Engineers .............  Under 40 years.          $4500
40 and under 45.          3000
45 and under 50.          1500

Conductors ............  Under 35 years.           3000
35 and under 45.          2000
45 to 50.                 1000

Firemen ...............  Under 45 years.           3000
45 and over.              1500

Trainmen ..............  No age restriction.       1350

Telegraphers .......... 18 and under 45.          1000
45 and under 50.           500
50 and under 60.           300

Switchmen .............  No age restriction.       1200

Maintenance-of-Way
Employees ........... 18 and under 45 at
graded rates.         1000

Letter Carriers ....... 21 to 55 at graded rates. 1000 to 3000

The necessity for a reduction in the amount of insurance issued to the older men was more urgent among the Engineers and the Conductors than among the other railway organizations, since the latter form the school of apprenticeship from which the engineers and the conductors are drawn.  In the Trainmen’s and the Switchmen’s organizations the young men contribute materially to the cost of insuring the old men.  This charge is not so heavy as might appear at first sight, since in both organizations many members withdraw when they are promoted to higher positions in the service.  In grading the amount of insurance offered according to age, the brotherhoods have made a compromise between an assessment on each individual according to the liability incurred, and a system in which the welfare of the individual is regarded as entirely at one with the welfare of the membership.  The principle of solidarity is still recognized, but under limitations.

Originally these unions collected assessments to meet death or disability claims after the occurrence of the death or disability.  Considerable delay was thus entailed in the final settlement.  All of them, with the exception of the Engineers, now hold reserve funds for the payment of claims.  The Conductors took the initiative by providing in the constitution of 1881 that the grand secretary-treasurer, on paying a claim, should levy the regular assessment upon each member to be held in reserve to pay the next claim.[74] This was followed in 1885 by a regulation of the Trainmen which required all members to pay in advance one death assessment.  This was repealed by the convention of 1886; but the convention of 1888 re-enacted the law.  The Firemen provided in 1888[75] that the subordinate lodges should collect all dues quarterly in advance.

[Footnote 74:  Constitution, 1903 (Pittsburg, 1903), pp. 80, 86.]

[Footnote 75:  Constitution, 1888 (Terre Haute, 1888), secs. 50, 52, 53.]

In determining the amount of insurance offered, the organizations have had necessarily to consider what their members can afford to pay.  Only a certain per cent. of earnings can be set aside for insurance purposes, and that amount has been determined only by the long experience of the organizations.  Again, the insurance must be in an amount which accords with the idea of the workmen of what constitutes a satisfactory provision against death or disability.  The amount offered must for this reason be comparable with that offered by insurance companies.