unions in this class in recent years a proportionately large number of
young men. The limitation on the age of the insured has contributed to
this result. As these members grow older, the death rate will increase.
As has been noted above, however, it has not been primarily the
cheapness of the insurance but the combination of death and disability
insurance which has been the advantage possessed by the union systems.

The primary purpose of the insurance features of these organizations is
to obtain for the members and their families a higher degree of economic
security. The two great economic contingencies against which the railway
organizations provide insurance are, first, the loss to a family in
consequence of the death of the income-earning member, and second, the
economic hardship involved in shifting from one industry to another made
necessary by certain severe physical accidents. Insurance paid to the
totally disabled employee, or to the family of a deceased member, is
frequently the means of maintaining the standard of living of the
unfortunate family. The risks to which the railway employee is exposed
are due to the nature of the trade, the negligence of a fellow workman,
or the negligence of the employers. Compensation for only the last class
is given by the law. Against the other two kinds of accident the railway
employee must himself make provision, and this provision is amplest and
surest when made by insurance. The organizations, as we have seen, have
never entirely subordinated the idea of benevolence to the principles of
business. In the early years of its history, each grand convention set
aside large sums for charitable payments. Before the adoption and
satisfactory operation of the Engineers' insurance system, it is
estimated that eight tenths of the husbands and fathers of those who
applied for charity were uninsured.[86] Purely charitable relief was
found inadequate and the present systems represent a compromise between
charity and business.