cessity 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 This was repealed by the convention of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 of