Lines of development. The conflict of interests, as it may in this age be appraised, is one in which subjective tendencies are recurrently leveled by objective standards, giving rise again to new subjective expressions of individuality. This goes to the matter of form the instrumentalities by which human development is guided and held in check. The content also exhibits a double principle the recurrence of checks on formal and material liberty. The history of the human race is an alternating succession of these forms of liberty. If one were permitted to venture into the realm of the unknown, or if these oscillations were capable of measurement, one might be rash enough to predict that a mediating principle does, and will, progressively, in long ages, with accidents of retrogression and stagnation, harmonize the opposing levers of development to attain a rational adjustment of interests, in which individuality may be expressed in its highest form under conditions of the greatest formal and material freedom.

THE TRADE UNION AND THE OLD MAN'

JOHN O'GRADY

Catholic University of America

In no respect does the weakness of the modern worker become more apparent than in his inability to provide for the future. When sickness, invalidity, and old age deprive him of his earning power, he is liable to become a dependent upon public charity. It is the function of the trade union to protect the worker against these natural or artificial hazards, as well as to increase his bargaining power. In the early days, when trade unions were unable to enforce their trade policies, the benefit features were the main bond of union between the members. As the trade unions became more powerful, as they began to realize their possibilities in the field of collective bargaining, the benefit features were lost sight of. It was deemed more necessary for the welfare of the worker to increase his wages and to obtain shorter hours than to protect him against future contingencies. The payment of benefits meant the expenditure of large sums of money and therefore high dues, which it was feared would prevent a great many from joining the unions and would consequently prevent them from becoming powerful as militant organizations. Once the trade unions had succeeded in attaining their main object-namely, the regulation of trade they began to look upon benefits as a powerful auxiliary in attracting and retaining members.

Before 1830 trade unions in this country were primarily benefit societies. Between 1830 and 1880 the benefit features were subordinated to the trade policies. Since 1880 nearly all American trade unions have instituted benefits of one kind or another.

The typical American trade union of the present time is not alone a trade organization, but also a benefit society. It tides the worker over periods of sickness and aids his family in case of This study was undertaken while the writer was a member of the Economic Seminary of Johns Hopkins University.

death. Some unions also pay out-of-work benefits and pay traveling expenses of the worker who is in search of employment.

The most recent development in the beneficiary activities of American trade unions has been the institution of pensions for those of their members who, by reason of age or invalidity, are unable to make their own living. When the aged members of the unions were in want, it was the custom in the early days to appeal to the local organization on their behalf, whereupon an appropriation was made from the treasury or a special collection was taken up for them. When the local organization was unable to take care of its aged and disabled members, an appeal was frequently made to the national organization on their behalf. It is in this manner that we find the Order of Railroad Conductors taking care of their aged members in the early nineties. The heavy burden thus imposed on the local organization and the constant appeal to the national order convinced the membership of the necessity of making systematic provision for the superannuated. In 1897 it was proposed that a national home be established for this purpose. Since the engineers, firemen, and trainmen were facing the same problem, it was suggested that all four organizations join forces in establishing a home for their superannuated members. An opportunity of carrying out this project was presented to the four brotherhoods when the trustees of the Home for Disabled Railway Employees of America at Highland Park, Illinois, offered to turn over the home to them on condition that each should contribute the sum of $15,000 to the building fund. The engineers, firemen, and trainmen having contributed the required amount, the home was turned over to them.

While the discussion relative to the home was dragging out from year to year, the conductors took an important step toward relieving their disabled members by establishing an indigent fund, to which each conductor was required to contribute $3 a year. But, notwithstanding the large sums contributed toward the indigent fund, the conductors have felt that they were not facing squarely the problem of old-age dependency. In 1907 a committee was appointed to look into the matter. Some important data were col* Constitution, sec. 81.

lected, but no definite proposals were made. The question was brought up again in 1909 and another committee was appointed, this time with instructions to formulate some plan. The committee found that there were were four possible ways of establishing a pension for aged employees. In the first place, they might be paid a part of their life insurance after they had reached a certain age. This plan was discarded for the apparently trivial reason that it meant an increase in life premiums. Secondly, a flat assessment plan might be instituted. This, it was thought, would impose too heavy a burden on the younger members. Again, it was asserted that, while the initial rates would be low under this plan, the premiums would have to be continually increased when it was carried through a series of years. From this the committee turned to a straight endowment plan under which each member on joining the organization would be required to begin paying premiums toward his pension fund. In order to secure a pension of $30 a month at the age of seventy, it was found that a man entering at the age of twenty would have to pay an annual premium of $9 a year, while on entering at thirty he would have to pay $15 a year. This plan, although actuarially sound, had one serious objection, in that it imposed too heavy a burden on the older members. For this reason the committee suggested the establishment of a modified endowment plan. By deferring payments for five years after assessments had begun and by a gradual scaling down of the rates for members over forty, it was thought that it might be possible to have a plan which would meet the needs of the unions. The convention, however, did not accept the recommendation of the pension committee, and the conductors are still depending on the indigent fund to maintain their aged members.'

Up to a few years ago the superannuated engineer, like the conductor, had to depend on the charity of his local or national organization. In 1902 the Brotherhood established an indigent fund for the maintenance of its aged and disabled members. From this fund the engineer who is no longer able to work at his trade was to receive a monthly pension, provided he had been a member of the union for ten years. The members are also entitled Robins, The Conductors, chap. xii.

to the privileges of the home at Highland Park, Illinois, taken over by the engineers, firemen, and trainmen in 1910. In 1910 the engineers felt that more adequate provision ought to be made for their superannuated members. A committee was appointed to look into the matter and to report to the 1912 convention. From the discussions carried on in the journal between 1910 and 1912 one might reasonably conclude that the engineers were not yet prepared for a compulsory pension plan. The younger members felt that an old-age pension would impose an unequal burden on them as compared with the older members. Again, it was thought that the high dues necessary to maintain a pension fund would prevent a great many young men from joining the Brotherhood.

For the foregoing reasons the convention of 1912 declared against a compulsory pension system and was satisfied with the introduction of a voluntary plan. It was provided that this plan was to be administered by a board of governors, consisting of all the members of the Advisory Board of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Any members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers enjoying good physical health might become a member of the association. The dues to be paid were to be graded according ⚫ to the age of the member, and the benefits depended on the number of months for which dues had been paid. A minimum benefit, however, of $25 a month was to be paid to all engineers of good standing who had been members of the association for one year and who were unable to perform the duties of an engineer or had been retired on account of age. In 1915 a number of important modifications were made in the pension law. It was decided that for the future no application for membership in the association would be received from those over sixty years of age and that after July 30, 1916, no application would be received from those over fifty. All applicants for membership were to be required to pass a physical examination. It was further provided that after June 30, 1916, members who were qualified to join the pension association and had failed to make application would be debarred from the benefits of the indigent fund.1

1 Constitution and Statutes of International Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, pp. 94-108 (1917).