114 



Remarks on Insurance. 



Vol. III. 



in hand for a mere promise of remuneration, 

 conditioned on casualty. Tliey pay many 

 times more than the doctrine of probable 

 chances will warrant them to look for in re- 

 turn — and they pay it to speculators — to the 

 mere drones of society, who are thus fed with 

 roast beef and loll on the couch of indolence 

 and luxury, at the expense of the laboring 

 class. 



Subscriber says " one plan may be more 

 economical than another" and that "you may 

 buy insurance too high." These are impor- 

 tant truths — farmers, look to your best inter- 

 ests. 



P. S. I am much pleased with the com- 

 munication nf a correspondent on Morus Ma- 

 nia, page 80 : — and can say amen to his sen- 

 timent — "there is little difference between a 

 speculator and the gambler who is led on by 

 small gains or losses until he becomes so per- 

 fectly infatuated, that he would venture the 

 world if he had it, on a single cast of the 

 die." 



JVew Garden, lOtli mo., 25th, 1638. 



[Above we give our readers the reply of 

 " Obseever" to the strictures of " Sle- 

 SCRiBER," as published in our last. The arti- 

 cle, in some respects, we think is unnepessa- 

 rily severe, but we publish it entire as an act 

 of justice to our able and intelligent corres- 

 dent. The subject under discussion is one of 

 great moment. Every owner of property, 

 liable to injury or destruction by fire, is inter- 

 ested, and we believe it to be the duty of ev- 

 ery individual owning property of this descrip- 

 tion, to see that it is insured against loss by 

 fire, unless he is sufficiently before-hand to 

 become his own insurer — or in other words, 

 able to sustain loss without detriment to the 

 interests of his creditors and his family. — 

 There are many such. We wish there were 

 more. But it is generally the case that in- 

 dividuals of this class are insured; and there- 

 fore they contribute their proportion to any loss 

 that may occur. Insurance is a voluntary act 

 cm the part of the insured — he agrees with an 

 individual or a company, that in consideration 

 of a certain sum of money, by him paid over 

 at the time of the agreement, the individual 

 or the company perform certain acts, (indem- 

 niiication from loss by fire, if you please) in 

 the event of a certain contingency occurring. 

 If the contingency does not occur, so much 

 the better for all the parties concerned — if it 



does, the party insured goes to the insurer, 

 and instead of asking him for a contribution 

 towards rebuilding his barn, he demands as 

 a right that it be rebuilt, or that the means of 

 rebuilding it be furnished him. And is there 

 any thing wrong in this! We think not — 

 We do not so read " Observer." If we un- 

 derstand him rightly, it is against the abuses 

 of the system, and not against the system it- 

 self, that he wars. That abuses have crept 

 into, and poisoned many insurance instilutions^ 

 we are not prepared to deny — ^^and that when- 

 ever this has been the case, it is chargeable 

 to a reckless spirit of speculation we admit. 

 But surely the institutions of our city, and 

 the mutual insurance companies of the sur- 

 rounding country are not obnoxious to this 

 charge, neither do we believe that those to 

 whose management they are confided are 

 speculators, "mere drones of society, who are 

 thus fed with roast beef and loll on the couch 

 of indolence and luxury, at the expense of 

 the laboring class." This is severe language, 

 but not too severe where it will justly applyj 

 and if we mistn.ke not it will suit more than 

 one meridian, and will apply equally to all who 

 are endeavoring to '''■get something for noth- 

 ingr 



We have received several communications 

 on the subject, among them one from a gen- 

 tleman of high reputation, who felt himself 

 aggrieved by the remarks of Observer ; but 

 he had evidently misapprehended the drift of 

 our correspondent, and on re-perusing the 

 article he saw at once his error. An es- 

 teemed friend witing to us on the subject of 

 the Cabinet, refers to our last number and 

 pays : — " The second original article on light- 

 ning rods is well written, and comprizes ex- 

 actly that species of practical information on 

 the subject, which every intelligent man 

 wishes to possess, and which has been much 

 inquired after since the numerous awful ca- 

 tastrophies of the past season. "Observer" 

 writes well, and the present excellent essay 

 makes some amends for the erroneous views 

 he promulgated in a previous number on the 

 subject of insurance against loss by fire." We 

 cannot take leave of this subject without 



