r luring the past year, 4 were Iowa companies 1 

 joint-stock and 3 mutual companies. 

 Fifty-one mutual benefit associations complied 

 ivith the assessment-insurance law of the State 

 in 1893. 

 There are 157 mutual insurance associations 

 in the State, having in force, Jan. 1, 1894, risks 

 unounting to f 125,749,630.58. The average cost 

 )t insurance per $1,000 was but $1.97, and this 

 includes the Hale Association, where the rate is 

 $11. 19 per $1,000. 



The managers of Iowa insurance companies 

 were alarmed at the action of the Fire Insurance 

 Union, in December, in fixing the rates in Iowa 

 at 20 cents on dwellings for one year and 50 

 cents for three years, the rates having been 50 

 cents for one year and $1 for three. This seemed 

 to mean ruin to the Iowa companies doing busi- 

 ness in no other State, while other companies 

 would be able to make up elsewhere for losses 

 in Iowa. But later a conference was held in 

 Chicago and a rerating of the State agreed to, 

 the inequalities of rating having caused, it was 

 reported, much of the trouble. 



In a case before the Supreme Court a fire in- 

 surance company sought to evade payment of a 

 claim. It had insured a frame farmhouse and 

 log house adjoining it, and the policy sued on 

 was a renewal of the first policy. Since the first 

 policy was issued the property had been sold, 

 but was mortgaged, and the renewal was made 

 by the mortgagee and the agents of defendant. 

 In the meantime the log house had been torn 

 down and a frame addition was built to the 

 frame dwelling. The property was burned, and 

 the, company refused to pay the loss, because a 

 mistake had been made in the initials of the in- 

 sured ; because the new policy contained a pro- 

 vision making it void if any stovepipe ran 

 through the sides or roof of the building or into 

 the garret, attic, or loft before entering a chim- 

 ney ; and because of the change in the property. 

 The court held that the company surely intended 

 to insure some one, and, as it had no personal 

 knowledge of the parties, but merely sent the 

 renewal on the request of its agents, it could 

 not escape liability on this ground. The mis- 

 take was merely as to a name, and not as to the 

 person to be insured. The court was very severe 

 on the company in regard to the change in the 

 form of the policy, inserting a new condition 

 which was not in the first policy, and was not 

 known to the insured or to the mortgagee till 

 after the fire, and which rendered the policy 

 void. The insured asked for a renewal of the 

 first policy, and supposed he was getting it, and 

 would not have accepted the policy had the 

 change been known. 



Storm and Fire. A hurricane swept over 

 the northwestern portion of the State. Sept. 21, 

 laying waste a strip of country about 120 miles 

 long and from a quarter mile to 10 miles wide. 

 The number of deaths was placed at 44. and about 

 150 more were reported injured. No large towns 

 were in the track of the cyclone. 



The insane hospital at the Boone County poor 

 farm was burned, Jan. 23, and 8 of the inmates 

 perished. 



A surprisingly large number of the towns in 

 the State were visited by disastrous fires during 

 the year, among them Shellsburg, Dubuque, 



IOWA. 



379 



Rowley, Belle Plaine, Brooklyn, Eagle Grove, 

 Adair, Sheffield, Manson, Otturnwa, Pleasant- 

 ville, and Carson. The loss in one week by fire 

 was over $1,000,000. In Belle Plaine all the 

 business buildings but 3 were destroyed, and 

 Adair lost nearly all its business portion. 



Agriculture.' The report for December com- 

 piled by the State Weather and Crop Service 

 gives the following statistics, the season having 

 been exceptionally unfavorable : 



The average yield of hay was four fifths of a 

 ton to the acre ; the estimated product, 1,875,000 

 tons ; and the market price, $8.20. There were 

 1,350,000 tons of prairie hay ; value, $5 the ton. 

 The production of butter amounts to 77,893,029 

 pounds. 



Prohibition and the Mulct Law. The pro- 

 hibitory amendment to the State Constitution 

 adopted in 1882 was finally decided in January 

 to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, in 

 that the court refused to reopen the question by 

 throwing out a test suit sought to be tried before 

 it. The Legislature did not repeal the statute, 

 but passed a joint resolution referring to the 

 next General Assembly the scheme of submit- 

 ting such amendment to the popular vote again, 

 and passed the so-called Mulct Law. (See un- 

 der Legislative Session below). An organiza- 

 tion to oppose this and other laws tending to 

 suppress the liquor trade was begun at Daven- 

 port in the autumn, to be called the Liberal 

 League of Iowa. 



The Supreme Court decided in May against a 

 brewing company in Illinois, which sought to re- 

 cover payment for beer delivered in Des Moines 

 contrary to law. The court held that a judg- 

 ment should have been given the defendant for 

 the whole amount he had paid the company. 



When the mulct law went into operation 

 numerous cases under it came before the courts. 

 The law was generally sustained. In one case, 

 where the saloonkeeper was charged with violat- 

 ing the law because a church was within 300 

 feet, the defense was made that, although within 

 300 feet in an air line, the distance by streets 

 was greater. The judge held that the 'distance 

 should be measured by air line. In other cases 

 it was held that the mulct law would not stand 

 in the way of the institution of proceedings un- 

 der the prohibitory law, except where the de- 

 fendant could show that the requirements of the 

 mulct law were carried out in every particular, 

 and that the burden would lie upon him to prove 

 such compliance with the law. 



The Limited Woman Suffrage. The Legis- 

 lature gave to women the right to vote in mu- 

 nicipal and school elections in cases where an is- 

 sue of bonds is contemplated. Such an election 



