398 



THE WORLD'S ADVANCE 



these young men in their labors, and, in 

 their own language, "Keeps the ball a- 

 rolling." 



What becomes of these roamers of the 

 deep? Are there opportunities beyond 

 the mere profession of operating? To 

 be sure. If he remains more than four 

 years at sea he usually decides to make 

 it his life work. There may be a vacancy 

 at a shore station, where he settles down 

 for an indefinite period. Then there is 

 a berth awaiting him at one of the large 

 trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific stations. 

 Here he either enters the traffic division 

 or becomes one of the engineers. He 

 indeed enters a new atmosphere. He 

 finds comfortable hotels with every pos- 

 sible modern convenience, or perhaps a 

 private cottage erected by the company. 

 His work is of added dignity and im- 

 portance he finds a certain social at- 

 mosphere which makes life more real. 



Perhaps he is in charge of more com- 

 plex apparatus than was entrusted to his 

 care at sea, and he therefore receives in- 

 creased compensation. 



A vacancy occurs in the engineering 

 department requiring a man of wide, 

 practical and theoretical experience. A 

 man from the ship service is selected. 

 Soon he is an invaluable assistant. 

 Again, he may join the research depart- 

 ment, where his work is indispensable. 

 Perhaps the ship fitting department re- 

 quires a new employee, and he, too, is 

 selected from the sea rovers. 



Then it is decided to erect a land sta- 

 tion of considerable importance in a far- 

 distant country. Here is where our 

 operator with his 

 wide experience in 

 foreign climes is 

 required. Bit by bit 



he has become familiar with the language 

 of this particular country. He has an 

 array of statistics he has collected during 

 his various visits, which are now invalu- 

 able to him. 



He is selected to supervise the job. 

 The station is completed in due time and 

 our former sea rover now becomes a land 

 voyageur. He is sent to out-of-the-way 

 places to connect up widely separated 

 and impassable districts. He assists in 

 welding together the broken links of ad- 

 vancing civilization. He is engaged in a 

 noble work, the far-reaching conse- 

 quences of which he has not yet realized. 

 Now he is in an outlying island of the 

 South Seas. Next he is in the interior 

 of Africa, then we hear from him in the 

 jungles of Brazil. Perhaps he accom- 

 panies a polar expedition or assists some 

 boundary commission in locating the line 

 of division between two semi-belligerent 

 countries. 



He erects portable wireless stations to 

 assist in this work. In the meantime his 

 knowledge of affairs, people and condi- 

 tions is on the increase, and after a num- 

 ber of years he returns to his native 

 country. He is now a man whose word 

 in engineering problems is final. There 

 is no occasion for dispute. There is a 

 position awaiting him at the home office. 

 He is now in charge of a great engineer- 

 ing force which is engaged in a universal 

 radio development. He directs the fun- 

 damentals. He is assisted by a small 

 army of co- 

 workers. This 

 man has justly 

 earned his place. 



