crop insurance: risks, losses, etc. 27 
lie is led to expect from the figures indicating the amount of insur- 
ance an acre. The company should not profit by a calamity to the 
farmer in the form of reduced prices for his product. 
6. An early adjustment should be provided for in case of> total 
failure of an insured crop, or such an approximation to failure that 
it would not pay to mature and harvest the crop. The part of the 
income or yield guaranteed by the contract, which becomes due under 
such circumstances, should be plainly stated and should not exceed 
the value of the labor and other costs, including rental, that are 
.actually lost to the insured in connection with the crop. 
7. All adjustments involving only partial damage should, so far 
as possible, be left until after the crop has been harvested and put 
into marketable form so that quantity and grade can be determined. 
This makes possible economy in adjustment expense. 
8. Lastly, there must be a certain degree of understanding between 
the farmers and the company or agency offering the insurance if 
protection is to be available on truly favorable terms. Crop insur- 
ance must be bought on the same principle as fire insurance is pur- 
chased, merely as a guaranty against serious loss and not with the 
expectation of securing an indemnity every two or three years. If 
the insurance is to be written with the idea that frequent indemnities 
for minor cases of crop damage are to be paid, it necessarily becomes 
so expensive that those in greatest need of it can ill afford to buy it. 
The insured should find some method of helping the organization 
providing protection to reduce the heavy expense connected with 
the acquisition of business which now prevails in nearly all lines of 
insurance, at any rate where the business is conducted on a commer- 
cial basis. In some of the European countries, farmers' organizations 
have applied the principle of collective purchasing to their insurance 
problems. Perhaps the farmers' organizations of the United States 
will find some way of solving this problem on a plan consistent with 
American laws and American conditions. 
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