The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1911-04-23

one OF washington's big street car COM
panies is just about as careful in the
selection of his men and uses about the
same tests as the same Official on one
of the big steam railroad systems.
The men on Washington's cars-there
are about LOO of them-come in the
largest numbers from farms in Virginia
and the Carolinas. Others are men who
have worked on the street systems OF
other cities, and make 1t a practice to
wander around from city to city under
assumed names. A stiff smaller percent
age are Washington men. who find the
the sporadic activity Of their special
trade.
When the country lad shows up at the
railway offices on hiring day and ap-
plies for job as motorman or con-
ductor, he is given an application blank
&c be filled out in his own handwriting
and told to bring in three letters from
responsible business men, either of his
own town or Washington. If he passes
in a fairly creditable application blank
and his letters appear to be genuine, he
is called into the super's office and put
through a preliminary questioning.
Ask Simple Questions.
This oral examination is of the SIM
plest. 1t consists of such remarkably
difficult questions as who was Column
bus?" and do you know who George
Washington was" It is designed to get
Il bearing on the applicants general in
telligence. and the variety of replies re-
ceived is astonishing.
The Washington Herald man discov-
ever, while present during one of these
examinations, that the citizens of num-
Der of sections of Virginia and Carolina
have heard Columbus name mentioned"
or remember that their father once
spoke of George Washington" He also
discovered bright young farmer who
had lived all his life in a small commun-
ity and didn't know what county it was
in. This same lad when asked who his
Representative in Congress was said he
didn't know he had one"
Applicants of this order usually are re-
jected at once, unless the demand for
men Is such that the super" takes
chance on what the company's school
may be able to do for the applicants
mental inactivity. But X the prospective
conductor or motorman sizes up fairly
well on the oral examination he is passed
in to be examined by the company's doc
tor.
The physical examination is much more
strict than the average person would
think. The applicant Is first tested thor
oughly as to his ability to distinguish
colors. A startling percentage of them
fail to come up TO the test Color blind
ness IS one of the queerest Of optical dis
orders, but a most common one 1t Is
also prohibitory in a street car man as
in a steam railroad man, for colored sig
nails play an important part in a metro
politan street car system.
Passing the color test, the applicant is
made to read a row of letters at varying
distances first with both eyes and then
with each eye alternately shaded. He Is
then stripped and examined as to his fit
ness to stand the gaff OF ten-hour day
on his feet. Especial care Is taken to see
that the applicant il free from all con-
tagious diseases, as a conductor. wetting
his thumb to deal out transfers, can pass
along injurious germs about as rapidly
and over as wide a radius as any single
factor in the city's daily life.
Goes to Company School.
Physical tests passed satisfactorily the
applicant is sent to the company's school
The instructors arc former conductors
and motormen who have been promoted
from the RANKS. The schoolroom Is fit
ted up with a row Of controllers and
brake handles for the embryo moto,man.
all the appliances used in running a car,
a miniature track with switches and Sig
nails. and a small car blocked up so that
its wheels turn when the current Is
switched on. Here the newcomers are
given a thorough training In every branch
of their work. They are made to learn
the book of rules and regulations prac-
tically by heart, and taught, theoret-
ically. how to handle a car under every
conceivable condition and emergency.
After they seem to have mastered the
subject In the schoolroom they are sent
out on cars with competent motormel
and conductors and broken In to the ac-
tual work. When their instructors think
alone an inspector is sent along with
them for few trips, and II he Is salts
fed. the newcomer soon finds himself
assigned to a trick" Of duty at m cents
an hour.
BY the time the new motorman or con-
ductor Is allowed to take out q car he
has lost much of his green. country man
ner. The good-natured joshing and ba-
dinage OF future car mates has Quickened
his dormant mentality and life begins to
broaden out for him on all sides.
But he is bound by the very nature OF
his calling to become a cynic or pessi-
mist, for II Is the fate Of the conductor
and motorman to see humanity only IN
its most violent phases Of hoggishness-
There Is something about street car trav-
ell that transforms the gentle. consider
ate soul into a demon Of selnshness- Thus
do our friends, the conductor and motor
man. &C 1uire biased view of human mt
ure at large.
The longer a man stays on the road
with the cars the deeper grows his scorn
for the human ace As one old-timer put
II to The Herald man. The more I see
Of human beings the moro I'm glad I'm
Just conductor.