cession was allowed only for a period of ten years.[49]

[Footnote 46: The Postal Record, Vol. 15, pp. 235, 254-257.]

[Footnote 47: The Postal Record, Vol. 15, p. 301.]

[Footnote 48: _Ibid_., Vol. 17, p. 6.]

[Footnote 49: _Ibid_., Vol. 15, p. 302.]

The scheme also included provision for disability. After January 1,
1906, any member of the Retirement Association who became permanently
incapacitated, mentally or physically, for any kind of remunerative
labor before thirty years' service or before attaining the age of
sixty-five years, was to receive annually from the retirement fund a
certain per cent. of the face value of his retirement certificate. The
amount was proportionate to the years of service. For five years'
membership such a member received fifteen per cent.; for ten years',
thirty per cent.; for fifteen years', forty-five per cent.; for twenty
years', sixty per cent.; for twenty-five years', seventy-five per cent.
Any member of not less than five years' standing might, after ninety
days' notice to the chief clerk, withdraw from the Association; and in
such event he became entitled to receive seventy-five per cent. of the
annual premiums paid to the Association. Also in case of death within
two years of his retirement and prior to the payment of not more than
twenty-four monthly installments of pension, the Association agreed to
pay to the widow, the children, or legal heirs the annuity provided in
the deceased member's certificate until the amount paid should aggregate
seventy-five per cent. of all premiums received by the Association.[50]

[Footnote 50: The Postal Record, Vol. 17, p. 6.]

This plan was a failure. In it business principles had been sacrificed
for fraternity. Relief had been provided for the old man particularly,
but very few took advantage of the opportunity. The young men refused to
enter because the favorable rates to old men placed a heavy burden upon
the younger members.[51] The report of the chief clerk to the Syracuse
convention, in 1903, showed that up to September 1, 1903, only eighteen
retirement certificates had been issued, of which thirteen were for
$500, two for $300, and three for $200. The average age at entrance was
fifty-three and the average length of service, twenty-two years. The
total receipts of the retirement fund were only $390.90.[52] On
September 1, 1905, the total number of certificates issued had reached
twenty-five, with only nineteen outstanding, while