The definitions adopted by the unions are intended as guides for and restrictions upon the administrative officials, but in all cases the latter are given considerable latitude. The cost of the benefit, therefore, depends largely upon the strictness with which the officials construe the rules. In those unions where the injuries entitling to a benefit are not specifically defined, the officers have great discretionary power. Indeed, even if they have the best intention, it is in many trades often impossible to obtain positive evidence as to the totality or permanency of the disability. For example, the Brotherhood of Painters find it almost impossible to pass intelligently upon claims for disability resulting from lead poisoning.
The following table shows the sums paid for death and disability claims in certain unions for which statistics are procurable.
| SUMS PAID FOR DEATH AND DISABILITY BENEFITS. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union. | Year. | Sum of Benefits Paid. | Percentage of Benefits Paid. | ||
| Death. | Disability. | Death. | Disability | ||
| Brotherhood of Carpenters | 1894-1896 | $ 58,527.10 | $10,500.00 | 85 | 15 |
| 1896-1898 | 59,108.44 | 11,100.00 | 85 | 15 | |
| 1900-1902 | 159,249.98 | 7,900.00 | 95.3 | 4.7 | |
| 1902-1904 | 243,218.25 | 16,700.00 | 93.6 | 6.4 | |
| 1904-1906 | 306,295.44 | 28,250.00 | 91.6 | 8.4 | |
| Painters | 1889-1890 | 2,894.00 | 250.00 | 92.1 | 7.9 |
| 1890-1892 | 6,900.00 | 750.00 | 90.2 | 9.8 | |
| 1892-1894 | 10,548.00 | 1,475.00 | 87.8 | 12.2 | |
| 1898-1899 | 7,150.00 | 600.00 | 92.2 | 7.8 | |
| 1902-1003 | 30,307.00 | 3,050.00 | 90.9 | 9.1 | |
| 1903-1904 | 37,711.25 | 1,850.00 | 95.4 | 4.6 | |
| 1904-1905 | 43,855.50 | 4,250.00 | 91.2 | 8.8 | |
| Wood Workers. | 1900 | 2,850.00 | 250.00 | 92 | 8 |
| 1901 | 4,200.00 | 250.00 | 94.4 | 5.6 | |
| 1903 | 5,775.00 | 500.00 | 90.6 | 9.4 | |
| 1904 | 7,574.00 | 750.00 | 91.1 | 8.9 | |
| Iron Molders. | 1890-1895 | 56,172.00 | 2,400.00 | 96 | 4 |
| 1895-1899 | 36,899.00 | 3,600.00 | 91.2 | 8.8 | |
| 1899-1902 | 67,414.38 | 2,600.00 | 96.3 | 3.7 | |
| 1902-1907 | 259,554.86 | 19,600.00 | 93 | 7 | |
The addition of a disability benefit to the death benefit as appears from the table does not add greatly to the cost of maintaining the benefit. In general, the amount paid for disability ranges from five to ten per cent. of the total paid for both benefits. The cost of the benefits is somewhat increased also by the loss of dues from the time of the disability to the death of the insured.
An increasing number of unions pay a wife's death benefit as well as the regular death benefit. This form is of comparatively recent adoption and its success has not yet been thoroughly demonstrated. Nine American unions were reported to be paying this benefit in September, 1903, and eleven in September, 1904.[[114]] The following is a list of the unions reported as paying the benefit in 1904: Bakers and Confectioners, Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Cigar Makers, Compressed Air Workers, Lace Curtain Operatives, Freight Handlers, Painters, Paving Cutters, Photo-Engravers, Cotton Mule Spinners, Tailors.
The Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia took the initiative in the adoption of this benefit at the New York Convention in May, 1884,[[115]] and was immediately followed in the same year by the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners[[116]] and in 1887 by the Painters[[117]] and the Cigar Makers.[[118]] For the year ending September 30, 1904, the Carpenters, the Painters, and the Cigar Makers paid more than 92 per cent. of the whole sum expended by the eleven unions that have adopted this benefit.
The wife's death benefit is designed to defray the cost of burial. It is, therefore, small in amount, not exceeding fifty dollars in any of the unions in which it is important. The following table gives the minimum amounts of the wife's funeral benefit paid under the original and under the present rules in the five unions in which the benefit is of importance. The term of membership required for participation in the benefit is also shown.
| MINIMUM AMOUNT OF WIFE'S DEATH BENEFIT. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name of Union. | Originally. | In 1905. | ||
| Amount. | Required Period of Membership. | Amount. | Required Period of Membership. | |
| Bakers | $50 | 6 mo. | $50 | 6 mo. |
| Carpenters | 50 | 6 mo. | 25 | 6 mo. |
| Cigar Makers | 40 | 2 yr. | 40 | 2 yr. |
| Painters | 25 | 6 mo. | 50 | 1 yr. |
| Typographia | 25 | 1 yr. | 50 | none |
The wife's death benefit is not graded except in the case of the Carpenters, where the minimum benefit is twenty-five dollars for six months' and fifty dollars for one year's membership. The minimum given in the above table is in all other cases also the maximum.
The success of the wife's death or funeral benefit is not beyond controversy. The Tailors, who began to pay the benefit in 1889, abandoned it in 1898. The benefit was at first seventy-five dollars after three months' membership, but it was remodelled until in 1896 it became a graded benefit ranging from twenty-five dollars to fifty dollars according to the length of membership. The chief objection to the benefit was that unmarried members were taxed to support the benefit although they did not participate in the advantages. In 1898 Secretary Lennon declared that the benefit "was based on real injustice, giving one member more benefits for the same dues paid than to another."[[119]] In other unions which maintain the benefit this objection has been met to some extent, as in the Cigar Makers, by paying the benefit on the death of the widowed mother of an unmarried member provided she was solely dependent upon him for support. Provision is usually made that no member shall receive the wife's funeral benefit more than once. This rule is intended partly to prevent fraud but chiefly to meet the complaint that the benefit confers unequal advantages.