HAIL INSURANCE ON FARM CROPS. 9 



The Montana law, like the North Dakota law, provides a uniform 

 maximum limit of assessment for hail indemnity for all parts of the 

 State, such limit being fixed at $1.20 per acre for $12 of insurance. 

 This maximum rate was actually applied in 1919 and proved sufficient 

 to pay the cost of insurance and leave a small surplus. 



The Nebraska law provides for three hail insurance districts in 

 the State with fixed rates applying to each. The rates for these dis- 

 tricts are 25 cents, 40 cents, and 60 cents per acre, respectively, when 

 the amount of insurance carried is $10 per acre. The farmer may, 

 however, take $15 per acre at one-and-a-half times the rate charged 

 for $10 per acre. The hail losses in Nebraska during 1919 were heavy, 

 and there was left but a small balance when losses and expenses were 

 paid. 



The Oklahoma law provides for the division of the State into four 

 hail insurance districts. The insured may take any amount of in- 

 surance be desires up to $20 per acre. The rates are 3 per cent, 6 

 per cent, 7-J per cent, and 9 per cent of the insurance according to 

 the district in which the crop is located. In each of the three States, 

 where different rates for specified parts of the State are provided, 

 the lowest rates apply to the eastern district and the highest to the 

 western. 



The total risks of the four State hail insurance departments in op- 

 eration in 1919 were approximately $139,300,000; the premiums, 

 $6,095,000 ; and the losses, $4,500,000. Of the total risks, North Da- 

 kota had about 62 per cent; South Dakota, 23 per cent; Nebraska, 14 

 per cent ; and Montana, less than 1 per cent. The South Dakota de- 

 partment alone laid aside a material surplus or reserve from the 

 year's business, such surplus being approximately $900,000. 



As already stated, the total hail business in the United States dur- 

 ing the summer of 1919 surpassed the already outstanding record 

 of 1918 by a very wide margin. In fact, it is believed by many hail 

 underwriters that the volume of this form of insurance written dur- 

 ing the season of 1919 will not be equaled in the years immediately 

 ahead. Certainly the record, as compared with those of earlier years, 

 is a remarkable one. 



While not all of the State insurance reports that give hail pre- 

 miums and losses give also the hail risks involved, it is, of course, 

 possible to arrive at approximate figures for the latter quantities by 

 taking into consideration the amount of premiums and the average 

 rates. Estimates for these missing figures have been worked out on 

 the basis of such information as was available. 



The development of the hail insurance business in the United 



States, as measured by the approximate amount of risks in force 



each year from 1890 to the present time, may be seen from figure 1. 



Besides showing the growth in the total hail risks, the figure also 



7676°— 20 2 



