farmers' mutual insurance companies union. 341 



President Jones: We are honored on this occasion with the distin- 

 guished presence of the president "of tlie National Union, Hon. W. D. 

 Forbes. 



Mr. Forbes: Gentlemen, I am very glad to meet you. 1 wish to say 

 at the outset that I came here to meet you and not to make a speech. It 

 is always a pleasure to me to meet with a body of mutual insurance men. 

 I have been identified with mutual insurance for 35 years, and I have met 

 wifh you before in your State conventions in this room. I have met many 

 Indiana people in national conventions. 



Although I have been interested in mutual insurance for so many 

 years I am learning something new about it every day. This subject is a 

 great deal like the Good Book — every time we take it up we find some- 

 thing new in it. We may meet in these conventions aid discuss plans and 

 methods, and we always find some new ideas cropping out tbat somebody 

 is goiug to get some benefit out of. That is the object of State meetings. 

 There are few of you who represent companies that do not think you 

 have the best companies in the State. Sometimes 1 am asked: "What 

 i^s the use of meeting in these conventions? We have a good company, 

 we are doing well, so what is the use of going to the expense of attending 

 meetings?" The same argument is used in regard to the national conven- 

 tion. We are doing just the same good to the various States in regard to 

 mutual insurance that you are doing to the various companies of your 

 State by these conventions. We are growing over the eiuire United States. 

 The principal of mutual insurance is going on; we are branching out into 

 all classes of insurance. There was a time when we thought, being 

 f.irmei's, we could only handle or control local companies. It was thought 

 we did not have the brains or the ability to master a State company and 

 handle it successfully. That theory has long ago been exploded, and we 

 now have many State companies writing all classes of insurance. I think 

 your laws are somewhat lacking in this respect. I was told today that 

 you are not allowed to write town dwellings in this State. 



We have in the State of Iowa 190 mutual insurance companies. We 

 have IGO county or local companies, the remainder being State companies. 

 We are writing every class of insurance that is wi'itten by any other com- 

 pany. We can just as well aftord to do that, and save the patrons of tliat 

 class of insurance just as much money in pi-oportion as we are saving in 

 our local companies. That being the case, I think it is highly necessary 

 that through your State organizations and the national organization we 

 should endeavor to so modify our laws as to permit Indiana and all other 

 States to" organize and carry and write all classes of insurance for tlie pro- 

 tection of the people. When you do this you have, not only the farmers 

 standing behind you in this particular, but you have all classes of business 

 men. Now if there is- any one thing a business man likes it is to save 

 expense. In that he is like the farmer. 



