farmers' mutual insurance companies union. 345 



Mr. : Did yon ever try the uniform policj^ for your local 



companies? 



Mr. Forbes: That has been discussed and men have been asked to 

 write on it. They would read the papers, there would be a little discus- 

 sion, and that would be the end of it. You can not do it, gentlemen. A 

 uniform policj^ as 1 understand it, would be something established by the 

 State. I think the stock companies have demanded a uniform policy, or, 

 in other words, that uniform conditions be printed on the policies. Our 

 policy is simple. It is a copy of the application, with a little added at the 

 » head and at the close to make it in the form of a policy. Besides this, 

 the policy has the articles of incorporation and the by-laws printed on 

 the back. We all have practically the same kind of policies, but we do 

 not have the uniform policy. 



THE POLICY. 



B. L. BARRETT. 



The point I wish to bring to your mind is the printing of the by-laws 

 on the back of the application. We have long thought that useless because 

 the men who are insured do not read it. It is printed on our policies. 



I tind quite a diversity In the printing of policies. We are all aware 

 what a policy is for. It is protection offered by some org'anizatiou whereby 

 you may have restored that which is lost. ' It may be of a double char- 

 acter. TJie policy may be of a valued nature or an open nature. It is a 

 valued policy when the value of the property is set. as in buildings. On 

 personal property it would have to be opeii. 



I have here a farmers' mutual policy which has no by-laws on it. 

 Perhaps the by-laws are furnished in a separate pamphlet, but it is better 

 always to have them printed on the back of the policy. The policy holder 

 may lose the little book, but he will always have them on the policy. 



When we take an application we permit a man to make it on a rea- 

 sonable basis of what he thinks he Avill carry during the year. If he has a 

 lot of grain after threshing, or something of that kind, we provide a tem- 

 porary policy to cover that grain. As long as he holds this he is pro- 

 tected. When he has sold the grain he sends the policy back to us. The 

 rate is the same as for other insurance. It is simplj^ to protect the farmer 

 while his barns are full. 



Mr. Johnson: Do you charge a fee for that? We make a charge for 

 the extra work. 



Mr. Barrett: No; I work by the year and they pile everything they 

 can on me. A great many of these policies are asked for over the tele- 

 phone, and the directors make them out. The man who has the property 

 does not have to sign the policy. 



