The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1911-03-23


N1N successful business career
VSEB offered by Uncle Sam to
w the persevering American
boy is to be found in the
customs service. It is true that adj
vancement is a little slow at the be-
ginning, but it is certain to come with
time and increased capability. One
of the best things connected with it
is that it affords those engaged in it
an excellent chance to prepare them
selves for any lucrative outside en-
ployment which may offer. One who
has served an apprenticeship in some
division of the customs service is far
better prepared to conduct many kinds
of business requiring an expert knowl-
edge Of such matters than is the man
who Is without this valuable expert
ence. AS stepping-stone to some
thing really worth while an early
training in the customs service has
often been of the greatest value.
When your boy is making his start,
however, he will of course have to be-
gin at the very bottom, unless he
should have had special training in
some one line and is ready to start in
a higher position. In this event he
would have to be at least 81 years
old; for only beginners can be under
that age. This article, however, is
written for the boy and not the man.
We shall therefore assume that
your boy is 16 or little over, is in
good health, and knows how to read
and write and do little figuring. He
will have to take a civil service eX-
animation before the commission; but
it's scope will not be more than ordi-
nary, and after he has gone through
all the formal requirements specified
by Uncle Sam his name will be added
to the list of eligibles, and after few
weeks or months he will be notified
to report for duty. He may learn all
he has to do by writing to the Civil
Service Commission at Washington,
which has ready a lot Of printed docu-
ments containing information and in
structions.
His first work will be that of mes
senger boy, for which he was exam
ined, and his pay $500 a year, or $50
mOnth-rather more than messenger
boys are paid in civil life. He cannot
advance above this grade till he is 20,
when he will be eligible to take the
examination for regular messenger.
But during this time he will be MAX
ing himself capable in his own line
and that Immediately ahead of him, so
that he can pass the comparatively
simple examination with flying colors
and be rated one of the best in the
division with which he is connected.
This examination, known as the
third grade, is on the following sub
jects: Spelling, arithmetic, letter
writing, penmanship and copying from
plain copy. 1t is not an advanced ex-
animation on these topics, only the
simpler problems and as to pro-
ficiency. AS soon as he passes 1t and
is promoted to the formal position of
messenger his pay will be increased
in one Jump to $40 year, or $40 a
month"; and he will be set to doing
more important duties in the same
line he has been following. This work
he must pursue for a year; for he
must be 81 before he can take the
further promotion to the position of
sub-clerk.
Now he will be started on a regular
line of advancement, rising from clerk
ship to clerkship, each of more i'm
portance than the one before, and
each promotion, which Is made every
six months, carrying an increase of
5000 year in pay. This goes on till
he Is chief clerk of the division in
which he Is working and is drawing
from $500 to $4,000 annually
It is a comparatively long step be-
fore he finally becomes chief clerk,
generally requiring from Is to 30
years from the time he began; so that
he comes into this important position
about the time he is IS. If he should
have chosen what is known as the
entry the drawback, the bond and
warehouse, or the passenger baggage
division, as chief clerk he will be an
acting deputy collector, which means
that in the absence of the real deputy
collector he will be head of the divl-
sion and will have the direction of
from 100 to 200 employees, and will
ho next to the collector in authority.
The collectorship itself is a political
position and pays, In New York,
$4,000 annually.
The last promotion in regular order
that is within the regulations Is to the
deputyship of one of the divisions, un-
der either the appraisers, the survey
or's, or any one OF the other divisions,
carrying a salary up to as high as
60 En0 a uonr or In thu on.. - 49,