[Footnote 82:  Constitution, amended 1902 (Peoria, n.d.), sec. 163.]

The efficiency of compulsory insurance rules in securing and retaining members in the brotherhoods is generally acknowledged among the railway employees.  After the member has carried insurance for several years, his financial interests are bound up with the interests of the organization, and his loyalty to the union is increased.  From this loyalty flows greater interest in every phase of the brotherhood’s work.  The operation of compulsory insurance appears to have caused an increase in the membership of the brotherhoods.  On January 1, 1890, the date on which compulsory insurance became operative, the membership of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers numbered 7408; on January 1, 1897, it had increased to 18,739; and in May, 1904, to 46,400.[83] On January 1, 1891, the date on which compulsory insurance was inaugurated, the membership of the Order of Railway Conductors numbered 3933; on January 1, 1898, it had increased to 15,807, and again on January 1, 1904, to 31,288.  It is noteworthy that during the depression, 1893-1897, those organizations having systems of voluntary insurance suffered far more severely than those enforcing compulsory insurance.  Thus, the Telegraphers were almost annihilated, while the Firemen and the Conductors practically maintained their position.

[Footnote 83:  Locomotive Engineers’ Journal, Vol. 37, p. 446; Vol. 18, p. 654.]

The cost of insurance per $1000 varies greatly in the different organizations, as may be seen by the following table:[84]

Cost of Insurance per
Organizations.        Fiscal Year Ending.      $1000 a Year. 
Engineers ...........  December 31, 1903         $17.80
Conductors ..........  December 31, 1903          16.00
Firemen .............  June 30, 1904              12.00
Trainmen ............  December 31, 1903          18.00
Telegraphers ........  December 31, 1903           7.20
Switchmen ...........  December 31, 1903          20.00
Maintenance-of-Way                               12.00\
Employees .........  December 31, 1903          15.00 | according
18.00/    to age
Letter Carriers......  December 31, 1906           9.24\ according
21.96/  to age

[Footnote 84:  These amounts have been furnished by the grand secretary-treasurers of the several organizations, except those of the Telegraphers and the Maintenance-of-Way Employees, which have been taken from the 1903 constitutions and represent the amount of the regular monthly assessment.]

The differences in the cost of insurance are the result of several factors.  The slight degree of risk in the occupation is largely responsible for the relative cheapness of the Telegraphers’ and the Letter Carriers’ insurance.  More important differences are due to the age grouping of the membership.  Thus the Firemen, whom old-line companies, for the most part, classify as extra-hazardous, furnish insurance against death and disability at $12 per $1000.