arately for these groups; but as the total amounts given to the minor children are not very great the averages are affected but slightly by combining all the widows into one group. The averages for members fluctuate from year to year between $180 and $300, seldom falling outside of these limits. If the means of five annual averages are considered, then the increase from 1890-1894 to 1903-1907 for the Adriatic fund is from $198 to $257, and for the Mediterranean fund from $188 to $235. To appreciate the actual purchasing value of these pensions in Italy, it is necessary to keep in mind not only the general level of prices and the standard of living, but also the wages paid. Roughly the widow's average pension equals about one-half of the employee's average pension. Taking the mean of the averages for all the funds for pensions granted each year, 1902 to 1907, the employee's pension equals $241, the widow's pension, $123, or 51 per cent, while the average pension of a family of minor orphans equals $53 per annum, or about 22 per cent of the employee's pension. When the entire number of current pensions is considered, the average amount appears to be much smaller and less subject to fluctuations, though the tendency to a higher average pension is unmistakable. In the Mediterranean fund the average current pension for 1889 to 1893 was $160, and for 1903 to 1907, $192; in the Adriatic fund the increase was from $172 to $206. The difference between the average amount of the current pension and that of the pension granted is easily accounted for by the survival of many very low pensions granted many years ago when the wages of the Italian railroad employees were very much lower than they are now. |