By Joseph P. Colligan

From AA&B March 1932

It has been a popular belief for I years among a large portion of our American people that the foreigner has been the cause of most, if not all, of the crimes committed in our metropolitan centers. Therefore the stranger from foreign shores has been the object of much distrust, contempt and even open hatred. Recent impartial crime surveys conducted by government agencies have exploded this unfounded opinion and many students are looking at the alien in a different light.

After nearly seven years of close contact with the foreign element in our city we have learned that as a moral risk (from an insurance viewpoint), the average alien has the highest respect for insurance in general, is not in the habit of making unreasonable demands on loss adjustments, rarely "fakes" a loss, and as for collections our agency has never lost a penny on foreigners.

From a physical viewpoint the homes and mercantile establishments of these people in our city are uniformly neat. Rubbish and debris are usually absent from their stores, and fires are a rarity among them, their average loss ratio comparing even more favorably over a period of years, than that of most of our native-born merchants, due to carefulness, and periodic repairs made to keep properties in good condition. Another favorable characteristic is the desire of a foreigner to carry usually seventy or eighty per cent to value on a risk, which is a fortunate circumstance for any insurance firm
carrying the line.

Loyalty to the insurance advisor (who can win their confidence by fair dealing and prompt claim service), is an outstanding characteristic among the foreign-born, and they are not addicted to the native habit of switching from one agent to another regardless of the bait offered. Any small favors granted by their agent are deeply appreciated and seldom forgotten, and it has been our pleasure to write many new and desirable risks due to a formal introduction and recommendation from an alien client for whom we performed some small favor.

New forms of insurance protection are readily given serious and courteous consideration and the family of the foreigner is usually a large purchaser of life, accident, fire and automobile insurance.

The local agent who does not overlook this class of business will build up a clientele whose next generation will wield a tremendous buying power in our business, but just as the exception proves the rule, we should not forget the immortal words of a great Oriental who long years ago remarked that his people should beware of their enemies "bearing gifts," the modern version of this familiar saying applying to a well known commercial people. On the other hand, the agent who looks down on all foreign risks is passing up good business.

As work is a means of self-expression, it must provide difficulty enough to give us a sense of adventure while we are doing it and a sense of mastery when it is done.-Glenn Frank.