The Topeka state journal., 1922-01-28
CROP INSURANCE.

Among the many suggestions that
have been made for helping ehe farm
er, one of the latest is crop insurance.
Already he can buy protection against
hail but nobody has offered. to insure
him against drouth and insects.
One of the farmers greatest diff
culties, it is pointed out, is that he is
compelled to be a speculator and to
take risks that are not ealculabIe.
He is in fact gambler against his
/ will, for gambling is defined as has
!, ard without calculation in contradis-
tinction to speculation, which is haz-
ard with calculation. The farmer
must cultivate his land or see it go to
| waste. He must plant some crops,
such as winter wheat in the autumn
and others in the spring, but he can
not have any assurance of the prices
that will be obtainable for them six
or ten months later. He is, moreover
exposed to the hazards of the weather
and innumerable agricultural pests in
the interval.
The merchant who is not reasonably
certain that he~can sell goods will not
buy them or will reduce his inyen-
tories, and the manufacturer who is
not assured of a profitable market for
his product will shut down his factory
and let his labor remain idle. Butsthe
farmer cannot follow these examples.
He must plant his land at planting
time or allow his investment to re-
main idle and deteriorate for a year
If he decide to plant he will prob
ably become borrower on obligations
that mature concurrently with his
crop The whole financial system of
the northern hemisphere is organized
upon plan which contemplates an
autumnal liquidation of agricultural
debts. Within one or two months the
farmer is compelled to Sell the crops
that represent the labor of the year
just ended and the worlds consump-
ton for another year just commence
ing. The result is congestion and a
buyers l-arket in which the seller Is
at great disadvantage.
During the last two centuries the
principle of insurance has been great
ly extended in its application. The
first ''underwriters' were the merk
chants who wrote their names under
an agreement to share the marine
risks and losses to which the ships and
cargoes of their fellow merchants
were subject.
The business of fire insurance was
next developed. Then as the law of
probabilities became better under
stood life insurance began to be writ
ten and the business has grown until,
in the United States alone there are
forty million policy holders in -4ife in
surance companies or associations
whose resources are in excess OF seven
billion dollars.
After life insurance came accident
insurance and credit insurance, and
now we can insure against losses
caused by burglary, defalcation, rain,
snow, hail and tornado, as well as
against war. unemployment. old age,
strikes and many other Ills or acci-
dents of life. 1t is said that at Lloyds
in London policies have been written
that called for the payment of a ito
tai loss" to parents to whom twins
were born, and just before the dis
armament congress met in Washing
ton the New York Times reported that
Is per cent was paid at Lloyds to in
sure that the British West Indies
would not be surrendered to the
United States by or before December
81, 1922, in full or partial payment of
Great Britain's debt to this country.
It seems that if those in control of
the government are honestly desir-
Gus of doing something toward put
ting the business of agriculture on a
firm basis and lessening its hazards.
the insurance suggestion is worthy of
consideration. The general use of
crop insurance would benefit the
farmer and the country in many ways.
The fact that the farmer could if he
chose protect himself against the
great risks and ruinous losses to which
he is now exposed is a sufficient rea-
son for considering whether the gov
ernment ought not to provide the ma
chinery and credit requisite to make
crop insurance on a large scale avail
able
Most people are opposed to having
the government enter any business
that its citizens can handle, but here
is a business that private capital can
not undertake because of it's novelty
and magnitude. 1t would be neces-
sary for it to consider profits.
But the government would win if it
lost. It guaranteed wheat prices dur
ing the war without charge. Guaran-
teeing wheat crops is but another step
in, the same direction and the pro
ducer would be willing to pay for it,
The dispatches indicate that those