The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1910-09-22

somewhere around twenty-five years
old by the time he has got the neccs.
sary schooling and all the advance
ment he can from being merely an In
strumcnt man. and is ready to 20 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
pletcG track. and has come in from
the Wilderness and been made rod
man IN the Office az one Of the division
engineers. All railroaGs have pretty
much tho same lines OF advancement;
but We shall take the procedure fol.
lowed by q railroad whose mainten-
ancc department is world'famous.
Having been thoroughly tested by
tho 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
finds hiwsclf an assistant supervisor
OF ono of the roads branches. at
salary Of about one hundred dollars.
This is the boys real try out in eE.
6rutiyc work. and II he sizes mp to his
now responsibilities, he will lie sent to
similar work on the main line This
time, however owing to It's greater
Importance, he will have only twenty.
Ave 90 thirty miles to look after; but
his pay will be about n hundred and
- Il hB
goes back to the branch line, this
time rs supervisor, A. n hundred and
f''y dollars, and before long takes n
similar post on the main line at Il
further Increase I'm salary OF twenty.
Eve dollars u month
The next step taken ia when your
boy becomes division engineer Of
branch line. Then he goes as diyi
sion engineer on the main line, his
work covering hundred to one hun
drod and twenty-five miles Of road. at
two hundred and scyonty.liyc dollars
monthly
Following this. he win be assistant
principal engineer ut three hundred
and fifty dollars to four hundred dol.
lars a month This office is directly
under one Of the general superlntcnd-
euts, who supervise the work Of the
engineers OF four to eight divisions
OF course, your boy Will before long
be made n general superintendent
himself, getting from four hundred TO
ono thousand dollars q month, and
after no has worked up TO the head
Of the most important place In this
branch Of the business, will be in di.
rect limo for the post Of general man.
ager. From there he goes straight
through TO vicc.prcadcnt, and the goal
of president at last, at n salary that
may rival that received by the prcsI.
dent Of the United States, or even
top t.
But should the boy have gone on
from rodman 10 instrument man In
the construction department, he would
next be made chief Of the surveying
party under the engineer ut monthly
salary Of scvcnty-Aye to ono hundred
ard twenty-five dollars, Then he
would be an engineer of construction,
working directly under the chief on
gincer, at anywhere from one hun
bred to three hundred dollars month.
His work here might be in the field
or in constructing terminals or other
improvements in n city, and would be
n direct stepping stone to the chief
engineers post, where AZ assistant
to the latter, he would receive from
three hundred to 1--WE hundred dollars
4 month.
Then he would become chief Cugi.
ncer and afterward might be made
president of the system or be called
to some OF the greatest engineering
enterprises in the world, such as lay
road n hitherto moXplorod 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 leader will recall
that it wns only four years ago that
John +. Stevens, chief engineer Of the
Great Northern railway, was made
chief engineer OF the Panama canal,
about the highest engineering position
in the world. And yet MT Stevens Ia
now only fifty-slx years old, and ha
was once rodman with an obscure
surveying crew. He became chief en-.
gineer of the Sabine Pass G. North.
western railway when he was only
twenty-three, showing what young
man Of grit and energy can do.
Railroad positions. by their very re.
quirements and responsibilities, must
20 to those who have proved their
ability to ill them. Pub may get one
q place ut times; but It will rest upon
his merit to keep It; for there is too
much at stake to run risks from In.
competent employees. And the de.
velopment OF the country is so rapid
nowadays that there is always a
shortage OF men able to take IT, high.
ose position. 1t is a fact that there is
probably more room ut the top for
tho ambitious young man In railroad.
ing than IN any other line Of actiyity.
1t Is UP to the sole efforts of tho youth
making his start as staEe.carricr or
citation porter or section hand to get
there.