The Virginia enterprise., 1910-10-21

pAAOO III udhAu6 LIS OACudu6o a uOuOA,
where all calls are handled with the
least possible delay and complaint, he
is rewarded by being made the actual
and direct head of one of the largest
exchanges. The salaries of managers
range from $4,000 to $4,000 a year
Their reputation is in their own
hands; for they are the sole respon-
sible heads of the exchanges, having
the employment and control of all en-
ployees and being subject only to the
traffic chief.
The next promotion'is is big one, be-
ing to traffic chief ITSELF He is the
Immediate superior of all exchange
stations managers in a large district,
such as the old city of New York, or
Brooklyn, or New Jersey. This man is
the executive director of all traffic
business and calls his exchange man
! ayers together frequently to discuss
and decide upon various important
phases to keep their work progressive
and uniform. His salary is from $4,000
to $4,000 year.
Then comes the coveted position of
superintendent Of traffic, who gets $10,-
0O0 to 5000 year, Is a member of
the company, is executive head of all
traffic chiefs, and is on an equality
with the plant superintendent and the
general commercial superintendent, the
three great directors of all telephone
business except that which is purely
financial and executive. Any one of the
three officials is in line for the posts
of general manager, and, ultimately,
president.
There Is, however, another line of
advancement in the traffic department,
that of traffic engineer You may have
noticed that telephone districts, espe-
cially in the larger centers of popula-
tion, are in condition Of continued
change, new exchanges being opened,
changing conditions of telephone traf-
fic. This is where the engineers work
comes in.
We shall say that your boy, while
getting his telephone education and
working as traffic inspector, has mani
ing up through what Is known as the
engineering department rather than to
become an executive. His observant
instructor has noticed this and COM
municates accordingly with the head
of this particular branch, who assigns
the beginning to the study of charts
showing the volume and trend of tele-
phone in various districts. So your boy
watches the number of calls made in
particular localities, their decrease and
increase at different hours and from
day to day, and thus becomes sort of
traffic prophet When he finds that the
demands Of an exchange will be up to
the maximum of it's facilities in two
or three years. say, he presents his
data to the head of the department,
and new exchange station is ordered
built. An exchange station has to be
planned at least two years ahead. as
this time is required to install one A
traffic engineer also designs the equip
ment and switchboard capacity neces-
sary for all stations, and it is on his
recommendation that steps are being
taken continually to maintain the serv-
ice on no-delay basis.
The pay of engineers and assistants
is about the same as in the managing
branch Of the traffic department, and,
after becoming a full fledged traffic
engineer in charge of a large district,
the incumbent is on a par with the
traffic chief and in line for the traffic
superintendency
Such, in a general way, are the steps
that boy who desires to make traffic
telephony his life's work has to take.
And let me add that with the telephone
industry growing so rapidly in all
parts of the country, the field of traffic
telephony promises to be fertile one
for bright, ambitious boys for many a
year to come
copyright, 1910. by the Associated Lit
| erary Press)