The earliest attempt made by any American trade union to make provision for the support of aged members was that of the Typographical Union in 1857. The National Convention of that year appointed a committee to consider the proposal of the Philadelphia printers for the establishment of an "Asylum for Superannuated and Indigent Printers." This plan was defeated at the ninth convention in 1860.[200] The Iron Molders' Union as early as 1874 provided for the establishment of a "superannuated fund," from which superannuated members of twenty years' standing were to receive three hundred dollars and those of twenty-five years' four hundred, if permanently disabled and unable to earn a living at their trade. Membership was to date from July 5, 1859, and no benefit was to be paid until August, 1879.[201] Because of the failure to accumulate sufficient reserve for its support, the regulations were repealed in 1878 before any benefit fell due.[202] The superannuation benefit adopted by the Granite Cutters early in their history met a similar fate. [Footnote 200: Proceedings of the Seventh Convention, Chicago, 1858 (New York, 1858), p. 11; Proceedings of the Ninth Convention, Nashville, 1860 (Boston, 1860), pp. 53-54.] [Footnote 201: Constitution, 1876 (Cincinnati, 1876), Art. 18.] [Footnote 202: Constitution, 1878 (Cincinnati, 1878), Art. 17; Iron Molders' Journal, August, 1878, p. 4; October, 1878, p. 30.] In recent years agitation for the establishment of some form of superannuation benefit has been carried forward in several of the more important unions. In 1893 Mr. Gompers proposed the establishment of this form of beneficiary relief in the Cigar Makers' Union. In June, 1904, a plan was discussed for the payment of a monthly benefit of six dollars to members sixty years of age and twenty-five years in good standing. Larger benefits were to be paid to members older and of longer standing. Up to the present, however, the Cigar Makers have not adopted any of the plans for a superannuation benefit. The Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, at the 1900 convention, provided for the payment to members of twenty-five years' continuous membership and over sixty years of age such amount as the National Convention might designate.[203] In 1902 it was decided that if the members by referendum vote endorsed an increase of dues, the amount of this benefit should be fixed at $150.[204] But the increase of dues failed of ratification, and the plan for a superannuation benefit was abandoned. [Footnote 203: Proceedings of the Eleventh General Convention of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Scranton, 1900 (Scranton, 1900). p. 67.] [Footnote 204: Proceedings of the Twelfth General Convention, 1902 (Atlanta, 1902), pp. 123, 163; The Carpenter, Vol. 22, November, 1902, p. 3; Vol. 23, No. 1.]