If a member of the fund marries after 10 years of membership his wife is immediately credited from the treasury subsidy fund with an amount equal to that which would have accumulated to her account if she had been married from the beginning of her membership. The widow's pension must not exceed two-thirds of the maximum limit of the member's pension, and if her account exceeds the capitalized value of that pension the difference is paid out to her in a lump sum. The widow's pension is paid until death or remarriage. Any voluntary contributions which had been made by the husband to her account are paid out to her at the time of remarriage. If a member dies before completing ten years of membership his widow receives half of her husband's account (the entire account if no children survive), any voluntary contributions which may have been made in her favor, and a bonus equal to the one which he would have received were he forced to leave the service because of complete disability (one-half the average monthly salary for each year of service). No pension or benefit rights are acquired by the wife who has married the employee after he was granted a pension. Children's pensions have also been considerably modified. When the parent receives the increased pension for complete invalidity each child is entitled during the life of that parent to one-twelfth of the parent's pension, but the total for all children must not exceed one-fourth. After death of a male employee who was a member of the fund for less than 10 years the children receive lump-sum benefits equal to onesixth of the average monthly salary of the parent for each year of service. In addition to this they receive half the account of the parent, and where no widow survives the entire account of the father. If the deceased parent held membership in the fund for 10 years or more, each child receives one-sixth of such pension as the parent would be entitled to if leaving service because of complete disability; if the deceased parent was receiving an increased pension at the time of death, then one-sixth of such pension; the total for all children in either case must not exceed one-half of such pension. Children of deceased female employees, with father living, receive a pension only in case of the father's disability. Orphans' pensions are 50 per cent greater than when one parent survives. If both parents were in the state railway service children receive their pensions at death of the father, even if the mother remains in the railway service. In case of the death of both parents the orphans receive the larger of the two pensions to which they were entitled. At the remarriage of the widow the children receive her share, but the combined total must not exceed the limit established for orphans. The general conditions governing the payment of pensions to children remain the same as they were established in the law of 1894. The same is true with regard to the rules concerning capitalization of pensions, the payment of pension for injuries, the methods of computing the length of service, the adjustment of accounts in cases of reestablishment in service after resignation, methods of business procedure, and methods of administration of the fund. The redistribution of the 10,000,000 rubles ($5,150,000) granted by the treasury was effected in accordance with special regulations published December 24, 1903 (January 6, 1904), and February 4 (17), 1904. A special fund of 200,000 rubles ($103,000) was also created for granting benefits to persons forced to leave the railway service on account of temporary sickness requiring treatment. FINANCIAL AND STATISTICAL DATA. The publication of the pension statistical data in 1890 made possible the organization of funds on private railroads under the law of 1888. At the same time the liquidation of the funds not conforming to the demands of the law was undertaken by the Ministry of Ways of Communication according to an imperial order promulgated on the same day on which the railroad pension law was approved. Fourteen pension funds, established under the old principles, existed at the time. An actuarial examination of these fourteen funds showed that only three, organized with some regard to actuarial science, were found solvent, and the other eleven were financially unsound. In the case of an important railroad fund, for instance, the assets on January 1, 1893, were 1,700,000 rubles ($875,500), while the obligations, computed on an actuarial basis, amounted to 5,500,000 rubles ($2,832,500). In the fund of another railroad the assets and obligations were 1,050,000 rubles ($540,750) and 4,823,000 rubles ($2,483,845), respectively. The liquidation in almost all cases was accomplished by means of an organization of a new fund in conformance with the law and tables. of 1888; and several railroads contributed large amounts to the existing assets of the pension funds to straighten out their finances. Seven of these railroads organized pension funds, while four preferred the organization of savings-benefit funds. Altogether 16 pension funds and 7 savings-benefit funds were organized in conformity with the law of 1888. Subsequently several of the railroads which had organized these funds were purchased by the State. By an order of the Government, approved May 26 (June 7), 1895, in case of five railroads the pension funds were joined with the State Railway Employees' Pension Fund, while the pension fund of the southwestern railroads and the savings-benefit funds of the Nikolai Railroad (St. Petersburg-Moscow Railroad), the St. Petersburg-Warsaw Railroad, the Moscow-Nizhnit-Novgorod Railroad, and the Moscow-Kursk Railroad were left undisturbed provisionally for 10 years. In an official publication of the Ministry of Ways of Communication (a) for the year 1900 the statement is made that in the beginning of 1905 there would be only one central pension fund for the employees of all state railroads, but the reports for 1906 and 1907 still show the individual existence of the one pension fund and four savings-benefit funds of the five railways mentioned. A statistical study of the activity of all the railroad funds presents considerable difficulties because of the lack of necessary statistical information. The publication of the annual statistical reports as to the membership of all funds was recently suspended by the ministry because of a contemplated change in the organization of this statistical service, and the latest report published refers to January 1, 1903. For the financial operations of all these funds reports are available only for 1904 and 1905; and the latest available information for the mileage and total number of employees refers to the end of 1905. It is possible, therefore, to give only a more or less complete statement for all railroad pension funds for 1904 and 1905, while for the State Railway Employees' Pension Fund (which does not include all the state railways, as explained above), a more complete statistical presentation is possible. MILEAGE AND EMPLOYEES OF RAILROADS AND MEMBERSHIP AND ASSETS OF BENEFIT FUNDS FOR SPECIFIED YEARS, BY CLASS OF FUND. [Source: Svodnye balansy pensionnykh i sberegatel'no-vspomogatel'nykh Kass dieistvuiushchikh na russkikh zheleznykh dorogakh, 1905 and 1906. Statistika sluzhashchikh na zheleznykh dorogakh, uchastnikov pensiennykh i sberegatel'novspomogatelnykh Kass. 1903. Statisticheski Sbornik Ministerstva Putei Soobshchenia. Vypusk 89. Zheleznyia dorogi v 1905.] Administration des Chemins de Fer de l'Empire. Recueil de la Direction du Compte des l'ensions. St. Petersburg, 1900, p. 13. 5,524 944 11, 420, 274 475, 485 11,895, 759 75,760, 478 12, 131, 595 533,819 12, 665, 414 82,621,142 As the data in the table refer to different years, it is not possible to make exact comparisons; but it appears that (with the exception of a few small local, mostly narrow-gauge roads) all railroads are provided with either pension or savings-benefit funds, and that about nine-tenths of the railroads, judging by mileage or by the number of employees, have pension funds, and only a few railroads (three large state-owned railroad systems and a few very small privately owned railroads) still have savings-benefit funds. Gradually the savings funds of these three state-railroad systems will be absorbed into the central State Railway Employees' Pension Fund, and all railroads will eventually be provided for in a uniform way. A comparison of the membership of all the funds with the total number of employees shows that less than one-half of the employees hold such membership; but the class of the employees must be taken into consideration. PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES AND DAY LABORERS ON RUSSIAN RAILROADS IN 1905. [Source: Statisticheski Sbornik Ministerstva Putei Soobshchenia. Vypusk 89. Zheleznyia dorogi v 1905.] The day laborers are mainly unskilled laborers employed in construction work, and they do not come within the scope of the pension system. The total number of permanent employees in 1905 was 404,593; in 1904 the number was 386,557; and in 1903 it was 368,266. The figures for 1903 and 1904 did not include about 5,000 permanent employees of the so-called "local" railways, which are reported separately from the other railroads. The total membership of the funds in 1903 was 330,896. For the statistics of membership of all the funds data are available for 1898 to 1903. In the table following the membership is shown by occupations. It has grown rapidly from 242,819 on January 1, 1899, to 330,896 on January 1, 1903. Among the occupations are included office employees, track walkers, telegraphers, trainmen, and ordinary workmen and watchmen. 67725°-VOL 2-11--50 MEMBERSHIP OF ALL RUSSIAN RAILROAD PENSION AND SAVINGS-BENEFIT FUNDS, [Source: Ministerstvo Putei Soobshchenia. Upravlenie zheleznykh dorog. Statistika sluzhashchikh na ! The next table shows the membership, by sex and marital condition, and also the number of children. As the widows and orphans are also protected by these pensions and, in a lesser degree, by the savings-benefit funds, an effort has been made in this table to compute the total number of persons protected by these funds, by adding to the membership the total number of wives and children. The husbands of married female employees are not included, since they are provided for only in exceptional cases. Within four years the total number of persons so protected has increased from less than three-quarters of a million to nearly a million persons: NUMBER OF PERSONS PROTECTED BY THE PENSION AND SAVINGS-BENEFIT |