims for losses on
Jew Risks as herein defined.
In conclusion, we question the morality OF
basing public discussion upon private circular,
the privileged communication between principal
and agent; and still more that Of dragging into
the controversy. as has been done copies OF writ
ten letters applying to single case where it was
deemed more expedient to refuse any exceptions
than to give the reasons why the exceptions de-
sired could not be allowed.