tions of the brotherhood were very broad and included care for the workers in case of sickness, old age, or disability because of accidents, provision for their widows and orphans, improvement of the morals of the working population, and furtherance of amicable relations between the workers and the administration. The latter was required to further the ends of the brotherhood by establishing free schools and hospitals, employing physicians, and subsidizing the relief funds which were ordered to be established in connection with each brotherhood.

The minister of finance, under whose jurisdiction the state miners were prior to 1873, was ordered to issue detailed regulations in regard to the activity of these relief funds, but none were issued for some 20 years, and great variety existed in these funds before that time. On April 8 (2) 1881, i. e., about eight years after these miners had been transferred to the Ministry of State Domains, temporary regulations were promulgated; they were confirmed and made permanent on May 26 (June 7), 1893, and are still in force.

The relief funds of these brotherhoods combine the functions of a pension fund, sick relief fund, funeral benefit society, and savings and loan association. The sick relief activity of the funds has already been mentioned in connection with the subject of sickness insurance. Pensions to superannuated or invalid members of the brotherhood, their widows, and children represent the most important branch of this activity.

The regulations governing these benefit funds, as adopted in 1881 and slightly modified in 1893, are as follows:(")

All workers and office employees over 18 years of age who are engaged for at least a year are members of the brotherhood and of the relief fund. With other employees membership is optional.

The sources of income of the fund, established by the law of 1861, consist of (1) deductions from the earnings, 2 to 3 per cent (all funds except one making deductions of only 2 per cent), (2) contributions from the establishment equal to the total sum of deductions from the workers' earnings, (3) fines imposed upon the employees, and (4) other accidental sources. In cases of necessity the general fund of the brotherhood may be called upon to furnish the necessary

sums.

Full old-age pensions are granted after thirty-five years of employment and amount to one-half the average wages or salary for the entire period. In a few occupations the harmful nature of the work is taken into consideration in shortening this period. Thus each year spent in dry grinding of steel blades counts for three years of

(a) Otvietstvennost predpriminatelei za uviechia i smert rabochikh, V. P. LitwinovFalinskii, 1900, p. 264. Kassy Gornorabochikh, G. Th. Tigranov, 1896, p. 9.

service. But pensions of smaller amounts must be granted when the employee is incapacitated for continuing in employment on account of old age, invalidity, chronic diseases, or injuries sustained. Under any of these circumstances the pensions amount as follows: After ten and less than fifteen years of employment, onesixth of the average wages; after fifteen and less than twenty years of employment, one-fifth; after twenty and less than twenty-five years, one-fourth; after twenty-five and less than thirty years, onethird; and after twenty to thirty-five years of employment, one-half of the average annual earnings.

In case of death the widow having no children under 16 years of age receives until death or remarriage one-third of the pension to which the husband would have been entitled. If she has one child under 16 years of age she receives one-sixth additional, i. e., one-half of the husband's pension. If she has two or more children under 16 years of age she receives an additional one-third, or two-thirds of the pension altogether. If the widow is incapacitated for work she may receive a pension up to one-half of her husband's pension. An orphan under 16 years of age receives one-third of his father's pension; two or more orphans receive two-thirds of the pension. The same rates apply to children of a deceased employee whose mother does not receive any pension either because of remarriage or admission to a convent. Orphans may receive pensions even if the father had not been employed long enough to entitle him to one. When incapacitated for work children receive pensions for life, otherwise only until the completion of the sixteenth year. In case of transfer from one state establishment to another, the years of service in the former establishment are counted; the pensions are paid by the fund of the last establishment, and the accounts settled among all the funds concerned.

The fund takes charge of the cases of sickness after the expiration of two months, during which medical aid and financial assistance are supplied by the management of the establishments, the fund meeting the cost of treatment and paying benefits equal to those paid during the first two months, namely, to the single man or widower with dependent relatives, one-third of his wages, to the married man without children, one-half of his wages, and to the married man with children, two-thirds of his wages.

If an employee is dismissed because of disability due to poor health before having earned a pension, he receives a lump sum, which must not exceed one-eighth of his annual earnings. In case of death his widow may receive a sum equal to one-half the benefit he would receive, and if he leaves a widow with children under 16 years of age, or children without a mother, they receive three-fourths

of that sum. Other benefits may be granted in cases of great need not to exceed one month's earnings, if approved in each case by the general members' meeting.

The fund is also authorized to receive savings of the members, for which it may pay interest not to exceed 4 per cent per annum, and grant loans from its free funds, upon which it must charge a higher rate of interest than it pays upon the deposits of savings.

The administration of the affairs of the funds and the brotherhoods is intrusted to the general meetings of members and a council (prikaz) consisting of a chairman appointed by the administrators and four members elected by the membership. Thus the management of the funds is practically in the hands of the membership.

The financial organization is not based upon scientific computations, the premiums and pensions being entirely independent of each other. The reserves of the funds have been rapidly accumulating, but as the largest pensions are not due until after 35 years' membership in the funds, they evidently have not yet been called upon to meet their heaviest obligations. The accumulations of all the funds on January 1 (13), 1881, amounted to 396;344 rubles ($204,117); on January 1, 1887, to 660,268 rubles ($340,038); on January 1, 1895, to 1,130,139 rubles ($582,022); and on January 1, 1907, to 2,042,762 rubles ($1,052,022).

The length of service of the membership of these funds is shown in the following table:

MEMBERSHIP OF THE STATE MINERS' BROTHERHOODS ON JANUARY 1, 1907, BY
LENGTH OF SERVICE.

[Source: Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Ob obespechneii rabochikh na sluchai boliezni.]

Members.

1

す

The figures in the next table indicate that a large number of employees avail themselves of the partial pensions after 10 years of employment. The number of pensioners on January 1, 1907, was 3,399, who received an aggregate pension of $61,574 annually, or $18.12 per annum. According to the relation of the pension to earnings, these 3,399 pensioners were distributed as follows:

NUMBER AND PER CENT OF PENSIONERS AND TOTAL AND AVERAGE PENSIONS PAID BY THE STATE MINERS' BROTHERHOODS ON JANUARY 1, 1907, BY RATE OF PENSION PAID.

[Source: Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Ob obespechneii rabochikh na sluchai bolezni.]

a This total is not the correct sum of the items; the figures are quoted as found in the original report.

The total income of these funds amounted in 1906 to 293,378 rubles ($151,090), of which 109,915 rubles ($56,606), or 37.5 per cent, were contributed by the members; 95,410 rubles ($49,136), or 32.5 per cent, by the management of the mines and factories; the interest on investments was 52,662 rubles ($27,121), or 17.9 per cent; interest on loans 23,987 rubles ($12,354), or 8.2 per cent, and miscellaneous revenues amounted to 11,404 rubles ($5,873), or 3.9 per cent. The expenditures for the same year amounted to 193,032 rubles ($99,411), of which the larger share was spent for pensions, 108,696 rubles ($55,978) or 56.3 per cent; of this sum, 80,560 rubles ($41,488), or 41.7 per cent, was paid to members of the brotherhood and 28,136 rubles ($14,490), or 14.6 per cent, for pensions to widows and orphans. Temporary benefits for sickness claimed 59,986 rubles ($30,893), of which only a small share, 7,646 rubles ($3,938), was used for medical help, as the law grants such necessary help to the employees gratuitously. Miscellaneous expenses amounted to 24,350 rubles ($12,540).

The loan operations of the brotherhood are considerable; 637,498 rubles ($328,311) were loaned in one year, and 628,149 rubles ($323,497) were repaid. The savings deposits were very much smaller, 14,980 rubles ($7,715), and the withdrawals, 13,110 rubles ($6,752), nearly equaled that sum.

RAILROAD EMPLOYEES' PENSION FUNDS.

The army of railroad employees, which is rapidly growing in Russia, has been enjoying for the last two decades a better provision for old-age and invalidity insurance than any other body of workmen and salaried employees in Russia. This is particularly true of the state railway employees; and as the Russian Government owns and operates over two-thirds of the entire railway system of the country, the vast majority of the railway employees enjoys the benefits of the system. But pension funds are obligatory for the private railway

employers as well. The law demanding the establishment of such pension funds by the private railway companies was passed on May 30 (June 11), 1888, six years before the law of June 3 (15), 1894, establishing the central pension fund for the state railway employees. The following table shows the development of state and private railways in Russia from 1880 to 1905:

MILEAGE OF STATE AND PRIVATE RAILWAYS IN RUSSIA, 1880 TO 1905. [Source: Ministerstvo Putei Soobshchenia. Otdiel Statistiki i Kartografii. Statishcheski sbornik ministerstva putei soobshchenia. Vypusk, 1-90.]

The first pension fund for railroad employees was established as early as 1858 on the Warsaw-Vienna Railway. Other private companies established funds within the next decade. By 1880 such pension funds existed in 14 lines operating over 5,500 versts (3,646 miles), which was nearly one-third of the railway mileage in Russia. These pension funds were not based upon strict insurance principles. They were based upon length of service of the member and his salary at the time of separation from the service, and were to be paid to the members of the fund, their widows and orphans. There was little effort toward adjustment of the revenues and obligations of the funds, and this lack of adjustment very soon became noticeable, so that many of these funds went into liquidation, while in other cases such liquidation was forced upon them by the order of the Government.

The first effort to form a pension fund on strict scientific insurance principles was made in 1877 by the Kiew-Brest line, now a part of the Southwestern Railway System. Two smaller railway companies organized similar funds in 1885. Other railways desired to follow this example, but were hampered by the lack of scientific statistical data upon which to base their rates. The Ministry of Ways of Communication decided to elaborate a plan for one central pension fund for all private railroads. In 1881 a plan was presented by the ministry, but met the opposition of the minister of finance, who pointed out that a uniform system for all railroads might prove too heavy a financial burden for the less prosperous roads, and because of the guarantee of the interest on bonds and the dividends by the state treasury, indirectly a burden upon the latter. The minister