OTHER FORMS OF COMBINATION 71 



direct with the insurance companies they were 

 enabled to arrange substantial reductions for 

 their members. In those cases where the middle- 

 man, in the form of an agent, was not to be 

 dispensed with, the association got itself recog- 

 nized as a sub-agent, the agent proper consent- 

 ing to a reduction of his commission because he 

 was saved a good deal of labour. In the same 

 way agriculturists were encouraged to ensure 

 more freely against accidents, and eventually 

 there was formed a " Caisse Syndicale d 'Assur- 

 ance Mutuelle des Agriculteurs de France contre 

 les Accidents du Travail Agricole," dealing ex- 

 clusively with members of agricultural organiza- 

 tions. Special combinations were likewise formed 

 for the insurance of live stock and for the insur- 

 ance of crops against hail. 



The fundamental idea of the agricultural 

 combination thus spread throughout the land — 

 that, namely, of " helping one another " — re- 

 ceived a still wider expansion in the formation 

 of what were practically Farmers' Mutual Aid 

 Societies. This phase of the general movement 

 was started in 1888 by the Syndicat Agricole du 

 Canton de Belleville-sur-Saone, which arranged 

 that whenever one of its poorer members fell 

 sick, or met with an accident, the others should 

 each do a days work for him, in turn, on his 



