314 Cooperation in Agriculture 



tory within which a mutual company does business in- 

 creases. When such mutuals attempt to write insurance 

 throughout an entire state, they necessarily come into com- 

 petition with the wealthier and more firmly established 

 stock companies, and cannot secure business except at 

 inadequate premiums. They also lack the business or- 

 ganization and the trained staff of experts possessed by 

 the stock companies, and to secure business in sections 

 far removed from the home office, must depend upon 

 agents for the soliciting of insurance and the selection of 

 risks. The result is that the service is not of the best, 

 and the supervision over the selection of risks is woefully 

 inferior to that of the local companies. 



"As long as the company grows and policy-holders 

 are not called upon to pay assessments, the management 

 hears few complaints, and few members find occasion to 

 trouble themselves about its affairs. The officers in too 

 many instances ambitiously strive to rapidly increase 

 their business, and in doing so depend upon agents, whose 

 interest it is to write as much insurance as possible. But 

 in the course of time the poor selection of risks begins to 

 bear fruit. The low premiums are found woefully inade- 

 quate, and assessment after assessment must be collected 

 from the policy-holders to meet the ever-increasing claims. 

 It is then that the policy-holders begin to rebel against 

 what they regard as unreasonable charges. As the claims 

 against the company become more pressing, it in turn 

 must resort to pressure, and even litigation, to collect the 

 assessments, and then follows wholesale withdrawals 

 and at last bankruptcy. 



"This has been the story of the great majority of state 



