The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-07-11

really only incidental to his duties as starter, but his qualifications in this re- spect have nevertheless long since come to be regarded as of prime importance Having operated an elevator hinself { the starter knows what an operator s duties are and how they should be per formed. He knows whether an opera tor is doing his work well or not, and how to keep him up to his duty. And mighty busy work it is in many of the big buildings. In one great building for example, in which there are many | elevators, car starts from the ground | floor every seventeen seconds, and the i starter is almost continually speaking | to the elevator men, who, one after an other, drop down from above all along the line to stand for a moment after discharging their passengers at the open door of their car, looking out across the hall, and waiting for starting order, which in a moment they get.
 Right A." says the starter; the oper- and starts skYWard.
 ator of elevator No. shuts his door
 Right 7,' says the starter.
 Express elevator on the right. Thlr- teenth story, first stop"
 Right s..
 Ninth floor, room 902" this last to somebody who has come up to him to inquire where somebody's office was; and so he keeps going all day long.
 Beside having been an elevator man himself the starter is likely to have been so employed in the building in which he is now engaged as etarter; and in that case he is likely to have begun work in the building, when it was first opened and the tenants were compara- lively few in number and so easily learned, and he became acquainted with the rest as they came in and kept up with the building
 He might in some buildings go through the building to get the names of persons whose names did not appear as tenants. who were sub-tenants, or sub-lessees, or people having desk room, or persons who were employees. He would familiarize himself with the di rectory of the building, found in the hall of every building He would know every name on that and precisely where it's owner was located in the building. But that directory would contain often
 
 members of a firm; there are many more people in the building besides, and nowadays the names of many of these are contained in sub-directory also posted in the hall; which list the starter Is likely to study also as opportunity presents.
 In great building the starter begin ming as started when the building was new would almost certainly have had experience as an elevator man, so that so far as the running of the elevators was concerned, he would be equipped and ready. He might already have had experience also as a starter and have acquired the habit of remembering names. In such a case, that of a new building the starting with few tenants would, of course. be favorable to him, and he could keep up with the new ones as they came in, however big the building might be, and carry them all in his head. Apt at it to start with, he devotes himself to this lesson and stud les 1t and learns it.
 The length of time 1t takes a starter to learn building depends first on the man, and somewhat, of course, on the size of the building. starter might learn in a big building in three months; it might take him a year. though that would be slow, and if it took man so long as that the probability would be that he had other qualities that com mended him especially despite his slowness In that regard. But to get the very largest building pat would take even the most expert starter six months or more. But he gets it, and the per- lection with which he gets 1t seems little less than wonderful.
 Some of the superintendents also of the modern tall buildings do some little stunts o2 their own account. The superintendent sees the tenant when he comes into the building; he rents him his room or his suite of rooms. He has occasion to see him about his getting in a safe, or what ever business might arise from his oe- cupancy of quarters in the building. He associates the tenants with their names; he knows them all personally. It might easily be that the superintend- ent of the very largest building having hundreds of tenants, could stand in the nall any day, and say Good morning, | Mr. So-and-So, to every tenant as he 1 ,ame in, calling every one by name, without break from start to finish.