Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-12-07
CROP INSURANCE IS
LATEST DEPARTURE.
IN BUSINESS WORLD
Hartford Fire Accepts Risks
on Farm Products Along
Certain RESTRICTED Lines
How Experiment Worked
By RALPH sM1T+

6x RA1Pa SMITr
If this were the usual sort Of
newspaper story it should, and prob
ably would begin with the reassur-
ing recitation that all clouds have
a silver lining, by which token the
unhappy conditions in the agricul-
tural districts are really a blessing
in disguise.
There is no mistake about this
being a news story. in the truest
sense. But it isn't the usual sort of
news story. 1t is, indeed. the hrst
public announcement of an expert.
ment in economics of vast ramif-
cations, that promises to revolu-
tionize rural life in America and
raise agrarian pursuits to the high
est level of business enterprise. It
is the unusual character of theA
story that justifies the beginning of
1t at the beginning, instead Of be-
ginning 1t in the middle or at the
end and trying to tell the whole
thing in the first paragraph.
Returning to Atlanta. after an
absence Of several days, Governor
elect Thomas w. Hardwick lamented
to friends upon the deplorable state
of his farm, in Washington county.
whence he had been to salvage what
he could.
It's total loss" he said, and
might have completed the vernacu.
lar phrase had he not been inter
rupted by John D. Little, his per
sonal and political friend, who I.
also a farmer.
my crops were insured and
haven't lost a cent" interposed MI
Little
A look of incredulity that swer.
the faces of the governor-elect AM
others present gave way to one o.
interest, punctuated with admire
ton for the speaker, as Mr.. Littl
enlightened them with the state
ment that he had been protecte
against loss on his plantations by
crop investment" policy in tha
Hartford Fire Insurance company.
New Thing in U. s.
Mr.. Little's complacent recitation
Of how his crop insurance had re-
lieved him of worry during trip
to Europe and protected him against
the vicissitudes of the weather and
the ravages of the boil weevil is
the Genesis of this story.
Crop investment Insurance. a.
new thing in America. Not one per-
son in a thousand had dreamed Of
such thing in it's practical as
poets. Not one in a million had the
faintest idea that in the state OF
Georgia, throughout the south, and.
in fact, all over the country today
farmers are cashing in on crop in
vestment policies they bought IN
the spring and summer of 1920,
when the skies were bright and
everything was chicken Hundreds
of farmers in Georgia and thou
sands scattered over the cotton belt.
from the lowlands of Texas and
Florida to the highlands Of the
Carolinas, are realizing on crop in
surance they took out months ago
when the farmers were the favored
Among. the relative few in widely
separated sections Of the country
who are fafniliar with the Hart
fords experiment, the insurance is
popularity known by different names,
weeviI Insurance. in the vest est
where wheat and corn and oats are
the money crops and the grasshop-
per a pest, it is known as grass
hopper insurance" and in the
northwest, where long dry spells
to growing crops. they refer to it
as drought Insurance"
AS matter of fact, it is neither
boil weevil, grasshopper nor
drought insurance at all. It is
what what tn the na Hartford calls 1t and
vestment insurance, designed to
protect farmers Of type (mod-
ern, energetic and conscientious)
against the loss of labor and In
vestments in the soil by reason of
the elements or the ravages of
parasites.
Others Protected
The introduction of crop invest
ment insurance. all things consider
ed, in the year 1920, is less remark
able than the failure of some such
ioss-1ndemnifying insurance to make
it's appearance years ago to guar
antee the creators Of the nations
wealth., against the uncertainty OF
their pursuits. There has been for
many years fire theft, burglar. plate
stock and scores of other kinds of
insurance that have protected mer-
chants and manufacturers against
the hazards of business. But tbs
farmers. whose labors feed and
clothe the world and whose pursuits
ever have been subjected to the un-'
certainty of the elements. have of ne
cessity risked their all. year after
year, without scintilla of protec-
ton.
But the ice is broken. The business
of crop insurance is an uncharted
sea. but the Hartford's initial expert
ment admittedly has opened up a
field of underwriting enterprise OF
limitless possibilities and potentiaIi-
ties that cannot be estimated.
The success of crop insurance IN
America will forever indemnify the
farmers of the nation against the
loss of their labor and investments
and will relegate to oblivion the sug-
gestion of government guarantees on
the price of stable products. The talk
Of a moratorium in rural districts.
In such times of distress as are now
being experienced will be as absurd
as fits suggestion even now Is pre-
posterous.
The Hartford Fire Insurance com
Dany embarked in the business OF
crop insurance without ostentation
No public announcement was made OF
-he new enterprise. No campaign 20,
BUSINESS was inaugurated. 1t was OBJ
Nous to the insurance company. as
hat in country. whose crops ap
1roximate in value $4,000, 10000
and embrace everything that will
grow in the ground, it would be
'oolhardy to engage either generally
'r extensively in a business whose
'esults had not been established BY
experience and the law of averages.