The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-06-13
CHEAP INSURANCE.


leans famous as cheap city and therefore a
prosperous and progressive one is cheap in
surance. This is an expense which men in
all kinds of business must reckon in with
others. and it has the effect of increasing the
prices which they must charge for what they
sell in order to make both ends meet. Unless
the owner of property liable to damage by
fire or the perils of sea and rivers is very
wealthy and can afford to take his own risks,
all prudent men will have their houses, furni-
ture, goods, wares, boats and ships insured
Rather than risk damages that would ruin
him, he prefers to pay those who are able to
do it to take the risk, preferring the par
tial. certain, and regular loss by paying pre-
miums, to the chance of losing the whole. II
everybody insures and all the money paid in
premiums is sent abroad there must be con-
slant drain upon the capital of the city. Any
plan by which all property in the city liable
to damage by fire could be made to share the
loss suffered by any part Of it, would seem to
be the perfection of insurance.
And if the plan cannot be made to include
all such property, still the greater the num-
Der and amount of persons and property in
the city which must suffer loss by the damage
of any insured house or merchandise, the less
will the loss be felt If our home under
writer's can devise q scheme of insurance for
New Orleans which will cause the damages
by fire suffered in any part OF the city to be
felt in all other parts, or SO that the loss of
any one owner should be shared by all the
rest, everybody would be interested in put
ting out and preventing fires, and universal
vigilance would prevail If twenty thousand
owners Of perishable property were to join in
company pledged to insure the goods and
houses of each stakeholder. every one of that
number would have direct interest in the
safety of each of the twenty thousand houses
or stocks insured. To great degree it would
unity the city so that damage suffered at any
point would be felt throughout its limits
Common interest, the common desire to have
insurance as complete and at the same time as
cheap as possible, and the general vigilance
that must ensue when every fire becomes
every mans loss, would, as it seems to us,
produce constant tendency to low rates.
It is we'll in appearance and in theory to let
foreign companies bear our losses. From the
possession of abundant capital, from expert
ence, from good management, from diffa-
sion of risks through many cities, many Of
these foreign companies, or companies not
domiciled here, have and deserve high de-
gree of confidence. But their capital is To-
Gated abroad, and profits on premiums earned
here are usually paid as dividends to their
stockholders who are Inhabitants of other
cities. Such companies are but little inter-
ested in the safety Of any property not in
sured by themselves. They will be patron
lied, however, as long as they can afford,
from any cause, to take risks as low as
others. Their competition seems to be ia
vorable to the insured Of other companies by
reducing rates.
If New Orleans could become a self insur-
ing city, common interest and the universal
vigilance which would result, would beyond
doubt put rates of insurance down to very
moderate figures. The practical application
Of the theory of general home insurance
ought not to be difficult The experiment
would be attended with but little risk in the
hands of capable and experienced men. The
great object of any plan of cheapening insur-
ance must be to diminish losses, and this
must result from the general vigilance which
common and universal interest would pro-
duce.