[Footnote 67:  Constitutions for the several years.  Reference is made to the Trackmen’s Constitution, 1893 (n.p. n.d.); Proceedings of the Second Annual Convention, 1893, in Advance Advocate, Vol. 2.]

[Footnote 68:  The Postal Record, Vol. 5, p. 185.]

[Footnote 69:  Ibid., Vol. 5, p. 138.]

Another important change in the method of conducting these insurance systems was made in the decade from 1890 to 1900.  The organizations with two exceptions have not adopted the policy of the insurance companies in varying the charge with the age of the insured.  The device they have commonly used is the differentiation in the amount of insurance which may be taken in such a way that the older members may insure themselves only for a smaller amount.  As early as 1886 the Firemen provided that only members under forty-five years of age might take insurance,[70] and in 1887 the Telegraphers adopted an age limit of fifty years.[71] The Conductors, under the constitution of 1890, provided that any member between the ages of fifteen and fifty might take $2500 of insurance against death or disability, and any member between the ages of fifty and sixty might take $1000 against death and $500 against disability.[72] In 1892 the Engineers introduced an age limit of fifty, and in 1894 further differentiated applicants so that those under forty years of age might secure $4500, those under forty-five years of age might obtain $3000, and all over forty-five and under fifty years of age, $1500.[73] Even now the Switchmen and the Trainmen offer equal amounts to members of all ages at the same rate.

[Footnote 70:  Constitution, 1886 (Terre Haute, n.d.), sec. 71.]

[Footnote 71:  Constitution, 1887, Arts. 12-13, in the Railroad Telegrapher, Vol. 2.]

[Footnote 72:  Constitution, 1888, second edition (Rochester, 1890), p. 38.]

[Footnote 73:  Constitution, 1894 (Peoria, 1895).]

The Maintenance-of-Way Employees and the Letter Carriers not only limit the age of the insured but also grade the charge per $1000 according to age.  In the case of the former, members from eighteen to thirty-five years of age pay $1 monthly per $1000 of insurance; those from thirty-five to forty, $1.25; from forty to fifty, $1.50.  Insurance rates in the Letter Carriers’ Mutual Benefit Department have, with the exception of the first year of operation, been graded according to age.  The minimum and maximum age limits are twenty-one and fifty-five years.  The monthly rates vary according to age from 77 cents per $1000 of insurance at twenty-one years to $2.06 at fifty years.

The following table shows the regulations as to the amount and rate of insurance issued according to ages: 

Amount of Insurance
Organization.  Age Classes.  Issued.