Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-01-16
Training Apprentices
on the Santa Fe Railway
How the Railroad Company is Building Up a Class Of Young
Employees Who Have Technical knowledge to Back Their

any of the trades employed on gu
/ railways today. / DO not think that
young man with a university educa
lion could enter any profession of
calling At which he could commant
the salary or remuneration Which
would be his after completing an ap
premiership as q machinist. boiler
maker. blacksmith or amy OF the othei
trades.
Our apprentice system is ATTRACTING
SOME ot The best and brightest boy!
in the country, not only in an educa.
tionai way and for M they may
learn, but from the practical stand
point OF dollars and cents. The aver
age pay of an apprentice is Sl.35 pea
day. which makes the boy self-sup-
porting while he is learning. In ad-
dition to this stipulated amount ne
may increase his income indefinitely
according to his ambition ana energy
The santa Fe plan of paying a maj
according To his efficiency has beer
extended TO include the apprentices
with this difference: While a journey
man receives q bonus OF 20 per cent
OF his wages as a reward for main
tanning an efficiency OF 100 per cent,
the apprentice receives so per cent OF
his wages when he reaches the stan
dard time set Tor any particular job;
SO that ii an apprentice works a whole
month al an average efficiency Of 100
per cent he win receive in addition to
the Sl.35 per day a bonus Of 81 cents.
making his daily earnings for the
month. s2.02. Bonus earnings com
mence at 81 per cent efficiency and in
crease OF a sliding scale indefinitely,
per mi OF bonus for each ! per
cent of efficiency after the standard
100 per cent Is reached. This plan al
lows each man TO determine his own
income according 10 his proficiency
and ambition 10 get ahead.
Under the old system OF apprentice
ship the boys were turned into the
shop to work. the pay WAS very small,
in most eases about 50 cents per day
FOR the first year. There was no sys-
tematic effort made 10 teach or train
them. The foremen. az IA rule, are
too busy and have toe many other du-
ties. even If they had the inclination
TO coach and instruct boys In matters
which are. seemingly TO them. trivial
ana OF not much importance. II a
boy learns how 10 grind a drill prop
criy. what size hole TO drill for a
given size tap. or any Of the other
small details of the trade. during the
first year Of his apprenticeship. he is
"a hoy OF quick perception or he has
the good fortune TO work under a very
good boss.
Under the present system OF train
ing apprentices h hoy comes under
the personal supervision of an intelli-
gent and competent instructor, who
has been selected for this work alone.
The Instructor is within reach Of the
boys every moment of the day, and
he is there to show the apprentice
nov to grind a drill properly and how
to grind any other tool. He also
shows him how these tools should be
cared for, how they should be ar
ranged so as 70 be of casy access when
wanted, ana a thousand other little
kinks which help to perfect a man
in his trade. In addition to this, there
are charts prepared which show how
many threads per inch should be cut
on bolts or studs of Il given diameter.
how long The threaded part of q bolt
or stud should be. and other iniorma-
ton as important to "a boy starting out
to learn the machinists trade az the
multiplication table il TO n u is
learning arithmetic, and just as elus-
i've and easily forgotten. When a boy
is changed from one machine TO an
other, il is the shop instructors duty
to instruct and show the boy how to
operate the @ machine. also to give
him useful hints as TO how to take
advantage of and turn to account
THINGS peculiar to that particular ma
chine or that kind uf a machine. If
a pianer. for instance. the boy viii
hc a long time learning for himself
that in many cases, while the machine
is operating on one job another may
DE set M and be ready. The instruc-
tor viii acquaint The boy with this
fact as soon AS he sees ii is safe TO
do so. He will also convince the boy
that In order to make a good efficiency
he must omlnenc to plan his work
as soon as il is brought to him. In
this way he viii know what and how
Ia do with the next job before he is
through with the present one. In
short. the instructors duties are so
many and varied that it would be i'm
possible to enumerate them. He must
make men ont of the boys in his shop
as Well as mechanics, He must en-
courage them to their best efforts.
When they make mistakes and become
discouraged he must be there with adj
vice and impress them with the fact
that successful men learn more by
their mistakes ana failures than BY
their successes.
There is a schedule arranged for
routing the boys through the shop SO.
that all viii receive the same treat
mcnt and instruction as far as posi-
wv ~ ft 30 10 80 ~ NNAfN
a boy win not De kept on one machine
or one certain line OF work longer
than is necessary for him to become
proficient in that work The sched-
uie is. OF course, somewhat flexible SO
as TO adapt il TO boys who are more
than ordinarily bright and quick. as
well as 10 those who are slower to abb
sorb and become familiar with the
work required.
In the main shop On the system at
Topeka there are 100 boys learning
trades under this system there are
200 on the waiting list at that point.
In the local shops We have 45 APP
prcntices aud ~ applicants who are
anxious Ia begin. This shows hat our
system and methods are appreciated,
and an who can are glad 10 take adj
vantage of the opportunities offered
a great many people will ask
what has "a machinist. hoilermaker
blacksmith to look Forward to after
he has successfully completed an APP
prcnticcship2" That is "a question
one must answer Ior himself. Il
Is true that a great majority remain
as workers in the trade they have
learned. hut all forcmanships mast he
from these workers. the rail-
roads must have master mechanics.
superiuteudcnts and So on mp the lad
to the top. and i'm looking them
over we find that nearly an the Off
cials are men who ave served their