The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-06-23
9rmunt 0AMrhman.
WHAT THE CITY OFFERS.


what the average young man may ex-
pct VINO goes to New York TO win
his fortune. That paper says.
There are, in the United States,
probably something like 100000
young men whose eyes are directed
more or less longingly toward that
golden, glttering business Lorelei,
the New York job New York, with
its fascinating dash and rush and
buildings towering into the skies! A
New York job, with its big pay and
glory! What an alluring combination
of the young fellow still in college;
or to the young fellow dissatisfied
with life on the farm; or to the young
fellow discontinued with the slow
moving business opportunities of his
home town. What a pretty, entic-
ing picture! But let us look on the
other side.
First, in reckoning with the New
YORK job, we must not skip by the
biggest, most difficult premise = the
getting of the job itself! But suppose
this difficulty removed. Is the New
York job such a wonderful thing, aft
er all? And is its much-heralded pay
so munificent?Let us say the young
man has the ambition to become a
journalist. His name is legion. If he
succeeds in getting a place on morn
ing newspaper in the metropolis, he
will start in" at SIS a week. which
incidentally, is about the highest pay
any young man can get on any regu-
lar city job when he begins. His
raise, normally, will be at the rate of
S. year until he becomes sufficient
ly proficient to be given a space"
job. If the young man gets job on
an evening newspaper, $12 will be
the average financial starting-point.
"Wall street, with it's lofty sound,
is another lure. If the young man
stranger-gets job in Wall Street
he will start in at about Sc a week,
although the figure may be listed at
SIS in some instances. And the subse-
quent raises will take considerable
time to reach the Is, to say nothing
of the 20, dollar mark. There is a
lot of money in Wall Street, undoubt-
edly-but it isn't in the young mans
first job.
Clerking will bring the young man
anywhere from 81 to SO week at the
start. Eight dollars would be a very
fair average estimate. And, in chron-
icing these figures, the clerkships in
the average shop are chosen as stand
ards for judging If the young man
gets job in the wholesale houses
downtown-an office job-he will be
started out at about IS a week, al
though, obviously, if he commands a
knowledge of bookkeeping and ste
biography, his pay will start at fig
ure nearer s12.
eff one of these young men gets a
job on the office staff of an insurance
company he will start in at salary
of about IS a week, this figure too,
being a fair initial criterion of the
remuneration he will receive from sin'-
liar Jobs with other big companies.
A job with an engineering firm pays
not more than from Sc to $40 a week
at the start, but if the young man has
ability his opportunity for advance
ment to 500 a week will be open and
comparatively easy. Again, in this
case, the young man with an ensin-
eering education is not considered. II
the applicant obtains a job in a law
yer's office he will receive IS or SIC
a week. Two years later he may be
getting 500 a week, and, again, he may
not.
"Jf the young man has had col
lege education, the amount of money
he will receive while holding the jobs
referred to is about the same, at the
start, as the amount his comparative
ly less educated brother will receive
In the professional lines, however
such as law and engineering, his OPP
portunities for financial advancement
will-ordinarily-be better. This is an
outline of the possibilities of some OF
the general class of 'glamorous' New
York jobs. 1t is recommended to the
consideration of the young man on the
farm or in the home town He may
come to see that, after all, the city
job is not the great thing it has been
cracked up to be-"
For the youth of exceptional genius
the great city always is likely to Offer
the greatest prizes in business and in
the professions. But we must cohsid
or the chances of success for the av-
erage rather than the exceptional man
We must consider the cost of living
and the comforts of living. We mus
remember that the chances are abou
one in one hundred thousand agains
the boys becoming an influential fac
tor in the metropolis The homely
old adage regarding the comparative
rank Of the big toad in the small pud
die and the small toad in the big pud
die, is just as valuable and just as
forceful as ever it was.
Never before were there so many
opportunities for earnest and capable
young men in Vermont as there are
today. In agriculture, in fruit rails
ing, in the summer tourist business
in the development of our mineral re
sources, there is demand for thu
best quality of brains and energy t.
be found anywhere. The same perse
verance and industry that will viii
success in the big city will win sue
cess in Vermont, and the home fell
is less crowded than that of the me
tropolis The boys of our State M
longer need to go West or to the cities
to achieve success Opportunity il
waiting with outstretched hands. Boil
State pride and self interest shoult
induce our young men to stay at hom'