Naturally the rules governing the benefit in the Typographia are more stringent than in the case of those unions which merely loan travelling money.  The chief regulations are as follows:  In order to draw the benefit a member must have been in good standing for at least six months.  He must have paid in full his dues to the day of his departure.  He may draw two cents per mile for the first two hundred miles and one cent for every additional mile, but he cannot at any one time receive more than ten dollars.  A member assisted with the travelling benefit must remain at least three months in a place before he can claim another travelling benefit.  When he has drawn a total of twenty-five dollars he is not entitled to any further assistance for twelve months.  Those members who lose their places through their own fault are not entitled to a travelling benefit for three months, and those who give up their places can receive the benefit only if the executive committee of the local Typographia approves their action.  A travelling member going to a place where there is a local Typographia must report to it within two days or he forfeits his right to out-of-work benefits for four weeks.  If a member receives the travelling benefit and does not leave, he must return the amount received, and is not in good standing until he has done this.

The total amounts paid yearly in some of the leading unions furnish some idea of the importance of this benefit.  Since the inauguration of the benefit to January 1, 1906, the Cigar Makers’ International Union has paid a total of $991,777.98 in travelling loans, or an average of $38,145.31 per year.[194] The Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia has paid from July 1, 1884, to June 30, 1906, $8116.11, or an average of $368.91.[195] For the year ending September 30, 1904, the Cement Workers paid $1600, the Flour and Cereal Mill Employees, $2084.95, the Hod Carriers and Building Laborers, $1500, and the Leather Workers on Horse Goods, $7703.15.[196]

[Footnote 194:  Cigar Makers’ Journal, Vol. 31, April 15, 1906.]

[Footnote 195:  Hugo Miller, 25-jaehrige Geschichte der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia, 1873-1898, p. 58; Jahres-Bericht, 1899-1906.]

[Footnote 196:  Report of Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth Annual Convention, American Federation of Labor, 1904 (Washington, 1904), p. 46.]

The table on page 99 shows the total amounts paid yearly and the average loan per capita of membership in the Cigar Makers’ Union and the average per capita cost in the Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia.

Total and per capita amounts of travelling
loans and benefits.
=======================================================
| Cigar Makers. | Typographia.
|----------------------------------------------
Year. | Amount of | Loans Per | Amount of |
|Travelling | Capita of | Travelling | Cost