The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-03-26
HOW A JOB HUNTER
ALMOST Handed"

/ luck. When the small bank had Jailed
/ IN the country Broder never had doubt
ed there would be unlimited scope for
his abilities in Chicago. He imagined
I hundred firms would gladly welcome
/ the man who had been assistant cash
Ter, paying teller. boOkkeeper, stenog-
rapher and so forth. But his hopes had
suffered a severe jolt. There was no
! opening in any of the big city banks.
] me large n1eTcaT tile firms didn't seem
! 10 want man who appeared to have
! heen everything and nothing in partic-
} Ilar When they asked him what his
/ special line was he got confused, ana
( when he faltered and mis- replies became
| scarcely Ineligible they took his name,
saying they would write him. But some
| row or other nothing tangible came OF
! ms numerous applications. He never
| got the welcome letter asking him to
| staff.
| Fred's board bill was now three
| weeks overdue, as William Britt tells
/ the story in Workers Magazine. The
small stock of money ne had brought
with him was reduced down to very
| few dimes and nickels. For over two
weeks he had been learning how man
| could live on two meals day-one in
| tie early morning and one late in the
evening-and also if necessary walk
| dozen miles in the interval between
| them.
! He found nothing romantic or thrill
| ing in the actual experience of a young
man trying to fight his way up in big
! city. 1t was sOrdid. spirit-crushing,
nauSeating. Multi-milionaires had
/ gone out of their way to descant on the
/ blessing of poverty in early life, and
/ the fervent joy of overcoming what
seemed insurmountable obstacles. Aft
er a short trial Broder determined, if
II - IL T..wl.N
ately, he would take their word about
the pleasure of being short of money
and the rest of it.
! And his clothes, He kept we'll i'm the
shade when possible, but he had no
ticed several men looking keenly at his
dress. But of late men who paid much
attention to his personal appearance
didn't even trouble to say they would
write" him. They merely said they
would consider the matter" and made
the statement in a tone of utter indif
| ference.
Saturday night Broder was in de-
spair, but the thought of tomorrOw's
paper, with its long columns of Help
Wanted" buoyed him up. Surely the
tide must be on the turn for him. Some
thing was bound to turn up in a few
days. Eagerly ne bought a paper on
Sunday morning and read the lads"
with all his eyes while engaged in swal-
/ lowing the meageT breakfast put before
him. All, He was surely wanted by
the firm who put this in the paper. The
notice ran:
YOUNG MANS to &c years old. all
round banking experience preferred.
To a man with energy, ambition. ex-
ecutive ability and who is an Al pen
man we viii pay 800 per month. Ad-
dress --.
The better part of Sunday Fred toiled
on the application. But when he was
through, although his stock of note pa
per was sadly depleted, he was certain
his letter would compel favorable atten-
ton and secure an interview. Sure
enough. Tuesday morning brought him
a letter signed by the vice president
of a big corporation requesting him to-
call that day at 10 a. IN. Eagerly Bro
der put an extra fine polish on his
shoes. brushed his once smart clothing
carefully and surveyed himself a dozen
times i'm the mirror to get that bright,
keen look on his face which he had
noticed on all the cOunteDances of men
holding responsible positions.
Ten O'Clock found Fred in the pres
ence of the vice president of the Blank
Manufacturing company. He noticed
that the big man had that quick, alert
look on his face worn by all other sue
cessful men, only intensified. He
seemed to have the smartnesS and
aleTtness of ten compressed into his
gaze. But. despite that. the eyes were
not unkindly. They did not dwell long
on the shoes down at the heel nor on
the sadly OVerWorked suit. but Travelled
swiftly up and fixed themselves on
BrodeT's features Fred felt himself
icing read, but. not being self-cou-
scious. he retained his poise which fact
seemed to tell in his favor. Broder also
subtly felt that the man of business re-
garded the way he told his story as
even more important than the state
ments he made and therefore spoke out
boldly and confidently. His recital,
manner and references were all evil
IDENTIFY satisfactory, as when he had fin
ished the business man said: "All right,
Broder, I guess you'll do. Hold your
self in readiness to start Thursday
morning. Mind. though" (at this point
his keen eyes flashed, I'VE don't like
cutters. You'll have to work hard
here, sometimes till late at night; often
Saturday afternoons But its not a
bad place IF we work our men for all
they're worth, we don't underpay them.
] started in here much lower than you
will"
Dismissing Frederick with a curt
goodbye, he leaned over to his assist
ant and said: Seemed nice bright boy,
They're strenuous and not afraid of
work. A bit slow to catch on, may be,
but they've got the goods on 'em. I no
! uced he seemed to want the job, too.
Well, l came from the country myself,
and know how hard the game is. Oh,
didn't tell him he'd have to report at
the other factory. did 1? That's where
he's wanted"
Jumping from his chair the vice pres
ident unfastened a small brass door
built in wooden partition and. putting
his head through, yelled ''Broder!"
Broder did not hear him shout, but
just as he was preparing to call again
something IN Frederick's demeanor-
half guilty, half furtive. as though he
were doing something in a hurry that
he had no right to do-arrested his at
teutiOn.
The truth was that when the vice
president had talked so hard and earn
estly ahOut long hours and hard work
Broder's yellow streak had developed
until he was in state of cowardly fear
about being worked to death. When
the vice president called him he was
engaged i'm asking the boy at the door
-iaI 70 hours n