INCOME AND EXPENDITURES OF PENSION FUNDS AND SAVINGS-BENEFIT FUNDS OF RAILROADS, 1904 AND 1905-Concluded.

940,408

7,432, 008

Total expenditures and losses.... 4,133,526 1,337,387 5,470,913 6,491,600

Data are available for the State Railway Employees' Pension Fund from the date of its organization in 1895 to January 1, 1907. The assets at the end of the first year of its operations were $2,575,233, and after 13 years reached $38,565,513. The increase is uniformly continuous, except that during 1904 the increase in the assets was $7,377,676, due to the allowance by the state treasury of 10,000,000 rubles ($5,150,000) during that year, in accordance with the rules of June 2 (15), 1903.

ASSETS OF THE STATE RAILWAY EMPLOYEES' PENSION FUND ON JANUARY 1, 1895, AND 1899 TO 1907.

[Source: Ministerstvo Putei Soobshchenia. Upravlenie zheleznykh dorog. Sbornik upravlenia dielami pensionnoi kassy sluzhashchikh na kazionnykh zheleznykh dorogakh, 1897. Ministère des Voies de Communication. Administration des Chemins de fer de l'Empire. Recueil de la Direction du Comité des Pensions, 1900. Ministerstvo Putei Soobshchenia. Upravlenie zheleznykh dorog. Otchot pensionnoi kassy sluzhashikh na kazionnykh zheleznykh dorogakh, 1900-1907.]

The reports of the State Railway Employees' Pension Fund do not show any complete statement of income and expenditure. The main sources of revenue and the main expenditures for the years 1900 to 1906 are shown in the table following. Of the secondary sources of revenue, that from renting restaurant privileges is the most important. That was added after the reorganization of the fund in 1903, so that the chief sources may be classified into three groups-the employees' contributions, the state subsidy, and the interest on investments. In addition to the state subsidy shown, must be mentioned the annual payment of 450,000 rubles ($231,750) in gradual settlement of the assumed debt of 10,000,000 rubles ($5,150,000), with interest thereon, while the income from interest on investments is considerably reduced by frequent losses due to depreciation of securities.

PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF INCOME AND CLASSES OF EXPENDITURES OF THE STATE

RAILROAD EMPLOYEES' PENSION FUNDS, 1900 TO 1906.

[Source: Ministerstvo Putei Soobshchenia. Upravlenie zheleznykh dorog. Sbornik upravlenia dielam! pensionnoi kassy sluzhashchikh na kazionnyk zheleznykh dorogakh, 1897. Ministère des Voies de Communication. Administration des Chemins de fer de l'Empire. Recueil de la Direction du Comité des Pensions, 1900. Ministerstvo Putei Soobshchenia. Upravlenie zheleznykh dorog. Otchot pensionnoi kassy sluzhashikh na kazionnykh zheleznykh dorogakh, 1900-1906.]

Members' contributions:
Monthly deductions

(6 per cent)..

Admission fees.

Promotions...

Prize-money deduc

tions.

Voluntary payments.

$1,284,260 $1,435, 204 $1,556,236 $1,683,644 $1,555,310 $1,582. 862 $1,786,139

174,914 170.387
221,819 220, 174

237.824 230,226
209,607 206,875

223,632 227,476

The reports of the State Railway Employees' Pension Fund are very incomplete, but they show that the assets are accumulating rapidly. As the latest reports available are for 1906, when only thirteen years had elapsed since its organization, few regular pensions have been paid out, and it is difficult to determine as to its solvency or as to the amount of pensions. The reorganization of 1903 and the voting of a subsidy of 10,000,000 rubles ($5,150,000) were caused by an actuarial investigation showing that the reserves did not come up to the actuarial obligations.

PENSION FUND OF THE LIQUOR MONOPOLY.

The transformation of the business of liquor rectifying and most of the wholesale and retail liquor business into a government monopoly created a large and growing army of government employees, partly industrial but mainly commercial. As an experiment the monopoly was first introduced in 1895 in a few provinces on the Volga. Through rapid extensions the monopoly in 1901 covered European Russia, in 1902 was extended to western Siberia, and in 1904 to eastern Siberia. On January 1, 1899, the monopoly employed over 36,000, and in 1904 over 62,000, persons. A pension fund for these workmen and commercial employees was established and opened January 1, 1900. This fund follows the general principles of all Russian pension funds. The members remain masters of their individual accounts, and may demand the return of their savings upon separation from the service, but pensions only after fifteen years of service. The state treasury, i. e., the employer, contributes an amount equal to one-half of the obligatory monthly contributions of the members, and there are also other minor sources of revenue, but these additional amounts do not become available until after ten years of service, and then only partially so, and are fully available only after fifteen years.

An analysis of the law shows that it closely follows that of the railway pension fund. All employees of the liquor monopoly must be members of the fund except those who receive less than 120 rubles ($61.80) per annum, or who are over 60 years old, or who are employed temporarily for not over one year. The revenues are obligatory and voluntary contributions of the employees, treasury subsidies, interest, and miscellaneous revenues. The obligatory revenues are those which have been found in most other funds; an initiation fee of 10 per cent of the first year's salary, 6 per cent of the earnings, 10 per cent of the special prizes, difference in salaries for three months in cases of promotion. The difference is found in the larger initiation fees, 10 per cent of the first annual wages. The treasury grants a sum equal to one-half of the obligatory deductions from

wages. Pensions, computed according to the accumulated account and the age, are granted at the time of separation from service after 15 years of service. The member who voluntarily retires from the service within two years is not entitled to any repayments. From the beginning of the third year and before the end of the tenth year he receives his own contributions without interest; after the completion of the tenth year he receives also the interest on his payments, and besides in the eleventh year 25 per cent, in the twelfth year 40 per cent, in the thirteenth year 55 per cent, in the fourteenth year 70 per cent, and in the fifteenth year 85 per cent of the additional amounts credited to his account. A distinct feature of this fund is the provision by which the bachelor or widower without children under 18 receives only 75 per cent of the amount due, though not less than his own contributions with interest accrued. The family of the employee who was separated from the service before having earned a pension has no claim upon the fund, but the widow and orphans of a member of the fund who died while in the service receive pensions, no matter what had been the length of service of the employee. The widow receives one-half of the pension to which her husband would have been entitled; each child under 18 years of age, when the mother is living, receives one-sixth of the pension, but all children receive no more than one-half the pension. Orphans receive one-fourth of the pension each; but the maximum for all orphans is three-fourths of the pension. The actual pensions of the employee, as well as of the widows and children, and the capitalized value of these pensions, are computed according to special tables, which in absence of satisfactory Russian mortality statistics were prepared from German mortality data.

Capitalization of parts of pensions in excess of 50 per cent of the annual wages, as well as of small pensions to widows and orphans, were permitted.

The general administration of the pension fund is intrusted to a central committee connected with the department of indirect taxation and liquor monopoly, of the Ministry of Finance, which takes care of the general control, of the investments, of the statistics, etc., and regulates the pensions. The chief of the department is ex officio chairman of the committee, and the members are appointed by the minister of finance, primarily from the leading officials of this department. The local administration is done by provincial committees, presided over by the local chiefs of excise taxation, and consisting of members appointed by the minister of finance.

An annual appropriation of 29,520 rubles ($15,203) is made by the Government to cover the cost of administration of this pension. fund.

STATISTICS.

The table following shows the total number of employees of the liquor monopoly, the membership of the pension fund, and the number and per cent of the total employees in each class exempted from compulsory membership:

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES OF THE LIQUOR MONOPOLY, MEMBERSHIP OF THE PENSION FUND, AND NUMBER AND PER CENT OF TOTAL EMPLOYEES IN EACH CLASS EXEMPTED FROM COMPULSORY MEMBERSHIP AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH YEAR, 1901 TO 1906.

[Source: Ministerstvo Finansov. Otchiot Pensionnoi Kassy vol'nonaiomnykh sluzhashchikh po kazionnoi prodazhe pitei, 1900-1905.]

a Includes 8,960 (13.9 per cent) lower grade employees, receiving over 120 rubles ($61.80) per annum, who declined to be members of the fund, in accordance with the order of December 2 (15), 1905, making membership in the fund optional for these employees.

The total number of employees at the time of organization of the fund was about 40,000, and by 1906 had reached 64,628, due to extension of the liquor monopoly. Within the same brief period the membership in the fund has nearly doubled, increasing from 26,424 in 1901 to 45,025 in 1906. In proportion to the total number of employees the membership in the fund has increased from 60.4 per cent in 1901 to 69.7 per cent in 1906. The exemption from obligatory membership applies to three classes, those receiving a salary of less than 120 rubles ($61.80) per annum, those employed temporarily, for less than one year, and those who enter the service when over 60 years of age, the last group being numerically unimportant. The temporary employees represent the greatest exempted group, but it has rapidly decreased from nearly one-fourth of all employees to less than 10 per cent. The number of employees receiving less than 120 rubles ($61.80) per annum is also gradually decreasing because of an increase in average salaries. From 1903 to 1906 the average annual wages of the male employees have increased from 422 to 453 rubles ($217 to $233), and the wages of the female employees from 332 to 351 rubles ($171 to $181), the average wages of all employees increasing from 398 to 423 rubles ($205 to $218).