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.

[Footnote 119: The Tailor, Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 16.]

The unions which have adopted the benefit have all experienced
difficulty in safeguarding it against fraudulent claims. They usually
require, for eligibility to the benefit, that the wife be not in ill
health at the time the member is admitted to the union. In the unions
which have had the benefit longest in operation it has been found
possible materially to lessen the number of claims for the wife's
benefit after some experience in its operation.

The following table shows the percentage of claims paid by the Painters
for wife's and member's death benefits for a series of biennial periods:

====================================
| Percentage | Percentage
| of Wife's | of Member's
Year. | Death | Death
| Benefits. | Benefits.
------------------------------------
1889-1890 | 49.1 | 50.9
1890-1892 | 43.5 | 56.5
1892-1894 | 45 | 55
1894-1896 | 37.5 | 62.5
1896-1900 | 35.3 | 64.7
1900-1902 | 32.5 | 67.5
1902-1904 | 32.6 | 67.4