Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/799

Rh The moneys belonging to the funds of the association not required for immediate use are invested by the managers in United States bonds, Maryland State and municipal bonds, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bonds or obligations, or other first-class securities. All securities and the moneys necessary to meet current expenses are intrusted to the official custody of the Treasurer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, to be held subject to requisition of the committee of management.

The managers are chosen partly by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, on account of its interest in the fund, and partly by the contributors to it; the company choosing four and the contributors five—the majority of those selected.

Any differences arising between claimants for the benefits set forth in the constitution and the committee of management are submitted to arbitration.

The condition of the fund is annually investigated and reported on by a proper and competent person, to be selected by the managers for that purpose, and any surplus remaining at the end of each year is devoted to the reduction of the rates of contributions of members, or in such other manner disposed of as in the judgment of the committee will best subserve the interests of the association.

The association utilizes, under judicious contracts, those hospitals located, and those physicians and surgeons residing, along the company's lines, and this service has been economical and agreeable to its members. While it is responsible for surgical expenses only in cases of injury arising from the discharge of duty, its members have the advantage of reduced prices obtained under its contracts when they are otherwise disabled or sick. There are besides, as a part of the staff of the society, a corps of salaried physicians designated as medical inspectors, to each of whom is assigned territorial limits, which they are constantly traversing, investigating cases of disability, methods of treatment, the sanitary condition of the lines, etc. It is also their duty to afford prompt relief to sufferers from casualties of travel, whether they be members of the association or other employés, or passengers; to examine applicants for admission to the company's service as to physical qualifications, and to exercise a rigid censorship over the sanitary conditions of grounds, buildings, coaches, baggage, etc.

The rigid sanitary supervision exercised by the association through its medical inspectors over every portion of the line enables it to check and control many disorders before they have assumed grave proportions. Thus, some years ago, when small-pox was prevalent at many points tapped by the Baltimore and Ohio system, over twelve thousand employés (and in dangerous localities their immediate families) were vaccinated by the medical inspectors at association expense, and, though many employés were greatly exposed to contagion, less than a dozen were affected, and but two died from the disease. It is somewhat remarkable that nearly eighty-five per cent were successful vaccinations