structural work applies to the superintendent of highway work. He should
understand how the grading in preparation for the building of roads
should be done and be able to carry on the construction of the road
efficiently, with as little delay and as economically as possible.
PLAN No. 1173. FOREMAN
The foreman on road work has usually been trained in the school of
experience and has learned the various requirements of good concrete
road building. He has shown by hard work and superior ability that he is
able to handle the position of foreman of the highway building gang. In
a general way his requirements are the same as heretofore mentioned.
PLAN No. 1174. MIXER OPERATOR, FINISHER, REINFORCING PLACER
The requirements are the same as in structural work.
PLAN No. 1175. FORM SETTER
Before it is possible to place any concrete it is necessary to build
side rails to contain the concrete. This work is done by form setters.
No special training is required.
PRODUCTS GROUP
The making of various concrete products is a field which is increasing
in importance. The construction of block, brick, tile, sewer, and
pressure pipe, silo staves, ornamental trim, structural units, lamp
posts, fence posts, telephone and telegraph poles, burial vaults,
kitchen sinks, bath and laundry tubs, garden furniture, roofing and
floor tile, cribbing fences, columns and grindstones are included in
this group. The concrete products industry is coming into a position of
dignity and importance. The day of the incompetent man is passing, and
his product--the pasty looking, porous cement block--is giving way to
the real concrete unit, structurally sound and architecturally
beautiful. The factory-made concrete block of quality has made its way
against the prejudice created by inferior products and against a
conservatism which requires a new material to prove beyond any
possibility of doubt its superiority to materials with which builders
are acquainted. Concrete units have suffered through the ignorance which
has placed them upon the market as substitutes and imitations rather
than as products of a material having its own distinctive qualities and
characteristic charm.
The development of concrete stone manufacture depends upon the
possibility of the market, skillful workmanship, economical operation
and competent management; upon the utilization of the best available
materials and equipment in preference to makeshifts and clumsy manual
labor. It depends on artistic perception, and also upon the appreciation
of public demands.
This line of work presents a wonderful opportunity for the man who
desires to eventually go into business for himself. The amount of
capital required for the start is comparatively small. However, before
entering this line of business a very careful study should be made of
the management, manufacture, and marketing of concrete products.
PLAN No. 1176. MANAGER
In large plants a manager is employed by the operating company, but in
smaller plants the proprietor usually acts as manager. The man who
undertakes the management of an enterprise of this kind should
understand business principles and have training and experience in
business life; he must be familiar with the requirements of the product
which he is manufacturing; he should not attempt to manufacture too
large a line of products, but should specialize according to the demands
of the locality in which he is situated.
PLAN No. 1177. FOREMAN
The foreman is in active charge of the manufacturing of the products and
has direct charge of the labor employed. The requirements for his
position are the same as have already been mentioned for a foreman.
PLAN No. 1178. MACHINE OPERATORS
A large percentage of concrete products are manufactured in specially
designed machines which require some skill in operating. The operator
must know the machine thoroughly. His training is gained by experience.
PLAN No. 1179. MODELER
If ornamental work is undertaken the services of a modeler are
absolutely necessary. To produce products artistic in design requires
the services of a man trained in an art school. From a clay model, molds
of plaster or glue are made in which the concrete is poured. Most of the
modeler’s work is done indoors, usually in a well lighted studio. His
salary is variable and dependent upon his ability. Demand for his
services is not very general at the present, but the occupation holds
many very promising allurements for the man who has ability.
PLAN No. 1180. PATTERN MAKER
In some cases it is necessary to make wooden forms for ornamental trim
work. The making of these forms requires the services of a pattern
maker. The requirements and qualifications for this position have been
discussed in other monographs.
PLAN No. 1181. PLASTER AND GLUE MOLD MAKER
It is the work of a plaster and glue mold maker to take the model which
has been designed and make a plaster or glue mold in which the concrete
will be placed. His experience and training is gained by actual work
with the material, either in the shop or in the school. This occupation
requires considerable mechanical ability. In smaller plants the modeling
and mold making are frequently done by one man.
MISCELLANEOUS
Each one of the various groups which have been mentioned requires an
office force, and commonly in the case of the concrete products group
salesmen are employed.
RE-EDUCATION
To the man who has been disabled, some place in the field of concrete
construction activities may present a life work which has a future both
big and bright. The work is vitally interesting and alive. If you have
the determination and ability the way is clear to assume almost any of
the responsible positions reviewed in this monograph. Do not expect to
step from the hospital or from the vocational institution into the
highest position; the minor jobs are stepping stones to the bigger ones.
Make up your mind that you will attain the highest possible position in
that phase of the construction industry in which you are engaged, and by
diligent application you will ultimately reach this goal. The industry
is large and there are opportunities for everyone to whom the doing of
big things appeals. Talk with the re-educational expert with whom you
should in any case get acquainted, and learn of schools near your home
that are giving instruction in the various phases of concrete
construction.
PLAN No. 1182. CEMENT MANUFACTURE
With the increase in construction activities the demand upon the
manufacturers of Portland Cement becomes greater. However, the
manufacture of this product does not present as large an opportunity to
you as does the field of concrete construction. In the actual
manufacture of this product there are few positions which make a direct
appeal.
However, in the laboratories, which are maintained by all manufacturing
companies there is an opportunity for you if you are interested in
chemistry or physics. Elaborate tests, both chemical and physical, are
made of this product. If you have had training in chemical engineering,
here is an opportunity for you to get into work which is interesting, of
which the future is assured. If you have not had the training, the
chemical engineering departments of our colleges present the opportunity
for study and research work. If your mind is made up to enter the cement
testing laboratory, specialize on this subject while taking your course
of training.
PLAN No. 1183. THE LAW AS A VOCATION
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
For the material of this monograph the Federal Board for Vocational
Education is indebted to the Vocation Bureau, Boston, through its
publication The Law as a Vocation, of which this pamphlet is largely an
abstract. The monograph was prepared by Dr. H. L. Smith, under the
direction of Charles H. Winslow, Chief of the Research Division of the
Federal Board. Acknowledgment is due to Dr. John Cummings of the
Research Division for editorial assistance.
ARE YOU THINKING OF BECOMING A LAWYER?
If you are and have not yet made up your mind, you will want to read
this pamphlet, because it tells what the leading men in the profession
of law say about law as a vocation. It tells you the answers that these
men give to questions that are in your mind.
If you are thinking of entering the profession of law, you want to know
the answers to these questions:
1. What kind of work should I have to do as a lawyer?
2. What personal characteristics should I possess to be successful as a
lawyer?
3. How much general education ought I to have as a basis for a course in
law?
4. What specific training should I need if I decide to become a lawyer,
and how long would it take?
5. How should I be admitted to the bar?
6. What income may I reasonably expect to earn if I am successful in
practice?
7. What are some other rewards to a lawyer in addition to the earnings
from practice?
8. How many years would it take me to establish myself in practice?
9. How great a need is there for lawyers?
10. How much will it cost me to get an education suitable for the
practice of law?
WHAT KIND OF WORK SHOULD I HAVE TO DO AS A LAWYER?
“The work of the law is to establish rights, satisfy claims, protect the
innocent against wrongdoers, secure convictions for the guilty, and to
maintain a cause in the face of all forms of opposition and
misrepresentation.”[35]
[35] The Law as a Vocation, p. 68, Vocation Bureau, Boston, Mass.
The profession of law, therefore, is a profession of action rather than
inaction, of fighting for a cause. In this fight the lawyer finds his
work in two rather distinct fields, office practice and court practice.
Office practice again subdivides itself into practice of a public nature
and practice of a private nature. Office practice of a private nature
consists very largely in the examination of titles to property, the
drafting of legal papers, such as deeds and contracts, the acting as
trustee or guardian, the collection of accounts, and the giving of
general legal advice. In the office practice of a public nature, the
lawyer acts as public administrator, referee in bankruptcy proceedings,
auditor of public accounts, etc.
In the field of court practice the lawyer deals with criminal cases,
damage suits, etc. It is in this field that there is the greatest
nervous strain, but at the same time the greatest opportunity for
building up a wide reputation. In court practice an attorney conducting
a case usually consults other lawyers and has their aid and counsel as
associates in the case.
Both in office and court practice lawyers usually become notaries or
justices for the convenience of clients in the acknowledgment of deeds,
the making of affidavits, etc. Classified on a still different basis the
principal fields of practice in law are five in number. Any lawyer would
usually have the bulk of his practice in one of these five fields,
acting in one of the following capacities: General practitioner,
criminal lawyer, tort lawyer, real estate lawyer, patent lawyer. All but
the first of these represent specialized fields.
The general practitioner performs various kinds of legal services, any
kind in fact that may be called for in the community in which he lives.
The criminal lawyer limits his practice chiefly to work in criminal
courts and deals with offenses that have been committed against society.
The tort lawyer deals with damage suits. The work of the tort lawyer is
often divided into two fields, that of the plaintiff lawyer and that of
the defendant lawyer. The plaintiff lawyer does work for those parties
who are claiming damage. The defendant lawyer does work for those
individuals or organizations that are sued for damage. Generally the
defendant lawyer serves a liability or insurance company, corporation or
other employer.
The real-estate lawyer is engaged largely in examining titles, and in
acting as trustee and thus holding funds for investment. His work
naturally brings him in close touch with both the buying and the selling
end of the real-estate business, so that he usually, himself, engages to
some extent in that business.
The patent lawyer assists in getting patents from the National
Government, and in acting as an attorney in patent cases.
The following quotation affords a description of the work of a lawyer
from another point of view:
“The lawyer spends a part of his time in studying law, reading statutes,
decisions, reports, and treatises. The printed decisions in various
States range from 1 to 18 or 20 volumes a year. With these and other
legal material the lawyer is bound to have some acquaintance.
Furthermore, the lawyer spends part of his time studying miscellaneous
topics, which become the subject of litigation, such as street paving,
the coal business, the chemistry of wall paper, and so on. Every science
may have something to say to the lawyer. Part of his time is spent in
consultation with his clients; first of all to ascertain the facts of
their cases, and afterwards to explain to them their rights on the
facts. He also spends time in writing letters and doing sundry business
incidental to giving advice to his clients. This work for the client
branches out into a search for missing witnesses, examination of records
of deeds to discover the ownership of real estate, the perusal of the
account books of a client to find out the balance of a claim or similar
investigation. Furthermore, part of his time is spent in writing of
pleadings and briefs; the pleadings are the statement of claim or
defense made by him to the court; the briefs are his written arguments
of law giving the legal reasons why the law favors his client’s case.
Finally, he spends much of his time in arguments to the judge and jury,
and in the examination of witnesses and other proceedings in court.
Here, as in all occupations, nine-tenths of the work is what may be
called routine work or even drudgery. This can not be escaped. The
lawyer does not spend his time in preparing and delivering eloquent
orations. As in other occupations, the really interesting work, full of
perpetual zest, is usually a small part of the whole.”[36]
[36] The Law as a Vocation, pp. 24-25, Vocation Bureau, Boston, Mass.
WHAT PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS SHOULD I POSSESS TO BE SUCCESSFUL AS A
LAWYER?
The answer to the first part of this question is best given in the
following quotation:
Certain personal qualities are fundamental for a success in the law;
others though of high value are secondary.
The fundamental qualities are as follows:
1. _Moral integrity_, worthy of the trust often involved in handling the
property and other interests of clients, or able to withstand
inducements to unprofessional conduct. This involves intellectual
honesty.
2. _Persistence_, to carry on to completion any piece of work
undertaken. This means unlimited capacity for hard work.
3. _Sound judgment_, to take a right and well-informed attitude in
questions involving law and facts.
4. _Self-confidence_, a belief in one’s ability successfully to handle a
task when once entered into.
5. _Concentration_, power to bring all one’s thought and activities to
bear on a case in hand.
These basal qualities, with adequate training in the profession are
likely to bring at least a fair degree of success; the lack of any one
of them is a serious handicap, and accounts for most failures.[37]
[37] Vocational Studies, U. S. Bureau of Education, pp. 6-7, Collins
Publ. Serv.
The loss of an eye, a hand, an arm, a foot, or a leg would not seriously
interfere with one’s success as a lawyer. Good health is highly
desirable but physical strength is not an essential to the practitioner.
HOW MUCH GENERAL EDUCATION OUGHT I TO HAVE AS A BASIS FOR A COURSE IN
LAW?
Some years ago even the best law schools did not require any definite
amount of education for entrance into the school. In fact many
individuals with only a common-school education read law in an office
and took up the practice without any training in a law school. At the
present, however, every person looking forward to the practice of law is
urged to graduate from a law school. All reputable law schools now
require at least a four-year high-school course for admission. Many of
these law schools, especially those connected with the large
universities, require in addition to the four-year high-school work one
year, and in some cases two years, of college work as a preparation. Two
law schools admit only students who have a college degree of A. B. or B.
S.
WHAT SPECIFIC TRAINING SHOULD I NEED, IF I DECIDE TO BECOME A LAWYER,
AND HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?
There was a time when by reading law in an office one could get a fairly
adequate training for the practice of law. Particularly was this true of
preparation for practice in small towns. Even at the present time this
method is followed to some extent in small towns that are long distances
from law schools. The rapidly increasing complexity of the law,
however, now practically necessitates at least a partial course in a law
school and makes desirable a complete course. The late Chief Justice
Waite said:
“The time has gone by when an eminent lawyer, in full practice, can take
a class of students into his office and become their teacher. Once that
was practicable, but now it is not. The consequence is that law schools
are now a necessity.”[38]
[38] The Law as a Vocation, p. 40, Vocation Bureau, Boston, Mass.
The method of training for the law now recommended, therefore, is
training in a law school rather than in a law office. The practical
experience of the office has recently been supplied in the best law
schools by the practice court, thus doing away with the former objection
to the law school, namely, that it furnished to the student no
experience in methods of handling and conducting cases. The practice
court or moot court, as now introduced into the progressive law schools
of the country, is described by one of our State universities as
follows:
“The work of the practice court is divided into three parts, that of the
law term, that of the jury term, and that of the appellate jurisdiction.
The court is provided with a full corps of officers, including the
members of the faculty who may sit from time to time as a presiding
judge, the full bench of judges sitting as a supreme court, a clerk, a
sheriff, and the necessary deputies. Ample and commodious rooms have
been provided for the use of the court, including a court room furnished
with the fittings necessary for the trial of jury cases, and a clerk’s
office. The latter is provided with the books and records used in actual
practice. The purpose of the court is to afford to the student practical
instruction in pleading and practice both at law and equity under the
common-law system and the “Code” or “reformed” procedure, and actual
experience in the commencement and trial of cases through all stages. In
commencing the actions the students assigned to the cases are permitted
to select the State in which the action is supposed to be brought, thus
enabling the student to acquire the practice as prevailing in his own
State. All questions of practice, pleading, and procedure are governed
by the law of the State in which the action is so laid, but the
questions of substantive law are determined according to the weight of
authority.”[39]
[39] Vocational Studies, U. S. Bureau of Education, pp. 6-7, Collins
Publ. Service, Philadelphia, Pa.
The degree LL. B., which is the principal degree given by the American
law schools, was granted by 96 schools according to the report of the
committee on legal education of the American Bar Association for 1906.
Of these 96 schools, 48 required a three-years’ course of study beyond
the full four years’ high-school course. Nineteen of these schools
granted the master’s degree LL.M., after one year of postgraduate study.
HOW SHOULD I BE ADMITTED TO THE BAR?
Each State has its own bar or legal society and admission is granted to
the applicant in accordance with the regulations in force in each State.
Twenty-eight States have an examining board; 19 States require the
approximate completion of a high-school course; 17 States prescribe no
definite period of study; 1 State prescribes a period of 18 months; 12
States prescribe a period of two years; 23 States prescribe a period of
three years; and 10 States accept graduates of certain law schools
without examination.
The tendency at the present time is to continue the past practice of
raising standards of admission. This tendency has been supported by the
American Bar Association, and with its promise to continue interest in
this matter it should not be long until there are evolved uniform
requirements that will constitute a national standard on a high plane.
WHAT INCOME MAY I REASONABLY EXPECT TO EARN IF I AM SUCCESSFUL IN
PRACTICE?
It is difficult to estimate, except very generally, what the average
yearly earnings of a lawyer will be. It is difficult to do this, because
the income will vary according to the locality and the character of the
service in which one is engaged. Generally speaking, during the first
year of his independent practice a lawyer’s earnings will seldom net him
more than a few hundred dollars. With experience and acquaintance,
however, his competence will increase. If a lawyer chooses to serve an
apprenticeship as it were with another firm, he may reasonably expect
from $3 to $10 a week at the beginning, with an increase after three or
six months according to the amount of practice in the office in which he
is engaged.
The following quotations would tend to discourage one from entering upon
the profession, unless he is by nature and training well prepared for
the work:
“Its (the profession of law) demands are so high and the conditions of
genuine success so exacting, however, that it is inevitable that many of
the ill-equipped and misguided beginners who flood the ranks of the
legal profession should fail of success.”[40]
[40] The Law as a Vocation, p. 13, Vocation Bureau, Boston, Mass.
“The field is greatly overcrowded and the average earnings very small.
This is the great objection. Only the more able and fortunate in
securing profitable legal practice can hope to win more than a bare
competency. Young men may not only be indebted to their family and
friends for a course of study covering three or four years in
preparation, but after that for a period of 5, 10, or even 15 years
consumed in acquiring a competent practice. Many never reach such a
practice, and are obliged to turn to some other occupation for part or
full income, or to come down to the end of life in straitened
circumstances, unable to do for their families what was earlier done for
them to place them in the profession.”[41]
[41] The Law as a Vocation, pp. 66-67, Vocation Bureau, Boston, Mass.
“In 1912 the secretary of the Harvard Law School sent letters to all of
the graduates of the school from 1902 to 1911, inclusive, asking for
their net earnings each year since graduation. The reports returned are
indicated in the following table, although it is to be remembered in
this connection that less than half of those written responded and it
can reasonably be assumed that these represent the more successful.”[42]
[42] Vocational Studies, pp. 15-16, U. S. Bureau of Education, Collins
Publicity Service, Philadelphia, Pa.
=======+==================+==================
Year. |Number of replies.|Average earnings.
-------+------------------+-----------------
First | 694 | $664
Second | 609 | 1,110
Third | 497 | 1,645
Fourth | 411 | 2,150
Fifth | 317 | 2,668
Sixth | 249 | 3,118
Seventh| 162 | 3,909
Eighth | 112 | 4,426
Ninth | 62 | 5,321
Tenth | 40 | 5,825
-------+------------------+------------------
WHAT ARE SOME OTHER REWARDS TO A LAWYER IN ADDITION TO EARNINGS FROM
PRACTICE?
Legal training fits a man not only to practice law but to enter other
fields of activity. The lawyer may enter into commercial affiliations
and into political life through the judiciary, legislative, or executive
branches of the Government. Men trained in the law may serve the public
as attorneys for towns, cities, counties, districts, States, or the
Nation. These positions in the State and Federal service are as follows:
(1) Town or city solicitor.
(2) County or district attorney.
(3) Attorney general for the State and his assistants.
(4) United States district attorney and his assistants.
(5) Attorney General of the United States and his regular and special
assistants.
Many lawyers also are connected with various National Government
bureaus, such as the Bureau of Insular Affairs, etc.
Practicing lawyers are also often chosen as professors or lecturers in
law schools and other schools, such as schools of commerce and finance,
medical schools, colleges, and universities. For those lawyers who have
a literary inclination there is opportunity for its exercise in writing
for law journals, secular magazines, daily press, etc. A lawyer’s
training naturally brings him before the people as a leader in movements
for public good, if he is at all public spirited. Finally many lawyers
have an opportunity for becoming counsellors for the people in general
in the practice before legislative bodies considering public interests.
Special economic and industrial problems demand for their best solution
legal ability of the very highest order.
HOW MANY YEARS WOULD IT TAKE ME TO ESTABLISH MYSELF IN PRACTICE?
The young lawyer may get into practice in one of two ways: First, as an
employee; second, as an independent practitioner. In the first case, he
usually becomes an assistant in some law office, where he stays from one
to five years, possibly permanently by becoming a member of the firm. In
the second case, as an independent practitioner, he gets into the
practice primarily through the business of his own personal friends,
through the advertising that these friends give him to their friends,
and finally through his own clients, one client leading to another. The
lawyer’s advertising, therefore, is of an indirect nature. Every
ambitious young lawyer looks forward to the time when he can get into
the profession on his own account, and to this end he should strive at
all times to build up a good reputation and to become generally known in
his community. One must count on working faithfully for several years,
particularly if he is an independent practitioner, before he can enjoy a
comfortable income.
HOW GREAT A NEED IS THERE FOR LAWYERS?
The legal profession is rapidly becoming overcrowded. During the period
from 1870 to 1900 the percentage of increase in the number engaged in
the practice of law was 180.1 per cent. The following table sets forth
the growth and percentage of increase in membership of the professions
of medicine, theology, and law from 1870 to 1900:
_Growth and per cent of increase in memberships of the professions of
theology, medicine, and the law from 1870 to 1900. Statistics of
Occupations, Twelfth Census of the United States._
====================+=========+=========+=======
Year. |Theology.|Medicine.| Law.
--------------------+---------+---------+-------
1870 | 43,874 | 62,449 | 40,736
1880 | 64,698 | 85,671 | 64,137
1890 | 88,203 | 104,805 | 89,630
1900 | 111,638 | 132,002 |114,460
Per cent of increase| 154.4 | 11.5 | 180.1
--------------------+---------+---------+-------
In the opinion of the leading members of the American bar to-day the
practicing of law is a very poor vocation for the incompetent and poorly
equipped.
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST ME TO GET AN EDUCATION SUITABLE FOR THE PRACTICE
OF LAW?
If you are a soldier or a sailor discharged from the service since
October 6, 1917, with a disability for which the War-Risk Insurance will
grant you compensation, your education will be furnished free by the
Government. The War-Risk Insurance Bureau, through its compensation,
will meet a part of the expenses, and the Federal Board for Vocational
Education will supplement that amount to a minimum of $65 a month, with
the purpose of meeting all of your expenses for living, clothing,
transportation, tuition, and incidentals.
It is the hope that this pamphlet may serve the double purpose of
discouraging the incompetent and poorly equipped from entering the
profession of law, and of encouraging the competent and well equipped by
strengthening the desires of such to enter the profession, and by
holding out to such the promise of ultimate success in the profession.
PLAN No. 1184. ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE, AND REPAIR
OCCUPATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This monograph was prepared by Terrell Croft and L. A. Emerson, under
direction of Charles H. Winslow, Chief of the Research Division of the
Federal Board for Vocational Education. Acknowledgment is due to Dr.
John Cummings, of the Research Division, for editorial assistance.
Demand for electrical men is increasing constantly, and a returned
soldier, whatever his disabilities and whether or not he has had
previous experience, will be able in nearly every case to find some
electrical job which will be interesting to him and at which he can make
good wages.
To describe occupational possibilities in different lines of electrical
work, the Federal Board has issued several monographs, of which this is
one. If you desire to follow an electrical vocation, and do not find
discussed in this monograph the specific occupation in which you are
interested, obtain from a representative of the Federal Board one of the
other publications dealing with electrical employments.
Electrical construction, repair, and maintenance occupations discussed
in this bulletin cover the following related activities:
Electrical contracting and repairing.
Plant and factory electrical maintenance.
Electrical inspection.
Work in storage battery service stations.
Electrical automobile work.
Vocational opportunities in each of these fields are described in some
detail on the following pages.
PLAN No. 1185. ELECTRICAL CONTRACTING AND REPAIRING
A man or a company engaged in electrical contracting and repairing
installs wiring, generators, motors, and other electrical equipment in
buildings. Some concerns install power plants complete. The organization
may also include a repair shop wherein are rehabilitated motors,
generators, and similar devices. Frequently, such companies have a
retail store where energy-consuming devices, such as fan motors, sad
irons, electric heaters, incandescent lamps, and other similar articles
are retailed to the public. This merchandising feature is one of great
importance because it affords a possibility of considerable additional
income. The organization which formerly called itself the “National
Electrical Contractors’ Association” has now adopted the name “National
Association of Electrical Contractors and Dealers.” Some firms do
electrical construction only, others electrical repairing only, and
still others merchandising only. Or one may combine in its business any
two or all three of these activities.
Often a contracting concern is a large company which does business in
several cities. Again, it may be a small corporation operating locally.
Or it may be an individually owned business employing only a few men.
The several vocational groups which may be distinguished in the
contracting and repairing business include (_a_) owners, (_b_) inside
wiremen, (_c_) estimators, (_d_) salesmen, (_e_) general repairmen, and
(_f_) armature winders.
PLAN No. 1186. OWNERS
An owner of an electrical contracting business is usually a man who has
worked himself up from a position as wireman or salesman. For success,
however, it is not sufficient that the man be merely a good mechanic.
Yearly, hundreds of men set up for themselves in the electrical
contracting business and, while some succeed many fail, principally
because they are not good business men. If a small contracting business
is to prosper, the owner should have a good working knowledge not alone
of electrical construction, but also of bookkeeping and selling. Pluck,
industry, and honesty are prime essentials.
Not all owners earn large incomes. Some, in fact, earn little if any
more than a journeyman wireman, who works for wages of from $60 to $125
per month. For a returned soldier who has had electrical-construction
experience, and who possesses the requisite qualifications the field is
promising. It requires some capital at the start, and the first years
will practically always be lean ones. A man who is entering or who is
serving in the electrical contracting field as a workman may look
forward, if he has the proper capacity, to some day owning a business of
his own. If he has this aspiration, he should become interested in
bookkeeping, salesmanship, advertising, and in the technical aspects of
the business, such as electrical machinery installation and wiring.
PLAN No. 1187. DEMAND FOR INSTALLATION OF WIRING
Wiring for electricity requires for its installation the services of
many skilled men. In cities and towns where electric-company service is
available, practically every house which is erected is wired. Out in the
country, also, many farm buildings are now being wired. Furthermore,
while it was common practice a few years ago to arrange for only one
light or outlet in each room, the present tendency is to provide for
several. All of this is creating a demand for more wire men.
PLAN No. 1188. SIGNAL WIRING
In wiring for electric doorbells, fire and burglar alarms, and other
so-called signaling circuits dry cells are ordinarily used to provide
the voltage. With this low pressure the fire risk is almost negligible.
While the signal wiring in a large factory or institution may be
complicated, in smaller buildings or residences it offers few difficult
problems. To install signal wire economically and properly, however,
requires some skill and experience.
PLAN No. 1189. LIGHT AND POWER WIRING
Installation of light and power wiring is more skilled work. On these
circuits the electric pressure is always relatively high--110 volts or
above--and there is the ever present danger to be guarded against of
fire caused by short-circuiting. Not only may improperly installed
wiring involve great fire hazard, but it may involve life hazard also.
To minimize these dangers, codes of rules indicating the proper and safe
methods of installing wiring and electrical equipment have been
formulated. The National Board of Fire Underwriters has prepared and
revises periodically such a compilation of rules, called the “National
Electrical Code.” This, or some modification of it, is in force in
practically all communities. These rules specify the conditions under
which wiring of certain types may be used and indicate rigid
requirements for the protection of circuits and the installation of
electrical machinery.
_Methods of wiring._--The several methods of wiring include the
following: (_a_) open wiring; (_b_) knob and tube wiring; (_c_) rigid
conduit wiring; (_d_) flexible conduit wiring; and (_e_) molding wiring.
Open wiring was the earliest form. It is the lowest in first cost and
is, if properly installed, safe. The insulated conductors are supported
along the surfaces of the walls and ceilings on porcelain knobs or
cleats. In many factory buildings, particularly in those of the wooden
mill type construction, much open wiring is used. For this service it is
economical and quite satisfactory.
The knob and tube method provides a concealed installation, but is more
expensive than the open type, and is applicable only in frame buildings.
The wiring is placed while the structure is under construction. Where
the conductors are carried along the sides of joists or other timbers,
they are supported on porcelain knobs. Where they pass through studs or
other wooden members the holes are bushed with porcelain tubes.
The principal tools used in both knob and tube and in open wiring are
the screw driver, brace and bit, knife, saw, soldering iron, and blow
torch.
PLAN No. 1190. MOLDING WIRING
In molding wiring conductors are held in a flat wooden or metal molding
screwed to the wall or ceiling surface. Wooden molding, however, is not
now commonly used, and in many cities its use is prohibited. The metal
molding which is superseding the older nonmetallic molding is small,
unobtrusive, and readily installed. It is used principally for
extensions to existing wiring installations. By its use the cutting of
holes and channels in walls and ceilings, which is necessary for the
installation of concealed wiring, is eliminated.
PLAN No. 1191. STEEL CONDUIT WIRING
This is the most expensive, but the safest and best method. In fireproof
buildings it is used exclusively, and in some communities wiring of
other types is prohibited. Many frame buildings are now being wired with
metal conduit, either of the rigid or the flexible type. Rigid conduit
is merely wrought iron or steel pipe of the usual trade dimensions,
which has been specially treated to prevent its corrosion and to render
its interior smooth. Flexible steel conduit resembles metal hose in
construction. Metal conduit is installed while the building is under
construction, and subsequently rubber-insulated conductors are pulled
into it. Usually the conduit is concealed within floors and walls, but
it may be supported on surfaces. In concrete construction buildings the
conduit is embedded in the concrete, being placed in the forms before
the concrete is poured. At outlets where the conductors must be carried
from the conduit system to feed lights and switches, steel or cast-iron
outlet boxes are connected to the tubes. Pipe tools, such as dies,
reamers, hack saws, drills, and bending “hickeys” are used in working
conduit.
PLAN No. 1192. WIRING AS AN OCCUPATION
Wiring work is interesting and diversified. Some wiremen in the cities
specialize on one type of work. For example, certain journeymen may
ordinarily do nothing but conduit work day in and day out, while others
may do all sorts of installing. Some men specialize on power wiring for
motors, generators, switchboards, and similar equipment.
Usually a wireman must rely on his own experience and judgment for the
detailed layout of the wiring installation. The architect’s plans
generally indicate merely the locations for the different lights,
switches, motors, and other devices. The wireman must then plan his
circuits so that these devices may be served with the minimum
expenditure of time and material.
Wiring of finished buildings, that is to say of the structures which
were not wired at the time they were built, is almost a specialty in
itself. Much of this work is done, because the electric utility
companies expend considerable effort in their endeavor to see to it that
all buildings, old and new, are wired, so that they may become possible
customers. In wiring finished buildings much ingenuity may be exercised
by the wireman in routing of conductors through the structure so as to
insure the least removal of flooring and cutting of walls.
_Qualifications of wiremen._--Requirements for wiring are determined to
a large extent by the special line or lines of the activity taken up.
While some wiring work requires little physical exertion, often
considerable lifting and pulling is necessary. The necessary boring,
sawing, and bending all require strength and endurance. Also it may be
necessary to climb from floor to floor of buildings under construction.
Some of the jobs may be in heated inclosed buildings, but the bulk of it
is in structures under construction which are open to the weather.
As to technical qualifications, a good wireman should be able to read
the architects’ blue prints, which specify the panel box and outlet
locations, and he should be able to route his conductors properly. This
requires that he have some general knowledge of electrical circuits, and
be quite familiar with wiring methods and wiring code requirements.
Often the wireman must order his own material for a job. Hence, he
should be able to select and specify this intelligently. It follows that
there is little opportunity in cities for a person who has had no
previous experience or wiring training to immediately assume the duties
of a journeyman wireman. But each wireman usually has working with him a
helper. A helper can start with little or no previous experience, and
work up. As in practically all other vocations, some theoretical and
practical training will be of great value, and such training a
prospective wireman can obtain at a trade school.
_Wages of wiremen._--Compensation varies in different communities and
with the skill of the workman. In practically all cities wiremen are
unionized, but not usually in the smaller towns. An eight-hour day with
time and a half for overtime prevails. In the cities the rate per day
for a journeyman wireman will vary from $4.80 to $6.40, and in the
smaller towns from $3.60 to $4.80. In cities a helper will receive from
$2.80 to $4, and in the smaller towns from $2 to $4.40.
PLAN No. 1193. ESTIMATORS
Estimators in electrical contractors’ organizations compile estimates of
the labor and material required and the cost thereof, for each job on
which a bid is to be submitted by the contractor. On the basis of this
cost of time and material the estimator determines the price which is
quoted to the prospective purchaser. Most successful estimators are men
who have worked at the wiring trade and thereby appreciate how much work
can be accomplished under given conditions in a given time. Cost of
material can readily be determined with accuracy, but to estimate
closely the cost of labor--the time that will be consumed in putting in
the job--requires experience and judgment. A returned soldier who has
had previous electrical construction experience but whose physical
qualifications are such that he can no longer do heavy work, should be
able to qualify ultimately as an estimator. It may be that before he
actually accepts such a position, he should have some supplementary
theoretical training in a trade school in drawing, mathematics, and
electrical theory. But after he has this training and some estimating
practice he should, if his natural qualifications adapt him for the
work, be able to do well at it. The work is mostly indoors, although the
estimators sometimes visit sites of jobs under construction. The work is
usually eight hours a day, and the salary may range from $100 to $250
per month. A competent estimator may make a great deal of money for his
concern and an incompetent one can lose much more.
PLAN No. 1194. SALESMEN
A salesman for an electrical contracting business may be either an
inside man or an outside man, or combine inside and outside duties. An
inside or store salesman will sell the various electrical appliances and
devices which the contractor may stock. Such may include electric fans,
electric-washing machines, small motors, irons, heaters, incandescent
lamps, and similar devices and material. He should be well informed as
to the uses and applications of this equipment, and he should also be
competent to advise prospective customers about any wiring and the cost
thereof, which may be required for the installation of the equipment.
Outside salesmen are frequently assigned territories or districts which
they are expected to cover and from which they obtain orders for about
the same equipment and services as do the inside men. Their work is
somewhat similar to that of an electric-company solicitor.
This sales work offers attractive possibilities for returned soldiers
who have had some previous electrical experience, and whose physical
disabilities are such that they can no longer do heavy work. While
technical knowledge is an extremely valuable asset to a salesman, the
essential qualification of a man who is selling anything is that he have
the “selling instinct.” He should like to meet people of all sorts, and
feel at ease when talking to them. For a man who has the qualifications,
the opportunities for him in sales work are probably better than those
in any other line. If a man can get around and see and talk to people,
hear what they have to say, and write, he should be able to qualify
physically for this work. Many salesmen earn very moderate salaries, but
others command very high ones. The compensation depends very largely on
the man. Often it is on a salary and commission basis. In this selling
work, a man may expect to earn from $70 to $150 per month, or even more,
depending upon his abilities and application. Sometimes a man may
combine the duties of salesman and estimator.
PLAN No. 1195. GENERAL REPAIRMEN
General repairmen of a contracting company must be versatile. They are
the “trouble shooters” for the company, and may be called upon to locate
trouble in, and to repair burned-out motors, worn or damaged
controllers, and many different sorts in interior electrical
installations. They should be able to judge whether a machine needs a
new bearing, or rewinding, or what. Frequently the repairs must be made
to the equipment in the building where it is installed, since it may not
be practical to remove it to the shop. A repairman may also have
advantageously some knowledge of armature winding, although his duties
ordinarily are to handle only the troubles which can be corrected with
the expenditure of comparatively little time. The repairman’s most
necessary qualification is the ability to locate a trouble quickly, and
either remedy it at once, or recommend authoritatively such action as is
necessary for permanent repair. This requires resourcefulness and a good
understanding of the operating characteristics of electrical machines
and devices of all sorts. Jobs involving the rewinding of machine are
generally sent to the shop and handled by an armature winder, as
described in the following paragraph. A general repairman may expect
compensation ranging from $80 to $125 per month. The day is usually
eight hours. Some time is spent outside traveling from job to job, and
the remainder inside.
PLAN No. 1196. ARMATURE WINDERS
Armature winders are now employed by many of the electrical contracting
companies in their repair departments. Some concerns make a specialty of
and do no other work except the winding and rewinding of electrical
machines. To become a competent armature winder, a man must have a great
deal of experience, which can be acquired only in the shop. However, a
trade school course in this vocation will be of great assistance, and
should increase materially the rate of a man’s advance and his ultimate
earning capacity. It is impossible for one to do armature winding
intelligently without some knowledge of electrical theory. Without it he
may be able to work along like a machine, but unless he possesses some
of this theoretical information he will not know why he is doing certain
things certain ways and will never be competent to act independently.
An individual can start as an armature winder’s helper at making and
taping coils with little or no previous experience, and can from this
position gradually acquire an extended working knowledge of armature
winding.
In an electrical repair shop, the armature winder must work on machines
of many different types. It is often necessary for him to do lifting,
and he must have full use of his fingers. He may be compelled to stand
at his work for long periods. A lack of hearing is not a material
detriment, and the blind have been taught to do this work successfully.
Men with certain minor disablements can qualify for this service. The
work is almost wholly indoors, although it may occasionally be necessary
to work on a machine in a building which is under construction and open
to the weather. An eight-hour day prevails. In cities the vocation is
largely unionized. An armature winder helper or apprentice will receive
from 20 to 40 cents per hour; a journeyman, from 60 to 75 cents per
hour; and a superintendent, from $150 to $250 per month. Expert, rapid
armature winders for coal, steel, and similar companies often receive as
much as $200 a month. Time and a half is paid for overtime. Usually the
jobs in these repair shops are steady, the men being retained in slack
times at routine work of some sort or other. A competent electrical
machine repair personnel is difficult to assemble, and when a repair
shop has acquired one, it takes precautions to provide the men with
steady work so that they will not leave.
PLAN No. 1197. PLANT AND FACTORY ELECTRICAL MAINTENANCE
Nearly all factories of any consequence now employ electrical power
distribution. Electrical energy is produced economically in a centrally
located generating station and is distributed by the wiring throughout
the plant wherever power is required. In the many plants in this country
great numbers of electric motors drive the machines. Thousands of
incandescent lamps are utilized for lighting. Also electrical energy may
be used for electroplating, galvanizing, welding, heating, and other
services. For the installation and upkeep of all this equipment,
thousands of electrical maintenance men are required. The work of an
electrician in a paper mill may, in detail, be quite different from that
required of one in an office building or in a printing establishment.
Yet each of these is an electrical maintenance man.
_Duties of maintenance men._--These are extremely diversified. A good
maintenance man must be a broad-gauge fellow having on tap a lot of
electrical experience and information. The repair of minor electrical
troubles or motors and other equipment are always under his charge. Much
of the work consists of “trouble shooting,” that is of locating and
correcting electrical difficulties of various sorts. Fuses blown due to
sudden overload may have to be replaced. Loose connections may have to
be tightened. Possibly a machine may for no apparent cause refuse to
start. Then the electrician must at once locate the trouble and repair
it, or arrange for the installation of a substitute machine while the
faulty one is sent to the shop. Often also he may be called upon to
install new wiring and equipment. In some plants the electrical
maintenance department may also rewind armatures.
PLAN No. 1198. QUALIFICATIONS OF PLANT AND MAINTENANCE ELECTRICIANS
Maintenance work involves not alone a good understanding of electrical
practice but also, for the first-class man, a knowledge of the industry
and its manufacturing processes. The electrician should be sufficiently
familiar with the machinery in the plant to determine quickly whether a
trouble lies in the motor or in the driven machine. In many plants,
where continuous process production prevails, those of the steel
industry for example, time is an extremely important factor. The
shut-down of one machine may render idle several hundred men and clog
the operation of the entire factory. Efficiency naturally increases with
experience in the given plant.
An electrician who has the ability to replace in service, in minimum
time, an inoperative machine should and does receive high compensation.
A fair degree of physical ability is required for this work, because the
electrician may in the course of his regular duties have to do many
different kinds of jobs. Sometimes the removal of a motor requires
lifting. The installation of heavy conductors requires pulling. On the
other hand, much of the work, such as the replacing of fuses or the
installation of electric light wiring, necessitates but little physical
exertion.
While many plant electricians have acquired all they know solely through
experience, theoretical training will enable a man to progress quickly
and to increase his earning capacity. The work is largely indoors,
although some of it is outside in the plant yards and in open buildings.
In many of the plants an eight-hour day prevails but there are still
some where the men work 9 or 10 or even 12 hours on the night shift. The
work is very steady. If the plant shuts down the electricians are
ordinarily employed during the nonoperating period on such
reconstruction and maintenance as can not be effected conveniently while
the plant is running.
PLAN No. 1199. PROMOTION
In some of the large steel and other manufacturing plants, electricians
who have risen to the position of chief electrician earn as much as $300
or more monthly. Such a job involves ability to handle successfully many
electricians, and to “keep the plant going” at minimum cost. Frequently
men start in a plant as wireman’s helpers or as motor tenders, for which
little knowledge or experience is necessary. As the beginner gradually
becomes familiar with the equipment and the processes of the industry he
may be advanced to more responsible and remunerative work. A man
commencing factory electrical maintenance work as a motor tender or
wireman’s helper may expect to earn from $50 to $80 per month. An
experienced plant trouble man may command from $80 to $175 or more per
month.
PLAN No. 1200. ELECTRICAL INSPECTION
Nearly all electrical installations are now subject to inspection. Most
fire-insurance policies provide that electrical work in the insured
building must be installed in accordance with the National Electrical
Code, and insurance may be refused on any building not wired in
accordance with the code. Sometimes in the country districts,
installations are not inspected, but in the cities and in most
industrial plants periodical inspections are made. Many cities have
wiring codes of their own, which are enforced by ordinance and which are
based on and are in general similar to the National Electrical Code.
To insure that the code rules are observed it is in most cities required
that the wiring, fixtures, motors, and other electrical equipment be
inspected by a municipal or an insurance inspector before electric
service is given. Large industrial plants located outside the cities are
examined by insurance inspectors.
_Duties of inspectors._--The duties of the inspector are to scrutinize
work in detail and, if it is properly installed, to approve it and
recommend that a certificate of inspection therefor be issued. If it is
not in accordance with the code, he suggests the necessary alterations.
Upon the issuance of an inspection certificate, the local electric
company is authorized to give service.
To handle his duties effectively, an inspector should have an extensive
knowledge of electrical construction. Furthermore, he must be familiar
with the wiring rules specified by local ordinance or by the code. The
rules relate to signal systems, lighting circuits, power wiring,
installation of motors and generators, high-tension machinery,
transformers, switchboards, substations, and the like. In every
municipal underwriters’ inspection organization, it is often necessary
to make rulings relating to features of electrical work which are
encountered infrequently and which are, therefore, not covered in detail
in the regular printed rules. The inspector must also be familiar with
these. In other words, he must know after inspecting a job whether or
not it has been installed in accordance with the “Code” under which he
is working. Ordinarily this knowledge can be obtained satisfactorily
only through extended experience in electrical construction.
_Opportunities for disabled men._--Possibilities offered by electrical
inspection for returned soldiers are very promising. The inspector
spends probably half of his time out of doors and half indoors in
finished buildings. In the larger cities, inspectors are usually
provided with motor cars so that they can move quickly from job to job.
Little physical exertion is required, and there is no lifting or
pulling. But an inspector should be able to climb around buildings under
construction, and into attics. Both hands are required for testing, but
one arm may be artificial. A returned soldier who has had previous
electrical-construction experience, but who because of some physical
disability can not follow his old vocation, should find electrical
inspection a means of earning a good livelihood at interesting work.
The work is normally eight hours per day, with Saturday afternoons off
but, since the men are usually paid monthly salaries, sometimes they
will do little work on one day and have to spend overtime on the next.
Theoretical training in a school which teaches electric wiring is very
desirable for a man who has not made a study of the code requirements.
The salary for an inspector will range from $100 to $175 per month. A
chief inspector to whom several men report may receive from $150 to $250
per month and possibly more. In some cities the wiring inspectors must
be members of the wireman’s union and receive the prevailing rate of pay
for wiremen.
PLAN No. 1201. WORK IN STORAGE-BATTERY SERVICE STATIONS
Thousands of automobile electric service stations are now in operation,
while a few years ago there were none. This phenomenal development has
been due to the increase in the use of automobiles and to the popularity
of electric-starting systems. Many stations specialize on only one
component of the starting equipment, as for example the storage battery.
Storage-battery stations have become so necessary that almost every city
has at least one station which handles exclusively storage batteries. It
charges, repairs, or rebuilds the batteries as occasion demands. Since
the service station is becoming an established and rapidly growing
institution, it affords many promising openings.
A storage-battery service station should be equipped for handling
battery work of all kinds. Often because of a defective switch or some
similar trouble a battery will run down. Then it is brought to the
station to be recharged. In the station specially designed equipment is
utilized so that a number of batteries can be charged simultaneously.
The workman who directs the charging department arranges the battery on
the bench and connects it into the circuit with others, all of which may
be recharged simultaneously. As the batteries become charged, certain
chemical actions occur. The density of the acid solution changes, and by
observing with a hydrometer the specific gravity of the solution, the
battery man knows when to disconnect the cells from the line.
On the service floor where the cars are driven in for examination or
adjustments are the inspectors who are familiar with the general
performance of storage cells. Often an inspector must locate causes of a
trouble which does not originate in the battery, but which is due to a
defect in some other element of the system. He must be able to diagnose
quickly the difficulty and its origin and to recommend the corrective
action necessary. Work of this character demands men with battery and
general automobile experience. They should be familiar with all of the
motor car electrical equipment. A detailed account of service station
work is given in the monograph on “Automobile maintenance and service.”
In the repair shop worn batteries are rebuilt and damaged batteries are
repaired. In the repairing process, often the only thing required is the
replacement of the wooden separators which separate the lead plates of
the cell. These separators rot quickly when a battery is mistreated, a
short circuit results, and this, if not promptly remedied, will ruin the
battery. Other trouble cases may be caused by the plates having become
“worn,” either through a long period of normal service or because of
abuse. A worn battery can by utilizing the old jars be rehabilitated by
substituting new plates and separators for the old. When a question
arises as to whether it will be best to repair a cell, or to replace the
plates, or to substitute a new cell, the repair man should be able to
judge accurately as to the most economical procedure. In repairing a
cell the sealing compound is removed by heating, and the lead straps
which effect the electrical connection between the various cells of the
battery are drilled or cut off. The element, as the group of plates is
called, is then taken out. If the plates are in poor condition they are
thrown away, new ones are substituted, and new wood separators are
inserted. The jar is washed, the plates and element replaced, and the
covers sealed on the cells. Finally the connectors are burned securely
to the posts.
Lead burning by the hydrogen or acetylene torch is necessary in
connecting cells. This requires great skill. A man must usually do
battery work for a considerable period before he becomes a competent
lead burner. After the battery is sealed, it is filled with a new
sulphuric-acid solution and placed “on charge.” When readings of the
hydrometer and voltmeter indicate that it is fully charged, it is
delivered to its owner or is placed in stock.
It appears that the demand for men in this vocation has never been
satisfied. Some of the work requires physical exertion because the heavy
batteries must be lifted on and off the charging bench. In the charging
room the air may be permeated with sulphuric-acid fumes. These are
irritating to the nostrils of some individuals but do not seem to affect
others.
The workman should be familiar with the action of batteries and with
electrical circuits as well. He should be able to observe readings of
meters, thermometers, and hygrometers. To become a skilled battery
repairman, considerable practical experience on the job is necessary.
However, a beginner with little experience can start in as a helper and
gradually work up in the trade. Some theoretical training will be of
great assistance. It can be obtained in the storage-battery departments
of those schools which have automobile courses.
The work as a rule is eight hours. The compensation of a beginner or
helper will range from $60 to $80 per month; an all-around experienced
battery man will receive from $80 to $125 per month, and a foreman in
charge of a shop may receive from $100 to $200 per month. There is
always the possibility that a man following this work can branch out
into a service business for himself.
PLAN No. 1202. ELECTRICAL AUTOMOBILE WORK
The automobile repair men who are receiving highest wages to-day are
those who are familiar with the electrical as well as the mechanical
equipment. Electrical starting and lighting is now regarded as so
essential and has been adopted so universally that a large number of men
are employed exclusively in its maintenance. The demand appears greatly
to exceed the supply. Many garages are seeking constantly thoroughly
qualified automobile electricians. They are willing and expect to pay
good wages to well-qualified men. Probably some of the best
possibilities in the automobile field to-day are waiting for specialists
in electrical starting and lighting equipment.
Necessary qualifications for an automobile electrician are that he be
thoroughly familiar with the electrical equipment, and also with the
operation of the car as a whole. To diagnose a case of electrical
trouble, it is usually necessary first to determine what effect it has
on the general operation of the car. This requires a knowledge of the
valves, timing, and many other elements. Obviously such a specialist
should be able to disassemble the electrical equipment, and to effect
such adjustments in it as may be required. Some acquaintance with
electrical theory is of great assistance. An extended knowledge will
prove a paying asset, because of the greater ultimate compensation which
it will insure its owner. Much of this information can be acquired
through practical experience in the shop, but a large part can be
secured only through study at home or in a suitable school.
Repair men should understand the principles of the magneto, induction
coil, generator, regulator, starting motor, condenser, and the like.
They should appreciate how these principles are utilized in the normal
operation of the equipment. Frequently a service station will specialize
on one type of equipment. Its work may comprise only coil repairing, or
magneto work, or motor repairing. In a shop which assumes repairs of all
kinds there may be, in addition to the three branches just enumerated,
also motor and generator work, storage battery repairing, light wiring,
and other special lines.
Electrical automobile work offers a very promising field for the
returned soldier who is familiar with automobile repairs in general, but
who because of some disability is not competent to do heavy work. With
his background of general automobile repair knowledge, and with the
theoretical training in practical electricity which he may acquire
through a Federal Board course, rapid progress should be possible. The
opportunity is there, and the man who likes and is qualified for this
vocation, a very satisfactory reward is awaiting. The work is usually
eight hours. Most of it is indoors, but sometimes it must be done
outside. A beginner or helper, who is not expected to do much work
without supervision, may expect to receive from $60 to $80 per month; a
competent experienced repairman will probably receive from $80 to $150;
and an expert or foreman from $125 to $200. Employment is steady because
a concern which has obtained and trained good men endeavors to keep them
week in and week out. There is always the possibility, for an individual
who understands this work, of starting an electrical automobile repair
business for himself. See monograph on “Automobile maintenance and
service.”
PLAN No. 1203. ELECTRICAL EMPLOYMENTS WITH UTILITY COMPANIES
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This monograph was prepared by Terrell Croft and L. A. Emerson, under
direction of Charles H. Winslow, Chief of the Research Division of the
Federal Board for Vocational Education. Acknowledgment is due to Dr.
John Cummings of the Research Division, for editorial assistance.
If a man who was doing electrical work before his enlistment has a
natural liking for it his tendency will and should ordinarily be to
return to it when he resumes his place in civil life. For the
inexperienced man also there are many opportunities. The necessary
qualifications and the duties are exceedingly diverse. Hence whatever
disabilities a man may have incurred, he can in all probability find
some electrical employment at which he can earn an adequate livelihood.
It may very well be advantageous for him to take an electrical course at
Government expense before he starts practical work. The demand for
electric men is increasing constantly.
This monograph is written to outline in a general way the possibilities
of employment with utility companies in electrical pursuits. Utility
companies include:
Electric light and power companies.
Electric railway companies.
Telephone companies.
Steam railroads.
The desirability of some theoretical training for electrical workers
should be appreciated. A soldier who is returning to civil life may be
able to obtain work at some electrical vocation whether or not he has
had previous experience in this line, and may be able to earn a good
living. But any man who has not had theoretical training, whether or not
he has had electrical experience, can increase very materially his
future prospects and earning capacity by taking such training before he
begins practical work.
The probable tendency of the average man will be to get a job as soon as
possible. He should think carefully before he does this. Why? Because
statistics show that men who have had some theoretical training earn
considerably more in the long run than those who have not. This is true
particularly in electrical work. Electrical constructions and operations
appear very complicated to one who does not understand the fundamentals,
but to one who does, these things are relatively simple. Some
theoretical knowledge enables an individual to proceed independently,
without detailed supervision, and his earning capacity is increased
accordingly. The man who has had theoretical training will not only earn
more money, but he will have more agreeable work, and the probability of
his being promoted to responsible jobs, such as foremanships, are much
greater.
Endeavor to select a specialty and to become proficient in some field
which is not overcrowded, and in which the demand for trained men will
probably increase. There is always a call for men who are better
equipped, as to experience and training, than the average fellow, and
specialists in lines which are not overcrowded earn good wages.
A most effective arrangement under which a man may receive his
theoretical training is one whereby he spends alternately part of his
time in a school, and part doing actual work in the industry at the
vocation which he has selected. Thus he receives simultaneously
theoretical instruction and practical experience. Probably, a real
working knowledge is acquired more rapidly in this way than in any
other. Several of the Federal Board schools are equipped to provide
instructional training of this character.
The rates of pay in public-utility work are often not as high as in
manufacturing or certain other lines of endeavor. But to offset this the
employment is very steady. Furthermore, the working conditions are often
more satisfactory than in other companies. It is an established policy
of practically all utility companies to “take good care” of their
employees. Many such companies maintain sickness and death benefit
associations for employees. Some companies assume the entire expense of
such associations while in others each employee contributes regularly
small dues and the company also contributes. Many utilities pay pensions
to their older men, and frequently free medical attendance and legal
advice are provided. Some concerns maintain building and loan
associations. Others operate profit-sharing plans, or sell stock at low
rates and on the installment plan to their people.
Employment managers are now found in all large organizations. Their
function is to hire the right men for the right jobs. Returned soldiers
who are familiar with the industry but are physically disqualified from
pursuing their old vocation may qualify for this service. It requires
practically no physical exertion but much head work. (See monograph on
“Employment Management.”)
PLAN No. 1204. ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER COMPANIES
An electric light and power company is a corporation which generates and
sells electrical energy for lighting and power. Because of the economies
which result in the generation of electrical energy in large central
stations, the demand upon these power companies is continually
increasing. They can usually develop energy, transmit it over their
lines, and sell it to the customer cheaper than he can, in his
relatively small plant, develop it for himself. However, very large
factories or plants may require such large power stations that they can
generate for themselves cheaper than they can buy. To provide this
central-station service, the stations and lines must be built; energy
must be generated in the central station, transmitted over the lines to
the consumer, and metered at the consumer’s premises. Hence, men of many
vocations are required.
The different departments of an electric company, into which a large
concern of this character is ordinarily subdivided include:
Manufacturing or power department.
Construction or distribution department.
Meter department.
Sales department.
Engineering department
Accounting department.
In addition there may be a “purchasing and stores department” and a
“garage department.” But these will not be discussed specifically herein
because the vocations involved are not, essentially, electrical.
_Manufacturing or power department._--This department operates the steam
or water power generating stations which develop the electrical energy.
Where small substations, which transform the energy received from the
large stations, are required these may also be under the jurisdiction of
the manufacturing department. It handles the maintenance and operation
of boilers, steam engines, turbines, generators, rotary converters,
switchboards, and all power “manufacturing” equipment.
In the steam division of the power department work about the station
which requires no skill, such as handling of coal, removal of ashes,
washing of boilers, and similar tasks, is performed by laborers. In this
division are employed also water tenders and engineers.
In the electrical division operators and their assistants maintain and
operate the electrical equipment in the station. This includes
generators, motors, rotary converters, switchboard, and the like.
Switchboards must often be quite elaborate. This is necessary to provide
for the proper electrical interconnection between the various machines
in the plant, and the outgoing lines which feed the substations and the
customer’s premises. A principal duty of a station operator is to “tend”
the switchboard, operating the switches and devices on it as may be
necessary. In general the control of all the electrical apparatus in the
station is effected from the switchboard, by which machines are started
and stopped, and circuits cut in and out.
_Switchboard operating in the power department._--The qualifications of
a switchboard operator are that he be familiar with the use and
operation of the different machines and electrical equipment in the
station. Particularly he should be familiar with the switchboard. He
should understand something of electrical theory. The requisite training
is obtained often by men working up from the ranks, through experience
in the station. However, such knowledge can be acquired much more
quickly and readily if one has had a short course in electricity such as
that which may be obtained at a Federal Board school. Ability to handle
the more important duties of these positions must, however, be acquired
by experience on the job. A disabled man who can hear, see, move about,
and throw switches quickly may develop into a good station operator.
The work is not heavy, and it is indoor work. Sometimes the shifts are
12 hours, but the tendency is toward eight-hour shifts. Promotions are
from assistant operator to operator, and then to chief operator. The
salary for an operator will range from $80 to $125 per month. A man who
is familiar with steam as well as with electrical equipment will be
qualified for promotion to the responsible position of chief engineer.
PLAN No. 1205. LINE CONSTRUCTION OR DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT
This department builds the lines, either overhead or underground, which
convey the electrical energy from the generating station to the
substations and to the consumers. It also maintains the lines and for
this work there may be a separate maintenance division of the
construction department. The work is almost wholly out of doors. It
involves the setting of poles, placing of cross arms, stringing of wire,
building of underground-conduit systems and manholes, erection of
switchboards, and installation of inside wiring. The labor is usually
strenuous. However, some of the work, such as inspecting, planning,
drafting, and supervision requires little physical effort. Men having
minor disablements, particularly if they have had previous experience in
construction work, should be able to qualify. In this, as in all other
electrical branches, it will be found a paying proposition to take a
short theoretical course before resuming practical work.
Construction departments usually work eight hours a day, although in
some companies a nine-hour or even a ten-hour day is the rule. A
construction inspector will receive a salary ranging from $90 to $125
per month, foreman from $100 to $175, and a draftsman from $60 to $150.
An inspector, if he has sufficient experience and also the ability to
handle men, can often become foreman. The work is very steady. If bad
weather prevents outside operation, they are given indoor work.
PLAN No. 1206. METER DEPARTMENT
Installation, removal, testing, and repair of the meters which measure
consumed electrical energy is the work of the meter department. After a
meter has been installed in a building it should be tested periodically
to insure its continued accuracy. These periodical tests are made on the
customer’s premises. If the instrument is shown to be inaccurate it is
replaced by one which is accurate, and is taken to the repair shop for
overhauling. Thus the meter department does some of its work outside and
some in the shop. In the larger companies the men who test the meters in
the customer’s buildings ordinarily do nothing else. A different group
of men repair and test the meters in the shop. With the smaller
companies the same men or man may have to do both the inside and outside
work.
The outside meter tester should be familiar with wiring practice,
understand the connections necessary in installing meters and how to
test them. A meter tester frequently has a helper who can start at this
work with very little electrical knowledge or experience. This is
primarily outdoor work, and is suitable for a returned soldier whose
disabilities require that he have considerable open-air exercise. The
hours are eight or nine a day. The wages of a helper vary from $50 to
$76 and of a tester from $70 to $125 per month.
In the meter-repair shop the returned meters are dismantled, cleaned,
repaired, readjusted, and retested. This work is in reality a branch of
electrical instrument repairing and manufacturing. It requires dexterous
workmanship and accurate handling. Men in the meter-repair department
are usually those who have been outside meter testers. They understand,
in addition to installation and testing, something of meter construction
and manufacture. Wages for an inside meter tester range from $80 to
$150. The position of meter department foreman or superintendent, for
which a competent meter man may after a number of years of experience
qualify, pays from $125 to $180 monthly. In meter departments of large
companies there is some bench work which can be done by a man who has
the use of his hands and eyes, even though he be otherwise materially
disabled. Soldiers who have had previous electrical experience or who
like to manipulate fine instruments and tools should be able to handle
effectively some of this work.
PLAN No. 1207. SALES DEPARTMENT
As its name implies, this department obtains customers who consume
electrical energy. Such light and small appliance business as does not
come unsolicited is secured by solicitors. Each solicitor is ordinarily
assigned a certain district. To be a success at selling, a man must
first of all be competent to meet tactfully people of all types.
Furthermore, he should be familiar with electric lighting requirements
and rates, so that he can discuss these with prospective customers and
advise them authoritatively. Experience, however, has shown that men
with no previous electrical training can, provided they have the
“selling instinct,” be trained in a few weeks so that they can strike
out for themselves and procure lighting contracts. Probably selling pays
better, considering the relatively small amount of technical training
that it requires, than does any other branch of public-utility work.
Solicitors are frequently paid on a salary and commission basis. Their
incomes may range from $60 to $150 or more a month. The field is an
attractive one for men whose disabilities will permit of their entering
it. Such technical training for solicitors as is absolutely necessary is
usually furnished by the company which proposes to employ them, but all
of the electrical education that a man can acquire will be of material
value. By all means take a theoretical electrical course if you can.
The job of the power-sales engineer is to solicit contracts for power
loads for the central station. Considerable engineering training is
necessary for effective work. The man should be familiar with steam and
gasoline power-plant installations. He should know how to apply
effectively electric motors in the different branches of industry.
Furthermore, he must meet people easily and be able to express his ideas
accurately. In other words, he also should have the selling temperament.
A man who has had considerable electrical experience and possesses the
other qualifications can easily prepare for this vocation. The company
which engages him will, usually, train him for it. Ordinarily, a salary
and commission are paid. The income may range from $80 to $250 per month
or more.
While solicitors and salesmen are supposed to work about 8 hours a day
their time is, in one sense, their own. Little attention is given to the
number of hours the man puts in, provided he obtains a reasonable amount
of business. Some of the visits to prospective customers must be made in
the evening, or possibly on Sundays. On the other hand, it occurs not
infrequently that a salesman may go to a ball game on a Tuesday
afternoon, his salary continuing meanwhile.
PLAN No. 1208. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
This department of an electric company is responsible for the design and
construction of the system as a whole. A chief engineer is the executive
head. To assist him there are assistant engineers, inspectors, and
draftsmen. The chief engineer and his principal assistants are,
ordinarily, men of mature years and much experience. Hence, there is
little possibility of a returned soldier qualifying for one of these
positions unless he has previously done similar work. But there are
opportunities to start in the engineering department as inspectors or
draftsmen. The inspectors are “outside” men. Much of their work is in
the open. They compile information and reports on engineering projects,
on work which is under way, or which has been completed. These notes are
utilized in the office in the preparation of drawings and specifications
which show the construction departments what to do and how to do it. The
draftsmen make the drawings from which the blueprints for construction
jobs are reproduced. Any man who has had previous electrical
construction experience and who can get around outside and see, hear,
and write, should be able to qualify for an engineering inspector’s
position. The future offers him the possibility of becoming an assistant
engineer.
Engineering drafting offers inviting opportunities for disabled men
because much of the work can be done by a person who can sit at a
drawing table and use his hands and eyes. Lack of speech and hearing are
not insurmountable handicaps because directions can be given and
questions asked in writing. There are some one-handed draftsmen.
Frequently a draftsman has a job assigned to him and is then left to
himself to work it out. He may not speak to or be spoken to by any one
for half a day at a time.
Another feature of drafting work which in this connection is important,
is that it is possible to utilize men of all grades of ability, provided
they have some knowledge of mechanical drawing. If a man can make a
fairly good tracing, even if he knows nothing whatever of design, he can
be very useful. He can gradually acquire that knowledge of the
principles which is necessary to develop him into a draftsman-designer
or an engineer. It is, however, essential that, at the start, the
candidate know a little about mechanical drawing. Concerns do not
usually care to break in a man who has no knowledge whatever of this
subject.
Such elementary knowledge as is required may be obtained by taking a
Federal Board short course. Men in the engineering department work about
eight or nine hours a day. A tracer beginning at the work may earn from
$30 to $60 per month. After a man can do some designing he may earn from
$60 to $125 per month, depending upon his experience and ability. If a
draftsman develops into a designer or assistant engineer he may expect
from $125 to $200 per month or more.
PLAN No. 1209. ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT
This department is responsible for the meter reading, billing,
collections, and similar commercial features of the business. The work
is clerical and statistical in character.
PLAN No. 1210. ELECTRIC-RAILWAY SYSTEMS
The departmental organization of electric-railway systems varies. Large
companies have more departments than small ones and probably no two
companies are organized on precisely the same plan. However, there are
certain functions which must be performed by every company and a typical
arrangement for a comparatively large system is the following:
Power department.
Mechanical department.
Transportation department.
Maintenance of way department.
Line department.
Engineering department.
Building department.
Each of these departments has its executive head, its subordinate
officers, and its workmen and mechanics.
POWER DEPARTMENT
The power department is responsible for production of electrical energy
required for operation. It is directed by an engineer of power. The
duties of the department and of the men employed in it are practically
identical with those of the power department of an electric-light and
power company, which have been already discussed.
MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
A master mechanic directs the mechanical department of a street-railway
company. This department repairs and may build cars used on the system
of which there may be a number of types, including passenger cars of
several designs, mail cars, baggage cars, and work cars used by the
maintenance department. For the repair and construction of this
equipment there are required, in addition to the electricians,
woodworkers, sheet metal men, machinists, pipe fitters, welders, pattern
makers, blacksmiths, and painters.
A street railway electrical shop has duties rather different from those
of the usual repair shop. Most of the repairs are on motors of a very
few sizes. Furthermore, nearly all are series wound and are for
operation on direct current of 600 volts. Much of the work comprises the
rewinding of armatures. Burned out copper coils are stripped from the
core, and the slots are prepared for new coils. These are placed in a
proper sequence and the free ends are soldered to the commutator bars.
Next, band wires which maintain the coils in position are wound on. Then
the armature is mounted in a lathe where the commutator is turned down
and finished ready for operation.
PLAN No. 1211. ARMATURE REPAIRING--MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
Armature repairing is done with the armature held in a rack about the
height of an ordinary workbench. Thus the armature winder is required to
stand while working, sometimes for considerable periods. It is essential
that he have good feet and legs. It is also necessary that he have the
use of most of his fingers. Repairing an armature requires only a few
new coils in skilled work. On the other hand, much of the work in
armature repairing is of a routine character. Hence a man of little
experience can do the work under direction of a journeyman. It will
always pay a person who contemplates following armature winding as a
vocation, to take a short electrical course before he engages in the
actual work. A beginner at armature winding will receive from $50 to
$80, an expert may expect $75 to $150, and a foreman or chief $125 to
$200 per month. The work is all indoors with an 8 or 9 hour day.
The coils used in rewinding the armature may be purchased complete from
an electrical manufacturing company, but the larger concerns make their
own coils. The preparation and insulating of these coils is often
benchwork. A man who does not have the use of his feet can do some of
it. Deft fingers are required, but there are now many blind workers who
are insulating armature coils successfully. This work may pay from $40
to $90 a month. Some preliminary manual training is required, which can
usually be obtained in the shop where the worker is to be employed.
PLAN No. 1212. SHOP WIRING--MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
The shop wiremen of an electric-railway company do the wiring around the
plant, as well as that on the cars. A journeyman wire man should be able
to interpret correctly wiring diagrams for ordinary jobs. These may
include the installation of motors, heaters, lights, rheostats, and
similar equipment. Also, he should be competent to route economically
his circuits through inaccessible places and should be familiar with the
National Electrical Code. He may have to install headlights, signal
lights, pump-governor relays, and other devices now forming a part of
car equipments. The wireman must have had considerable experience, but
each wireman usually has a helper to assist him. A man with little or no
experience can start in as a helper, and develop into a good wireman.
The length of time required to do this will be determined almost wholly
by the man’s knowledge of electricity and his efforts at self
improvement. It may require six months or a year or two years. The work
is done usually in a car shop which is inclosed and heated. An 8-hour
day is common, but in some companies the men work 9 or 10 hours. The pay
is about $75 to $125 for a wireman, and $50 to $90 for a helper.
PLAN No. 1213. CAR INSPECTING--MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
The car inspector’s duties involve a knowledge of numerous occupations,
and he must be familiar with various sorts of equipment. His position in
the company’s organization is an important one, because the expense of
car repairs is often materially minimized by his foresight and
alertness. He judges which repairs should be made in the general shop
and which in the car barn. He must know the function and operation of
every working part of the car. In detail, his duties consist of a
systematic inspection of all components of the car equipment. These
include the motors, controllers, brakes, lights, signs, heaters, and
other devices on the cars which may require attention. Usually the work
is done during daylight hours. Cars are held periodically in the barn
for inspection. Work of this type is well adapted to a man who is
unqualified physically for heavy tasks. A man of good judgment who was
formerly employed in a car barn in some other capacity and who is, in
general, familiar with cars and their repairs, might be trained readily
for this occupation. An inspector works eight or ten hours a day and
receives a salary varying from $75 to $150 per month.
PLAN No. 1214. TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT
This department handles the traffic, operates the cars, plans their
schedules, and revises their routings to meet the requirements of the
traveling public. A superintendent of transportation is the executive
head. His assistants are the division superintendents, inspectors,
instructors, station foremen, motormen, conductors, and the car shifters
in the barns. Each division superintendent has charge of the traffic in
a certain part of the system. The inspector has charge of the cars and
crews while on the road. It is his duty to enforce the rules of the
company to insure that cars and equipment are handled efficiently and
that the cars maintain their schedules. Men holding the positions of
division superintendent and traffic inspector generally qualify for them
from the rank and file of the train service. They should have a thorough
knowledge of car operation. The inspector’s position is one which an
ambitious man, who has the requisite ability, may obtain. Salary ranges
from $80 to $160 monthly.
PLAN No. 1215. INSTRUCTING--TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT
Instructors have charge of the training of prospective motormen and
conductors. The instructor assigns students to an experienced motorman
or conductor who teaches them the essentials of their jobs. Then the
instructor informs the new men in detail as to rules and, if necessary,
makes trial trips with them. The instructor in many companies also
conducts classes wherein the new men are given some schooling as to the
theory and practice of the electrical air brake and similar equipment
which will come under their charge. A returned soldier who has had prior
street-railway experience, who is physically disqualified for work
involving physical strain or considerable manual effort, should, after
some study, be able to qualify for the position of instructor. For one
who is fitted temperamentally for work of this character the position
would be a very good one. It will pay about $100 to $175 per month.
PLAN No. 1216. FOREMAN--TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT
A station foreman has charge of the station, and supervises the
dispatching of cars on their runs. He keeps the list of extra men and
provides crews for extra and special cars. These foremen should be
familiar with the operation of street cars. In nearly every case they
are promoted from the ranks. They must be tactful in handling men. This
position is one to which an individual, who accepts a minor job in the
transportation department, may look forward.
MOTORMEN AND CONDUCTORS--TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT
Motormen and conductors have duties with which all are familiar. These
occupations have their advantages and also their disadvantages. Some men
follow them for almost a lifetime while others soon become dissatisfied
and seek other fields. The positions are permanent and frequently carry
with them attractive features, such as free medical attention,
insurance, and club-room privileges. Pay is ordinarily based on a
sliding scale. So the wage which a man receives for his day’s work
depends upon the number of years that he has been in the service of the
company. Motormen may now receive from $3 to $5 per day, and conductors
about the same. Returned soldiers with no previous experience, who are
in good shape physically but who must have out-of-door work, may find
this work desirable. They will be trained by the company which employs
them.
MAINTENANCE-OF-WAY DEPARTMENTS
The maintenance of way, or “track department,” constructs new tracks,
bridges, and other structures, and maintains track structures and right
of way after construction. Frequently it is under the jurisdiction of a
chief engineer who works through a superintendent and a division
foreman. A foreman of the machine and tool division directs the shop
repairs of the various tools, track grinders, steam shovels, and
hoisting engines. He has to qualify as a first-class steam engineer. The
paving foreman is responsible for the tearing up and replacing of
pavement which the company is required to maintain at each side of and
between rails. The supervisor of construction has charge of building new
track and of making the repairs to existing lines. Most of the manual
work in this department is done by unskilled labor directed by foremen.
A disabled man who has had previous experience in construction work
might, with some additional training, be able to qualify for a
foremanship. Such a position requires executive ability and sufficient
education to read blue prints and make out reports. It will pay from $80
to $150 per month. Practically all of the work is out of doors.
PLAN No. 1217. LINE DEPARTMENT
A wire or line department installs and maintains the trolley wires and
feeders both underground and overhead. A man with no previous electrical
experience may start in as a ground man or helper, and advance himself
to the position of lineman and foreman. Electric railway line work is
somewhat similar to that necessary for electric lighting companies. One
requirement is a good physique, but minor disablements might not
handicap. Practically all of the work is done out of doors. The ground
men will receive from $2 to $4 and a lineman from $3 to $5 per day; a
foreman from $100 to $175 per month.
PLAN No. 1218. TELEPHONE COMPANIES
Telephone systems have grown phenomenally. A few years ago the telephone
was a luxury. To-day it is a necessity. It has been predicted that the
time will come when there will be at least one telephone in every house,
just as practically every city building is now piped for water, so that
it appears probable that there will be in the future a steadily
increasing demand for trained telephone men.
The type of equipment used in a telephone system is determined to some
extent by the size of the town or city in which the system operates.
Systems serving small towns are relatively simple. The small community
telephone system usually has for its lines individual wires strung on
poles. There is a pair of wires for each subscriber. To call central, a
hand crank on the sides of the telephone is turned which causes a
shutter or drop on the switchboard to fall and expose the line number.
Each line has its own drop. Thus the operator’s attention is attracted.
She answers the call and by means of cords with plugs on their ends she
connects the calling with the called subscriber. Such a system is called
“magneto” system, because a magneto generator turned by hand crank is
used for calling. Dry cells located at each subscriber’s station supply
the electrical energy for talking. While a magneto system like that just
described is the most desirable and economical for a small town, its
application in a city would be both impractical and prohibitively
expensive to operate.
Modern city telephone exchanges operate on the central-energy system.
With it there are no dry cells or magnetos at the subscriber’s stations.
Electrical energy for both signaling and talking is supplied by a
storage battery located in the central office. For this reason an
arrangement of this type is called a “central energy” or
“common-battery” system. Instead of the switchboard having a drop for
each subscriber’s line, it has a small incandescent lamp which is
associated with the line. This lights when the subscriber removes his
telephone receiver from its hook. For city telephone lines it would be
infeasible to use open wires on insulators because there could not be
placed on the poles a sufficient number of cross arms to support even a
small proportion of the telephone lines which radiate from an exchange.
Furthermore, open-line construction for city conditions would be very
expensive and difficult to maintain. Hence, in the city exchanges,
lead-covered cables, each containing from 20 to 1,200 pairs of
conductors, are employed. Where a number of these cables are routed
parallel to one another, they are carried in ducts in underground
subways. In the residence sections they are supported on poles. It
follows that the circuits and connections in a large city telephone
exchange are exceedingly complicated. There are thousands of small
wires, each of which serves a different purpose. Considered as a whole
telephony involves careful work and attention to detail. Much of it is
of the same order as fine instrument making.
Departments of telephone companies include: Engineering department,
commercial department, auditing department, plant department, traffic
department.
PLAN No. 1219. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
This department plans and supervises the development and construction of
the property as a whole. In it plans and specifications are prepared for
buildings, exchange layouts, subways, and other components. To obtain a
position of responsibility in the engineering department one must have
had theoretical training and a number of years of telephone experience,
but there are usually engineering-department positions in which men of
little experience but with some theoretical training can start as
draftsmen or clerks, advancing as they acquire experience. In this
respect, the engineering department of a telephone company offers
somewhat the same possibilities for disabled men as do similar
departments in street railways or electric-power companies. Hours of
work and compensation will be about the same. However, for a man who has
had telephone experience, it is desirable usually to continue in that
line. Telephony is probably more exacting and involves greater detail
than does power work and may on that account be preferred by some.
PLAN No. 1220. COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT
Contracts for telephone service are obtained by the commercial
department. It is the sales organization of a telephone company selling
telephone service to the public. In this work there should be
opportunities for soldiers with minor disablements who have had prior
telephone experience, and who possess the “selling instinct.” The salary
will probably range from $60 to $160 per month.
PLAN No. 1221. AUDITING DEPARTMENT
The qualifications for men in this department are about the same as
those required of men in any accounting organization. These are treated
in detail in one of the other Federal Board monographs.
PLAN No. 1222. PLANT DEPARTMENT
Much of the telephone plant is built and all of it is maintained by this
department. It is often segregated into two general divisions, (1)
construction division and (2) maintenance division. To administer these
there are a construction superintendent and a maintenance
superintendent. Then each division may be further subdivided in sections
as follows: (_a_) Aerial-line section, (_b_) cable section, (_c_) repair
section, (_d_) wire chief’s section, (_e_) installation section, (_f_)
cable-report section, and (_g_) clerical section.
Men employed regularly in the construction division may be assigned
temporarily to the maintenance division when up-keep work is
particularly heavy, and vice versa.
PLAN No. 1223. AERIAL LINE AND CABLE SECTIONS--PLANT DEPARTMENT
By the aerial line and aerial cable sections the overhead lines are
built and maintained. The work is somewhat similar to that performed by
the corresponding division of an electric light and power company. It is
necessary to set and guy poles, place cross arms on them, and string
wire. In modern city construction, however, few cross arms are required,
because cable and twisted pair “block” wire has almost wholly superseded
open wire. The handling of telephone cable is an occupation peculiar to
telephone work. Where placed overhead, the lead-covered cable is
suspended on steel messenger wire supported on poles. Great care must be
exercised in installing cable. It is damaged easily and may then be a
source of expensive and provoking trouble. Most of the work in the
construction department involves considerable physical exertion, but
there are often foremanships and inspectorships which men incapable of
great physical exertion and indoor work could fill. General working
conditions, qualifications, hours, rates of pay, and the like are about
the same as those detailed for the distribution department of an
electric-power company.
PLAN No. 1224. UNDERGROUND CABLE SECTION--PLANT DEPARTMENT
This section has to do with installing, joining, and connecting
telephone cables. Much of the work is splicing. Telephone cable consists
of from 100 to 600 or more pairs of copper wire. Each wire is separated
from its neighbors with a wrapping of paper or other insulating
material. Then the bunch of conductors is covered by a protective
sheath, usually of lead. In splicing, the lead sheath is first stripped
from the end of the cable. Then the different corresponding pairs in the
cables to be connected are joined together. Each joint is insulated with
a paper sleeve slipped over it. When all of the pairs have been
connected, a lead sleeve is slipped over the splice and “wiped” with hot
solder to the lead sheath of the cables which have been joined. This
work requires much skill and experience. Not only does the cableman
splice the cables, but he must also connect them to the distributing
frames in the central office and to the terminal boxes on the poles. A
terminal box on the end of a cable is one whereby the aerial circuits
are connected to the underground cable conductors. About the only way to
become a proficient cable splicer is through experience as a cable
splicer’s helper. This vocation should offer opportunities for men who
have only minor disablements, and who should work out of doors nearly
all of the time. The use of the hands and fingers is necessary. Cable
splicers must sometimes climb poles. In very bad weather the cablemen
are given indoor tasks. A cable splicer will ordinarily receive from $60
to $110 per month, and a helper from $40 to $85.
PLAN No. 1225. REPAIR SECTION--PLANT DEPARTMENT
This section assembles the frames, racks, cables, and other minor
central-office accessories, and clears the troubles in the subscribers’
instruments, private branch exchanges, and the central offices. Workers
in this division may be classified into four groups: (1) Equipment
installers, (2) line and instrument repairmen, (3) switchboard
repairmen, and (4) wire chief and testers.
PLAN No. 1226. EQUIPMENT INSTALLERS--REPAIR SECTION
Equipment installers include the apprentices of the industry. New men
are frequently placed in these positions for training. They cut and form
switchboard cable, and do other equipment-installation work around the
exchange. Practically no experience is required of a beginner. But an
equipment-installation foreman should be a well-informed, thoroughly
trained man. He usually advances to this position from the ranks. The
work on the whole is light and should afford opportunities for men with
minor disablements of little technical training who have full use of
their hands and fingers.
PLAN No. 1227. LINE AND INSTRUMENT REPAIRMEN--REPAIR SECTION
Line and instrument repairmen are the “trouble shooters.” They locate
troubles and faults which occur on lines or in subscribers’ instruments.
After some experience a repairman usually knows from the symptoms of a
fault just what the difficulty is and where it may be located. Ability
to climb poles is usually essential for this work. A knowledge of
principal telephone circuits, cable and line layouts is also requisite.
A repairman is usually promoted to this work from some other position
with the company. For proficiency it requires experience on the job.
Hours are eight or nine a day, and compensation may be from $60 to $110
per month.
PLAN No. 1228. SWITCHBOARD REPAIRMEN--REPAIR SECTION
Switchboard repairmen are men of ability and a number of years’
experience. Their functions are to maintain and repair local and toll
switchboards, private branch exchanges, and sometimes the auxiliary
equipment in offices, such as ringing machines, charging generators, and
storage batteries. As already noted, switchboard equipment is quite
intricate and requires the attention of a competent repairman to
maintain it in efficient operating condition. The switchboard
repairman’s job may be considered as a possibility for a man who enters
the telephone industry in a minor position. The work is practically all
inside, in the telephone-exchange buildings. While it requires
manipulative skill, and full use of the hands, little physical effort is
necessary. The salary will range from $75 to $125.
PLAN No. 1229. WIRE CHIEF’S SECTION--PLANT DEPARTMENT
This section tests lines, switchboards, cables, and instruments, and
locates troubles which may occur in these. Some of the men who are
employed are switchboard inspector, testers, wire chief, night wire
chief. The work is done almost wholly indoors. It requires some
knowledge of the elementary principle of electrical practice and the
functions of the switchboard and its accessories. The testing is done
from a central testing desk, or testing switchboard, which is located in
the terminal room of a telephone exchange. At this desk the wire chief
or his assistant operates the keys and switches whereby the tests are
made. To be a good wire chief in a city telephone system usually
requires from six to 10 years’ experience. Duties of subordinate
positions may be mastered in shorter periods. All of these jobs require
experience, which can be obtained by a man who starts with the telephone
company as an untrained beginner. A wire chief may receive from $75 to
$175 per month.
PLAN No. 1230. INSTALLATION SECTION--PLANT DEPARTMENT
Installation and removal of telephones and private-branch exchanges is
the work of this section. There is constant demand for new stations and
for shifting about old ones, which provides work for a large number of
men. For this work little experience is necessary. A helper may become
proficient in a few days and may soon be competent to install
instruments without supervision. The work may be graded in such a way
that an ambitious man may advance to more responsible and remunerative
positions, such as switchboard installing and testing.
One possibility for those who like installation work is the position of
private-branch exchange installer. His work consists in the installation
of complete private-branch exchanges in factories, stores, public
buildings, and elsewhere. He must supervise the running of all necessary
wires and cables in buildings, setting of switchboards, connecting
instruments, and making final tests to insure correctness of
installation. Much time is spent out of doors traveling between jobs.
The remainder is spent in buildings in which installations are made. A
beginner may receive from $40 to $70, and a foreman from $75 to $110 per
month. This work can be handled by a man who has only minor disablements
and who has full use of his hands. Such training as is necessary will
usually be given to him by the company which employs him. However, as
with other electrical vocations, a short preliminary theoretical course
will be of considerable value.
PLAN No. 1231. CABLE REPORT SECTION--PLANT DEPARTMENT
Making definite records of every circuit in the telephone system is the
task of the cable report section. Such records are essential to enable
the wire chief to locate definitely any telephone fault, even though the
circuit involved an exceedingly devious rout. The work is clerical. A
general familiarity with the complete telephone layout is desirable, but
a beginner with little experience may be employed. The qualifications,
possibilities, rates of pay, hours, and the like are about the same as
those for accounting or auditing clerical work. However, a man who has
had some previous telephone experience will be able to utilize it in
this department.
PLAN No. 1232. TRAFFIC DEPARTMENT
This department has charge of the telephone traffic. The operators,
practically always young women, make connections on calls by
subscribers. There are usually no men on the floor of a telephone
exchange except the switchboard and maintenance men. A large telephone
exchange may have a male traffic manager. Large companies may have a
traffic-engineering department which plans and directs the arrangement
of switchboard sections, and the division of lines between operators in
order to insure efficient service. Men with some prior telephone
experience who can not do heavy physical work, might qualify for minor
positions under direction of the traffic engineer. These would be of the
same general character as those with the engineering department, except
that they deal only with traffic. Rates of pay, working hours, and
future possibilities are practically the same as in an engineering
department.
PLAN No. 1233. STEAM RAILROADS
Practically all steam railroads now have electrical departments. The men
in such departments install and maintain the electric train lighting
equipment and do such electrical construction--installation of
generators, motors, wiring, and the like--as may be required on the
system. Each steam road may have an electrical superintendent to whom
electricians and their helpers report.
The railroad electrician’s work includes maintenance of electric train
lighting generators, storage batteries, and electric wiring of cars and
buildings; it includes armature winding and rewinding, and installation
of generators and motors. Obviously, years of experience and training
are necessary, but at the bottom of the ladder there are opportunities
for inexperienced men to start in as helpers. The work is interesting
and steady. Usually full use of hands and good sight and hearing are
required. While there is some lifting and heavy work, on the whole the
duties are not arduous. About half of the work is out of doors and half
inside. The rates of pay for a beginner will vary from $40 to $75, for a
journeyman from $75 to $150, and for a superintendent from $125 to $300.
Men are furnished free with a certain amount of railroad transportation
for themselves and families, the amount of transportation thus allowed
increasing with the man’s responsibilities and with the length of his
service.
PLAN No. 1234. BEEKEEPING AS A VOCATION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
Acknowledgment is due Dr. E. F. Phillips, Apiculturist of the Bureau
of Entomology. United States Department of Agriculture; to F. C.
Pellett and C. P. Dadant, editors of the American Bee Journal,
Hamilton, Ill., and A. I. Root Co., Medina, Ohio, for suggestions,
data, and illustrations; also to Dr. John Cummings, of the Research
Division, for editorial assistance.
The increased use of honey during the war and the possession of some
previous knowledge of bees may have directed the attention of a large
number of you, who are disabled, to the possibility of making beekeeping
your life work. During the war the shortage of sugar made the larger use
of other sweets imperative, and it was essential that the use of these
substitutes be augmented to the greatest possible extent. The necessary
introduction of honey has made its deliciousness, palatability, and
healthfulness widely known and will lead to its continuous and increased
general domestic use. The export demand for American honey has recently
increased beyond any former record and the price has doubled. Beekeeping
and honey production present an opportunity to you for profitable
livelihood with small investment. It is to your personal advantage to
consider it carefully.
BEE CULTURE LIGHT WORK, INTERESTING, AND PROFITABLE
Beekeeping differs from most other branches of agriculture, in that the
beekeeper handles an animal which has never been domesticated. He must
therefore study the habits of this animal and know them intimately
before he may hope to succeed with this work. The feeding habits,
breeding, and even the housing of bees has not been materially changed
in all the centuries that man has handled them. If their habits are well
understood, the beekeeper may cause them to accomplish results which
will lead to the greatest profit to himself. The work is light, without
routine duties at fixed times, with no drudgery. Beekeeping is
interesting, in fact enthusing and strengthening to the mind and the
body. It is a profitable business which may be made very lucrative with
devotion and experience. A western man sold his crop of one season to a
well-known company dealing in honey for $30,000.
WHAT IS HONEY?
Honey is made from the nectar secreted by thousands of varieties of
flowers. This nectar is gathered by bees and modified by them
chemically. Water is evaporated out of it and it is ripened into a
delicious and wholesome food.
Before cane sugar was manufactured in quantities for commercial use
honey was the most common sweet in human food. In pioneering days it was
hunted systematically in hollow trees and crevices in rocks. Wild honey
so secured was considered well worth the time spent in seeking it.
There is another form of honey designated as abnormal, since it does not
come from the nectar of flowers, but is, nevertheless, gathered by bees.
It is developed from a sweet substance known as honey dew, deposited on
the leaves of plants by certain insects such as plant lice. In some
regions honey dew is not found at all. Where found, the amount that bees
gather is negligible in comparison with the amount of nectar gathered
from blossoms. Nectar is so changed chemically and modified by ripening
and evaporating after being gathered by bees, that in the form of honey
it is readily digested and assimilated.
HEALTHFULNESS OF HONEY
Before the manufacture of great quantities of sugar a larger amount of
honey was used per capita than is used now. The necessary introduction
of honey as a substitute for sugar has just recently again called
general attention to its healthfulness and the lesson is not likely soon
to be forgotten. Because it is predigested and readily assimilable,
physicians recommend it as a food for persons with delicate stomachs,
for those troubled with kidney complaint, and for those subject to
constipation, since honey is laxative in effect.
The average amount of sugar consumed annually for every man, woman, and
child is about 80 pounds, and this sugar can not be assimilated without
change in the stomach, an action not necessary with honey. It can
readily be understood that the population might be benefited by
substituting honey for some of the sugar consumed. When the stomach
fails to do its work in modifying the sugar, the eliminating organs, the
kidneys especially, are severely taxed. A noted physician, now 84 years
old, eats honey instead of sugar, believing it will prolong his life and
give him better health while living. He says that it is well
authenticated that, as our natural craving indicates, sweets are a real
need of the system, but that the excessive use of sugar brings in its
train a long list of ills. He asserts also that the health of the
present generation, if honey could be at least partially restored to its
former place, would be greatly improved.
Prof. Cook, of California, says: “Physicians may be correct in asserting
that the large consumption of sugar is a menace to health and long life,
and that by eating honey our digestive machinery saves work that it
would have to perform if we ate sugar and in case it is overtaxed and
feeble, this may be just the respite that will save it from a
breakdown.” Switzerland produces large quantities of honey, but the
demand for it is so great that the price has advanced and the Government
has been compelled to fix it. Although we may infer that the Swiss
themselves are a great honey-eating people, Dr. Emfeld, of Geneva, seems
to think that they might well eat more of this sweet. “If people would
eat more honey,” he says, “we doctors would starve.”
Honey has many medicinal qualities, and is used in nearly all cough
sirups, cold preparations, and compounded in many other medicines where
delicate flavor, absolute purity, and sweetness insure results not to be
obtained by the use of any substitute.
While commonly used in its natural state as a spread on hot bread and
cakes, honey may be employed in cooking wherever sugar may be used. The
same beneficial effect upon health will follow as a result from its use
in the natural state. Foods prepared with it are better and will remain
in fresh condition longer than if prepared with sugar or sirup. Bread
and cakes prepared with honey will not dry out as with sugar, because
honey attracts moisture. It has long been employed in the household in
general cooking, as well as in canning and in the baking of many
desirable kinds of bread, and numerous varieties of cakes, gems, snaps,
and cookies. When used in sweetening tea and coffee it does not cause
any loss of aroma. Its recent substitution for sugar is causing it again
to be employed in making pies, puddings, and sauces. Confectioners use
honey freely, and might well use it more freely than they do in making
honey nuts, candies, creams, butter scotch, and popcorn balls.
In Turkey, a great honey-producing country, where bee culture is
scientifically followed with the noted oriental strains of bees, a
popular sweet, known as rose honey marmalade, is manufactured. It is
made from the leaves of roses and honey and combines the exquisite
perfume of the former with the delightful flavor of the latter in an
unusual product of the nature and texture of a marmalade due to
incorporating the rose petals with the honey.
BEEKEEPING PERMITS SERIOUS HANDICAPS
Beekeeping, like many other lines of agriculture, presents an
exceptionally attractive and profitable vocation to the disabled men of
the war. The handling of bees is interesting and encourages the most
valuable exercise, but the muscular effort is small. It probably
requires less constant devotion, except during the main honey-flow, than
any other country pursuit. Therefore it is especially attractive to the
convalescing or others who have recovered from wounds, even if they have
lost one or more limbs.
Though handicapped in various ways you may confidently hope to become as
near 100 per cent efficient in bee culture as in any other work. A
beekeeper should, however, have one good hand and arm.
Uncle Sam offers you every possible assistance in the way of artificial
limbs, interchangeable devices, and vocational training for the greatest
possible success in bee culture. Such opportunity was not offered the
disabled veterans of the Civil War, Mr. John Donnegan, of Seguin, Tex.,
whose photograph shows him using a special strap which he devised to
serve in place of his missing hand in moving honey supers, hives, and
frames of comb. He has made a wonderful success and spent the greater
part of his life as a beekeeper. The ingenious use of a strap around his
shoulders with a snap that can easily be attached to a screweye placed
in the various articles to be handled, but poorly takes the place of
appliances and an artificial hand and arm, which are now furnished free
of expense to our disabled soldiers.
The American Bee Journal and Gleanings in Bee Culture find many
successful apiarists who are partially incapacitated and who would be
poorly fitted for most other lines of work. One of these, Mr. Harvey E.
Nicholls, of Iowa, when 21 years old lost both legs--one below the
thigh, the other below the knee. He did not give up to live on charity,
but grew ambitious to make his life a success. He selected beekeeping,
purchased a colony of bees and a good book on beekeeping that he might
study them and neighboring apiaries together. He realized for the season
from the one hive 80 pounds of surplus honey and enough for the bees,
which, properly packed, wintered so well that they were strong in the
spring for gathering nectar and starting an apiary.
He secured three old hives and two 2-pound packages of bees, also two
colonies which he handled on the shares for half. He transferred the
bees from the old boxes to standard 10-framed hives. The season’s
results were 12 colonies and 400 pounds of honey. He also represented
the Honey Producers’ Supply Co., making something on the side. The next
spring, 1918, two more colonies were purchased, added to the dozen, and
moved 5 miles into the country, where 45 colonies more were handled for
half of the surplus honey. The supply factory work was almost entirely
dropped that the bees might have undivided attention. A second-hand Ford
was purchased on time, which an artificial leg enabled him to drive as
well as anyone.
The results of the season from May 1 to September 9 were his own 14
colonies increased to 20, the 45 colonies on the shares increased to 85,
and cash returns over $800. By adopting the slogan suggested by the
Bureau of Entomology, “Keep more bees; keep bees better,” he can
doubtless greatly increase his income.
He may be appropriately called a self-made man. In addition to a
successful start as a beekeeper he is studying to complete a course in
high school. He has helped support his grandmother and sister, and,
believing in tithing, has given one-tenth of his earnings to charities.
The story of Mr. Nicholls but expresses in part what any disabled man
may accomplish with vocational training and devotion to beekeeping or
some other occupation that will insure useful and respected citizenship.
Your disability need not interfere with your engaging in this work, but
it may take grit and determination to pull you through the early stages.
You may be sure when in the ranks of the good beekeepers you will be
associated with admirable people who will gladly aid you in any way
possible in making good.
THE BEE FAMILY
This interesting family called in bee culture a colony, lives in a house
known as a hive many of which aggregate form a bee city--an apiary. The
family consists of three types of bees, the queen, Fig. 7-a, the mother
of the family and naturally the only one of her nature in the colony.
She is a fully developed female bee whose sole duty is that of laying
eggs and increasing her family--the population of the colony--which
reaches large numbers. The worker, Fig. 7-b, is an undeveloped female,
and this type represents the largest number of the colony’s population,
which may run from several thousand to eighty-five or one hundred
thousand in one hive or family. As the name indicates the workers gather
all the honey and food, care for the young bees and perform other duties
in the hive. The drone, Fig. 7-c, is the male bee. He, as his name
indicates, contributes nothing to the upkeep of the family, a family in
which truly “everybody works but father.” The queen is able to control
the strength of the colony. The workers by construction of a queen cell
about an egg and by giving different food may develop a queen from what
would otherwise have been developed into a worker.
EXTENT OF BEEKEEPING IN THE UNITED STATES
There are in the United States about 800,000 persons who own bees,
although not all of them can be classed as regular beekeepers. Perhaps
the average bee owner has about 10 colonies. Since there are many owning
bees by the hundreds of colonies, it is obvious that the majority have
only two or three colonies. This side line of a few hives on the farm
does not really pay, but is just a little luxury. The type of beekeeping
presented to you here is for a vocation, and is the practical kind
employed by the best beekeepers of the country--by men who make a good
living by keeping bees.
The retail price of honey has gradually advanced to 40 cents or more per
pound, and beeswax to 42 cents wholesale, notwithstanding the fact that
there was produced in 1918 about 250,000,000 pounds of honey. This
probably does not cover the entire honey crop of the United States,
since a large amount is marketed locally. In fact this product is so
greatly in demand that a large percentage is sold at the home of the
apiarist. Apiarists can, if attentive to the attractiveness of their
product and considerate of their customers, hold them and make of each
an advertisement for additional business. The honey crop of the United
States is estimated annually at $20,000,000, and yet there has never
been a time when any country on the globe could produce enough to make
this delicious food a common article of diet.
Not all parts of the United States are equally good for beekeeping, and
it is advisable for one who contemplates making it his life work
carefully to consider the selection of a location. As a rule, it is not
advisable to go too far from the country with which you are familiar.
Bees may be kept with profit almost anywhere where agriculture is
practiced, the returns depending largely on the care given to the bees.
The most widely known region for beekeeping is that of the northeastern
quarter of the country, where white and alsike clovers yield nectar.
Although these plants reach their highest yield in the northern tier of
States, they are also productive farther south. In the northern region
bees get considerable quantities of nectar from basswood, tulip poplar,
buckwheat, sweet clover, and locust, and in some localities from other
plants of decided honey value. The buckwheat region of southern New York
and northern Pennsylvania is included in the clover region.
The second region in importance is that in which the bees get their
nectar from alfalfa. This plant, which is now grown in all parts of the
country, does not yield much nectar except in the irrigated portions of
the West and is therefore practically valueless for the beekeeper east
of the Missouri River. The honey from this source is white in the higher
altitudes of Colorado and Utah, and amber in Arizona, New Mexico, and
California.
The southeastern part of the country offers many opportunities to the
beekeeper, but the business has not been so well developed there. The
nectar comes from numerous plants which are influenced by various soils,
temperature, and other factors. The honey usually does not come in very
rapidly and is often darker than other honeys, but since the plants
yield for a longer period, the beekeeper is able to get good returns for
his labor.
The semiarid region of the southwest produces many plants which secrete
nectar in abundance. This region is subject to drought and there are
years when the beekeeper has to feed his bees to keep them alive.
However, taking a series of years into account, this region pays as well
as any other.
The sage region of southern California offers great opportunities to the
beekeeper. The honeys are chiefly white and secretion is abundant when
there is sufficient rainfall. In this region also honey is obtained from
blossoms of citrus fruits, which being irrigated are not so liable to
failure as the plants growing in the desert. The chief problem in this
part of the country is to strengthen the colonies in time for the nectar
flow from citrus fruit blossoms. This may be done by application of
proper care at the right time. In choosing the location for an apiary in
the sage region, great care should be exercised to select one where the
average rainfall is about 20 inches. Information regarding rainfall may
be obtained from the Weather Bureau offices or from forest supervisors.
Many of the best locations are in the national forests, where a location
may be obtained at a small rental and other beekeepers will not be
permitted to encroach.
In addition to these chief regions, there are many localities where
other plants are of sufficient value to make a good crop of honey. Such
regions are the buckwheat region, already mentioned; the Spanish needle
region of the Kankakee swamps of northern Indiana and Illinois and the
Delaware River Valley; the willow herb regions of northern Michigan and
Wisconsin, Maine, Washington, and Oregon; the sweet clover regions of
Alabama and Kentucky; the blue thistle region of the Shenandoah Valley;
the raspberry region of northern Michigan; the smartweed region of the
Middle West (corn belt); and the bean region of Southern California.
There are many other restricted regions as valuable as those mentioned.
VARIATION IN SEASONS
All years are not equally good for nectar secretion, and some years the
flow is so poor that feeding is necessary to keep the bees alive. Such
years are of common occurrence to the poor beekeeper, while they are
rather a rarity to the good, highly skilled beekeeper. By this is meant
that the good beekeeper is able to keep his bees in such condition that
they are able to take advantage of every hour of nectar secretion, while
the poor beekeeper does not do this. In the best years every person
owning bees will get some honey, but it is the person who studies the
business who can make it pay almost every year.
DISTRIBUTION OF BEES IN THE UNITED STATES
The accompanying map shows where the bees in the country are mainly
located. It indicates also the extent of the business in different
sections and gives some idea, by the number of dots on the map, of the
most successful territory for beekeeping. Care must be taken in drawing
conclusions of this kind, for a field or territory may be overpastured,
as it were, by bees as well as by cattle. Bees, however, travel many
miles. Large apiaries should not be too close together, at least 3 or 4
miles apart. Although the honey flows of the South do not equal those of
the North in intensity, yet, as will be observed from the map, there are
more bees in the Southern States than in any other part of the country.
Bees in the South can be purchased at small cost, for they are not
appreciated and are poorly equipped, being hived largely in boxes and
“gums” which are of course unprofitable. They may be transferred to
modern hives, after which they may be managed for extracted honey, which
is the most profitable manner of handling bees in that section and the
most effective way of avoiding swarming. The convenience of the modern
hive and frame enables the increase of colonies by division.
BEEKEEPING SHOULD BE A SPECIALTY
Frequently one sees articles advocating the keeping of a few colonies of
bees so that one may have all the honey desired. This sounds rather
well, but such advice does not work out well in practice. Only those
persons who study and devote themselves to the business are successful
beekeepers. They make money, some big money. One Indiana man’s 1918
honey crop exceeded $20,000. Success requires making beekeeping the
chief vocation, for the person who does not rely upon it for his living
is likely to be busy when the bees most need his care, and being
constantly engrossed in other things he does not take the time to study
the problems of the beekeeper. Beekeeping is preeminently a specialist’s
job, and it can not be recommended for the disabled soldier except as a
specialty. To be convinced of the necessity for specializing you have
only to visit farmers who have a few colonies of neglected and sometimes
diseased bees, in some out of the way place, which never pay and are a
menace to the success of all good beekeepers in the neighborhood.
NEED OF SPECIALISTS IN BEEKEEPING
The war revealed an insufficient number of available scientific
apiarists in the United States capable of giving instruction to those
desirous of engaging in commercial beekeeping. There are many
sufficiently trained, but they are reaping such financial returns from
their bees that they can not be induced to take up the work of training
others. The increasing educational work of the Federal Government and of
the several States in bee culture will afford men desiring to undertake
such work opportunities to secure positions. For this service thorough
theoretical training is required as well as good apiary practice on a
commercial scale. The teaching of beekeeping is a new field for
agricultural colleges and one which they gladly enter when
scientifically trained apiarists can be secured for giving instruction.
Were qualified teachers available the list of colleges at the close of
this monograph offering instruction in beekeeping would be much longer.
However, intensive and thorough short courses are being conducted as
indicated in the list, and these present exceptional opportunity. Many
more short courses will be arranged. The training is, it is true,
mainly theoretical, but it can and should promptly be made practical by
forming a connection with some successful apiarist.
OTHER BRANCHES OF AGRICULTURE AS SIDE LINES TO BEEKEEPING
It is quite possible to combine beekeeping with other branches of
agriculture, provided they do not necessitate much attention at the time
when the bees require every care and thought of the beekeeper. General
farming and beekeeping do not combine well, for the reason that swarming
usually comes at a season when the farmer is busily engaged with his
cropping. However, you might, as a bee specialist, form a business
combination with the farmer and develop a paying apiary, and also give
attention to some useful side lines. Gardening, fruits, poultry, Belgian
hares, flowers, etc., combine profitably with beekeeping, but before
engaging in any combinations, careful inquiry should be made of
successful beekeepers of the region regarding the time of the principal
honey flows. Information should be obtained also from persons following
the suggested side lines as to when these occupations require most
attention. This will enable one to determine the best combination to
adopt. The beekeeper who neglects his bees during swarming time, or when
nectar is coming in freely, may expect to lose fully nine-tenths of the
crop. Honey, like hay, must be made while the sun shines. Side lines
must not interfere with the apiarist being ready, with colonies strong,
when the sun shines sufficiently to cause honey plants to bloom and
nectar to flow freely.
Many garden crops may be grown and small truck farming may be followed
on areas located in close proximity to the apiary. Crops should be
selected that will require the least amount of time when the apiarist is
busiest with the bees. The tomato, greatly in demand for canning supply,
does not materially interfere in its planting, cultivation, or harvest
with the principal honey season.
BEES VALUABLE TO HORTICULTURE
By careful management and by employing some help in certain seasons,
horticulture--small fruits and orcharding--may likewise be profitably
undertaken without interfering with apiary work. Bee culture and
horticulture may in fact be combined to mutual advantage. The nectar
from the fruit bloom is always regarded as an advantage and comes when
nectar from other sources is not available.