St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-14
THAT CITY INSURANCE.
A-Local Firm Addresses Itself to
the Assembly.

the Assembly.
To the Editor of the ,ilobe.
We suppose that the assembly was
an aug,iSS body. composed of the city's
representatives to deliberate and pass
upon matters pertaining to our munich
pal government, and not place for in
diyidual members to vent their spleen
upon those whom they might consider
their personal enemies. What an in
spring spectacle it was at last Tuesday
nights meeting to see the dignified ~
president of that body descend from the
chair to deliver All harangue against two
citizens whose representative he is sup
posed to be. Unintentionally he paid
our senior member compliment when
he described him as an Irish Lord"
for they are gentlemen, He and Mr..
,Oppenheim vigorously deny our state
lnent that they were working q scheme
in the interest of the three agents,
whose names thew themselves I'M
Willingly gave away, thereby divulging
that what we said i'll our former COM
nunicatlou was true; but my making a
great deal of noise. and by personal at
tacks Oh MIR. BlgelOw and ourselves,
they expect to blind the public as to
what their little game is. and appear be-
fore them as public economists and re-
formers. This is not the first scheme
of this kind that Mr.. OppeDheim and
his worthy assistants, the three agents
whose names he mentioned, have
worked upon the insurance agents of
this city. Some two or three years ago
the StOckyardS insurance, at South st.
Paul, was placed through Chicago
firm. These three agents, with the same
patriotic spirit that is now actuating
them to save money for the taxpayers,
without recOmpenSe TO themselves, of
course, through the assistance of all of
the other agents, succeeded i'll having it
written here, the agreement being
that each agent should have all he
could write in his own Office. The
firm, of which Mr.. Oppenheim is men,
Der, was also instrumental in bringing
the business here, for they are stock
holders IN that company, and the diStri-
button of the insurance was given by
them to these three agents. who took
about three-fOurthS of the whole line
themselves. giving the balance TO the
other agents, some of whom never re-
ceived dollar; and Mr. Weed. who is
also the originator of the school insur-
ance scheme. is to-day placing the
major part of the insurance. and com
pelliHg the agents to divide their COM
were compelled tOpay Mr.. Oppenheim's
firm One-third of their commissions ITO
cover their expenses" they said, or go
without their pay. We do not iuSinuate
that he Intended doing anything of this
kind with the school, insurance,
but isn't it strange that he
should pick out theSe same three
agents to regulate and distribute it,
when his own resolution instructed
the committee of which he is chairman
to confer with the aboard of under
writer's" an organization composed of
the majority of the agents? He is also
under obligations to these gentlemen
for arbitrarily making a rate on his
opera house, the result of which was
that they were depoSed from the man
agement of our board, and it was placed
In the hands of the younger members,
who proposed TO have something to say
about the business from which they
made their livelihood, for these men
were manipulating things to the benefit
OF their particular friends and to the
detrlment of the inSuring public; and
this school war; is a part of their pro-
gramme TO destroy our organization,
for they know better than to advocate
arate of $3.50 for five years when Oma-
Ia and Kansas City are paying 3
per cent. and Minneapolis (aS a c0m-
promise between the companies and the
school boardD is paying 2.25 on the same
class of buildings. Mr.. Oppenheim
was quoted in the Pioneer Press as say
ing that all the agents had consented TO
a reduction of the rate to IL per cent"
with the exception of Mr.. BigelOw aud
ourselves. We have interviewed about
twenty of them. and they all said THAT
they had not even been asked about it,
When we presented our bill to Mr.. On
penheim'S committee we knew he would
object TO it, but, as he had passed TWO
similar bills for other agents a short
time before and approved them over his
own signature, we wanted TO show up
his inconsistency and personal spite
against us, for, some time ago, he told
one of the c0uncilmen. who is also in
the insurance business, that if he
would help him ia his scheme he would
see that he would get all the insurance
lie could carry. for the parties he was
after were the Rogers"
And this is the rev Moses who would
lead us out of the bondage of municipal
extravaganza at the expense of the Iii
Surance companies. If the city wishes
to econ0miZe, let it carry its own insur-
ance, which we think is the proper
thing to do. instead of trying to coerce
the companies into writing it for less
than they DO elsewhere.
We leave the public to judge of the
trHthfulneSS of our statements, all OF
which we can substantiate if necessary.
JOHN ROGERS JR. & Bro.
st. Paul. Nov. Is, 1891.