The convention which founded the Grand Division of the Order of Railway Conductors also instituted a mutual insurance association.  The association thus formed was a voluntary society.  Members paid $1 upon each death or each case of disability and the amount thus collected constituted the “benefit” paid.[17] At the first annual session held in Chicago in June, 1869, efforts were made to create a permanent insurance fund, but without result; and at the second session held in Buffalo, New York, in October, 1869, after lengthy discussion, the benefit law, adopted in 1868, was unanimously repealed.[18] For a year the Order had no insurance feature; but at the third session in October, 1870, a definite plan was adopted.[19]

[Footnote 17:  Proceedings, 1868-1885 (Cedar Rapids, 1888), p. 19.]

[Footnote 18:  Ibid., p. 42.]

[Footnote 19:  Ibid., pp. 48-49.]

From the adoption of this plan to the session at Buffalo, in 1881, the insurance department remained of small importance, and only nineteen claims were paid, aggregating $1672.  At almost every annual session during this period the reports of the grand chief conductor and the grand secretary-treasurer showed that the department was losing ground.  At the session of 1881, the secretary-treasurer reported the “very unsatisfactory condition of the department,” and said:  “A complete revision of its laws can no longer be postponed, if we keep it from going to pieces altogether."[20] In 1882 the insurance laws were amended, and an immediate improvement began in the condition of the department.  In 1891 the insurance became compulsory.  On April 1, 1891, there were 3950 members and the outstanding risks amounted to $9,875,000, while on April 1, 1893, there were 11,436 members, carrying insurance to the amount of $24,963,000.  On January 1, 1891, only 27.21 per cent. of the Order carried insurance, as against 64.07 per cent. in May, 1895.  During the financial and industrial depression of 1893-1896 the Order maintained its prosperity; and on December 31, 1906, the reports showed 34,142 members in the insurance department, with outstanding insurance aggregating $64,997,000 and a grand total of $9,563,567 benefits paid since organization.

[Footnote 20:  Ibid., pp. 395, 435.]

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was organized at Port Jervis, New York, on December 1, 1873, as a benevolent association.  In 1885 it became a labor organization with a “protective policy."[21] During the first fifteen years of its history its growth was retarded by the great strike of 1877, by the opposition of the International Firemen’s Union, by the difficulties with the Knights of Labor in 1885, and by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy strike of 1888.  These checks were only temporary, however, and by the close of 1893 the Firemen had 510 lodges with 28,681 members.  During the next two years there was a heavy falling off to 484 lodges with 21,408 members.  Since 1895 the growth has been rapid, and the present membership is about 55,000.[22]