fire. Improved farm water supply with adequate pumping facilities,
the telephone by which neighbors may be summoned, and the
automobile by which help may quickly be brought, have increased
the farmer's safety; but his chief safeguard is the exercise of
care by all who live on the farm at every point where a fire might
possibly be started.

FIRE INSURANCE

Fire insurance is a means of reducing the fire loss of individual
property owners by a form of cooperation. Insurance companies,
operating under state laws, sell insurance to property owners. The
latter pay a small premium for the protection afforded. From the
funds produced by the premiums and the interest on their
investment, the occasional losses of individuals are paid. This
does not prevent the destruction of the property, but it
distributes the loss among thousands of people, perhaps in all
parts of the country.

FARMERS' COOPERATIVE INSURANCE

There are in the United States about 2000 FARMERS' COOPERATIVE
FIRE INSURANCE COMPANIES, carrying insurance amounting to more
than 5 billion dollars. These companies are associations of
farmers who elect their own directors and manage their own
insurance business. They provide insurance at a much lower rate
than the ordinary commercial insurance companies. A usual
provision of the laws under which these cooperative companies
operate is that no member may insure his property for its full
value. His neighbors will help him bear his loss, but will not