It is obvious that beneficiary features are only one of several factors
in retaining membership.

How far benefits attract members into the unions it is difficult to
estimate. In the Cigar Makers' Union, the membership in 1880 was 4440,
while in 1881 it was 14,604, an increase of 228 per cent. The increase
in 1880 over 1879 had, however, been very large. How far the rapid
increase in 1881 was due to the development of the beneficiary system
and how far to the natural growth consequent upon a period of industrial
activity can only be conjectured. In much the same way the rapid
increase in the membership of the Iron Molders, from 20,920 on January
1, 1896, to 41,189 on January 1, 1900, was certainly not due primarily
to the introduction of the sick benefit into that union.[7] The Boot and
Shoe Workers introduced a system of sick benefits on January 1, 1900. At
that time the union had a membership of 2910; at the close of the year
the members numbered 10,618, and on January i, 1904, the number had
increased to 69,290.[8] This phenomenal increase was not due chiefly to
the desire of the boot and shoe workers to insure themselves against
illness, but to the policy of the union in unionizing shoe plants by a
liberal granting of the use of the label.

[Footnote 7: Iron Molders' Journal, Vol. 33, p. 73; Vol. 36, p. 78.]

[Footnote 8: Proceedings of the Fifth Convention, Detroit, 1902; Shoe
Workers' Journal, Vol. 5, February, 1904, pp. 19, 25.]

The causes of an increase in membership are usually so intertwined that
nothing can be proved statistically as to the effect of the introduction
of beneficiary systems. The executive officers of the unions with