is a much more serious punishment if it involves the loss of future insurance benefits than if no such losses are entailed. The trade union also possesses an advantage over the ordinary assessment insurance company in being able, by means of assessments levied upon members or otherwise, to adjust the income of the union to the demands put upon it by its insurance. policy. In the case of an ordinary assessment insurance company, in which membership is voluntary, the increasing demand made upon the organization as men grow older and as the death rate increases, causes the assessments to become so high that the younger members gradually drop out, while other young men refuse to join, with the result that the average age of the members becomes constantly higher. On the other hand. in the case of the trade union, where participation in insurance is obligatory upon all members, there is no possibility for the young men to remain out, and the steady influx of new blood causes the average age of the members to remain constant. The actuaries and leading insurance experts of England predicted in 1867 that the trade union insurance companies would all become bankrupt, but this prediction, like many others regarding trade unionism, has been proved untrue by the subsequent experience of the organizations.

The development of trade union insurance by British organizations has beeen gradual but constant. During the ten years preceding 1901 the one hundred principal trade unions of Great Britain spent almost $45,000,0001 in unemployed, sick, superannuated, funeral, and other benefits. Of this sum $15,900,000 were spent in payments to unemployed; $13,100,000 for cases of sickness and accident; $7,300,000 for superannuation, and $8,300,ooo upon funeral and other benefits. The unemployed benefit is paid by a great majority of the unions and amounted, in the year 1902 to $2,230,000. Expenditures for this purpose fluctuate with the state of the trade, increasing in seasons of depression and decreasing in periods of industrial activity. In England they reached the highest point in 1893 and fell to the lowest

1In making this computation the pound sterling is held to be worth $4.85

point in 1899, since which time they have beeen steadily rising. The expenditure for sick and accident insurance, paid usually as a weekly benefit in cases of sickness or allowed in lump sums in cases of disabling accident, or in other instances made as grants to hospitals, have steadily increased from $1,020,000 in 1892 to $1,670,000 in 1901, 69 out of 100 unions paying these benefits in 1892 and 77 unions out of 100 in 1901. The superannuation benefit consists of payments ranging from 50 cents to $3.00 per week, but usually averaging from $1.25 to $2.50 per week. It is given to men no longer able to work at their trades, or, at all events, to earn full wages, but is paid by only 38 of the 100 principal unions. The sum so expended, however, is largely increasing. In 1892, less than $500,000 was spent in this way, whereas in the year 1901 the sum so expended had increased to almost $1,000,000. Funeral benefits are the most widely diffused of all forms of trade union insurance in Great Britain, 89 out of the 100 principal unions, comprising 89 per cent. of the membership, paying benefits of this character. This benefit is also gradually increasing, amounting to $330,000 in 1892 and to $480,000 in 1901.

The policy of paying extensive benefits and of charging high dues has resulted in a rapid increase in the wealth and the membership of British trade unions. During the nine years from 1892 to 1901 the funds in the hands of the one hundred principal British unions increased from $7,785,000 to $20,185,000. Each year, therefore, enables the labor organizations of England to extend the scope and amount of their insurance and to guarantee the workingman greater immunity from life's vicissitudes.

The system of insurance, as already indicated, is not as fully or as perfectly developed in the United States as in England. This is accounted for not only by the fact that unions in the United States are younger but also by the fact that the dues in this country are much lower in proportion to the wages received. The average member of a British trade union pays about $8.50 per year, or about seventy cents per month, which is considerably in excess of the average dues of trade unionists in the United States. The American trade unions have adopted, however, at least in principle, the

insurance features of British trade unions. The Cigar Makers and the German-American Typographia are perhaps the only American unions paying out-of-work benefits from the funds in their national treasuries, although in the case of victimized members a number of trade unions provide relief. The usual form of insurance on the part of American trade unions is the death or funeral benefit. This benefit is common because death itself is inevitable and brings a burden to the family of the deceased, and because a death or funeral fund can be administered much more easily and with less. risk of fraud than a sick or accident fund. Some of the railroad brotherhoods pay large insurance in case of death and charge accordingly; the death benefit of the Locomotive Engineers ranging from $750 to $4,500; of the Conductors from $1,000 to $5,000; of the Firemen from $500 to $1,500; of the Trainmen from $400 to $500, and of the Telegraphers from $300 to $1,000. These organizations charge a uniform rate of assessment, irrespective of the age of the members, although they permit the younger men to insure more heavily than the older. The only trade union which establishes different rates of assessment for men of different ages is the National Association of Letter Carriers.

The majority of American trade unions pay but a small death or funeral benefit. The Glass Bottle Blowers and the Cigar Makers pay $500 as a maximum, the Lithographers from $50 to $500, while a number of unions pay $200 or less, and some pay only from $50 to $100. A number of unions also pay small amounts on the death of a member's wife.

About a dozen national organizations pay sick insurance and these benefits are also given by a considerable number of local unions whose national organizations have no insurance features. The sick benefit usually amounts to $4.00 or $5.00 per week, and the length of time during which a member may receive it is limited. Great care is also taken that the demand upon the union may not be fraudulent, a physician's certificate being required before an applicant can secure his benefit, and local committees being appointed to visit the sick in order to prevent deception.

The American trade union which has developed the most extended in

surance features is the Cigar Makers' International Union. From 1879 to 1900 it expended $838,000 for strike benefits; $1,453,000 for sick benefits; $794,000 for death benefits; $917,000 for out-of-work benefits, and $735,000 for loans to members while traveling (90 per cent. of these loans having been repaid); the total benefits given and loaned amounting to $4,737,000.

Trade unions in the United States are largely extending the scope of their insurance and will, in the course of time, become much stronger by this means. Several of the unions have already adopted the superannuation benefit for men incapacitated by old age and long service, although the system has not yet had time to develop. However, in the future trade unions will continue to widen the scope of their activity in this direction, protecting the workingmen from the effects of sickness, accident, loss of activity, incapacitation, and old age, and will also provide in case of death, for the payment of funeral benefits. This policy will lead to an increased popularity of trade unions and will result in a growth in membership, although, as is absolutely necessary, the dues of the organizations will be raised in consequence. Founders of such insurance, if wise, will avoid the error of promising inordinately large benefits in return for small assessments. With the avoidance of this error and with the increase and extension of the insurance features, the strength of the union, its conservatism and its capacity for maintaining fair conditions of work will immeasurably increase. But trade unions which now have benefit features and those which may, in the future, adopt them, should exercise great care in keeping the insurance features incidental to the trade policy and to the primary objects of the unions, which are and must always be to raise wages, lessen hours, and improve the general conditions of employment.

CHAPTER XIV

THE AMERICAN STANDARD OF WAGES

Trade Unions have Maintained and Elevated the American Standard of Living. Increased Wages, especially in Organized Trades. Unionism Necessary for Higher Wages. The American Standard of Living. 1803 and 1903. Food, Clothing, Shelter, Instruction, and Amusements of the American Workingman. $600 a year for the Unskilled. Will it Pay? The Economy of High Wages. Increases not Taken from Capital. High Wages, National Prosperity, and the Welfare of the Middle Class. The Upward Tendency of Wages.

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NE of the greatest benefits conferred upon wage earners by trade unionism has been the elevation and maintenance of the standard of living. In the United States, as in England, organizations of labor have constantly rallied about this standard and numberless strikes have occurred in its defense. The history of American trade unions in the nineteenth century has been the story of a gradual increase in the wages of American workingmen.

Trade unions have swelled the pay envelope of the workman, both by enforcing increases and by preventing reductions in his remuneration. During the last twenty years, thousands of strikes have resulted in the granting of higher wages, and these victories have been supplemented by the concession of semi-monthly and weekly payments in cash and by the abolition of truck stores and credit payment. Scores of other strikes, or threatened strikes, have prevented reductions in wages, and many advantages have been gained through conference and negotiation. These advances, it must be admitted, have not been due wholly to trade unionism. The greater skill and effectiveness of workmen, the invention of machinery, the improvement and increased productiveness of manufacturing have all contributed to this result. But without the active intervention of trade unions, the increase