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 $2.18 in the Leather Workers on Horse Goods. The chief reason for the higher per capita cost to the Cigar Makers and the Typographia is the more liberal provision for the payment of the benefit. In both of these unions the relief is paid from the time the illness is reported. The Iron Molders and the Leather Workers do not pay a sick benefit unless the illness extends over two weeks. In the case of the Iron Molders the benefit begins with the second week. Just how effective these limitations are in keeping down the cost per member can only be conjectured since the statistical records of the unions do not afford data for a thoroughgoing analysis. The financier of the Iron Molders estimated in 1902 that if the union had paid for the first week of sickness, the amount paid in sick benefits would have been increased twenty-three per cent.[154] [Footnote 154: Iron Molders' Journal, September, 1902, Supplement, p. 648.] TOTAL AND PER CAPITA COST OF THE SICK BENEFIT. ============================================================================== Year.|Cigar Makers. | Typographia. | Iron Molders. |Leather Workers | | | |on Horse Goods. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Total Cost.| Per | |Per | | Per | |Per | |Capita| Total |Capita| Total |Capita| Total |Capita | | Cost.| Cost | | Cost. | Cost.| Cost. |Cost. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1881 |$ 3,987.73| $ .27| | | | | | 1882 | 17,145.29| 1.50| | | | | | 1883 | 22,250.56| 1.68| | | | | | 1884 | 31,551.50| 2.77| | | | | | 1885 | 29,379.89| 2.44|$2,444.85|$4.37 | | | | 1886 | 42,225.59| 1.71| 2,751.35| 2.89 | | | | 1887 | 63,900.88| 3.10| 3,034.60| 2.82 | | | | 1888 | 58,824.19| 3.40| 3,495.90| 3.10 | | | | 1889 | 59,519.94| 3.29| 4,831.50| 4.27 | | | | 1890 | 64,660.47| 2.55| 5,361.36| 4.34 | | | | 1891 | 87,472.97| 3.40| 6,175.88| 4.67 | | | | 1892 | 89,906.30| 3.22| 6,790.60| 4.91 | | | | 1893 | 104,391.83| 3.68| 6,051.65| 4.33 | | | | 1894 | 106,758.37| 3.64| 7,004.07| 5.81 | | | | 1895 | 112,567.06| 3.82| 5,098.98| 4.66 | | | | 1896 | 109,208.62| 3.74| 5,426.65| 4.86 |$ 38,511.00| $1.79| | 1897 | 112,774.63| 4.00| 4,681.25| 4.32 | 36,720.00| 1.59| |