Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1911-03-31


rated on the basis Il his apssA 80
accuracy.
II 4 man desires to work up to the
highest place simply az an operator,
and IL known to be expert. he viii
likely be selected to join the stan o.
the Associated Press. which pays from
$25 to $50 . week to its good opera
TORS, or be ZEN into 4 cable or wire
less office. Wireless positions are
limited, however, and, for some reAr
son or other, most of the cable posi-
lions are filled By E~nglishmen; also.
the boy ma take a civil service ex
animation and enter the government
service.
But YOU boy. we'll say. has greater
ambition and wishes to work up d.
rcctly. So. he makes a more careful
study Of the routing OF messenger. with
the aim of becoming traffic chief.
Suppose, for instance, that n OF
the Offices on 4 main line Is disabled
well, It Is the duty Of the trafic chief
to know that messages can be sent
there through 4 roundabout way. The
MTllGI Cdu ItCdki OHCe NACh n ~
between Vancouver. B. c., and Seattle
were down, and, though these places
were less than 100 miles apart, an Inn.
rortant item Of news from Vancouver
was eent clear to st. Paul, 1900 miles
! east, and back to Seattle. 1t was the
traffic chiefs business to know and
| arrange this. The usual pay Of traffic
| chiefs In ordinary Offices Is SIS to $50
a week.
Then. there is the wire chief, who
keeps the ofice ard line wires In Or
der, locating and arranging for the re
pair of breaks and other accidents
and keeping the service on an orderly
basis. From these chiefs the once
managers are usually chosen. They
are the head Of the particular ofise
they may be employed in, the boss q
all the operators, and they get 80 -
$50 a week.
From here your boy goes to the q.
flee of one Of the superintendent,
probably as assistant, and. finally, ~
comes superintendent himself, at q
salary of $4,000 to s.. 900 a year. Tbs
country is divided by the tive con.
| panies into about sixty districts. each
of which has its superintendent and
assistant, all of which positions are
filed from the ranks of those belev.
Many of the superintendents are only
forty to fifty years Did. OF course,
there are grades of responsibility
among these, as we'll as of rates q
pay. as, obviously, the district Of New
York state is of more Importance than
n in a less populated part OF the
country. The general superintendent,
the next higher grade, of which theirs
are eight, the country being divided
into four divisions by each con.
pany, were formerly district superin.
tendents, who first became assistants
in the general Offices. General super.
intendents are paid something liks
$4,000 annually. From this position
the next step is to a vice-presideAcy,
and then to the presidency.
The Western Union, under the a.
ministration of Mr.. Clowry, has made
1t the custom TO pension It's employees
who have grown old N the service,
giving retired operators from SIS to
$50 a month, and superintendent NJ
to $3.50.
This, in brief, is the line Of a.
vancement that Is possible to every
n of the 10000 telegraph operators
in commercial work in the United
States. 1t should be borne in mind,
however, that the earlier in life cns
starts, the better; for It IL said to b
practically impossible to become
proficient as an operator after h u
twenty-five.
Railroad telegraphy is the sane -
a general way, station and other
operators working up, perhaps,
through train dispatching at $12s -
$500 a month, to chief dispatcher 1t
as high as $4,000 a year, ard - -,
~intendent Of telegraph at 4 little Lee.
and thence into higher Official pssd-
tons. For example, President A. ].
Earring of the Chicago, Milwaukee 4
st. Paul, is a former train dispatches,
n Sir William Van Horne, one e
the builders OF the Canadian Pacific,
also operated trains at the telegraph
key. There are but two examples of
railroad men of prominence who start
er in as small station telegraphen.
There are about 10000 operators. n
railroading today.
Copyright, 1910, by the Associated In
erary Press)