Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/608

588 incidents, and the avidity with which political manipulators seize upon opportunities afforded by the agitation of bodies of men, wisely or unwisely, eager to secure material advantages through any immediately effective agency, unitedly operate in bringing into prominence those accidents and losses of life and property inseparably connected with mining and railroading. In the United States the operatives of railroads have, as already stated, been too generally left to their own resources, though now public opinion is gradually forcing upon employer and employé a recognition of the duty of securing both the laborer and his dependents from the consequences incident to his occupations. Where humanitarian considerations are not governing, those of self-interest are more potential, and the increasing frequency of successful suits for damages on the one hand, and on the other the constantly accumulating difficulties of earning a livelihood without steady, uninterrupted occupation incident to increasing population, are unitedly forcing this question to the front.

Recurring to the inquiry, by what means within reach substantial improvement can be effected in the condition of railroad servants at least cost, and with a minimum risk to capital and a maximum of devotion to the service, we have seen, by means of an illustration, by what simple and inexpensive means partnerships, almost ideal, have been effected by private enterprise in Europe, and such illustrations might be multiplied indefinitely.

Further study of the methods of foreign railroads in dealing with this subject will show that their efforts (which must be successful, for labor disturbances are very exceptional abroad) have almost uniformly taken the form of benevolent societies, organized, or contributed to and fostered, by the railway managements.

The practical utility of such organizations has there been exemplified for many years. In their various forms (when established under the auspices of responsible authority) they meet many of the necessities of the railroad employé: they provide means for avoiding insurance organizations unworthy of confidence; lessen the risk of insolvency and loss of premiums paid; offer convenience, certainty, and regularity in making payments, and give a fixed and definite rate of assessment and compensation, in place of the uncertainties of cooperative associations, lodges, or brotherhoods, in which many members, though taxable on the death of a fellow-member, evade or refuse to respond to assessment.

Among such associations may be instanced the London and Northwestern Railway Insurance Society and Superannuation Savings-Bank; the Friendly or Providence Society and Mutual Guarantee Fund; the Great Northern Railway Benevolent Institution; the Great Western Railway Superannuation Society—all of England; the benevolent institutions of the Chemins de Fer du Midi of France; and a host of other Continental societies, all having for their objects the succor of