News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-06-18
THE WAYS OF THE WORLD.
THE ROYS OF TODAY AND WHAT
WE ARE TO Do WITH THEM,
Philosopher NJ. Quad Gives MS his ExperI-
ence in Real Life.

advancement, both in position and
salary, does railroad Office offer any
advantages over a Wholesale house
| What would young man OF IL get
in the way of salary in either place to
begin with ?"
Your first question can be answered
truthfully in both the affirmative and
negative. If you could get place in
railroad Office where you had some |
official to push you along you would be
advanced pretty fast--faster than in a
] wholesale house where you had to de-
pend on yourself alone. On the other |
hand, there are plenty of men in the
railroad offices of Detroit, for instance,
who have not been advanced -Gor years, !
and who are receiving less salary than
they did five years ago. In either
railroad Office or a wholesale store there
| is q certain amount of envy and leal-
ousy among employees. Any advance
ment is pretty certain to create animos-
ity. The manager of the Office or the
house may make honesty, integrity and
faithful services the test, or he may ad-
vance his favorites over the more de-
serving.
However, either situation offers you an
opportunity for entering into active
business and earning fair salary.
While on this subject of railroad
work it may be well to give the contents
of letter received from station agent
on a Southern railroad. The boys are
asked to give his statement careful
reading. He sayss
In the free Press dated April IS you
say: "But the telegraph operator who
can secure the position of station agent
rs we'll has good thing of it" Please
allow me to ask you few questions on
this subject. Would you think you had
"a good thing of it," If you had to work
at a salary from $50 to $50 per month,
selling tickets, receiving goods for ship
ment, issuing receipts for them, making
manifests to accompany them, checking
freight out of cars, delivering it to con-
signees, making out freight bills and
collecting same when consigners reside
in the town, recording the manifests in
your books, loading one to ten cars per
day, making one to ten daily reports,
three to ten weekly reports and the
same monthly? Would you think you
had "a good thing of it, when, after
years of faithful service, you were per-
mitted to remain in the same position,
when strangers are brought in to fill
vacancies for which your superior officer
admits you are qualified? d? When, your
duties increasing and work becoming
more arduous, partly from natural i'll
/ crease of business, and partly because
, Won have labored faithfully for the road,
your superintendent tells you, 81 don't
see how you can do your work, but
can't give you an assistant, nor IN
crease your salary so that you can en-
, ploy one, because it has never been
| done at your station heretofore P' When
| finding YOU cannot possibly keep up you
get your wife, brother and sister to as
sist YOU, and modestly ask that they be
: paid SIS, $40 or $15 per month which Is
refused because your superintendent
} 'sdoes not wish to establish preced-
+ ept ?" l am aware that there are super
intendents who watch their employees
and reward faithful service by promo
| tions. but they are few and far between,
and the most of them base the salaries
l paid their employees upon 'the smallest
possible amount that employees can live
on" Then, too, when the dull season
ensues you are notified, "ln order to re-
duce expenses you are notified that your
salary will be reduced five or ten or
( fifteen per cent, " while the big salarleq
officials are not affected thereby. L
2 know you would not willingly counsel q
n youne man to enter profession where
: he cannot more than earn living, with
' ont encountering these hardships IN
addition. so lay these facts before you.
Make inquiries of the agents at any OF
d the small towns and you will find that
a am correct Concerning another sub
iect 7 wish to add few words. There
are thousands of young men to-day try
inp to earn living for themselves and
support for their families by telegraph
inc while the officials of railroad and
|, telegraph companies are daily maneuver-
It ing to force their salaries down to almost
70 nothing, saying, eff you will not work
s for that, can find plenty that Will.
81 EVERYWHERE boys are studying teleg..
raphy, in colleges and ''plug factories,
, as we call them, being misled by t1atter-
ing advertisements and prospectuses,
h stating that telegraph operators are III
demand at salaries ranging from $50 to
,e 1920 per month. Having learned the
N rudiments of telegraphy.. they are willing
to work for almost nothing IN order tc
ID become more proficient, and unscrupu,
es lous officials make use OF these plugs
lie to reduce salaries, to the great injury O.
n working operators and the detrlmenI U
4 tbe service. AS an actual fact, there
. are three operators, good bad ana III
different. to every vacancy occurring IL
ne the United States, and salaries rang'
st, from SS5 downward in the commercla
ok service. the average being about $53
IS. and from $50 downward, In rallroa'
nd service, the average being about $50 pc
month This does not include tran
i0' dispatchers. who are paid from sou u
es 600 ner month. Your letters are rea'
'e, with interest by thousands OF youn1
Ii. men, and you are in position TO q
,re an incaIcuiabIe service to the telegraph
- fraternity. as well as the boys contem
-, plating studying telegraphy, by warn
ing those who are thinking of enterin
% the profession that it is overcrowde
IN, now, and every boy who becomes q
me onerator now reduces the rate OF con
,rv nensation TO be paid to himself as we
IN as TO the thousands who have been az
- ine faithful service for many years. re
W. the next ten years the demand Tor tell
our graph operators can be fully supple
'0et from the messenger corps. Even LII
branch of service suffers from the man
for reduction of salaries, the boys BEN
only paid three-quarters OF cent Il
each message handled. One hundre
'ao messages day to get seventy five cents
M Please make inquiries and satisfy you
EN- self on this point. and then sound
to note of warning. By so doing You W
,so incur the gratitude of every operator
:. the land, among whom is
1t ''HoUsEHoLD. "
A careful perusal of the above lett
- - is enough to discourage any boy W
W has had his heart set on railroading
'ne telegraphing. "Household' not on
puts the case strongly but truthful
there has for years past been rush
Won young men for easy places, and the co
80 sequence is that certain avocations a
NJ, oyer-crowded While every railro
'aa Ane does not serve its agents after the fashi
anlt depicted by "Household," >" it must
49, admitted that all demand the great
49, amount of work, and establish
49, 49, rate of pay in an arbitrary manner.
,;n~ ~ ssH.," OF New York State, writes
follows:
I also have question 1 would VI
lave much like to have answered. lnclo'
ents is the pencil drawing of house Il