espectively; in 1884 to five dollars and three dollars; in
1891 the benefit was set at five dollars per week and the maximum period
during which the benefit could be obtained was fixed at thirteen
weeks.[150] The Typographia, introducing the benefit in 1884, fixed the
amount at five dollars and paid the same rate without regard to the
number of weeks the benefit had been paid. In 1888 the amount was
increased to six dollars.[151] But in July, 1894, because of the drain
on the funds of the union due to the depression of business, the amount
was reduced to five dollars.[152] The Granite Cutters paid for a time
six dollars, but since 1888 have simply allowed total or half exemption
of dues.[153] The only other one of the unions which has reduced the
amount of the benefit is the Pattern Makers. When this union introduced
the sick benefit the amount paid was fixed at six dollars and
twenty-five cents, but since 1900 only four dollars have been paid. The
only union at present differentiating the amount of the benefit
according to the length of the term of sickness is the Typographia.

[Footnote 149: Constitution, 1880, Art. 12.]

[Footnote 150: Constitution, 1881 (New York, 1881), Art. 9; 1884 (New
York, 1884), Art. 9; 1891 (Buffalo, 1892), p. 28.]

[Footnote 151: 25 jaehrige Geschichte der Deutsch-Amerikanischen
Typographia, p. 35.]

[Footnote 152: American Federationist, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 62.]

[Footnote 153: Constitution, 1877 (Rockland, 1877), p. 31.]

The total amount which may be drawn in any one year in about one half
the unions is sixty-five dollars; that is, thirteen weeks at five
dollars per week. The largest amounts during any one year are paid by
the Typographia, the Bakers and the Barbers. The Bakers and the Barbers
allow members to draw $130 and $100, respectively, while a member of the
Typographia may receive as much as $265 per year.

The table on page 82 shows the total and per capita cost of the sick
benefit in four of the principal unions maintaining it.

The per capita cost in the four unions, for the last year in which data
are available, ranged from $3.59 in the Cigar Makers to $2.18 in the
Leather Workers on Horse Goods. The chief reason for the higher per
capita cost to the Cigar Makers and the Typographia is the more liberal
provision for the payment of the benefit. In both of these unions the
relief is paid from the time the illness is reported. The Iron Molders
and the Leather Workers do not