Under the conditions of this plan, the applicant for retirement must submit himself to the board of examiners, who shall, after a physical examination by the physician of the board, determine his eligibility.  The results of this plan would be two-fold:  first, to relieve the detrimental effect of superannuation upon the efficiency of the service, and, secondly, to remove the fear of those who look for more drastic measures of relief.  Aside from a regular pension grant by the Government this plan is considered the most efficient method of securing adequate protection for the superannuated who are too old to avail themselves of the opportunities offered under the system of annuities.[61]

[Footnote 60:  The Postal Record, Vol. 18, pp. 220-222.]

[Footnote 61:  The Postal Record, Vol. 19, p. 6.]

The principal obstacle to the successful operation of disability insurance has been the difficulty experienced in its administration—­largely on account of the impracticability of closely defining permanent or total disability.  With almost every revision of the constitutions changes were made in the definition of the term “disability.”  Strict construction of the law by the executive officials led to dissatisfaction and often to appeals from their decisions to the insurance committees, or to the boards of trustees.[62] During the early years disability claims were often presented through subordinate officials, who were either unable to interpret the laws aright, or were unwilling to assume the responsibility of pronouncing the claims illegal.  The Engineers, after a period of thirty-two years, in 1898 adopted a satisfactory definition of total disability:  “Any member of this Association losing by amputation a hand at or above the wrist joint; a foot at or above the ankle joint; or sustaining the total and permanent loss of sight in one eye or both eyes, shall receive the full amount of his insurance."[63] Similar definitions of disability have been worked out by the other railway organizations.  The Conductors add to this “total loss of the sense of hearing.”  The Switchmen include “the loss of four fingers of one hand, at or above the second joint.”  Disability, as defined by the Letter Carriers, means inability, because of sickness or accident, to perform the regular duties of a letter carrier.[64]

[Footnote 62:  Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Session of the Order of Railway Conductors of America, 1887 (n.p., n.d.), p. 69.]

[Footnote 63:  Constitution, 1899 (Cleveland, 1898), Art. 28.]

[Footnote 64:  Constitution of the Letter Carriers of the United States, 1905, Art. 13, in The Postal Record, Vol. 19, No. 1, p. 3.]