The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1910-10-20

energy and ambition. right.
~ directed and CONTROL d.
IS given opportunities 70 make himself
n power in two Of Oh. thrr, -r"at
branches M The gigantic ana constant.
- growing telephone industry These
are the plant department (which in
stalls the telephone equipment and
keeps It iu good working orderl and
the commercial department (which
gets the business for the telephones,
hunting u out and making the con.
tracts therefor.
In either Of these branches It is not
essential that a boy should start to
work With more than rudimyutary
education back OF him, and many of
the big mon In these branches Of
telephony today never saw the inside
Of college classroom Tho same is
true of some of the men who are high
executives in the third great branch,
the traffic. which actually operates the
telephone system, making the cuunoc.
ton with the people you wish to talk
with at any hour Of the day or night.
But 1t is also true that the boy who
has had a full college course. or at
least year or two at college. stands n
better change OF Advancement in the
traffic department than the hoy who
enters II minus such preliminary ed.
ucational training.
Nn,t Or lg1,t tla Hr.
ton for boy in the traffic department
IS an executive Onc-that OF assistant
manager of an exchange, or central
ofiicc-and II for no other reason than
that he is a few years older than the
boy who has not gone to college, h" is
usually preferred for a beginner in this
department As general rule, you
know, no boy under twenty.One is very
often trusted with executive power
Then, too, the more education one has,
the better one is fitted for executive
positions; and whore u boy Is made
an executive almost from the begin.
ming he has. other things being equal.
counts much in his favor in the race
UP the traffic department ladder.
But whether or not the boy who be.
comes connected with the traffic dc.
partmcnt has been to college. the
minute he has been employed by Il
traffic department head back to school
he goes In iiffy. And not only back
TO school, but away back into the very
primary grade for stay lasting from
six months to year However, there
win be this difference between his
former and his present schooling: He
will be paid fifteen dollars n week all
the time he is student. As the young
man is to be directly over an army Of
central girls, he must know all about
how their work Is done. So he Is
taught the use of the various parts of
the operating equipment In the eX.
change. or central Office, the telephone
geography Of the region IN which his
work will be done, how the girls han.
die the details of their work; and also
he will so into the plant department
for time to get general knowledge
of the construction of telephones.
All this learned, he will next take
course under an able instructor in what
Is known as traffic inspection 1t is in.
teresting work, this traffic inspecting.
You know, & 1t sometimes. when the
central girl has told you that the line
was busy" and still busy" again and
again, or you thought you had waited
five minutes before getting central, or
else from another line broke
In on your conversation, you have got
on your ear and howled for the man
lger.
Well, part of you boys work in his
first position in the traffic department
work IS to attend to Just those COM
plants. He gets all the testimony you
have to offer, and then runs down the
discovering even the re-
hottest connection of every girl that
lad anything to do with the message.
ne fixes the responsibility The girls
involved can't get away from him, be.
,ause, so complete is the organization
md system that every detail comes
inder the eye of this phone detective.
'arenthetically let II be said, always
believe Central when she says the line
S busy; for, in all cases she has
o make out a card showing all the
letails, and is under the vigilant eye
" woman supervisor who constantly
aces back and forth behind every
tring of nine girls. and naturally.
therefore,. doesn't like busy lines any
more than you do.
His education finished. your boy ia
made assistant manager OF an ex.
hange, or central Office, at q salary of
20 to S35 q week. Traffic telephone