The St. Johns herald., 1890-05-29
TOO MANY Book-kEEPERs.
Competition Is So Great That But Few
 Are Well Paid.

Competition Is So Great That But Few Are We'll Paid.
 ' Book keeping as profession is be- ginning, like many others. to feel the influence of popular folly" said an old book-keeper, in reference to the present condition and outlook of the calling. 'Men, induced doubtless by mistaken idea as to the commercial opportunities offered by metropolitan cities, keep focking to the great cen ters of trade and industry, under the impression that they can easily get re- munerative situations. Young men, too, keep the commercial colleges well filled, and after a few terms of study graduate as professional bOok-keep- CTS. The result is that the ranks are filled to overfowing, and many an able accountant is obliged to take a subor- dinate place other than that for which he fitted himself. This is especially true of the great commercial centers, where a slight depression in trade suffices to make itself felt in the de- mand and remuneration of competent book-keepers.
 "Competition in our circles is there fore very strong. Except in the case of the men who have proved their worth and practically made themselves a necessity to particular houses, stick ling for a price is out of the question The rank and file are glad to get what they can, and there are hundreds of book-keepers in Chicago working for ordinary clerks wages. Most men, however experienced, have to begin low and work up. An inexperienced man, fresh from a commercial college, where he has acquired @ thorough knowledge of the theoretical part of the work, will ordinarily command from $5 to $S week. After year of practical work he will get from $50 to $65 month. The average pay of men of long standing will not, think, run above $100 a month. Of course there are book-keepers in the city who are getting $2,000, $2, 300, or even more a year, but they are the exceptions. ] am satisfied that canvass of all the stores protesting to have book-keepers would reveal the fact that the majority of accountants get little more pay than the average clerk.
 '"There was 8 time-and that wa not long ego, either-when the denan, for book-kcepers was greater than tLs supply. The commercial colleges, for instance, found no difficulty in secur- ing places for their graduates. Just to ascertain the condition of affairs and see what competition men in the call ing now have to meet, made an eX- pertinent during the last week Ot February. I put in local paper an advertisement for a competent book keeper who was willing to work fol from $8 to S10 a week, promotion being contingent upon circumstances. A sin gle insertion of the advertisement brought me within three days 229 let ters of application for the position. Most of the letters, which in point O diction and penmanship were excep- tionally good, were from men of prac- tical experience. The ages of the ap- plicants varied from eighteen to fifty years, and the periods of actual serv- ice as boOk-keepers ran from two to eight years. Only a few were novices in the work This showing tells story, and doubt not that it will be a surprise to the majority of citizens. The inference is that there are too many men seeking positions as book keepers and that competition has ruined wages.
 Ut must not be overlooked, how ever, that a good many of the so- called book-keepers are in nOwise competent. An adequate course in a commercial college is of vast benefit in the calling, but theory after all is a secondary consideration. Many mor- chants are dead set against college men. What is needed is ability tc meet actual exigencies, and that something that every book-keeper does not possess. A fair handwriting. rapidity, the ability to debit and credi; accounts and add co rectly, are in dispensable requisites for the calling, but after all they are compatible with a certain degree of automatism that is any thing but desirable in an employe. Clerks work themselves up to better salaries anG hold their positions by personal efforts, good judgment, in- terest evinced in their employers business success and the like, and a book-keeper's promotion and tenure of place is no less dependent upon the same factors. ."--Chicago News.