The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-09-16
BOGUS TELEGRAPH SCHOOLS.
How Pretentious Institutions Swindlt
Their Unfortunate Pupils.

bogus school for telegraph operators.
The victims are always young peo-
pie who have bu. little money and
who are ambitious TO improve their
positions 10 life. They are usually
working girls who have to work teD
hours day in dusty shops for a
pittance, but who, in the hopes of
gaining a livelihood in more cheer
ful surroundings, starve and pinch
themselves until they obtain the
money necessary TO pay the tuition
fee of a schoolmaster who PROCESSES to
teach telegraphy, and then rob them
selves Of needed sleep and rest in
order to attend the school. After
months of anxious labor they re-
ceive printed sheets OF paper that
are called diplomas, but when ap-
plication is made for the positions
when competent at salaries from s45
TO sl25 a month, they find that the
snapper of the whip is in the words
when qualified" and that no
amount of instruction in the school
could make them qualified. In
other words, they have been delib-
erately deceived by the advertise
ments and circulars of the school,
and the money which they saved by
going without food has been taken
without any return.
At the office of Manager Hum.
stone, of the Western Union Tele-
graph Compsny, a young man was
asked if a graduate OF a telegraph
school could obtain a job, provided
there was vacancy. We do not
discriminate against those who at
tend the schools" he said I'VE treat
all applicants alike. If graduates
as you cali them, go somewhere and
learn the business after they have
the college they stand as good q
chance as anybody" "But they
learn the business at the college ?'
They do not. 1t is utterly impos-
sible. They learn the alphabet and
nothing more. Learning to operate
a telegraph instrument is something
more than learning the alphabet,
You might as well expect a man to
make revised translation of the
Scriptures after learning the Greek
alphabet as to expect him to get a
job in this Office after going through
one Of these schools. At the same
time We favor one school to a GER
tain extent, the one in Cooper
Union. Girls can learn the rudi-
ments there and occasionally,we take
those that are most intelligent and
place them in the forward offices, or
the little places on street corners and
ferries, where dozen or two messa-
ges are sent in day. There they
have plenty of time to work out a
message, and some of them become
valuable operators. 1t takes years
of practice to make an operator,
though" These schools, in their
advertisements, say that graduates
can obtain employment where the
pay runs from s45 TO s125 a month.
Are salaries as good as that ?''
There is not an operator in the
country that makes such wages.
There are plenty of operators work
ing at $50, and there are instances
where few first class cable men get
as high as $50. The advertisements
are frauds" "a
do the schools never graduate a
pupil who eventually becomes an
operator?" was asked of Editor Tai
laval. Now and then student is
particularly ambitious, and is nat
urally adapted to the business. Ii
be has enough money he may learn
the business. The manager, after
graduating the youngster, offers the
manager of some office fee to give
the pupil a chance to learn. Not
long ago one of these schools mad
printed in the Western Union organ
a standing offer of SO to any mana
ger who would allow the pupil to
hang around his Office and do such
work ashe could. OF course, the work
was to be done without compensa-
ton, and the pupil had to put up
the $40. Some managers took il up.
They kept the pupil around for a
week or two, and then kicked him
out to make room for another pupil
with the SO bonus. The treatment
ofthese ambitious young people is
shameful. Even where the graduate
is apt he finds. when he has paid
his bonus and has gone to work in
irregular Office, that be has first TO
unlearn all that he learned in the
school, His time and money spent
in the school were worse than was
ted but if he has the pluck he can
still learn the business. A great
many boys and girls come in from
the country TO learn the business.
Schools are sometimes established
in small provincial cities for the
benefit of rural greenhorns. have
exposed number in the Adcocate,
but only operators read the paper,
and so the exposure does no real
good. The instructors say the Adco-
cate opposes the school because the
Telegropher's Brotherhood wishes to
limit the number of operators. The
fact is the schools help to limit the
number Of operators by disgusting
young men and women who would
otherwise learn the business in some
office where practical work was done
Careful inquiry at the time of the
strike of the telegraphers showed
that there were plenty of operators
waiting for vacancies, while the num-
Der now unemployed and waiting
for an opening is probably much
greater then the number actually
employed. Even If the schools gave
valuable instruction. and work
could be obtained at once telegraph.
ing would not be q desirable bust.
ness TO learn. The pay of the skill.
ed operators is net as high as that
Of many mechanics of correspond
ing ability, while clerks or expert
boookkeepeEs make better wages
The work seems to be easy, to those
who have never done it, but it is, in
fact very hard, and wears out the