The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1913-10-28
5. P. AWARDS
SCHOLARSHIPS


railway employees of the Southern Pa
cifc have recently been awarded
scholarships in the school of practical
railroading which that company main
tains, according to an announcement
made at the general offices today.
They are A. c. Posey, lease clerk;
John A. Starbuck, freight clerk;
Warren Tucker, station baggage
man; j. j. Sullivan, assistant chief
clerk on the Tucson division; p. A..
Warrack, file clerk; w. M. Whitney.
draguhtsman, and +. f. Yoakum,
yard clerk. Five of the seven are col
lege graduates.
The Southern Pacifc's school of
railroading, under Norman Collver, is
unique among educational institutions
Officers of the company conduct the
course and the students are scattered
from Portland to Ell Paso. There are
no paid instructors and no tuition
fees. The students are under salary.
None but company employees are eligi-
bic and no married men are appointed,
in which respect there is resemblance
to the schools at Annapolis and West
Point. The students are between the
ages of twenty one and thirty and are
chosen for grit, ambition, intelligence
and efficiency that they have shown in
their previous work.
The Southern Pacific course covers
a period of forty-two months, approx
mately that of a college curriculum.
The beginner starts at medium sized
station, where he serves six months as
warehouseman, baggageman and clerk,
performing the actual work as any
other employe. He is then transfer
red to another division to spend three
months in track work. After he has
learned to handle spike maui and
raise low joints, he is moved to the
Flood building and puts in three
months with the superintendent of
transportation. Next comes three
months in the shops. then the same
period in train service; then three
months In the accounting department.
and finally three months in the tariff
bureau of the tralnc department. max
ing two years in all.
If he has met the rigid requirements
of the course, the student is now ready
to choose whether he will follow the
operating, the traffic, or the account
ing branch of the railroad business. In
which ever line he selects, he is given
special opportunity for experience and
advancement
Ii the student chooses the operating
department, he returns to the shops
and roundhouses for further polish.
ing along mechanical lines; he puts in
two months in the stores department
he h. -
neer's office; he acquires greater eff
cheney in maintenance of way; later he
spends two months in the general
managers office, where he gets in
touch with the organization as a
whole; and finally he is given a five
months finishing with yardmasters,
dispatchers and trainmasters or a
busy division. At the end of this time.
he is adjudged either fit material for
minor official position or not worth
saving.
Similarly in the traffic department,
student is given special work in
ticket office, in the solicitation of
freight, and as assistant to freight
adm passenger agent at an OUTLYING
point, where he will be directly in
contact with patrons of the company
and become versed in the arts of sell
ing transportation.
If he chooses the auditing depart
ment, his last eighteen months are
spent entirely in the general office
tracing the intricate threads of the
accounts.
Since appointments to the student
course are made only from the ranks
of employees, it frequently happens
that the student has had sound and
practical experience in one or more
of the departments assigned. In this
ease, he is given advanced credit and
is not required to duplicate his work
unnecessarily, since the company is
frankly looking forward to his com
pleting his course and sharing the
burden of official responsibility.
The salaries are prescribed accord
ing to schedule and vary from SIS
to 800 per month. The majority of
the students have surrendered positions
paying more than $75 per month in or
der to take advantage of the unusual
opportunities offered by the course.
W. Nj GOtwaIdt editor of tho Iowa