60 ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS [192 



The national revenue has been partly made up of such 

 incidental receipts as charter fees, initiation fe€S, fines, in- 

 terest, and the income derived from the sale of stationery 

 and supplies. The Journal also has been a source of an- 

 ,nual gainJ These sources of revenue require but brief 

 consideration. Charters were originally granted a newly- 

 organized local union for the sum of five dollars. Supplies 

 were purchased separately. Because of the fact that new 

 organizations would deprive themselves of necessary sup- 

 plies in order to save expense, the national union in 1887 

 decided to make the charge for organizing a local lodge 

 twenty-five dollars. This included equipment requisite to 

 carry on its business properly. 



Initiation fees mean a considerable item where the mem- 

 bership is growing and the personnel constantly changing. 

 Until 1909 the charge for initiation was left to the discre- 

 tion of the local unions. In 1906 the national union fixed 

 the minimum® at five dollars, and provided that two dollars 

 of this amount should be placed in the benefit fund. Fines 

 are employed chiefly by local unions. 



The importance of a reserve fund for " defensive " pur- 

 poses while realized by the leaders of the union, has not 

 been appreciated by the membership at large. The Iron 

 and Steel Workers have never been willing, or able, to 

 build up a big reserve fund which would enable the mem- 

 bers to engage successfully in protracted strikes. In the 

 early unions, no effective measures were taken to accumu- 

 late central reserve funds for the purpose of defense. The 

 Heaters' and Roll Hands' organizations left the settlement 



o In 1916. the dues covered all purposes (Constitution, 1916, p. 70) ; 

 in 1912, all excepting the assessment for the benefit fund, for which 

 twenty-five cents per month was collected. 



&The monthly dues of laborers earning $1.75 per day or less were 

 fixed at sixty-five cents. 



' The annual gain from the publication of the Journal has ranged 

 in the years 1910-1916 from $500 to $5000. 



* Since 1913, members earning less than $2.50 per day may be 

 initiated for $3.00 (Proceedings, 1914, p. 10665). 



