Mutual Insurance 311 



surance officials, there being, for example, one hundred 

 and fifty township mutual fire insurance companies in 

 Minnesota in 1911 and seven mutual hail and cyclone in- 

 surance companies. The insurance in force in the town- 

 ship mutual fire insurance companies at the end of 1911 

 .was $295,219,952. The amount in force in the mutual 

 hail associations was $6,145,340, and in the mutual cy- 

 clone companies, $38,278,197. l In Iowa in 1911 there 

 were nineteen state mutual fire insurance companies, 

 one hundred and fifty-three county mutual fire companies, 

 nine exclusive hail insurance companies, and one mutual 

 tornado company. The risks written by the Iowa state 

 and county mutual assessment associations in 1911 

 amounted to $175,718,435, the losses paid $1,235,637.12, 

 and the risks in force $653,324,809. 2 



THE STRENGTH OF THE MUTUAL INSURANCE ASSOCIA- 

 TIONS 



The strength of the mutual insurance companies, like 

 any other cooperative business enterprise, lies in the ac- 

 quaintance of the members with each other, the restricted 

 area in which they operate, the care with which the haz- 

 ards can be determined and the policies issued. The 

 weakness lies in their inability to pay the losses whenever 

 a very general disaster occurs on account of the small 

 volume of business, the small assets, and the inability to 

 collect assessments from the members. There is a large 



1 Preliminary Fire Report, Department of Insurance for the year end- 

 ing December 31, 1911. 



2 Forty-third Annual Report of the Auditor of State of Iowa, on In- 

 surance, p. viii. 



