8 DEPARTMENT BULLETIN 912. 
the eastern part of the State to 45 cents for the western. The amount 
of insurance per acre was $10. The losses during the year proved to 
be moderate, amounting to only $127,060, and the total cost of ad- 
ministration was $6,072. All losses were, therefore, paid in full and 
the jea,r was closed with a balance or surplus on hand amounting to 
$21,128. 
During the early months of 1919 the States of North Dakota, 
Montana, and Nebraska materially amended their hail insurance 
laws. During the same months the States of South Dakota and Okla- 
homa also enacted laws providing for State hail insurance. 
The new North Dakota law and that of South Dakota provide what 
is frequently called " compulsory insurance," although the term " au- 
tomatic " would seem more accurately to describe the plan. In each 
of these States every acre of crop is now, without action on the part 
of the owner, insured against loss or damage by hail, the amount being 
$7 per acre in North Dakota and $10 per acre in South Dakota. In 
the latter State such owner may, however, exempt his land entirely 
from the operation of the hail insurance law by filing an application 
for exemption with the county auditor before June 1 of each year. 
He may also, if he so desires, retain one-half of the $10 insurance per 
acre and be subject to one-half of the indemnity tax. In North 
Dakota the owner of a growing crop may exempt such crop by filing 
a statement with the commissioner of insurance, except that a flat 
acreage tax of 3 cents per acre must be paid to the hail insurance 
fund whether the owner retains or rejects the hail insurance provided 
by the State. 
In both the Dakotas hail insurance premiums are now collected by 
the State in a manner similar to that provided for the collection of 
taxes. The same is true under the laws as now existing in Montana 
and Nebraska. In the last two States, however, the State hail in- 
surance takes effect only upon the application for such insurance by 
the owner or tiller of the land. The Oklahoma law, which was not 
operative in 1919, is similar to the Montana and Nebraska laws in 
providing for strictly voluntary or optional insurance and follows 
the original North Dakota law in requiring premiums to be paid 
in advance. 
The maximum hail indemnity tax that may be levied in North 
Dakota under the existing law is 50 cents per acre or 7% per cent of 
the insurance. The actual levy in 1919 was only 25 cents per acre, 
exclusive of the so-called acreage tax of 3 cents per acre. In South 
Dakota, where the regular amount of insurance per acre is $10, a 
fixed rate is applied for each of four different districts, into which the 
State is divided, these rates being, respectively, 35 cents, 40 cents, 42 
cents, and 45 cents per acre. Such rates are not to be reduced until 
the department has a surplus or reserve fund of $2,500,000. 
