Rocky Ford enterprise., 1910-10-21

work in large cities is generally d.
vided into three shifts, two of them
working during the day and the early
night hours when the service is in
greatest demand. and the other in the
less arduous hours Of night and early
morning. So. the new assistant man
ayers work at first will probably be
on the easy night shift. But ultimate
ly, II he Is ambitious and progressive,
he will be assistant manager in one
Of the large exchanges where there
are three or four hundred girl opera
| tors.
Then he becomes manager Of .
small exchange station, and finally. II
he attends to business and takes q
pride in making his exchange a model.
where all calls are handled with the
least possible delay and complaint. he
is rewarded by being made the actual
exchanges. The salaries Of managers
! range from $4,000 to $4,000 a year.
Their reputation Ii 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 q big one. be-
ing to trafflc chief itself. He is the
immediate superior Of all exchange
stations managers in q large district.
such as the old city Of New York, or
Brooklyn. or New Jersey. This man Is
the executive director OF all traflc
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 $1,000 year.
Then comes the coveted position Of
superintendent OF trafic. who gets $lo..
900 to $4,000 q year. IL q member Of
the company. Is executive head OF all
trafic 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 IL purely
financial and executive. Any one Of the
three ofiicials 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 q condition Of continued
change. new exchanges being opened
old ones abandoned. etc. to meet the
changing conditions Of telephone traf
/ a., 4. l.. ,hAr hn
comes in.
We shall say that your boy. while
getting his telephone education and
working as trafYic inspector. has mani
tested desire and aptitude for work
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
trafiic prophet. When he finds that the
demands OF an exchange will be up to
the maximum OF its farr'''~s in two
or three years. say. he Presents his
data to the head Of the department,
and new exchange station rdered
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 1t Is on his
recommendation that steps are being
taken continually to maintain the serv'
ice on a nodelay basis.
The pay OF engineers and assistants
is about the same as In the managing
branch of the trafiic department. and
after becoming a full hedged tranic
engineer in charge Of large district
the incumbent is on a par with the
traffic chief and in line for the tranic
superintendency
Such. In a general way. are the steps
that boy who desires to make trafic
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 tranlc
telephony promises to be fertile one
for bright, ambitious boys for many .
year to come
Copyright. 1910. by the Associated Lit
erary PressD