The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-09-23

u SCuOO1 VI CIVIL engineering. Inc BOY
has soon learned this, of course, and
has saved his money, or has been lay
ing of for few months now and then
to devote to studying; or, If he should
have happened to have work at a
terminal near or in city, he has been
able to attend night school. There
are lot Of ways in which an ambi-
tious youth can get this technical
training. So :.
AS a general thing the worker is
somewhere around twenty-five years
old by the time he has got the neces-
sary schooling and all the advance
ment he can from being merely an in
strument man, and is ready to go on.
We shall say that he has elected to
leave the construction corps and go
on with the maintenance department.
which takes care of-maintains-com-
pleted track, and has come in from
the wilderness and been made rod
man in the office II one of the division
engineers. All railroads have pretty
much the same lines of advancement;
but we shall take the procedure fol-
lowed by railroad whose mainten-
ance department is world-famous.
Having been thoroughly tested by
the division engineer and found to
merit advancement both because. of
his knowledge of engineering and his
seeming ability to handle men Of the
SECTION gang sort your boy ultimately
ddds himself an assistan: supervisor
of one of the, roads branches, at
salary of about lone hundred dollars
month. The supervisor is the direct
controlling head pf:track foremen and
laborers and attends to the mainten-
ance of all bi1dges, track and road
bed over a stretch of forty to fifty
miles.
This Is the boys real try out in ex-
ecutive work, and if he sizes up to his
new responsibilities, he will be sent to
similar work on the main line. This
time, however. owing to its greater
Importance, he will have only twenty
five to thirty miles to look after; but
bis pay will be about hundred and
twenty-five dollars month Then he
goes back to the branch line, this
time as supervisor, at hundred and
fifty dollars; and before long takes a
similar post on the main line, at a
further increase in salary of twenty
five dollars month
The next step taken ia when your
boy becomes division engineer of
branch line. Then he goes cs divi-
sion engineer on the main line, his
work covering hundred to one hun
dred and twenty-five miles of road, at
two hundred and seventy-flve dollars
monthly.
Following this, he will be assistant
principal engineer at three hundred
and fifty dollars to four hundred dol.
lars month. This ONCE is directly
under one OF the general superintend-
ents, who supervise the work of the
engineers Of four to eight divisions.
OF course, your boy will before long
be made general superintendent
himself, getting from four hundred to
one thousand dollars a month, and
after he has worked up to the head
OF the most important place in this
branch Of the business, will be in di.
rect line for the post OF general man
ager. From there he goes straight
through to vice-president, and the goal
'of president at last, at a salary that
may rival that received by the presi-
dent Of the United States, or even
top 1t.
But should the boy have gone on
from rodman to instrument man in
the construction department., he would
next be made CHEZ of the surveying
party under the engineer at monthly
salary of seventy-flve to one hundred
and twenty-five dollars. Then he
would be an engineei Of construction,
working directly under the chief en-
g1neer. at anywhere from one hun
dred to three hundred dollars month.
His work here might be In tho field
or In constructing terminals or other
improvements in city, and would be
direct stepping stone to the chief
engineers post, where, as assistant
to the latter. he would receive from
three hundred to hve hundred dollars,
meath.
Then he would become chief enxi-.
neer and :msght be made
president of the system or be called
to some of the. greatest engineering:
enterprises In the world, such as lay,
ing out entirely new systems of rail-
road In. hitherto UNEMPLOYED regions,
experimenting the, construction of
canals or gigantic reservoir systems,
or directing vast projects of any kind
that have anything to do with trans-
portation. Every reader will recall
that 1t was only four years ago that
John F: Stevens, chief engineer of thu
Great Northern railway. was made
chief engineer Of the Panama canal.
about the highest engineering position
In the world. And yet Mr.. Stevens II
| now only flfty-six years old, and he
was once rodman With an obscure
surveying crew. He became chief en-.
gineer OF the Sabine Pass & North.
western railway when be was only
twenty.three, showing what a young
man of grit and energy can do.
Railroad positions, by their very re:
quirements and responsibilities, must
60 to those who have proved their
ability to fill them. Pull may get one
place at times; but it will rest upon
his merit to keep 1t; for there is too
much at stake to run risks from In
competent employees. And the de.
velopment Of the country is 20 rapfd
nowadays that there is always q