on.

[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. The principal
reason for this low rate is the rapid change in membership, the old men
withdrawing and being replaced by young men. Near the close of the
nineties the cry of "Something must be done to keep the old members in
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen" was raised; but it was clearly
shown that "the greatest favor a member of the Brotherhood could show
the insurance department was to pay his assessment for ten years and
then withdraw, permitting a man ten years his junior to take his place."
The grand secretary-treasurer states that the membership practically
changes every seven years, due to promotions to the position of engineer
and to withdrawals of older men for various reasons. The wi