San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-10-19


Handle It-tiood Wages Paid.
Two men were sitting face to face be-
.;SeeD the car tracks on Park row the
| other day Ii seemed To be a dangerous
position for they could not follow their
work and at the same time keep their
eyes on the rattling teams ON either
band They had to keep their elbows
| IN too. or the cars would bump them.
| They We're seated at manhOle, testing
cables of wire which were i'll the subway
beneath. Each had the end of Il cable
in hand and a portable galvanometer-a
| square box about the size of cigar box
in front of him.
But few years ago the man engaged
| IN connecting wires in tins way touched
| the tip of each wire III turn to the tip Of
| his tongue. II there was a current run
ming through the wire he felt II little
| pricking and a sour taste He did this
the whole day through, md was none the
| worse for receiving so many slight cleo
trlc shocks and tasting so much copper.
1t was very primitive test, but very
good one. and old wire testers still use it
when III hurry But soon a galvan-
| ometer WAS made. which not only finds
the current ont gives some idea of Its
! strength The rapid way in which in
| veution has been piled upon invention in
| the electrical wOrlG Is marvellous, and it
| seems surprising that IL sufficient num-
Der OF wOrkmpn of sufficient Intelligence
| should be found in such q hurry to prac-
| tica!ly pnt these inventions into use.
A question upon this very point was
| put to well known electrician who
happened to saunter by the two men at
work.
BAD WORK
at is only surprising in a measure"
| ne said AS a matter of fact the bust
ness has grown much faster than the
Intelligence necessary to handle it, and
many accidents are Que to that fact The
| electric light people at first had to rely
very largely on the workInen engaged by
the telegraph companies, and both had
| to draft in large number of new men
| and train them to the work Amy man
| with little knowledge of mechanics
and the handling of tools soon makes a
| good llneInan There is no great skill re-
| guired. except in care that the wire does
not become abraded in handling, while
| the good wages paid for the work.
| seventy five dollars month-are great
| lnducement But the business has I'M
doubtedly suffered III its rapid progress
for the want of skilled men and the
market is by no means overstocked yet.
| Only the other day one of the New York
companies had to send to the New Eng
| land Cable company to borrow men to
| make joints in city lines
Some Of the underground work, too,
has been badly done, Dut much of this
has been quite rs much due to keen com
petition and the prOverhlal economy Of
| the unscIeutific stockholders. When it
comes +" nnv'0g wire. costing from
| 81 l'O 10 81 a. Il mile. the stakeholder
| mas Il lot IL say about it. ana cheap wire
| IL too often Il result One of the electric
light companies runs an alternating cur
| rent and It now begins Ia find. all over
! the country that its wires are already
becoming faulty They cannot stand
| the strain
CHANCE FOR YOUNG MEN.
One of the things ab$Or az. ia"at;en-
| ton of electric men today - ~ fad AZ
lnsulator which will stand heavy alter
| Mating currents. So the trouble mas been
as mnch matter of cheap material as
uuskIlIed labor
Have the workmen union yeti!
No, not yet There is an association
| called the Society Of Electrical Engl-
| neers."
And where do the engineers and
executive men come from"
A good many Of the heads of depart
| ments have their training at the various
schools of technology, such as the Stew
ems institute, Cornell university, the
| Massachusetts School of Technology. In
deed nearly all the universities have
| classes IN electricity now, and they sup
ply good deal of the talent for the bust
ness
These young fellows from the schools
of technology have started in the black
smith shop and worked right up, and
| the only thing about electrical matters
| they have no knowledge of is the bust
ness end of it. They easily find posi-
tions at from $50 to 500 month at the
start, and readily get more according to
the ability they display.
1T is u great business for man to get
| into. whether he is well educated or hot.
There is such an enormous field for the
| application of electric power outside OF
| the electric light. See now fast the
electric street cars have grown through
out the country! Then there are the
| ether almost innumerable applications
i 4 ,I-Lt..aLl ,rlLl no IN de