olicy, also, the Conductors took the initiative by providing in their
first national constitution in December, 1868, that the order should
never become a weekly benefit association.[37] The Engineers had a
similar provision as early as September, 1869; but national regulations
governing the payment of weekly benefits were nevertheless formulated.
The other unions have followed this policy, and their constitutions
provide that the weekly benefits shall be levied, collected, and
distributed according to national rules.

[Footnote 36: Proceedings of the Order of Railway Conductors of America,
1868-1885 (Cedar Rapids, 1888), p. 207.]

[Footnote 37: _Ibid_., p. 21.]

The most striking characteristic of the insurance features of these
organizations has been the combination of disability and death
insurance. The fact that railway employees are specially exposed to the
risks of disabling accidents has been the chief influence in this
direction. The large number of claims paid for disability in the
Conductors', the Firemen's, and the Trainmen's beneficiary departments
during recent years shows the high importance of disability insurance to
the men engaged in the more hazardous occupations. The disability claims
paid among the Firemen for the eleven years from 1894 to 1904 were 24.5
per cent. of the total number of claims paid, or about one third of the
number of death claims paid. Among the Conductors the disability
claims, paid during the same period, amounted to one seventh of the
death claims paid. The disability claims paid by the Trainmen during
twenty years, 1884-1904, were 32.5 per cent. of all claims paid.

The proportion of disability to death claims has decreased in each of
these organizations in recent years. The disability claims paid by the
Conductors in 1894 were 15.6 per cent. of the total number, and at the
close of 1904, 11.8 per cent.; while among the Firemen the percentages
for the biennial terms 1894-1896 and 1902-1904 were 32.9 per cent. and
21.4 per cent., respectively. The claim statistics of the Trainmen show
the same tendency although there are great variations from year to year.
In 1890, 1895 and 1897 the percentage of disability claims rose to 40,
41 and 40, respectively, while in 1888, 1900 and 1903 the percentage
fell to 28, 29 and 27, respectively.

DEATH AND DISABILITY CLAIMS.
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