Blade and Ledger Agents

1920

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 13.

Note: I checked at Social Security Death Index and there are a few Arthur Grahams, of course, but none from Kansas who would seem to be an exact match for this one. Just by memory, it seems like there was one born in 1914, but is this boy only 5-6 years old? And I believe there was one born in 1894, so he'd be too old. Maybe he's still alive, as of 2008, or maybe he didn't stay in Kansas, or maybe he didn't live long enough to register for Social Security. As for Julius Dragunski, there weren't very many at all, just one, and from Pennsylvania, too. Born Oct. 20, 1908, so that's the right age, and died Sept. 1984, last residence Allegheny, PA. I'm assuming that's our Julius.

Trade Unions — Savings Bank Lifts Load of Anxiety

1910

By Daniel J. McDonald

Trade unions are formed to elevate humanity by increasing wages and by bettering the condition of the laboring classes. In work along each of these two lines they have been far more useful and effective than is generally believed. Each dollar increase in wages and each hour of leisure secured gives larger opportunity for education, thought and the gaining of knowledge.

Among the greatest of the loads borne by the workers are uncertainty of employment, heavy expenses of sickness and of death of the worker himself or of those dependent upon him or of those upon whom he is dependent; the loss of wages during such times of trouble and the lack of provision for old age. So small is the utmost possible amount of a workingman's savings that almost invariably it is swept away, sometimes repeatedly, by one of these causes, and old age finds the worker penniless.

Any movement like this of savings bank insurance that proposes to lift the financial load at times of sickness and non-employment, and make provision for old age, is in direct line of trade union effort. By providing for future emergencies it promotes independence and lifts a load of anxiety. The man is more able to fit himself for advancement.

The British labor movement has been noted from the beginning for the variety and extent of its financial assistance to its members in times of trouble. Unity, solidarity, steadiness of purpose, devotion and faithfulness of members have been the results. The splendid achievements in English labor legislation, far surpassing anything we can hope for in many years, are due to the unity of purpose and action produced largely by the fraternal care for each member. In this country we need to exercise more care for the welfare of each member, in order that each member may be more devoted to the welfare of the whole.

The ideal method of affiliation, if there is to be affiliation, between the labor movement and savings bank insurance, is for each union to insist that each of its members shall be properly and adequately insured.