The success of the wife's death or funeral benefit is not beyond controversy. The Tailors, who began to pay the benefit in 1889, abandoned it in 1898. The benefit was at first seventy-five dollars after three months' membership, but it was remodelled until in 1896 it became a graded benefit ranging from twenty-five dollars to fifty dollars according to the length of membership. The chief objection to the benefit was that unmarried members were taxed to support the benefit although they did not participate in the advantages. In 1898 Secretary Lennon declared that the benefit "was based on real injustice, giving one member more benefits for the same dues paid than to another."[119] In other unions which maintain the benefit this objection has been met to some extent, as in the Cigar Makers, by paying the benefit on the death of the widowed mother of an unmarried member provided she was solely dependent upon him for support. Provision is usually made that no member shall receive the wife's funeral benefit more than once. This rule is intended partly to prevent fraud but chiefly to meet the complaint that the benefit confers unequal advantages. [Footnote 119: The Tailor, Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 16.] The unions which have adopted the benefit have all experienced difficulty in safeguarding it against fraudulent claims. They usually require, for eligibility to the benefit, that the wife be not in ill health at the time the member is admitted to the union. In the unions which have had the benefit longest in operation it has been found possible materially to lessen the number of claims for the wife's benefit after some experience in its operation. The following table shows the percentage of claims paid by the Painters for wife's and member's death benefits for a series of biennial periods: ==================================== | Percentage | Percentage | of Wife's | of Member's Year. | Death | Death | Benefits. | Benefits. ------------------------------------ 1889-1890 | 49.1 | 50.9 1890-1892 | 43.5 | 56.5 1892-1894 | 45 | 55 1894-1896 | 37.5 | 62.5 1896-1900 | 35.3 | 64.7 1900-1902 | 32.5 | 67.5 1902-1904 | 32.6 | 67.4 ------------------------------------ It will be observed that the ratio of the number of wife's funeral benefits to the number of member's funeral benefits has steadily fallen for a considerable number of years. The experience of the Painters is probably typical, although the number of claims of each kind is not ascertainable in the other unions. The combination of the wife's funeral benefit with the death benefit causes a material addition in the cost of the death benefit. This increase is greatest in those unions in which the wife's benefit is relatively large in amount. The following table shows the sums paid for member's and wife's death benefits in three of the more important unions: