Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1910-09-30

figures, and makes it his business to
find out what they mean. They are,
Of course, blueprints containing speci-
1catiOns Of the work of that particular
job. There is a maze of other figures
naming the sizes of wire to be used
in various phases Of b work; for the
more electric current required the
larger must be the wire, and this Is all
figured out fundamentally. Even tbs
most minute attachments are itemized.
All this must be known to the con
tractor, even more in detail than to
the architect who made the plans; for
the latter does not bother himself with
more Of such things than he has to,
and, after all, generally, it is the con-
tractor that is financially interested In
the details. The boy finds out before
long that these things can be and have
been learned. and Is promoted again,
tAfs time as an assistant to the
superintendent on the job, at, say, IF
teen dollars a week.
The latter is the man who directly
overlOoks all the work, carrying out
INC lISIdIidllOhD dCCOlOAu6 " IAC p4040
and supplying the men and material.
AS his assistant the boy is thrown
right into all details Of the business.
He will find himself learning the IS
of the different materials, where they
can be got the cheapest, and soon
will be making estimates on trifing
phases of the work. OF course, this
is leading pretty definitely ahead, both
in the technical side n in handling
payrOlls, overseeing employees, etc,
n within three years of the time
when he began as apprentice, II he is
a good, bright boy, he Will be an cleo
trical estimator and earning eighteen
dollars a week.
The electrical engineer is merely an
OutgTowth of an estimator, and by the
time he can consider himself one,
which will be in two or three years
more, your boy will be getting twenty
FIVE to forty dollars a week, and will
be pretty we'll qualified to attend to
any phase of ordinary contracting
work.
The man hat succeeds as an est
matOr is the one on whose basis bids
are submitted for practically all work,
and If he, through his superior knowl-
edge and skill, can show how to ave
here and there, 1t will enable his nrm
to make the offer that gets the con-
tract. He is the most important man
in the company, for he has the knowl-
edge and skill, al show how to q v
and in many instances hose at the
head Of this department of a firm OF
electrical engineers get as high as IF
teen thousand dollars a year.
But not simply in estimating should
your boy strive to equip himself as an
expert. From the time he begins as
an apprentice until he becomes one Of
the big men OF the firm, he will be
brought more and more into relations
with architects. Now, architects are
the first, outside of the actual owners
to know that a building is to be erect
ed. Consequently, they are in a pO-
sition to extend his knowledge to
contracting firms they favor; and 1t
is distinctly up to a young man who
wants to get to the top to do all he
ear when brought in contact with
architects to cause them to favor his
firm.
Especially will the cultivation of
this executive faculty prove valuable
when our now trained electrician
your bOy-decides to have a firm, q
business, of his own. This he will be
able to do, with all the financial back
ing he needs, the minute capital sees
him tower above his fellows. And CAPT
tai, more than once already, has seen
a young electrical engineer tower, as 1t
looked out Upon him from the pocket
book of an architect OF of n OF b
latter's mOneyed friends.
Who has gone through this line and
reached the top? Virtually every
electrical contractor in the country,
large and small; for 1t is a business
where practical experience counts
more than schooling, and nearly every
one, therefore, began just as you boy
Will if he decides to lake up his call
ing tomorrow. In fact, almost every
man who is anything at all IN any
form Of electrical endeavor began at
the bOttom-even Thomas A. Edison,
though he did not begin In the house
wiring end.
OHS VI NAO ASoNSo
of electrical construction in the world
is a man who had no technical school.
ing at all. He learned the rudiments
of house wiring as here described, and
today he is known throughout his
portion Of the electrical world as the
nan who was superintendent OF cleo
trical installation in the worlds larg-
est Office building. the Hudson Ter
minal, IN New York; who held the
same position on the worlds largest
house, and who has done
the electrical installation In numerous
other huge structures.
Another case in point is that of the
head of the electrical department OF
one 0f the cOuntrv'S largest cop-