Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1911-04-28
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BY c. w. JENNlNos.


Q %S ERE is an occupation In
E.eS. III which your boy-any am
bilious boy-may work up
81 9i&aS to the highest grade of
FL ~ M technical skill and au-
thority without having had
even the slightest preparation prior
to getting his start 1t is one Of tho
sumerous lines OF employment that
are offered by street railway com
panies throughout the land, and is
open to any boy that wishes to begin
ct the bottom at s. fairly good wage
and have certain and direct avenue
OF advancement straight up to a high
position.
Maybe your boy has not cared to
take up Job as motormsn or street
car conductor, which was elaborated
uron In this series few weeks ago,
but atill would like to get in some
phsse Of railway work as represented
by the street car interests Well, If
that Is the case. aad you have been
unable to furnish him with $ good
education, and BE has mechanical
turn OF mind, he probably could not
dc better than to get into touch with
one of the superintendent OF fore
men of power houses.
The Job at their disposal. which is
the subject Of this article, leads to 8
line OF practical electrical engineering,
the basal power that enables street
care OF the present day to be operated
The requirements sre slight. Of
course, the applicant must have had
sufficient education to be able to read
end write, az he must in practically
gll occupations; but further than this
virtually nothing more is required
than that he must be eighteen or
twenty years old and Of fairly good
physique. Unusual ahortness of stature
is handicap, as workmen have to
do considerable resching for levers.
The first pay your boy gets will be
about $3.50 day He probably viii
not be very enthusiastic over hig work,
rs there will seem to be nothing tech
meal In wiping OF machinery, clean
ing up things generally, and running
errands for the foreman; but he must
remember that he has to become ac-
0nainted with tools and equipment
before he can understand them, and
this Will come sooner than he expects,
II he Is attentive and ambitious In
deed, 1t will probably be only q few
months before he will be given an ad-
vance to $1.75 day and sent out
from the main power house to one Of
the substations in similar work.
The advantage of this move is that,
on account of there being compare
lively few employees, he ELL have a
greater range Of duties and respon-
sibilities and thus advance more rap
idly. He will have to clean the big
generators, switchboardE, and wiring
apparatus. and thus the complex ma
chinery will gradually become familiar
to him.
Within few months more he may
be sent back to the power house as
boss Of the cleaners there. at about
81 a day, or be set to CT Grating a
small auxiliary switchboe 4 under
close supervision, and after he has
advanced sufficiently, go hsck to
substation as dynamo tender. 1t will
require probably a year SID half
more before he reaches this position;
but then he will be paid from $3.50
to $2.75 a day, while he s getting
there.
Then, in all likelihood, he will go
back to the power house - dynamo
tender, to prepare him more thorough
ly for the important advance 10 switch
board operator at substation, which
is one of the most important lesser
places in the business. There opera
tors must stand their watch Of @ third
Of day with extreme faithfulness, as
on them directly rests the RESPONSE
bility of correctly distributing the
power through the lines connected
with that station. If they permitted
their attention to be diverted from
their work for even a moment, some
sudden powerful change In distribu-
ton of current might take place that
would cause great damage. All this is
shown on indicators above the switch
board requiring aln'ost constant
shifting OF levers. Tie pay OF switch
board operators at substations runs
from SO to 1926 day.
After demonstrating his earnestness
and ability at the substation, your now
skilled boy Is again sent to the main
power house to do similar, but more
important, work, at a further advance
of rs cents in his daily wages. The
power distributed to the various lines
by the substations Is first generated
and sent out from the power house.