The Typographical Union, prior to 1892, had manifested little interest in the establishment of a national sick benefit. At the national conventions of 1893, 1894 and 1898 President Prescott urged the adoption of a national system.[139] In 1898 he succeeded in securing a favorable report from the Committee on Laws, but the convention defeated the proposal.[140] Although the Union has not up to the present established a national sick benefit, the Union Printers' Home maintained by the Union has among its inmates not only aged printers but a large number of those afflicted with disabling diseases. The Home also serves as a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients.[141] [Footnote 139: Proceedings of the Forty-second Convention, Louisville, 1894, p. 3.] [Footnote 140: Proceedings of the Forty-fourth Convention, 1898, in Supplement to The Typographical Journal, November, 1898, p. 99.] [Footnote 141: See below, p. 104.] The table on page 78 shows the chief characteristics of the sick benefit as it has developed in several of the more important unions. SICK BENEFIT. ========================================================================= | Originally. | 1905. |------------------------------------------------ Name of Organization | |Maximum | |Maximum | Rate |No. of | Rate |No. of | Per |Weeks in| Per |Weeks in | Week |a Year. | Week. |a Year. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iron Molders ...........| $5 | 13[143]| $5.25 | 13[143] Typographia ............| 5 | | 5 | Cigar Makers ...........|/ 3 (1st 8)| 16 | 5 | 13 |\ 1.50 (2d 8) | | | Boot and Shoe Workers ..| 5 | 13 | 5 | 13 Plumbers ...............| 5 | 13 | 5 | 13 Pattern Makers .........| 6.25 | 13 | 4 | 13 Leather Workers on Horse| | | | Goods ..................| | | 5[144] | 13 Granite Cutters ........| 6 | 52 | | Tobacco Workers ........| | | 3 | 13 Piano and Organ Workers.| | | 5 | 8 Garment Workers ........| | |/ 3 (for women)| 8 | | |\ 4 (for men) | 8 Barbers ................|/ 5 (1st 8) | 16 | 5 | 20 |\ 3 (2d 8) | | | Bakers .................| 5 | 26 | 5 | 26 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Footnote 143: See page 80.] [Footnote 144: Exemption of half dues.]