10. Varicocele.

WHY TAKE TRAINING? Because it is necessary. Even if you grow up on a farm, you can learn to farm better than your father and your grandfather farmed. Something new in farming is discovered every day--new methods of treating soils, new methods of growing old crops, and new crops that can be grown profitably on old farms, new methods of planting, cultivating, and harvesting, and a thousand other new things that save labor, time, and money, improve products, secure better markets, and generally make farming profitable. If you have lost a leg or an arm you will need special training to accustom you to work with artificial appliances, and you may find it advantageous, even if you grew up on a farm, to take up some new line with which you are not familiar, some line in which your handicap will not be a handicap. But, especially if you have been disabled and have never farmed before, you will need training to make you a successful farmer in spite of your handicap. The Government will provide just that sort of training you need, and will help you find out what that training should be. OVERCOMING YOUR DISABILITY You may be without practical farm experience. Never mind that. Go after it, and with vocational training you will get it. The most serious disablements, even the loss of two members, even blindness have not prevented efficient application to some of the many agricultural specialties. Some disabled farmers have deemed it unwise to undertake work in the field because of amputation of both legs, or even the loss of one, not realizing that a sabot which will prevent sinking in the ground may be adjusted to an artificial leg, making it possible to travel with comfort over plowed or soft soil. Besides, we now have the tractor, and implements with such light draft as to permit of riding even if using horsepower. You can “come back” at some sort of farm work as many other men have done. DEVICES TO BEAT THE HANDICAP Special tools and implements and certain appliances for the handling of agricultural machinery have been used by disabled men most successfully, and are being suggested by the inventive genius of the disabled themselves. You may benefit thereby in your effort to return to civil life as an efficient and self-supporting man. EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS You who have grown up on a farm have acquired a practical education that is invaluable. Of course school training and even advanced courses are valuable and will greatly assist you, but it is our desire to impress you with the fact that you can succeed though your schooling has been meager. TECHNICAL TRAINING Either with or without agricultural experience you will find in the agricultural colleges and high schools opportunity for advanced study. The agricultural colleges report gratifying increase in the application of city-bred boys for courses. If you are a city boy you will have no handicap of undesirable or old-fashioned ways of farming to overcome, which are often difficult to eliminate. Books, specific knowledge, and scientific training rightly applied mean efficiency and success. METHOD OF TRAINING Methods of training will of necessity vary with the vocational course adopted. There will be training in various specialties, and opportunity for making yourself proficient in more than one line of work. Following your primary training you will be given opportunity to engage in practical work. After completing your course and returning home, you may continue your training in a local agricultural high school, or in special classes, such as are now being formed in numerous locations. Instructors can always be secured for special classes meeting in the evening or on two or three afternoons each week in the winter time when activities on the farm are at a minimum. These classes and the lectures secured now and then have been the inspiration to many to take regular agricultural courses in high schools or in State colleges, and you may thus arrange to take advanced technical training. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN TRAINING You will be given opportunity to learn the essential things in the line you have chosen, and taught ways and means of overcoming your handicap. The extent of the course as to training and also its duration will depend solely on your needs and desire. The more you undertake the more you will accomplish and the greater will be your efficiency and your ability to go “over the top” as an agriculturist, or as a specialist in some selected line. PLAN No. 1067. IS THERE A DEMAND FOR LABOR? The demand for efficient farm labor is second to no other labor requirement in the world, even in ordinary times. You may be assured that the opportunity for permanent employment is excellent. State agricultural colleges can not supply the demand for farm managers, herdsmen, dairymen, orchardmen, and men who have studied the production of small fruits and vegetables and have had practical experience in these lines. The agricultural colleges give special courses in forestry, floriculture, poultry raising, beekeeping, and other lines, and those who have taken even short winter courses easily find employment at advanced wages. OTHERS HAVE MADE GOOD Many disabled men are following agricultural pursuits. Before the war we had examples in hundreds of men with only one arm or one leg who were farming successfully, and reports from Italy, France, England, and Canada inform us that hundreds of disabled boys, retained and readjusted, are now successfully adapting themselves to agricultural work. Getting back home to work again should be, and doubtless is, your greatest ambition, hence the importance of reaching your decision at the earliest possible moment and applying for the training which will be provided for you. On arriving at your home you will find the attitude of your old friends, your own family, and your former employers all that you could possibly expect in their desire to assist you. The disposition of your fellow workmen will be to give you every encouragement and to lend a helping hand whenever and as long as you need it. They will take a justifiable pride in you and your determination to be a man among your former fellow men in civil life, and to help produce for the world the food which will prevent in some measure hunger and starvation in the war-afflicted countries, and will provide adequately for our own needs. OPPORTUNITY FOR ADVANCEMENT In agriculture you will win out in proportion as you develop efficiency. You will be your own master, and will achieve your own advancement. You may reasonably expect to acquire independence for yourself and for your family. The good farmer normally improves his condition from year to year. Only the poor farmer fails, and the way to avoid failure is to take the training that will make you a good farmer. MORE TRAINING IF YOU NEED IT If, perchance, you have taken insufficient training and desire more instruction after you first try out on the farm, you will be permitted to return for that. If you reach the conclusion that you desire training in another of the many agricultural branches, or in any other line, the Federal Board for Vocational Education has the courses in readiness and will gladly give you further opportunity of re-educating yourself. WHAT IF YOU DO NOT TAKE TRAINING? The matter of training is up to you, and so also will be your occupation and success in life. You may succeed without training, but you are more likely to do so if you have been retrained and readjusted to the new conditions which will confront you in earning a livelihood. You have been too much a man “over there,” too brave and too ambitious to do your part, to do otherwise now than exhibit by a manly endeavor your ability to come back to the noble position of an efficient, self-supporting, and respected citizen of the United States. PLAN No. 1068. WHAT THE FARMER SHOULD KNOW.--TOPICS OF VOCATIONAL INSTRUCTION AND TRAINING FOR DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF FARMING Farming is not a vocation. It is rather a thousand different vocations. No man can in the course of a lifetime engage in all of these different vocations, and no one farm is suitable for the development of every branch of farming. For the individual farmer operating a given farm the vocational problem is partly one of individual preference on the part of the farmer, but it is largely one of developing to the best advantage the natural and acquired resources of the farm itself, which may be large or small, especially suitable for growing field crops or garden crops, for stock raising or dairying, for orcharding or small-fruit growing, or for some combination of these branches. On some farms the farmer will most profitably become in a greater or less degree a specialist--a corn or cotton planter, a dairyman, a stock breeder, a fruit grower, or a truck gardener. But in other cases his farm may be suitable for general farming. It may embrace a garden, an orchard, pasture land, and cultivated land suitable for field crops. Even in such cases the general farmer will, however, probably select certain specialties among those for which his farm is well adapted. The specialty farmer, on the other hand, will probably develop side lines not necessarily associated with his specialty, producing at least his own vegetables, fruit, poultry, eggs, milk, and butter for home consumption. The general farmer must know how to care for his animals, how to prepare the soil for his crops, how to plant, cultivate, harvest, and rotate his crops. The specialty farmer must acquire a fund of technical knowledge pertaining to his specialty. For the fullest development of their farms, in accordance with their individual preferences, no two farmers perhaps will require precisely the same sort of training. There is a fund of information relating to breeds and types of animals, feeds, propagation, diseases, pedigrees, and other matters that is of special interest to the stock breeder and of comparatively little interest to the beekeeper. But nearly every farmer should know something of the care of animals, and many farmers who do not propose to become apiarists will wish to know enough of the care of bees to enable them to keep a few hives. In the following chart the topics of instruction and training of special value in the different branches of agriculture are indicated. In proportion as a farmer engages in one or more of these branches, the training which will be of value to him will be determined by the requirements of the several branches in which he engages. In determining upon a specific course of training in individual cases, past training and experience, personal preferences, capacities and disabilities, and future prospects as regards character and location of farm to be operated and other conditions of future employment will naturally be taken into account. CHART SHOWING SCOPE OF TRAINING FOR DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF AGRICULTURE _GENERAL FARMING_ Selection of feed crops and stocks. Planning crop areas and rotations. Maintenance of stock with minimum purchases. Maintenance and improvement of soil fertility. Farm management and accounting. Production of supplies for family consumption: Vegetables, fruits, berries, poultry. Eggs, meat, milk, butter, cheese, honey, etc. Stock feeding for market. Sale of surplus products. _STOCK RAISING_ Breeds and types of animals. Selection of stock. Points in judging animal merits and defects. Breeding principles. Blood lines. Prevention and control of diseases. Feeding and watering: Balanced rations. Selection of feeds. Determination of amounts to be fed. Times and methods of feeding. Water supply. Pasturing. Improvement of soil and pasture. Buildings for shelter and housing: Size, number, character, sanitation, and care of buildings. Keeping records of mating, breeding, pedigrees, feeds, costs, incomes, etc. Improvement of herd or flocks. Marketing. _DAIRYING_ Breeds of animals. Sanitation of barns, sheds, cows, milk room, utensils, clothing, and hands. Cooling and handling of milk. Bacteriology--souring milk, ripening cream. Food value of milk products. Testing. Feeds. Keeping records. Maintenance of herd. Marketing. _POULTRYING_ Broods and types of poultry. Breeding principles. Hatching problems: Selection of eggs. Use of incubators. Care of chicks and brooders. Construction and adaptation of houses, and pens. Sanitation of houses, pens, and yards. Pests and diseases. Feeds. Fattening and dressing poultry. Marketing. _TRUCK GARDENING_ Kinds of gardens: Kitchen. Market. Truck. Varieties of vegetables and plants. Breeding and propagation. Garden planning with reference to topography, surface drainage, and economy in cultivating and harvesting. Soil treatment: Adaptation. Propagation. Fertilization. Preservation and improvement. Cultivation. Irrigation. Pests, insect and fungus. Spraying. Buildings for team, implements, tools, crops, fresh vegetables, surplus fertilizers, seed, and supplies. Implements and tools. Marketing, storage, and canning. _ORCHARDING_ Varieties of trees. Propagation of soil. Interplanting. Root and branch pruning. Culture. Propagation of trees. Spraying materials and apparatus. Grafting and budding. Transplanting. Diseases and pests--prevention and control. Side projects--berries, bees, poultry, and pigs (for economical use of land, fertilization of flowers, control of pests, etc.). Canning, packing, storage, and marketing. _SMALL FRUIT GROWING_ Selection of varieties. Plant breeding and propagation. Planting, replanting, and terracing. Rotation. Fertilization of soil. Diseases and pests--prevention and control. Spraying materials and apparatus. Side projects--kitchen garden, poultry, bees, pigs. Marketing, storage, canning. _BEEKEEPING_ Importance for cross fertilizing clover, fruit trees, berries, garden plants, and many farm crops. Hives. Taking honey. Care of bees: Swarming. Dividing colonies. Wintering. Prevention of diseases. _CROP FARMING--SPECIAL_ Selection of crop or crops, taking account of topography, climate, soil, etc. Selection of seed. Equipment--use of tractors. Planting, cultivating, and harvesting. Providing labor for cropping and harvesting. Character of buildings required. Farm management and accounting. _LANDSCAPE GARDENING_ General layout of property. Location of buildings. Selection and inspection of shrubbery, trees, flowers, and vines. Lawns--how made, kept, and improved. Roads and walks. Fencing and gates. Parks and civic centers. _FARM MECHANICS_ Blacksmithing--maintenance and repair of tools, implements, and machinery. Carpentering--construction, maintenance, and repair of houses, barns, sheds, pens, coops, silos, fences, and gates. Cement work--construction, maintenance, and repair of foundations, cellars, chimneys, walks, and posts. Machine operating of farm tractors and other machinery. _SCIENTIFIC SPECIALTY WORK_ Chemistry--application in analysis of soils, feeds, fertilizers, and products. Botany--application in plant breeding, propagation, and culture. Entomology--application in prevention and control of diseases and pests. Scientific specialty work in connection with farm drainage; hygiene; building construction, lighting, heating, and ventilation; soil maintenance and improvement; and farm accounting and management. CHART SHOWING DISQUALIFYING DISABILITIES FOR SPECIFIC AGRICULTURAL OCCUPATIONS Farmer, owner, or tenant, inactive, none. Farmer, general, A2, 5, C9, D9, E12. Farmer, grain, A2, 5, C9, D9, E12. Farmer, stock, A2, 5, C9, D9, E12. Farmer, small, A2, 5, C9, D9, E12. Farmer, truck, A2, 5, C9, D9, E12. Farm manager, A2, 5, C9, D9, E12. Farm superintendent, A2, 5, C9, D9, E12. Farm foreman, A2, 5, C9, D9, E12. Farm mechanic, A2, B9, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E12. Farm seed specialist, A2, E12. Farm hand (workers), A2, B9, C7, 9, D7, 9, E12. Farm tractor operator, A2, B3, C3, 5, 7, 9, D7, 9, E4, 9, 10, 11, 12. Farm truck driver, A2, 5, B3, 4, 9, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E4, 9, 10, 11, 12. Farm blacksmith, A2, B3, 4, 9, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E4, 10, 11, 12. Grape grower, owner, none. Vineyardist, A2, C9, D9, E12. Helpers, A2, C9, D9, E12. Orchardist, owner, none. Orchard superintendent, A2, C9, D9, E12. Orchard sprayer, A2, C7, 9, D9, E12. Orchard pruner, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E12. Orchard planter, A2, B9, C3, 5, 7, 9, D9, E12. Orchard thinners and pickers, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E10, 11, 12. Orchard tractor operator, A2, B3, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E4, 10, 12. Orchard truck driver, A2, 5, B3, 4, 9, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E4, 9, 10, 11, 12. Small-fruit grower, none. Superintendent, A2, 5, C9, D9, E12. Cultivators, A2, C9, D9, E12. Pickers, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D9, E12. Planter, A2, B9, C3, 5, 7, 9, D9, E12. Sprayer, A2, C7, 9, D9, E12. Tractor operator, A2, 5, B3, C3, 5, 7, 9, D7, 9, E4, 9, 10, 11, 12. Truck driver, A2, B3, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E4, 9, 10, 11, 12. Salesman, A2, 5, E12. Animal husbandman, owner, none. Manager, A2, C9, D9, E12. Accountant, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, E12. Correspondent, A2, C9, E12. Stock inspector, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D9, E12. Stockman, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E12. Sheep breeder, A2, C9, D9, E12. Shepherd, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E12. Flock master, A2, C9, D9, E12. Swine breeder, A2, C9, D9, E12. Swine herdsman, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E12. Cattle herdsman, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E12. Cattle breeder, A2, C9, D9, E12. Horse breeder, A2, C9, D9, E12. Horseman, A2, 5, B3, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E4, 12. Barn man, A2, C9, D9, E12. Trainer, A2, 5, B3, C3, 5, 7, 9, D9, E4, 9, 10, 11, 12. Groom, A2, C9, D9, E12. Veterinarian, A2, 5, C9, D9, E12. Veterinarian assistant, A2, B3, 4, 9, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E12. Dairyman, owner, none. Dairy manager, A2, E12. Herdsman, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E4, 12. Milkman, A2, C9, D9, E1, 3, 4, 12, 15. Milkers, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D9, E1, 3, 4, 12, 15. Tester, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, E1, 3, 10, 11, 12, 15. Butter maker, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E1, 3, 4, 12. Cheese maker A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E1, 3, 4, 12. Deliverers, A2, B9, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E1, 3, 4, 9, 12, 15. Machinist, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, E12. Feeders, A2, C7, 9, E12. Cleaners, A2, C7, 9, E12. Laborers, A2, B9, C7, 9, D7, 9, E12. Tractor operator, A2, B3, C3, 5, 7, 9, D7, 9, E4, 9, 10, 11, 12. Truck driver, A2, 5, B3, 4, 9, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E4, 9, 10, 11, 12. Nurseryman, owner, none. Business manager, A2, 5. Office help, A2, 5. Cultivators, A2, C9, D9, E12. Shipping clerk, A2, E12. Nursery chief, A2, 5, E12. Nursery foreman, A2, 5, E12. Packers, A2, C7, 9, D7, 9, E12. Workers, A2, B9, C7, 9, D7, 9, E12. Tractor operator, A2, B3, C3, 5, 7, 9, D7, 9, E4, 9, 10, 11, 12. Truck driver, A2, 5, B3, 4, 9, C3, 5, 7, 9, D3, 5, 7, 9, E4, 9, 10, 11, 12. Gardener, market, owner, none. Gardener, kitchen, A2, C9, E12. Gardener, market, A2, C9, E12. Gardener, landscape, A2, C9, E12. Gardener, cultivators, A2, C9, E12. Gardener, pickers, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D9, E12. Gardener, manager, A2, 5, C9, D9, E12. Make-up market man, A2, 5, C3, 5, 7, 9, D9, E12. City market man, A2, 5, E12. Poultry keeper (specialties--squabs, ducks, geese, turkeys, game birds, exhibition poultry): Owner, none. Poultry manager, A2. Poultry feeder, none. Poultry workers, A2. Egg handler, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, E12. Incubator specialist, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, E12. Beekeeper, owner, none. Apiarist, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, E4, 10, 11, 12. Helpers, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, E4, 10, 11, 12. Trucker (specialties--cabbage, head lettuce, onions, potatoes, seeds, celery, etc.): Owner, inactive, none. Owner, active, A2, C9, D9, E12. Truck manager, A2, 5. Gardener, A2, C9, E12. Cultivators, A2, C9, D9, E12. Workers, A2, C9, D9, E12. Make-up marketman, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D9, E12. Floriculture (specialties--roses, etc.): Owner, none. Cultivators, A2, C9. Florist, A2. Market clipper, A2, C3, 5, 7, 9, D9. Salesmen, A2, 5. Cannery: Canner, owner, none. Manager, A2, 5. Accountant, A2. Dealers, A2. Packers, none. Broom maker: Manager, A2, 5. Makers, none. Packers, none. Basket maker: Manager, A2, 5. Makers, none. Packers, none. Wicker cultivators, A2, C9, E12. Wicker workers, none. Meat curing, A2, 5, C3, 5, 7, 9. PLAN No. 1069. OCCUPATIONS IN THE ELECTRICAL MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES ACKNOWLEDGMENT This monograph was prepared by Terrell Croft. Acknowledgment is due to Dr. John Cummings of the Research Division for editorial assistance. Thousands of men are now employed in the electrical manufacturing industries--in the shops and factories where electrical machines, devices, and equipment are made. The number of workers so engaged must, it is believed, increase materially in the future because of constant expansion in the applications of electricity. For illustration, consider the extent to which electric welding, electric-motor drives, electric heating and electric lighting are now utilized as compared with the use which obtained 10 years ago. Or again, consider the devices using electricity in the household to-day--vacuum cleaners, motor-driven washing machines, electric stoves, sadirons, and many others--as compared with the number in use a few years ago. The demands of electric communication, also, require an army of workers for the manufacture of telephone apparatus alone. The ever-extending use of devices which utilize electrical energy means that there must be to supply them a corresponding enlargement in the manufacture of such electrical equipment as generators, switchboards, and transformers. Electrical manufacturing companies must, it would seem, expand rapidly, and for this reason the opportunities which they offer should afford excellent prospects for disabled soldiers who have had previous training in, or who have a liking for this field of endeavor. The purpose of this monograph is to indicate briefly the opportunities presented in those occupations which are peculiar to electrical manufacturing. Electrical machinery and device factories often embrace foundries, paint shops, pattern shops, blacksmith shops, tin and press shops, and other shops, in which are performed certain processes necessary for the production of the electrical product in which that concern specializes. But in so far as the vocations are concerned, the work of the men following the occupations of these shops is not materially different from that of mechanics following the same vocations in similar shops in other industries. The general requirements of a mechanic in a machine shop are about the same whether the machine shop is part of a harvester factory or of an electrical machinery factory. Hence in this monograph will be treated only those manufacturing vocations which are wholly electrical. For convenience they have been grouped into the following classifications: Engineering and drafting. Coil winding and taping. Coil impregnating and painting. Coil placing and connecting. Assembling. Inspection and repair. Testing. By way of preface, it may be pointed out that there are certain general features of the situation which confront a disabled soldier, which should be examined carefully by him before he makes a break for a job. CONSIDER THE FUTURE AND PLAN ACCORDINGLY The tendency of the average man is to base his actions only on conditions which confront him now. He does not think about the conditions which he may have to face ten or fifteen or twenty years hence. Before you take a job think about how it is going to work out as you grow older. What will you be doing when you are 40 or 50 years of age? It is possible to make definite plans for the future and follow them consistently and the disabled soldier should weigh very thoughtfully the opportunity for schooling and training without cost which the United States Government through the Federal Board for Vocational Education is prepared now to offer him. Statistics show that on the average a man with some theoretical training has ultimately a greater earning capacity than another man of equal ability but without such training. Every disabled soldier who for any reason has not been able to become posted in the elements of the calling which he wishes to follow, should avail himself of the chance now presented to him to get such training as he needs. DISCUSS THE SITUATION WITH A FEDERAL BOARD ADVISER Just how and where training may be obtained without cost you may learn by talking with the vocational adviser of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. The adviser may, also, because of his experience in this special work, be able to assist you in selecting the calling for which you are best fitted, and at which you can most certainly succeed. The training need not necessarily be obtained at a technical school. ELECTRICAL MANUFACTURING COMPANIES MAINTAIN TRAINING COURSES Training courses are conducted by many companies for their employees, who are sometimes permitted to attend on the company’s time. Often the training given in these courses is of great value, enabling the student to increase materially his earning capacity. Some of these training courses have been in operation many years and are now highly developed, thoroughly organized, and very effective. In them both theoretical and practical instruction are given. EMPLOYMENT DEPARTMENTS A number of the electrical manufacturing companies operate employment departments, which render valuable service to prospective employees. Such departments study carefully each man’s qualifications and endeavor to place him in the job for which he is best suited. Obviously, it is to the interest of both the employer and of the employee that the employee shall follow a line of work for which he is best fitted. CONSTANCY OF EMPLOYMENT Under normal conditions the demand for electrical equipment of all sorts is very steady, and this tends to insure continuity of employment. Furthermore, practically all of the electrical workers in the electrical manufacturing industry require special training, and for this reason employing companies use every means to insure continuous employment for each worker so that their organization may not be broken up. Finally, the call for electrical equipment will probably be exceptionally heavy in the immediate future to provide for reconstruction needs. All of these features tend to insure stability of employment. MUTUAL BENEFIT FEATURES Many companies maintain associations, supported largely by the companies and partially by the employees themselves, whereby medical attendance and monetary benefits are afforded in time of sickness. Some of the concerns have building and loan associations through which employee members can borrow money at low rates of interest for the construction of homes. PLAN No. 1070. ENGINEERING AND DRAFTING Although the engineering department and the drafting department in an electrical manufacturing concern are usually distinct organizations, the drafting division commonly operates under the direction of the engineering department. In the engineering department are developed the designs and specifications for the electrical apparatus which the company produces. The engineers make the computations, prepare--ordinarily in the form of a sketch--the preliminary design for the device, and write out the specifications for its production. This information is submitted to the drafting department, which completes finished detailed drawings. Often a draftsman who matures a design or directs the work of a squad of junior draftsmen must be an engineer. Although a technical-school training and a number of years of experience are necessary for any man who is to assume responsibility for electrical design or drafting, there are frequently opportunities for those who have had comparatively little training to start in as assistants or helpers. HIGH-SCHOOL COURSE ESSENTIAL While it was formerly the practice of many concerns to accept in their engineering departments only college graduates, it has been found that many of the tasks do not require or justify this training. For reasonable progress in design engineering, the candidate should, however, have at least the equivalent of a high-school education. As noted above, some companies maintain training courses or schools, in which high-school trained apprentices are given, on the company’s time and without cost to them, courses covering the essentials of design engineering along special lines. FIRST DUTIES AND AFTER Under the direction of an experienced engineer the beginner will probably undertake first the making of computations for designs already under way or the checking or reckoning of data from curves of tests which have been made on apparatus which the concern has built. The beginner is often called upon also to plot graphs from values which are at hand or which he himself reckons. As the candidate develops efficiency, he may be expected to assume responsibility for the design of certain parts of machines or devices. Then, later, after a number of years of experience and study, he may become sufficiently conversant with the principles and processes involved to undertake the design of equipment on his own responsibility. Only a man who is of a studious temperament is fitted for a vocation of this character, because to be successful at it one must study both in and out of working hours. The worker must become familiar with the principles of electricity and magnetism, and be competent to make such calculations as are required to the end that available material shall be utilized in proper proportions to provide desired results and performance in the machine being designed. However, the essentials of this theoretical training can be obtained by any man who is competent to handle formulas, and who is willing to devote a reasonable amount of time to study. While mathematical processes are the tools of an electrical designer, a good mathematician is not necessarily a good designer. To be a good designer, the individual must have also a practical temperament and an eye for proportions. He must be able to design a device so that it will give maximum results at minimum cost and upkeep expense. DESIGN ENGINEERING IS ALMOST ALL DESK WORK Although the designer must sometimes work over a drafting board, or go to parts of the shop where machines are either in process of construction or under test, design engineering is largely desk work. Any man who can see, think, and write may, assuming that he has the requisite temperamental and educational qualifications, develop into a designer. Loss of hearing is not by any means an insurmountable handicap. SALARIES AND HOURS Engineering department employees practically always receive their compensation on a weekly or monthly salary basis. Beginners who have not had a college education may receive from $60 to $80 per month at the start. After some experience, which equips them for working without constant supervision, they can expect from $80 to $125 per month. Ultimately, salaries will be determined wholly by the capacity of the individual and may range from $2,000 on up indefinitely. Often designers conceive patentable ideas which, if practicable and adopted, may result in substantial salary increases for them. The usual day is eight hours, but in some shops the engineering department works only seven and one-half hours. IN THE DRAFTING DIVISIONS For drafting in the engineering department the qualifications are somewhat similar to those for design engineering. Draftsmen are, however, ordinarily not so well informed or so well paid as engineers and frequently an able man is promoted from drafting to engineering work. When a man starts at drafting, if he has had no experience, his first task is likely to be that of tracing--he copies, in ink, on a sheet of transparent tracing cloth, a drawing which was made in pencil on drawing paper by a draftsman. In thus tracing a design, he can become familiar with many of the mechanical principles of the devices, and also with the drafting-room and machine-shop practices of the concern which employs him. By observing and asking questions he can learn much. After he has become a proficient tracer, he may be required to “work up” dimension drawings from rough sketches, or to design minor details. Thus he can progress, step by step, until his accumulated experience enables him to perform the work of an experienced draftsman. A man who has had previous drafting experience may not have to start in at the bottom, but may begin with such work as he is qualified to undertake. To enable him to become a good draftsman, a man should be able to see well, and he should have the use of both hands. One hand or even both hands may, however, be artificial. Men who have had previous shop or electrical construction experience, but whose disabilities disqualify them for further rough work, may adopt the vocation of design draftsman with entire success. Many draftsmen with the equivalent of only a common-school education have been able by application and attention to business to advance themselves very satisfactorily. On the other hand, the equivalent of a high-school education with an elementary knowledge of algebra, trigonometry, mechanics, heat, and the other scientific subjects involved, is of very material benefit. If a man’s education is deficient he can often correct this by attending a night-school. Draftsmen ordinarily receive weekly salaries. A beginner in a drafting department with little or no previous experience may expect from $50 to $70 per month at the start. A competent design draftsman will receive probably from $100 to $200 monthly. Some receive considerably more. The work is wholly indoors and over a drafting board. PLAN No. 1071. COIL WINDING AND TAPING In many electrical devices, coils of insulated copper wire-magnet or armature windings of one sort or another are required. Consequently a large number of coil winders are employed in most electrical factories. Coils are usually wound on forms in accordance with specifications prepared in the engineering department. The “form,” upon which the coil is thus wound, is clamped on the head of a winding lathe operated by power. In this form is a groove, in which the convolutions of the winding are wound. The groove is of such size that it insures the correct number of turns in the coil so that the finished coil shall be of correct dimensions. When the attendant presses a treadle, power furnished by a belt causes the form to revolve, and insulated copper wire from a spool mounted on a rack is guided by the attendant and wound into its place in the groove. After the required number of turns, the form is removed, and the coil is taken from it by the attendant who then starts winding the next coil. Frequently it is necessary to produce a large number of identical coils. Where this condition obtains, automatic devices of one sort or another, to reduce manual effort and to render the processes automatic in so far as possible, may be employed. TYPES OF COILS Some of the different sorts of coils wound in the different factories are: Field coils, armature coils, transformer coils, and magnet coils. Coils of different types may range in size and weight from a few inches long and a few ounces in weight to a couple of feet and several hundred pounds. CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT FOR COIL WINDERS The work on some coils requires little physical effort and may be done by young women, but where the wire from which the coil is wound is of relatively large diameter or where the winding is intricate men are employed. Some lifting is necessary, and the use of both hands is essential. The loss of one eye, of a leg or foot, or of hearing is not a material detriment. The work is wholly indoors. Coil winding is often piecework, sometimes under a premium system and sometimes not. The trade is not generally unionized. The usual day is nine hours, although an eight-hour day prevails in some localities. A coil winder may expect to receive from $14 to $22 per week. PLAN No. 1072. COIL TAPING Wrapping a band or strip of cloth or tape around coils which have been wound as described above is known as “coil taping.” Where the coils are of small weight, little physical effort is involved, but where they are large and heavy it is necessary that they be lifted to a bench or vise, on which they are held while being taped. In some factories the lifting and placing of coils is done by laborers. Young women do most of the taping. PLAN No. 1073. EMPLOYMENT FOR THE BLIND Often hundreds of coils of identically the same size, shape, and construction are to be covered. Then the tapers become so adept that they can do the work without looking at it. For this reason taping affords an opportunity for men who have lost their sight. Experience has shown that where they are given the proper preliminary training the blind can compete on equal terms with others. Certain electrical concerns have given this fact careful consideration. WAGES AND HOURS FOR COIL TAPERS The coil taper may expect to earn from $12 to $20 a week. Often this is piecework and under a premium system. The work is wholly indoors. Some shops work eight hours, but a nine-hour day is the rule. PLAN No. 1074. COIL IMPREGNATING AND PAINTING After the coils have been wound, and before or after they have been taped, they must usually be impregnated or saturated with an insulating compound. The last process in finishing the coil ordinarily consists in painting it. In impregnating, the coils are placed in a large steel cylinder, which is then hermetically sealed by bolting its removable top fast to it. With a power pump the air is exhausted from this cylinder. The impregnating compound--a sort of waterproof paint or varnish--is then forced in and is caused to permeate every interstice of each coil. The compound is then pumped out of the cylinder, and the impregnated coils are removed. To render them waterproof, some coils are painted with a brush instead of being impregnated, but before painting they are heated in a drying oven, which drives out all moisture. Where the coils are light in weight, little physical effort is required, but where they are heavy considerable exertion may be necessary, although cranes and hoists are usually provided. SHOP TRAINING NECESSARY Proficiency in work of this character must be acquired in the shop. The beginner starts as a helper, and as he accumulates experience, he may be promoted to a squad boss. Ultimately, assuming that he has proper qualifications and experience, he may become a foreman. CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT The work is wholly indoors, under temperatures which, although not excessively high, may be somewhat above normal. The odor of the solvents and materials used in insulating and painting is offensive to some, but does not appear to affect others. QUALIFICATIONS This work can be handled by men having minor physical defects. The loss of one eye or one leg will not disqualify. The loss of an arm or hand would not be an insurmountable obstacle provided the member is replaced by an artificial one. WAGES AND HOURS Wages are often paid by the piece under a premium system. A helper may expect to receive from $12 to $17 a week, an experienced man from $16 to $24, and a foreman from $22 to $37. Usually the day is nine hours, but may be eight and a half. The work is wholly indoors. The trade is seldom unionized. PLAN No. 1075. COIL PLACING AND CONNECTING After the coils have been wound and impregnated or otherwise treated, they are arranged in place on the iron cores of the electrical machines under construction which have been designed to receive them. The placing of a magnet coil in an assembled device which requires but the one small coil involves but little skill and labor. But the arranging, placing, and connecting of the large number of armature coils which are necessary to complete an armature winding of a direct-current or alternating generator or motor requires considerable skill, experience, and ingenuity. The connections in such cases may be quite complicated. Connections between coils are effected by soldering together the ends of the copper conductors. However, the man who makes these connections need not be competent to plan for himself the scheme of connections, inasmuch as he is supplied with a diagrammatic blue print from the engineering department. This indicates how the coils should be connected. He must be competent to read and understand this print. On all but the simplest machines and devices the coil placing and connecting is done by men. In some shops coils are placed in the armatures by one group of men and are connected by another group who receive slightly higher pay. CONDITIONS, WAGES, AND HOURS Ordinarily physical ability involving the use of both hands is required. The loss of one eye, or of a leg or foot, or of hearing is not a material detriment. Usually the men work standing at benches. The work is all indoors. The day is usually nine but sometimes eight hours. A helper may expect to receive from $10 to $18 per week, a journeyman from $18 to $24, and a foreman from $25 to $40 per week. Some shops are unionized, but most of them are not. This is often piecework on the premium system. TRAINING The elements of these vocations are taught in some trade schools, but most of the individuals now following the work obtained their knowledge through actual experience in a factory. It requires several years of shop training to become thoroughly proficient. A man may start as a helper and gradually acquire the skill necessary to place himself in the journeyman class. He has always ahead of him the possibility of a foremanship. PLAN No. 1076. ASSEMBLING After all of the components of an electrical machine have been produced in the different departments of the factory, they are sent to an assembling department for arrangement into the finished product. The coils are usually in place in and connected on each separate component. But the different members must be bolted or otherwise fastened together as required. The rotating members--armatures or rotors--must be mounted in the bearings, and such electrical junctions made between them as may be necessary. Then the machine is made ready for operation and test. Where the device is small and simple the work of assembling is correspondingly uncomplicated. It then involves little physical effort and may be done by young women. But where motors or generators, transformers, or similar equipment of capacities of from 5 horsepower up are to be handled, men are required for the work. The assembling department affords a good starting place in the factory for a man who has had some electrical experience. While much of the work requires no theoretical training, a man who already has, or who acquires through study, a knowledge of the theoretical elements involved, will be able to progress accordingly. QUALIFICATIONS, TRAINING, AND EXPENSES Ordinary physical qualifications are necessary. Some lifting is required, although cranes are usually provided for handling heavy pieces. The work can be learned only in the shop, and often a man must have gained experience in the particular factory in which a certain device or line of devices is manufactured before he becomes proficient in their assembly. An individual without previous experience may start in as a helper. Later he may develop into a skilled assembler and may look forward to the position of foreman. In large factories there are many foremen in the assembling department. Each foreman has direction of the assembly of a certain type of apparatus. WAGES, HOURS, AND CONDITIONS A helper may expect to receive from $12 to $17 per week, a skilled assembler from $17 to $22, and a foreman from $25 to $35. Frequently this is piecework under a premium system. The work is usually nine but is in some shop eight hours. This vocation is not as a rule unionized. The work is indoors. PLAN No. 1077. INSPECTION AND REPAIR After electrical equipment has been assembled, it is inspected for defects before it is submitted to an electrical operation test such as is described below. Such inspection may comprise not only a checking of the dimensions and quality of the mechanical parts of the machine, but may also involve qualitative electrical tests. These are made to insure that there are no faults in the insulation, or misconnections in the windings. Frequently these inspection tests are applied before the component tested leaves the department in which it was made. Thus coils are tested to insure that they contain no short-circuits or crosses before they leave the winding department. Complete armatures are likewise subjected to an insulation test in the department where they are wound; a voltage considerably higher than that which will be imposed on the machine after it is in actual operation being connected to the armature temporarily by the tester. This high voltage is obtained from the secondary winding of a step-up transformer. The mechanical inspection is made with micrometers, scales, gauges, and calipers in the same way as is the inspection of any machine-shop product. Checks for the proper connection of the coils in a machine can be made by standardized methods. TRAINING Inspectors of special and complicated apparatus are usually men who have “worked up” and received all of their training in the shop, because this is the only way in which adequate training can be acquired. But for the routine inspection of small parts little if any special training is necessary. Theoretical training is not essential, but it is desirable. A man without previous mechanical or electrical experience is not ordinarily qualified to become other than a detail inspector. The best inspectors are usually selected by picking adept men from the working force of the factory. OPPORTUNITY FOR DISABLED MEN This vocation should afford possibilities for disabled soldiers who have had previous electrical or mechanical experience, or who have a liking for this work, but whose disablements unfit them for following their old occupations. Inspection requires little physical effort. Some lifting may be necessary to place the members to be tested and inspected in the proper positions on the bench or floor, but this is performed usually by laborers who have the assistance of cranes. WAGES, HOURS, AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT A man who has not had previous inspection experience may expect to earn from $16 to $20 per week; an experienced inspector from $20 to $27; and a foreman from $27 to $40. The work is all indoors. Sometimes it is piecework under a premium system. The trade is not unionized. The day is usually nine hours, but may be eight. PLAN No. 1078. TESTING Nearly all electrical equipment is tested before it leaves the factory. That is to say, it is subjected to electrical and mechanical conditions similar to those under which it must operate in practice, so that its performance under such conditions may be predetermined. This is necessary to insure that the product which leaves the factory will not develop faults after it is in service. Where machines or devices are of large capacity, each is tested individually. Where the output comprises a large number of small, identical machines, as for example, automobile starting motors, or circuit-breakers, only one or a few out of each order which passes through the shop are subjected to test. PLAN No. 1079. AS GENERAL APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING Electrical testing is interesting work and affords a splendid opportunity for a man to acquire experience which will be valuable to him in almost any line of electrical work which he may subsequently elect to follow. Formerly, the larger electrical manufacturing companies would accept only university graduates in their testing departments. The testing work was usually offered in the form of an apprenticeship course, and as a stepping-stone to other more responsible positions. But of recent years, some of the companies have accepted in their testing departments men with only a high-school training or its equivalent. It has been found that this plan is satisfactory, both from the standpoint of the company and of the men themselves. PLAN No. 1080. TESTING MOTORS In testing a motor the machine is loaded by making it drive, usually through a belt, an electric generator. The energy which this generator develops is forced into the same circuit as that from which the driving motor takes its power. Hence, the net energy required to conduct the test is greatly minimized, being in fact equivalent only to the losses of energy in the generator and motor during the test. By increasing the load on the generator the load on the motor is increased correspondingly, until it is carrying its full-load horsepower output. Meanwhile, from properly connected voltmeters and ammeters, readings of the voltage impressed on the motor, and the current taken by it at different loads are observed. Simultaneously the temperature of different parts of the motor are taken by means of thermometers, which are bound to the machine with tapes or held with gobs of putty. The speed of the machine at different loads is noted. From the readings thus taken, the efficiency of the motor at different loads may be computed and its other characteristics determined. If the efficiency and other performance characteristics of the machine meet the specification, and its temperature does not become greater than the limit specified by the engineering department, the machine is painted and either shipped to the customer or put into stock to await a sale. If it does not “come up” to its specifications, the difficulty must be corrected. PLAN No. 1081. TESTING GENERATORS AND OTHER DEVICES The methods used for testing generators are somewhat similar to those used for the motors. Other devices, such as transformers, potential regulators, circuit breakers, switches, controllers, and one thousand and one others, involve test methods of their own. In every test the object sought is the same, namely, to subject the device, before it leaves the shop, to practical working conditions. The testing department records readings from instruments during tests and “works these readings up” into the final test data. This working up involves considerable calculation. Hence, in all testing departments there are computers who spend practically all of their time figuring results. They use slide rules for many of the operations. SPECIAL TRAINING COURSES As is the case in some other lines of work, companies may maintain training courses in which test-department candidates are given instruction in the essentials of the work which they are to take up. Such courses afford a splendid opportunity for men who have had only a high-school training. They are for the most part operated on the company’s time, but they may be supplemented by night courses, to which the man must devote his own time several nights a week. Many of the most successful and best known electrical engineers and electrical factory men in the United States started their practical careers in the testing departments of electrical manufacturing companies. It appears to be a relatively easy matter for a man who has had a thorough test-course training to obtain a new position with advanced responsibilities and salary. The new work may be construction or erection with some organization other than the concern with which he obtained his testing experience. Usually the testing work is so arranged that each tester spends only a few months on each class of test, so that after completing the course he is reasonably familiar with many different kinds of equipment. QUALIFICATIONS In this work, although a man with little theoretical knowledge may be of value, no man can learn too much for his own advancement. Ability to study and read and thereby keep in touch with advances in the art is a material asset. The work is relatively light, but some lifting and pulling may be required. The loss of a leg or an arm or an eye is not necessarily a detriment. Good hearing is essential, because a man must often depend upon sound to ascertain whether or not the apparatus on test under his charge is operating properly. This branch affords splendid possibilities for high-school trained men to become conversant with electrical equipment. WAGES, HOURS, AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT If a man has had some previous electrical experience so much the better. The starting salary will probably be around $16 or $18 per week. A tester of some experience will probably receive from $20 to $27 per week and an experienced foreman from $35 to $47. The work is nearly always indoors, although some tests must be made outside. The trade is not generally unionized. The day is eight or nine hours. PLAN No. 1082. COMMERCIAL OCCUPATIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENT This monograph was prepared by F. G. Nichols, Assistant Director for Commercial Education of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. Acknowledgment is made for material furnished by Mr. Wm. A. Barber, Mr. Albert G. Borden, Mr. L. B. Elliott, Mr. Leighton Forbes, Mr. J. E. Fuller, Mr. Frank L. Jones, Dr. Roy S. MacElwee, Special Agent of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, and Mr. Edward A. Woods. Acknowledgment is due to Dr. John Cummings, of the Research Division, for editorial assistance. INTRODUCTORY Commercial occupations include certain occupations which have to do with the administrative, executive, clerical, accounting, stenographic and selling side of business. Definite courses of training for these employments have been worked out and are being offered in many high-grade schools. It must not be assumed that by a commercial course is meant merely training for bookkeeping and shorthand work. On the contrary, the range of commercial occupations open to men is very broad, as is indicated by the following partial list of such occupations: I. Common commercial employments. Bookkeeping. General clerical work. Stenography. Retail selling. Telegraphy and wireless operating. II. Professional commercial service. Accounting. Salesmanship. Advertising. Foreign trade service. Secretarial work. Life insurance salesmanship. Office management. Banking. Commercial teaching. [Illustration: Plan No. 1082. Keep thy Shop and thy Shop will Keep thee] The occupations listed in group I will appeal to men who have had a fair general education and who are willing to devote a few months to intensive courses of training. Men who take such courses may enter upon employment at a reasonably early date after beginning their study, and may subsequently, if they desire to do so, take up evening school courses to prepare themselves for some one of the employments specified in group II. This second group of employments will appeal to men who have had a good general education, some special training, and possibly some business experience. For the average man a longer period of training will be required to fit for one of these commercial professions than will be required for group I employments. However, men who have had considerable business experience may find it possible to complete their training in a comparatively short period. Men who have had a good general education and who are willing to devote considerable time to preparation for a profession may well consider the possibilities of commercial teaching which has been included in group II. There are thousands of schools in the United States employing teachers of commercial subjects. Since such schools are in competition with business, as well as with each other, the demand for commercial teachers is more active than for almost any other class of teachers, and salaries are correspondingly higher for such teachers. Telegraphy and wireless work referred to in group I may appeal to some men who have had railroad experience and who are not physically able to undertake the kind of work they have been doing in the past. MODERN BUSINESS DEMANDS The modern development of business has created new demands for office help. It is not long since the greatest need of the average business office was for bookkeepers and stenographers. While such workers are still in great demand, the work of the office has been divided and subdivided to such an extent that new types of workers are required for many clerical positions. PROMOTION The up-to-date business man regards every office assistant as a possible future executive. In the employment of such help he is constantly on the alert to discover aptitude for executive work, so that he ultimately may have at hand promotion material from which to recruit for the high positions in his business. While it is still desirable to train men for definite tasks and to place them in office positions where their services are required, this is not the chief end of business education. Men will not only be fitted for immediate usefulness, but they will be prepared for rapid promotion to the higher places in business organization. In other words, business education has an immediate market value and gives to its possessor a chance to win his way to the more desirable positions at the top of the business ladder. BUSINESS AND VOCATIONAL READJUSTMENT Commercial enterprises, except those connected with the prosecution of the war, have been at a standstill for the past two years. Now that restrictions naturally resulting from the war and those that were imposed by law, have been removed, the period of readjustment will begin. Whatever may be the immediate situation as regards the supply of labor and the demand for it during this comparatively short readjustment period, it is certain that the demand for trained men will develop with the restoration of normal conditions. Men who are forward looking will realize that vocational training secured during this transition period will pay big dividends in later years, and will guarantee an economic status above that of the man who hurries back into the first opening he finds, and begins work regardless of his diminished competitive ability. This business readjustment period should be also the vocational readjustment period for all men who have suffered physical injuries in the service of their country. EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS In considering what vocation to prepare for, men should keep in mind their future needs. They should not be content with a training that will merely fit them for permanent employment in the common office routine positions. On the contrary, they should aspire to a training that will enable them to grow into the higher executive positions in connection with large business or to launch out for themselves in a business enterprise. There has never been a time when education has counted for more than it does now. Therefore, educational qualifications and requirements should be seriously considered in connection with the selection of a vocation. This does not mean that only those who have had the advantages of high school or college training should be encouraged to prepare for business, but it does mean that those who lack this educational background should be willing to devote a longer time to training than may be required of those who have been more fortunate in the matter of educational advantages. PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE It is highly desirable that every man cash in on his previous experience as far as possible. For example, a man who has been identified with the telephone business and who, by reason of a disability caused by war service, finds it impossible to continue in his former occupation, may be trained for a different position in the telephone business where his disability will not be a handicap. The general knowledge of the business, gained through years of contact with it, will be helpful in his new work. Then, too, his old employer will be likely to find a place for him in his organization where he can render excellent service, though it be of a sort entirely different from that which he was rendering prior to the war. Business training prepares for positions in every kind of business organization. Whether the man’s previous experience was in the telephone, railroad, manufacturing, retail, wholesale, or mining business, it matters little, since training for an office position will open the way for him to gain a footing in any kind of business, and will put him in the way of promotion providing, of course, he shows that he is entitled to it. REALIZE YOUR AMBITION In the selection of a vocation a man’s personal preference is quite as important as his previous experience. Many men have found their work uncongenial and have desired to make a change, but the opportunity to do so never seemed to come their way. Such men may have hoped for training that would fit them for another type of work. This vocational education offer that is made by the Government may be just the chance for which they have been waiting. It is to help men plan wisely for the future that this monograph is written. All men may face the future with full confidence that the right kind of training will insure for them an economic status equal to or better than that from which they enlisted for their country’s service. EMPLOYMENT POSSIBILITIES Since business training fits for occupations common to all lines of business, it is not likely that there will ever be too many men available for high grade office positions. The danger is that men will be satisfied with inadequate preparation for growth beyond the routine or clerical types of positions, and will thus continue in competition with younger workers in this field. It is only by taking full and complete training not only for immediate employment but as well for future promotion, that men can hope to avoid this competition. PREFERENCE AS TO LOCALITY No locality is without need for men with business training, hence men so trained may hope to market their services wherever their preference may dictate. Certain types of commercial education have of course a better market value in one section of the country than in another, and men should have this in mind if they are willing to work only in some one particular section. In the main, however, business opportunity is universal. MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE MADE GOOD IN SPITE OF HANDICAPS At the end of this monograph is a tabulation showing the case histories of 133 handicapped, or rather disabled, men and women who have made good in business. These individuals were trained by the same schools that are being used by the Federal Board for Vocational Education in its commercial re-educational work for disabled soldiers and sailors, and they represent only a fraction of the hundreds of victims of industry who have been retrained for success in life, regardless of seemingly unsurmountable obstacles. All disabled men should study this tabulation carefully and emulate the plucky people whose cases are reported therein. PLAN No. 1083. PART 1.--COMMON COMMERCIAL EMPLOYMENTS--BOOKKEEPING Among the oldest and most universal of office positions is that of bookkeeper. For men who require work that does not call for physical activity this vocation offers excellent opportunities of earning immediate incomes while at the same time paving the way for advancement. REQUIREMENTS Men who elect this calling should be able to write a good business hand, be accurate and rapid in handling the usual arithmetical computations, be neat and painstaking in their work, understand the fundamental language of business, be familiar with the common business forms, and possess a thorough understanding of the universally employed double-entry system of bookkeeping. LENGTH OF COURSE The time required for completion of a course of study that will insure the possession of the above qualifications will depend upon the man’s previous education and experience, but should generally be kept within a period of six months. Many will make adequate preparation in much less time. WHERE TRAINING MAY BE GIVEN Excellent courses are to be had in a large number of approved private business schools, and men may be trained in their home environment or in large commercial centers where employment is to be sought, as they may elect. WHY TAKE TRAINING? While many so-called bookkeeping positions are open to men without training, it is highly desirable that a comprehensive knowledge of bookkeeping be secured, as it is only by this means that promotion can be expected. The posting clerk, or entry clerk, will always remain an unskilled laborer in competition with untrained boys and girls unless he is fortified by such a knowledge of the science of accounts as will enable him to become the head bookkeeper, the cost accountant, or the auditor. Such a man may, by additional training in evening school, qualify for the profession of accountancy and establish an independent business of his own. SALARY Men who know accounts and possess the other desirable business qualifications can be placed in positions with a salary range of from $10 to $30 a week. PERMANENCY OF EMPLOYMENT The all-round bookkeeper in any establishment is indispensable to the business, and is rarely released when business depression calls for retrenchment in the pay roll. DISABILITIES The possession of mental faculties and one hand, with fairly good general health are all that are absolutely essential to success in this occupation from the physical standpoint. Men with two artificial hands have succeeded in this work, but the absence of both hands is such a handicap that one so afflicted should rarely undertake work that requires so much writing. It should be emphasized, however, that no difficulty is experienced in learning to write well with the remaining hand, where one has been lost, regardless of previous habits in writing. A simple device for enabling a man to do with a stump what he would ordinarily do with his left hand is available to all who care to use it. It enables one to hold a ruler or blotter; to steady a book or sheet in place while writing is being done; and to perform all the usual functions of the left hand. When the right hand is gone the left is trained to do what the right has done before, and the right arm stump becomes the supporting or auxiliary arm. EVENING SCHOOL OR PART-TIME INSTRUCTION Those who must get to earning at the earliest possible moment may be placed at the completion of the fundamental part of the course, continuing their study in evening school or in other types of extension classes where such are available. Or it may be possible in some localities to secure for such men half-day employment which will leave half of the day free for school work. PLAN No. 1084. GENERAL CLERICAL WORK Expert filing and indexing positions offer an opportunity for those whose handicap is of such a character that it is desirable for them to secure employment that will not require contact with the public. QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING The qualifications for this kind of work are accuracy, carefulness, and system in doing things. Training in the various indexing and filing systems in use is essential. Text material has been prepared by the manufacturers of filing cabinets, and courses of study, including practice, are offered by many schools in different parts of the country. PROMOTION Such positions rarely lead to promotion such as will appeal to the ambitious man whose handicap is of such a character as to warrant the selection of different and more promising occupation from the viewpoint of salary or independence. LENGTH OF COURSE Short intensive courses of from six to ten weeks will enable a man to qualify for this kind of office work. CALCULATING MACHINE OPERATING For a long time adding and listing machines have been in use in banks and large business offices. More recently calculating machines which are capable of performing mathematical work beyond the plain addition of the ordinary adding and listing type machine have been placed in business offices. The volume of figure work of this kind is particularly heavy in billing, cost, and pay roll departments in many lines of manufacture. Even small manufacturers regularly employ help for the figure work exclusively. Owing to the greater accuracy and speed made possible by the use of the calculating machine, such work is no longer handled by paper and pencil methods. OPPORTUNITIES AND SALARIES Opportunities for young men in this line of work exist in great number in all large cities, and there are many chances for positions of this kind even in the smaller manufacturing towns. The salaries for such positions range from $16 to $25 per week according to the degree of responsibility involved. There is an opportunity for advancement for young men of fair educational qualifications who possess a determination to learn the work which is just ahead and many young men aspire to positions as head of billing, pay roll, or cost departments, where the responsibility is considerable and the salary proportionate. Many such positions exist where a salary of $35 to $40 per week can be earned. Many large concerns have a practice of promoting men who show special aptitude for mathematical work in connection with the calculating machines to departments other than those mentioned. QUALIFICATIONS The necessary qualifications are simple for the clerk who is to handle figure work with a calculating machine. He should have a fair mental equipment with at least a common school education. A high school or business school course will be an advantage. He should also possess a natural liking for arithmetic. The full use of one hand, preferably the right, is essential to success in operating such a machine. TRAINING REQUIRED AND LENGTH OF COURSE To operate any key-driven type of machine speedily and accurately one must devote considerable time to intelligent practice. The process is not unlike that of learning to operate the typewriter. In the operation of this type of machine both hands will be required for the manipulation of the 81 keys. An intensive course of from 10 to 12 weeks is required to develop the necessary manual skill and master the special rules for performing the various mathematical calculations. On the crank-operated calculating machine, all work is direct, i. e., all operations are handled exactly as they are handled with paper and pencil so far as rules are concerned. Anyone who can handle a pencil can readily operate this type of calculating machine. Speed and accuracy on this type of machine are largely independent of manual skill on the part of the operator. One who possesses a good common school education and some aptitude for arithmetic will need only two or three weeks of practice in order to handle successfully all figure work in the average office. Such machines have an unlimited range in practical work, handling such work as estimating, engineering problems, and statistics. OTHER OFFICE MACHINES Much important printing and duplicating are done on privately-owned machines, and skillful operators are always in demand for this work. Such an occupation may appeal to the man whose handicap makes him shrink from continual contact with the public, and who has his hands and fairly good general health. Salaries are not large, usually from $10 to $15 a week and there is no natural line of promotion leading to more responsible positions. However, skill in this work, combined with a little capital, may enable a man to establish an independent business of his own by purchasing the necessary machines and advertising to do work for the general public. Short unit courses of from 6 to 10 weeks will suffice to acquire the requisite manipulative skill for this work. Where there are no schools giving instruction for this occupation arrangements can be made for securing training as an apprentice in the factory of the manufacturers, or in the offices of firms equipped to do this work for themselves, the training being under the direction of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. Employment opportunities will be found only in the larger cities. However, an independent business may be established even in comparatively small towns. The above statements regarding duplicating machine work apply to the operation of the addressograph and similar office devices, such as the Hollerith machine card puncher, the photostat, and the tabulating machine. PLAN No. 1085. STENOGRAPHY No less important than bookkeeping is stenography with its exceptional record for serving as a medium through which men may advance to high grade executive positions. Stenographic work requires somewhat more physical activity than does bookkeeping, but a skillful male stenographer, though somewhat physically disabled may count on employment owing to a constant demand that has never been fully met. In no other occupation is one thrown into such constant and close contact with the business executive to whose advantage it is to promote an employee who has shown capacity for more important and profitable work. As a stepping stone to big things a stenographic position has no rival in the list of business occupations. Many prominent men might be named who owe their success to some extent to their ability to write shorthand. The list includes men high in official positions, and prominent railroad executives who have reached their high positions, through stenographic work. Their success gives conclusive evidence of the importance of this kind of training. In other lines, also as for example, in iron and steel, insurance, powder, electricity, and in fact right down the line of big business in America bright young men have, because they were shorthand writers, had the chance to go to school to the best teachers of the business in the world, i. e., the executive heads of their respective concerns. And instead of having to pay handsomely for their instruction, they received good salaries while they were learning and preparing to step up higher. QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING REQUIRED Taking character for granted, the necessary qualifications for amanuensis and secretarial work are: Good general health, eyesight, and hearing. Ambition, enthusiasm, self-reliance, and determination. A mind of at least average activity and alertness, improved by a thorough high school education or its equivalent. Training in English to the extent of becoming proficient in spelling and punctuation, and acquiring a good working vocabulary. Ability to speak and write with a fair degree of fluency. A knowledge of the more common business papers, forms, and customs. Accuracy and reasonable facility in the use of figures; familiarity with the simpler methods of bookkeeping; and ability to write a presentable hand. For the broader field of professional shorthand reporting, the requirements are more exacting. The time required to master shorthand for amanuensis or secretarial work is from seven to twelve months; for professional reporting, from one to two years, during a considerable part of which time the learner is usually able to earn a comfortable salary while pursuing his course in advance shorthand. WHERE TRAINING MAY BE SECURED A number of good private business schools, located so as to be convenient for those taking courses, are prepared to give any training required under arrangements made by the Federal Board for Vocational Education. SALARY POSSIBILITIES The salaries paid to amanuenses and private secretaries range from $1,200 to $5,000 a year. Shorthand reporters, in law courts and elsewhere, earn from $2,000 to $10,000 a year. HANDICAPS The possession of both hands is essential to success in this work. Artificial appliances can scarcely take the place of the fingers in such rapid writing with both pen and machine. Good eyesight and hearing also are absolutely essential to success in this calling. PLAN No. 1086. RETAIL SELLING Large department stores and the chain stores offer opportunities for profitable employment at better salaries than were commonly paid a few years ago in the retail trade, and training for real salesmanship in this field is now available. Men whose disabilities indicate as suitable for them physically more or less inactive types of employment, and who are not so injured as to make intimate contact with the public undesirable, may find in expert salesmanship opportunities worthy of their serious consideration. Positions as department heads or buyers are open to men who meet with conspicuous success as salesmen. WHY TRAINING IS NECESSARY The man behind the counter is no longer looked upon as clerk whose sole duty it is to hand out that which is asked for. He is classed as a salesman who has it within his power to build up the business of his department by winning and holding good customers. Knowledge of the well-defined principles of salesmanship and of his wares is quite as important to the “inside,” or store salesman, as it is to the man “on the road.” It is only by the right kind of training that such knowledge can be acquired. For the disabled soldier to learn “by experience” would require too much time. WHERE TRAINING CAN BE SECURED Training for this occupation can be obtained through part-time extension day or evening courses in many cities. Then, too, many large stores maintain educational departments where training on an apprenticeship basis can be arranged for by the Federal Board for Vocational Education. Men preparing for this work have the advantage of being able to earn wages while they are taking training. PROMOTION AND SALARIES Success in this vocation will surely mean promotion. The usual promotion stream for men who have received good training runs from stock keeper, through junior salesman, salesman, assistant buyer, to buyer. Salaries range from $12 a week for beginners up to several thousand a year for department heads. It is also possible for men who have the necessary capital to look forward to establishment of a retail business of their own, if they prefer to be independent of an employer. Training for success in developing a retail business should be even broader and more thorough than that required for salesmanship in a store operated by others. LENGTH OF COURSE A short intensive course of three or four months will serve to place a man on an earning basis in some good modern retail establishment, and a further period of six or eight months’ part-time extension study will be needed to place him on a sound footing as a salesman. HANDICAPS A salesman should not be so wounded as to be repugnant to sensitive customers. Any disfigurement which will attract the customer’s attention will increase the salesman’s difficulty in making a sale. The loss of a leg will not interfere with success in this work, nor will the loss of one hand if an artificial hand is used. Cheerfulness, courtesy, neatness, and tact are among the usual qualities that are required in any occupation which brings a man into close contact with the public. PLAN No. 1087. TELEGRAPHY AND WIRELESS OPERATING While it is true that railroads to some extent are telephoning their orders instead of telegraphing them, there is still a real demand for men who are not only trained in telegraphy, but who have some knowledge of railroad accounting and general railroad practice. Such men can hope to secure good paying positions in railroad office work. There is always a demand for telegraphers to fill commercial positions and it is quite likely that this field of work may grow in the future. It should be added also that the development of wireless service, and the enlargement of our merchant marine will open up a new field for men who are skilled wireless operators and whose knowledge of the practical art of sending and receiving messages is supplemented by a good understanding of the fundamental principles of electricity. TRAINING NECESSARY The necessary course of training for this vocation will include theory and practice in sending and receiving telegrams and wireless messages; a complete training in spelling and business English, business writing, and business arithmetic--unless it is apparent that the man needs no further training in these fundamentals; railroad freight office business practice, including a thorough study of bills of lading, freight classification, rating, etc.; instruction in railroad practice with reference to freight charges, storage, and demurrage, and rejected and unclaimed freight; fundamental bookkeeping, especially in connection with the keeping of cash records, and the handling of collections and remittances; and the making of monthly reports and balance sheets. Practical work will be provided at first in connection with the school course and later in offices on a part-time basis. LENGTH OF COURSE While much depends upon the individual, it is safe to assume that a period of from 9 to 12 months will be required to master telegraphy and the necessary business training that must accompany it to insure the highest degree of success. For wireless operators more advanced instruction in electricity will be required and a correspondingly longer time will be needed. Those who wish to do so may, however, complete the telegraphy portion of the course, accept a position, and continue their study of wireless in extension classes. Men who have had railroad experience, or some business training, or good courses in physics including electricity, will be able to shorten somewhat the time required for completion of the entire course. HANDICAPS No man should undertake to prepare for this vocation who has not the use of both hands, good hearing, and at least a fair degree of general good health. The other qualifications required are much the same as those required for any type of office work. PEN ART Men who have special aptitude for penmanship and lettering will find a wide field for the practice of this commercial art. Sign lettering, filling in insurance policies, diplomas, and other important documents, engrossing resolutions, teaching the subject, and supervising others in this department of business education are among some of the occupational opportunities open to men who excel in this line. Training can be obtained in special schools, and positions for those who are qualified will not be hard to find.