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

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$3.50 the average man the
banker is is a thing apart
n ~ sort of superior crea,
vM " ture who moves on an.
other plane-always CARRIED
H in apparent richness, with
look of prosperity, self-possessed
shrewd, able. The rest of us simply
look up to him. that's all.
And so the boy looks up to the
bank messenger or the bank clerk
the one that comes out of the forbid.
ding portals, with a black package or
satchel in his hand and an air OF
aloofness that makes the envious
youthful observer sort of gasp.
And yet that same banker and his
messenger are not so far above U.S.
after all. They are not different; it is
W. that are different-we have clothed
them In an atmosphere somewhat like
that which we draped round the man
that wore silk hat and a frock coat
when we were ten or twelve and lived
IN the country or a small town.
Anybody can be a banker! Your
boy is an ordinary boy, say, of thir.
teen to fifteen, and you have dreamed
dreams about his future, and, some
how, you have wondered if-no, he
could never be a banker-a banker
IS so far out of your comprehension.
So you dismiss banking and banker
from your calculations, and decide
that the youngster shall be a civil en-
gineer, or school teacher, or take
job as helper to the family grocer,
or something.
But If both you and your boy have
the right kind of nerve, you hold a
brief talk with him and then he goes
OIL tremblingly to ask the minister of
the church where his mother attends
and he goes to Sunday school for &
letter telling what nne, honorable.
ambitious young fellow he is, and
how he is bound to succeed in any
thing he attempts. Then he gets an
other from the family doctor, and one
or two from the wise men he has seen
with his father-then he goes to the
bank itself.
And once there? Well, he finds
that 1t isn't so hard to get Job after
all. That same aloorness that seems
to surround the banker has apparent
ly kept the boys from applying for a
Job there, as it has the ordinarv
grown-up individual from keeping his
hat on when he enters the impressive
doorway. The cashier of a prominent
metropolitan bank expressed to me
the other day his wonderment that his
institution couldn't get enough boys
They don't pay much at the start,
OF course-only $1o or so a month
(we're talking of big city banks), but
this Is to a boy of thirteen to fifteen,
and after year managing a feather
duster, or pushing the lever OF a coin
counting machine, or running errands,
he gets $25 to $50. Then he must have
bond. because he IS messenger,
and goes out collecting drafts and
checks on other banks, etc.: but the
bank furnishes this, and there is no
bother about it at all.
Then, after two years or so, he is
assistant or head messenger, and may
get as much as 1925 month. And
from there. If he is bright enough to
work out of the messenger rutland
the average boy is-he goes into the
receiving teller's cage, or the book.
Keeping department, or the discount
or the collecting, and gets, not 1925 a
month, but only $50 or $50 a month
Quite drop in salary, it is true, but
the ambitious boy will make this TEN.
porary monetary sacrifice-and you
Will encourage him to do so-that he
may not remain messenger all his
life, but will open up before him an
occupational vista that has at its end
a bank presidents chair.
His next step, maybe, is receiving
teller Itself, when he will be paid
sometimes as much as $500 a year
or AZ assistant in the paying teller's
booth at as much salary (the paying
teller gets more than the receiving)
and on as paying teller, then assistant
cashier. then cashier, then-vice-presi
dent, or president. or anything as big
as the young banker has in him.
II your boy has a position as teller
by the time he is thirty. he has gone
on pretty fast-but not more than. q
fairly bright young man ought to-and
by nve years later. or. at the most
when he is forty. he is sure to be well
along and highly regarded in business
circles. Cashier at thirty-five; salary
$4,000 up referring to large cit,
banks): big man-this is not At all
remarkable, for the ambitious boy car
surely get there. From there on one
IL simply realizing the aims he hal
formed In the meantime. through hi,
own initiative and your encourage
ment.
The average boy Of thirteen to If
teen has education enough to star
him; but, IL you and your boy pla1
on banking for his career, he shoult
have striven a little harder than tn,
usual lad to get hold Of arithmeti,
Addition and subtraction and multi
plication and division-they count, IN.
count big. in banking, and the younl
fellow that can figure and know,
ground work Of arithmetic pretty vel
has great advantage over the others
Bankers complain bitterly over tn
dtmculty Of finding boys that ca,