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Co-operative Live Stock Insurance. [nqv ?> 



seized upon their imagination, and in a few years unions 

 were formed which grouped as many as 60 societies with 

 6,000 members, and insured cattle to the value of ^250,000. 



It is to the small farmer that the insurance of cattle is of 

 especial benefit. The three-cow farmer, when he loses an 

 animal, no longer remains a two-cow farmer for the rest of 

 his life ; while the farmer who, to avoid the risk of loss of all 

 his capital at one blow, bought two low-priced cows, can 

 now buy a valuable one. This is said to have done more to 

 improve the breed of cattle than many other measures adopted 

 for that purpose. At the same time the payment of rent is 

 rendered much more regular and secure, and the profits of the 

 small farmer much less precarious. 



It is not proposed in this article to enumerate all the 

 minute details and rules so vital to good management, but 

 rather to describe the general plan of the whole scheme, its 

 principles and its administration, for the encouragement, 

 instruction, and guidance of any who may desire to induce 

 bodies of farmers to organise themselves for the purpose. 



In order to show the wide range of the varieties of co-opera- 

 tive live stock insurance in actual work in various countries, 

 we may, before taking up an example of an elaborate insurance 

 society, describe an association based almost entirely on the 

 good-will and good fellowship of the farmers. 



Certain farmers, in the year 1879, formed a society in La 

 Vendee, France, called "La Fraternelle." They had their 

 cattle valued, and in due time held their half-yearly meeting. 

 Their plan was to calculate the loss for six months and 

 divide it by the value of the cattle insured, and thus arrive 

 at the percentage. The president announced the result, let 

 us say 1 per cent., and called over the roll. "A, you have 

 cattle insured value £10; you owe 2s. B, your cattle are j 

 £20; you owe 4s." And so on. The farmers then walked 

 past the president's table, each one laying down his assess- 

 ment, and when all had passed, there lay on the table the j 

 exact amount of the losses. Those who had lost cattle were 

 then called up one by one, and the president, reading out j 

 the amount due to each, handed it to him. That was all. 

 No cash accounts, no book-keeping. All was done on the 

 spot and under the eyes of the members, and all departed 

 content. It added to its scheme a simple precaution against 



