farmers' mutual fire insurance companies. 5 
The number present at the last annual meeting was reported by 
1,002 companies. The largest number present at the annual meeting 
of any one company was 1,350 and the smallest was 3. The average 
number reported was 61. Tn only 179 cases was the number present 
larger than 100, and in only 48 cases was it less than 10. 
DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS. 
The maximum number of directors of any one of the 1,140 com- 
panies reporting on this point was 55 and the minimum was 2. Only 
91 companies reported more than 15 directors and only 66 companies 
reported less than 5. The average as well as the most common 
number of directors for the companies reporting was 9, and 405 
companies actually reported this number for their organization. 
The term for which directors are elected was reported by 1,144 
companies. The term was one year in the case of 517 companies, 
two years in the case of 62 companies, three years in the case of 508 
companies, four years in the case of 43 companies, and five years 
in the case of 11 companies. One company reported the term of 
directors as seven years ; and 2 reported that the directors held their 
positions without any limitation as to term of office. It thus appears 
that the favorite term of directors is either one or three years. It 
may also be stated that in a number of the laws more recently 
enacted it is specifically prescribed that the term of directors shall 
be three years and that one-third of the number shall be elected each 
year. 
Practically all the companies giving information reported having 
a president and a vice president. In the case of secretary and 
treasurer, 926 companies reported these offices as held by two distinct 
persons, while 226 companies reported a secretary-treasurer, indicat- 
ing that the duties of secretary and treasurer in the latter group of 
companies were performed by the same person. 
Of the 1,145 companies giving information concerning the term 
for which officers are elected, 1,032 gave one year; 47 companies 
gave two years; 53, three years; 11, four years; and 2, five years. In 
the case of officers, therefore, as distinguished from directors the 
practice of a one-year term is fairly uniform among the farmers' 
mutuals. 
Besides directors and officers, 249 companies reported an auditing 
committee ; 240 companies reported an executive committee ; and 106 
companies reported an adjusting committee. A few companies re- 
ported yet other committees under such titles as appraising, valua- 
tion, application, revision, inspection, cancellation, arbitration, 
appeals, finance, and advertising. A number of these terms refer, of 
course, to committees with identical or at any rate similar duties. 
