The union pays a benefit on the death of any member in good standing. It
pays no wife's funeral benefit nor any disability benefit. The benefit,
when established in 1892, was fixed at sixty dollars, and has since been
raised to seventy dollars in 1906. The annual per capita cost of the
benefit has never exceeded eighty-four and has averaged less than eighty
cents. This extremely low rate has been due to the large number of
lapses. The beneficiary system of the union has not been highly
developed and members of the union quitting the trade drop their
membership. There is no sort of provision whereby members may retain
their beneficiary rights on the payment of less than full dues. Only a
small part of the dues are devoted to beneficiary purposes. The net
result in such systems is that the members of the union get insurance at
a low rate at the expense of those leaving the trade.

A second type is that of the Brotherhood of Carpenters. In their system,
death and disability benefits are combined and a benefit is paid on the
death of a member's wife. The benefits are graded but the maximum
amounts are not large. The following table shows the system as a whole:

BENEFICIARY SYSTEM OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS.
=====================================================
Member's Death | Wife's Death |Disability
Benefit. | Benefit. |Benefit.
-----------------------------------------------------
$100 on 6 months'| $25 on 6 months'| $100 on 1 year's
membership. | membership. | membership.
| |
$200 on 1 year's | $50 on 1 year's | $200 on 2 years'
membership. | membership. | membership.
| |