organizations for the adoption of such an arrangement. On different
occasions the national conventions considered the wisdom of such
proposals, weighing in turn the advisability of such a measure and the
ability of the organization to enforce it. The thorough discussion of
the subject among the Engineers and the Conductors undoubtedly prepared
the younger organizations for the settlement of this question at an
earlier stage in their development. The Trainmen adopted compulsory
insurance in 1888, while the two older organizations were in the midst
of the struggle.

[Footnote 80: Locomotive Firemen's Magazine, Vol. 21, p. 181.]

The Switchmen adopted it in 1892, and, after reorganization, again on
October 1, 1901, and the Telegraphers on January 1, 1898. The Letter
Carriers alone retain the system of optional insurance.

Only in the Switchmen's Union and in the Brotherhood of
Maintenance-of-Way Employees has the operation of the compulsory system
met with interruption. The compulsory rule of the Maintenance-of-Way
Employees during the early nineties was frequently repealed and
readopted. The opposition to it was due in a large measure to
uncertainty as to the number of yearly assessments necessary and also to
the fact that many of the members carried insurance in old-line
companies.[81] The Switchmen's insurance department suffered a
suspension from 1894 to 1897, and although the Union had compulsory
insurance before its suspension, on reorganization a voluntary system
was adopted, and not until October 1, 1901, did the Union succeed in
reëstablishing a compulsory system.

[Footnote 81: Advance Advocate, Vol. 5, p. 485.]