Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1908-07-04


asrer ~ see pounding key in
any mi ! II hAi Is native New YORK
New out of ten he was
er. AM ene u or Seattle. or ST
o oorn LIZ. or son Sjnston Post.
place is usually a sSUs6a w
frf operators. so a man VIII ~
exp job In one city cheerfHlly
ukka on to another. feeling pre-
inItldns that he'll land on his feNt
~ Take the thousands of men
nYHh1s city who work for the Yves
aHi l5nion or the Postal Telegraph
hsn mics, for brokers. for newspi-
rs. md for press associations, and
Ia WI find on inquiry that they
Ave gNdIroned the United States
l(nd CanaSa. too, in their wandcrinss.
ksk them WHY they are such a rowing
Lot, and thH will tell you they like
Ito travel: TINT lsssin their blood.
Perhaps 3od5e explanation for this
rowing spirit mAv Be found in the gen
esis Of the 9yeNQke telegraph op'ra
tor. Most &tfSem come originally
from small towhs.S A boy of sixteen
ands life in aVsmSH town irksome
He sees small onporNauHy for a start
In life. Quite naturally he gets to
Know the one operator The place al
fords.
s In his idle moments. and they are
MANY. he learns the code. Nsnd Icca-
sionally Is allowed to sit In and send
or receive easy messages The day
comes when the regular operator
goes away to another job an1 tn
younsster gets the place.
or late years. and especially inS tins
recent strike, the two big coWpatNes
have conducted schools of telegrapiI
the students for which are recTuHeS
mostly in the cities. tut hefore thas
most operators were graduates OF tnt
telegraph ONCE In a small town OF
at a country railroad station.
Now, given a young operator at hisi
first Job, and what do You find? For,
on. thing. il he Is good for anything
at all, he will become proficient q:
soon as possible. He has to- for the ,
man at the other end Of the wire guys
a novice numerically over ever.
mistake.
Then as he becomes proficient the
young operator gets the desire to.7g'
elsewhere IT isHt ambition alonf
that prompts this desire, although
that enters in.
He is in close and constant touci
with distant places. What more nat
ural that he should desire to go IL
these places and see for himself tho
things he has heard clicked on OF
the instrument
- Lands Job by Wirs.
So be begins to inquire OF this ant
that man with whom he is In com
mnnication il there is job in sight
When h.. hears of an opening tina
looks good he applies for it at once
by wire and maybe he gets his an
swer and the business is concluded II
a short time.
It is all so easy when 1t can be al
ranged by wire. The tests which
most business men demand of mel
seeking employment don't call in nj
case for personal.interviews- His pre-
fIciency may be tested at once on tn'
wire.
Hence it comes that the young op
orator finds himself at work In sinai
city. But the wire calls him onward
He longs for the larger opportunit,
and the larger life Of big city. IL
a year or more he is In New York o.
Chicago or San Francisco
Your might think that then he wou''
settle down. But by that time he haf
acquired the fever OF nomadism. He
is lust liketthe old tramp printer VIII
is fast dying out, largely because Q
the increasing use OF the typesettinf
machines.
The operator gets few hundred
dollars ahead and he quits his job OF
one pretense or another and moves OF
70 some other place. After som'
years I'm the business he won't TAKE
the trouble to find out II there is e
job resdy for him where he Is go
ing. He takes the chance that he'll
catch on somewhere.
There are about two things that VIII
stop a telegrapher's wandering-mar
rage and the transition into SOM
other line q wosx which demands
that h. STAY in one place to succeed
n telegraph operator marries ms
wife tends to restrict his wanderinRs
There have been some operators whe
continue to move about after MARI
age. bu; thsv are the exception
Only small proportion OF teiesra
piers marry. however. or at leas'
marry early in life. The nnafiaeheo
ones many Of them, coBtinne work'nf
their way from the Atlantic to the
Pacific and back again. with, diver
sions North and South.
The telegraph e0mpanics have zone
wha, they could U check this rowing
ONE Of the conditions which led 10
tho recent a,ortive strike grew ont
OF these efforts o. the part OF the
companies.
The men demasded NAT when an
ops rator got a rating as Class a
man. which meant that he got th-
ht~bcet nav and greatest opportunities