man against disease, death, or accident. The employer practically dictates to the unorganized workman where he shall live, where he is to work, the condition under which the work shall be done, the amount of heat or dampness or ventilation, and whether or not there shall be guards upon the machinery to protect his life. It is not specifically stipulated in the contract with a brakeman or other trainman that each year one out of every one hundred and thirty-seven shall be killed, and one out of every eleven shall be maimed or injured; but the railroad company assumes the right to set the ⚫conditions which shall make this proportion of deaths and injuries inevitable. The employer also retains the right to choose unreservedly the companions and fellow-servants of the unorganized workman; and thus, the man who may put the new employee's life into jeopardy is entirely of the employer's choosing. The employer also influences by his regulations the hours of labor, the right of the employee to absent himself in case of sickness, the age and the task at which children shall be employed, and thus the health, not only of the present, but of future generations. In the same way, if unrestrained by organized labor or by the authority of the state, the employer can seriously impair the moral health of his workpeople, and that without violating the labor contract. The ordinary contract with the individual, unorganized workman states nothing with regard to the manner in which men and women shall work together in the factories, during the day or at night, the sanitary conditions, the presence or absence of separate toilet rooms, or any other provisions for the maintenance of the moral conditions of the workwoman. One of the advantages of trade unionism has been that it has aided conscientious employers and compelled negligent employers to maintain in their establishments a certain minimum of decency in these

matters.

The labor contract, as it exists to-day, for the great majority of unorganized workingmen is merely a verbal agreement between the individual employee and the foreman, and each side reserves the right to quit at practically a moment's notice. There may be some advantages in this system,

but one of the many disadvantages is the insecurity which it brings into. the life of the person so employed. The unorganized workman is subject to the private spite and malice of his employer or foreman, although this is probably less true than was formerly the case. The position and wages of the unorganized workingman are entirely subject to fluctuations in the industry, and he is liable to be thrown out of employment with the first appearance of a shrinkage. The whole tendency of employment under the capitalistic régime has been, at least until recently, to make the position of the workingman more and more insecure. The crises and commercial depres→ sions which have swept over this country during almost every decade, have resulted in intense suffering on the part of workingmen, a suffering accentuated by the competition of great masses of immigrants who come here during more prosperous times. Even apart from such crises, the workingman is subject to the loss of his job through sickness, accident, or other contingencies beyond his control; and in the vast majority of cases he can secure no compensation from the employer for injury inflicted by an accident, no matter how free the workman himself is from carelessness or contributory negligence. The employee is also subject to the loss of his position through advancing age, and in the case of the majority of unorganized workmen, no provision is made for him in this event.

To a considerable extent the unions steady and modify these influences and thus ameliorate the condition of the workmen at such times. By the payment of out-of-work benefits, which is common in England and becoming more prevalent in the United States, they lessen the hardship of a temporary unemployment, and by death and funeral benefits, they protect the widow and the orphans upon the demise of the wage earner from absolute destitution. The payment of old-age benefits, which is also more common among English than American trade unions, relieves the workingman of a portion of the anxiety with which he looks forward to approaching disability through age.

Trade unionism thus gives to workingmen increased power to modify

to their advantage the terms of the labor contract. This is frequently styled by unreasonable employers as "interfering with my business," but the workman might with justice retort, "the employer is interfering with my life and happiness." The employer is now willing to concede, though he was not always willing to do so, that the workman has the right to determine what wages he will accept and how many hours he will work. What it has taken the employer much longer to learn, and what he has not even yet mastered, is the fact that the organized workman has just as much right to make suggestions and stipulations with regard to other conditions of employment. It takes two to make a contract, as it takes two to make a quarrel, and both parties to an agreement should have equal rights in determining how, when, with whom, at what time, and under what conditions work shall be carried on. Through the instrumentality of the trade union this right has been gradually, though as yet imperfectly, secured for the wage earner.

CHAPTER XIII

THE BENEFIT FEATURES OF TRADE UNIONS

Direct Benefit of Insurance. The Benefit Features of American Trade Unions. British vs. American Trade Benefits. Death and Funeral Benefits. Unions and Insurance Companies. The Unions and the Actuaries. Insurance and Union Discipline. Trade Unions and Assessment Insurance Companies. Death Benefits and Permanent Membership. Insurance and Union Control. Local Sick Benefits. Other Benefits. The Finances of British and American Trade Unions.

TH

'HE most direct, although not the greatest, benefit derived by workmen from their unions is insurance against death, accident, sickness, and in some cases loss of tools or failure to secure work. From their inception trade unions to a greater or less extent have adopted the policy of insuring their members, and, in fact, many of the earlier unions were formed and conducted under the guise of purely friendly societies. This system of trade union insurance has reached a high state of development in England. American unions, owing to their comparative youth, have not yet evolved as complete a system, although they are making steady progress in that direction.

An entirely false conception of the whole subject of trade union insurance is inevitable, unless one bears in mind that insurance is always subordinate to the trade policy of the unions. Trade unions are interested in protecting their members and paying them benefits in case of death, sickness, or disability, but they are even more vitally interested in raising wages and improving conditions of employment. Out-of-work benefits, for instance, are conceived entirely in this sense. The workman may derive an advantage from the support of his family when he is out of work; yet the primary object of the union is not to bestow charity or assistance upon the unemployed man, but to protect the wage of the men actually at work. Thus, if wages in an occupation are twelve dollars a week, the union prefers that

an unemployed man receive from union funds an out-of-work benefit of four or five dollars a week rather than accept employment at ten dollars a week, or at any other rate below the union scale.

Even where benefits are not directly connected with loss of work, the insurance feature is subordinated to the trade policy of the organization. This constitutes one of the drawbacks and also one of the advantages of the system. From the point of view of the workingman there appears at first sight a certain disadvantage in being insured by the union, since he has no absolute guarantee of receiving the insurance for which he has paid. The funds devoted to life insurance and the money which may have been contributed for the purpose of insuring against sickness or old age, while as a rule kept separate and distinct from the general funds of the organization, may be used in a great strike or expended in out-of-work benefits during a prolonged commercial depression. Moreover, a member of the union, after paying his dues for a number of years, may have his assessment increased, or, by reason of a flagrant violation of the laws of the organization or for other misconduct, may be expelled from the union, and his rights to insurance benefits may thus be forfeited.

In point of actual practice these theoretical disadvantages have not materialized, and trade unions have been able to meet the obligations which they have incurred toward their members. From the point of view of the trade union, however, this system of insurance is of great benefit. By means of it a large number of the best workmen are attracted to the organization, and the enthusiasm of the members is maintained by the hope of securing relief in times of sickness or accident or provision for their families in case of death. The accumulation of a large reserve fund derived from insurance also strengthens the union in the event of a strike or of negotiations which may lead to a strike, while the hope of securing insurance benefits tends to render the members of the union more conservative and less willing to jeopardize its funds in useless or unwarranted labor conflicts. The possession of large funds for the payment of benefits further aids the union in establishing and maintaining discipline. Expulsion from a trade union.