HAIL INSURANCE ON FARM CROPS. 11 



indicates the amount of risks and the annual increase in business 

 for each of the three groups of insurance institutions alread}^ dis- 

 cussed, namely, mutual hail insurance companies, joint-stock fire in- 

 surance companies, and State hail insurance departments. The fact 

 that the risks in force by mutual companies continue to exceed those 

 in force by joint-stock fire insurance companies until the year 1916, 

 while the premiums received by the two groups of insurance insti- 

 tutions change place at a considerably earlier date, is to be ex- 

 plained in part by the uniformly lower rates charged by the mutuals. 

 The prime reason, however, is to be found in the fact that a large 

 percentage of the mutual risks occurred in States, such as Iowa, Min- 

 nesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where the hail hazard is less severe 

 than in the States farther west and where the rates and premiums 

 are on this account relatively small in proportion to the volume of 

 risks. 



The total risks shown for 1919 represent those of 41 mutual com- 

 panies, 43 joint-stock companies, and 4 State hail insurance depart- 

 ments. Of the $559,000,000 of hail risks in force during 1919, the 

 joint-stock companies had almost exactly one-half, while the mutuals 

 and the State hail insurance departments each had one-fourth. 



TERRITORIAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The territorial distribution of the hail insurance business is deter- 

 mined mainly by two factors, namely, acreage in crops subject to 

 damage and the severity of the hail hazard in relation to other hazards 

 to which crops are exposed. In other words, hail insurance in large 

 volume can be written only where there is a large acreage of crops 

 to insure, and where at the same time the probability of destructive 

 hail storms is present in such degree as to make the growers of crops 

 conscious of the need for protection. These two factors coexist in a 

 marked degree in the West North Central States. While from the 

 point of view of acreage in crops subject to damage when hail does 

 occur, a large percentage of the area of about three-fourths of the 

 States would be insurable, the hail hazard in a considerable number 

 of these States is relatively so slight as to preclude the taking of any 

 special precaution against loss from this source. 



The acreage in crops in the different States, according to the census 

 of 1910 is shown in figure 2. 1 Except for a few of the Western 

 States, where there has been a marked increase in the crop acreage, 

 this map represents the situation as to relative crop acreage in the 

 different States very much as it exists at the present time. Later data 

 of an accurate character will not be at hand until the results from the 

 1920 census are available. 



1 Reproduced from Yearbook of the U. S. Department, of Agriculture, 1915, p. 340. 



