Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1910-09-30

NV w States, the worlds greatest
@ET detective, leader of the
biggest band, or president
of a railroad, it is doubtful what the
answer would be. Probably, after iong
consideration. he wodld say all four
Anyhow, he would have only one
chance in some forty million every
four years of being the nations presl-
dent, and to be the detective or the
ban leader would depend somewhat
upon natural talents. which he might
or might not possess.
Therefore, he would do we'll, prob
ably, to select the railroad presidency;
for that position requires no special
genius. and it is simply a matter OF
getting a starting Job, which is not
particularly difficult, working hard,
and attending strictly to business.
INC the chances are not at all obscure
that he will reach the coveted goal
M OF later.
If your boy has his mind set on
striving for a railroad presidency, and
you believe he is wise in doing so,
there rs no end Of places to begin, for
there are numberless tried emu
leading to the presidency-such as
first getting a job as a section hand,
or as a clerk in a railroad office, or as
roustabout and assistant in a small
station. Today the railroad presl-
dents who began in these and similar
loWly positions are by no means
scarce-in fact, they are in the ma
jority.
But your boy wants to get out into
the wilderness, so to speak, and learn
railroading literally from the ground
up-that is. he want to become a
| civil engineer and build railroads be-
| fore he bosses one? Fine! For by
far the largest number of railroad
presidents who have worked them
way up from the crowd began on the
building side, the engineering side, OF
northumberland b life literally
from the ground up. Without eNcen-
ton, every president that one of the
country's most famous railroads has
had began in a humble position on the
construction side; and it is almost a
railroad world axiom that a successful
railroad president must Know thor
oughly how a railroad is built and how
its physical condition is kept up to
standard. The reason is obvious.
Well, then. your BOY desires to
make his start for a railroad presi-
dency in this manner-what must he
know? Without doubt he ought to
have a good high school education be,
fore applying for a job. for ne will
not get very far before there will be
figuring and other things to do that
an ignoramus couldn't hope to sur
mount, and he could not get much be
yond the bottom otherwise. COT
course, a boy with determination can
do anything he sets out to do, and he
might self-teach himself at nights and
other times: but hat is not the kind
of hustler now under considerations
Probably the initial work given your
sixteen or eighteen-year-old boy vii
not appear as if it would lead to n
where at all; for likely it will be moth
ing more than carrying stakes for sur
veying corps IN the field, going bach
to camp on errands. and doing things
generally that are little more thar
chores. But all this time he will b.
getting familiar with the methods o
blazing trails through the wilderness
that are ultimately to be the line of
completed railroad. They are far r
civilization and a to supply thei
own food and clothing, and many
night, sleeping beneath the stars afte
a long. hard tramp. the boy will thinl
Of his home comforts and long for al
easier lot. But he sticks to it, as an.
boy must that expects to get on; an
he should rest assured that the Dos
Of the outfit is watching him and vii
promote him the minute he show
that he is prepared to go on.
Before long he will be an Xma
then a chairman, when his pay will b
anywhere from thirty-fvo to fifty do
lars a month, In the beginning. h
will not get much, if anything; 70
there are other boys that have maDpe
out railroad careers for themselve:
and many of them are willing to wor
for almost next to nothing till the
get above the stake-carrying stage.
The first distinct promotion tha
amounts to anything will be from a!
man or chairman to rOdman, the ma
that ~manipulates the long pole wit
Rows of figures on it that everybod
sees with surveying parties. He get
from forty to sixty dollars a montl
which is not at all bad. considerin
that food and clofhing requirement
are not expensive. and that the pr
motion to this post is a sure sign thu
pour boy is getting on.
Then. If the boy has been observfn
what the others do, and asking que
lions, and getting posted, he will b
come instrument man after avhil
and run the level or transit, n WI
Receive anywhere from sixty to ninet
hollsrs a month.
But right here. or before, it will /
necessary for the boy to get SON
more schooling. if he expects to g
6tuoh higher in his work; from i
frunnent mar on wifi come up tee
Gical requirements that make it