RECEIPTS FROM ALL SOURCES AND BENEFITS PAID TO LOCAL UNIONS-JUNE 1, 1908, TO MAY 31, 1909 Mailers The supplies, sundries, etc., column includes receipts from cash returned, from the sale of supplies, returned transportation of Home inmates, donations to the Home library fund, and arrearages collected on the eight-hour assessment. RECEIPTS FROM ALL SOURCES AND BENEFITS PAID TO LOCAL UNIONS-JUNE 1, 1908, TO MAY 31, 1909 ages collected on the eight-hour assessment, interest and other sundry receipts. The supplies, sundries, etc., column includes receipts from cash returned, from the sale of supplies, returned transportation of Home inmates, donations to the Home library fund, arrear†The receipts here given include individual subscriptions, $78.29; advertising, $3,353.86. THE OLD AGE PENSION FUND. In this report it is unnecessary to reproduce the The press history of the old age pension fund. has given so much publicity to this great feature of our beneficent policy that the manner of its inauguration is as well known to non-members as to members of the International Typographical Union. No trade union undertaking in America has been so widely discussed or carefully watched by students of economical and sociological subjects. All marvel at the successful inauguration of the plan and at the ease with which it became a part of our business. The old age pension law is a monument to the wisdom of the convention that framed it and to the membership which placed thereon the stamp of its approval by an overwhelming majority. The fund is young. Our experience with it is limited, in the collection of the assessment, to fourteen months-two months in the last fiscal year and twelve in the present year, closing May 31, 1909. It was estimated by the committee preparing the law that an assessment of one-half of I per cent on the total earnings of all members would produce $168,000 per year, and it was thought that the annual payments to pensioners would aggregate $104,000. This estimate was deemed conservative and was based upon the best data then obtainable. Actual experience with the fund has proven surprising. Its receipts have been far in excess of the estimate and the expenditures therefrom considerably less than was anticipated, with this result: No other 738, or practically $897 per member. American trade union can show an equal average earning capacity. We have been exceedingly for While tunate in enjoying a prosperous year. other trades have had as many as two-thirds of their members unemployed, the printing business in union offices has been uniformly good, and to the steady employment of the great majority of the membership is due the large sum received upon the pension assessment. The pension is paid once in every four weeks, the plan being to give each pensioner thirteen checks in twelve months. It will be remembered payments upon the pension began with the month of August, 1908. At the close of business on May 31, 1909, ten payments had been made, covering the forty weeks ending May 10, 1909. The amount paid to pensioners, as was shown in the of was $67,580, an foregoing table, average $1,689.50 per week. Had this ratio been maintained for fifty-two weeks-one year-the demands upon the fund would still have been far less than its revenue. The possibility of constantly increasing expenditures, because of the continual addition of names to the pension roll, is discussed by the executive council in its report. Of Applications for the pension to the number of 647 had been received up to May 31, 1909. this number 48 petitions were disapproved, I was withdrawn, 580 were approved and action upon 18 was pending. Death invaded the ranks of the pensioners on 38 occasions, leaving 542 pensioners on the roll on the date above named. The following table contains a list of unions having members upon the pension list, the number of members on the pension roll from each local, the amount paid to them to May 31, 1909, and the total membership of each union: Balance in fund May 31, 1909........ .$159,767 17 The foregoing statement shows a comparatively small amount of interest to have been received upon the pension fund. To obtain the highest rate of interest the surplus in the fund was divided into time deposits. On such deposits interest is paid but once in six months. For this reason the interest actually received on the fund during the fiscal year appears small, but the accumulated interest which will be received in the next fiscal year will show the surplus fund to be earning 3 per cent compounded semi-annually. In the twelve months covered by the above table the average paying membership of the International Typographical Union was 44,921. monthly receipts from the pension assessment have averaged $16,789.05; 37.3 cents per member per month, or $4.48 per member per year. These figures mean that the total earnings of the average membership during the year aggregated, $40,293, 69.550 35 2, Philadelphia, Pa. 901 45 5,984 00 3, Cincinnati, Ohio. 515 14 1,988 00 4, Albany, NY. 424 14 1,500 00 5, Columbus, Ohio. 269 5 464 00 6, New York, N. Y. 6,553 148 18,636 00 7, Pittsburg, Pa.. 768 00 8, St. Louis, Mo.. 772.00 100.00 488 00 471 732 00 1,664 00 194 7 960 00 3,304 29 3,932 00 17, New Orleans, La. 18. Detroit, Mich. 20, Nashville, Tenn.. 340 7 896 00 21, San Francisco, Cal. 2,160 00 22, Dubuque, Iowa. 23, Milwaukee, Wis. 27, Mobile, Ala. 44.00 160 00 132 00 28. Galveston, Texas 30, St. Paul, Minn. 156 00 330 340 00 33, Providence, R. I. 173 160 00 Thus the 34, Columbia, S. C. 45 160 00 35, Evansville, Ind 62 160 00 39, Grand Rapids, Mich.. 106 208 00 42, Minneapolis, Minn. 433 240 00 43, Charleston, S. C..... 45, Leavenworth, Kan. 26 64.00 35 160 00 46. Sacramento, Cal. 162 624 00 47, New Haven, Conn.. 116 160 00 48, Atlanta, Ga 222 160 00 154, Ann Arbor, Mich.. *Includes one withdrawn. An analysis of the ages of the pension applicants develops the notable fact that the average age of the 647 applicants is 69.6 years. Of the total number, 62.5 per cent (405) are between 60 and 70 years; 33 per cent (214) are septuagena rians; 4.1 per cent (27) are octogenarians; while one is a nonagenarian. There are now two women on the pension roll-Miss E. Louise Bryant, of New Haven (Conn.) Union No. 47, and Mrs. Elizabeth V. Foran, of San Francisco (Cal.) Union No. 21. DISAPPROVED APPLICATIONS. In the considering of applications for the pension the executive council experienced difficulty in getting satisfactory data concerning the continuous membership of some applicants on account of incomplete local records and the absence of a record of all members at headquarters. It was surprised to find among the petitioners a number who had not been active members of the organization for several years. These applicants had been on the honorary rolls of local unions, yet claimed continuous membership, and were aggrieved when their petitions were denied. In two or three cases the applicant was not, at the time of filing his pe tition, an active member of a local union, but based his claim for the pension upon the fact that he had held active membership for twenty continuous years before taking a withdrawal card or going on the honorary roll of a local union. Others had been suspended or expelled, and reinstated, without the payment of accumulated dues. Some had been in and out of the organization on honorable withdrawal cards. As construed by the executive council and the Boston convention of the International Union, an applicant must have been a continuous active member in good standing for twenty years immediately preceding the date on which his petition for the pension is filed to ren der him eligible thereto. Persons on the honorary, exempt, or retired lists of local unions, or holding honorable withdrawal cards, are in no sense beneficiary members of the International Typographical Union. Membership in the parent organization can only be maintained by the regular payment of dues and assessments in monthly sequence, either by the individual or for him by his union. In the light of this fact, the applicants to whom the pension has been denied were not eligible to participate in the fund. THE TYPOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL. The improvement of THE JOURNAL, how to make it more interesting, instructive and useful to the organization, has been the subject of much thought. While our official paper has always been recognized as a leader in its class, there is no height in trade union journalism to which we, as an organization, can not aspire. Of copy there has been no dearth. The problem has been to find space for it and keep the cost of THE JOURNAL within its rightful revenue. In an effort to do this, the editor's blue pencil has often worked overtime, much to the disappointment of many correspondents. Copy received has been edited with a view to eliminating from THE JOURNAL personalities and personal differences which should be settled among ourselves and not paraded before the public. Experience has taught us that the greatest good to the greatest number can only be attained by presenting a solid front to the common enemy. This has been the purpose and policy of THE JOURNAL and its editor, and it is a pleasure to state that all writers for the official paper are animated with a desire to build up rather than tear down or in any way hamper the progress of the organization. Though there have been differences of opinion between some of the correspondents and your secretary-treasurer, our relations in the main have been most pleasant. In connection with this subject let us look for a moment at the cost of the publication of THE JOURNAL, as shown in the following figures: RECEIPTS-JUNE 1, 1908, TO MAY 31, 1909. Subscriptions from non-members... Subscriptions from members.. Subscriptions from apprentices, etc. Union cards Advertising Total $78 29 26,436 55 202 03 489 00 3,353 86 .$30,559 73 In the foregoing calculation only the actual receipts and expenditures are given. Advertising accounts outstanding on May 31, 1909, amounting to $375.11, were not considered. The receipts from advertising show a slight increase ($372.54) over the previous year, but the revenue from this source is by no means satisfactory, although the agency handling the advertising has exerted every possible effort to add to our patronage. Perhaps we are too conservative. Other trade papers are carrying the ads of concerns that are not union, and, in some cases, are on the unfair list. It has been our policy to refuse all copy from advertisers who might prove offensive to our readers because of their attitude towards labor. Magazines accepting such advertisements justify their position by the claim that the money of these advertisers is "as good to them as to any one." Again, there are many good advertisers who have all trade papers upon their "unfair lists." Suffice it to say that nothing will be left undone that can add to the volume of acceptable advertising appearing in THE JOURNAL. The twelve issues of THE JOURNAL, printed and mailed in this year, comprised 1,616 pages and cover, a total of 1,664 pages including cover. BONDS OF LOCAL OFFICERS. Section 17, of the general laws of the International Union, requires every subordinate union to bond its fiduciary officers in an adequate sum in some reputable surety company. The law further provides that the officers of each local union shall report to the secretary-treasurer the amount for which the union's officers are bonded, the company issuing the bond and the renewals thereof from time to time. Numerous complaints have been made concerning this law by the smaller unions. The objecting locals hold that it is an injustice to require them to bond their secretaries when the amount in their treasuries is so small. In some instances secretaries have resigned rather than give bond, claiming that the law is a reflection upon their honesty. I am convinced, however, that the law is an excellent one, and that its application should be further extended. At the present time the bond of each local secretary remains with the president, or executive committee, of the interested union. Occasions have arisen |