The Making of a Telegraph Boy 



Training Messengers 



to Become Mana2:ers 



A tailoring department is rnaintained, for the boys must look neat enough to enter the finest 



hotels in the city. Each boy is measured and provided with two suits for which he pays a 



small weekly rental. Three tailors keep the uniforms clean and in repair 



IT is a big undertaking to produce 

 useful and capable men from boys 

 whose opportunities for education 

 have been limited and who are practical- 

 ly without training. Yet that is the task 

 assumed by one of our great telegraph 

 companies. Its messenger boys are to be- 

 come not merely bearers of dispatches, 

 but men of char- 

 acter. 



Fred Geigle, 

 manager of these 

 boys — and there 

 are several hun- 

 dred of them — is 

 the man who has 

 charge of the 

 work. He em- 

 ploys and dis- 

 charges, repri- 

 mands or pun- 

 ishes, as the oc- 

 casion arises. 

 But above all he 

 sets out to win a 

 boy's confidence. 

 Mr. Geigle him- 

 self commenced 

 as a messenger 

 boy and worked 

 his way up step 



Between calls there is an opportunity to become 

 expert with the typewriter and to learn how 

 to use telegraph instruments. Every boy with 

 any ability has an opportunity to work up to a 

 responsible office position 



648 



by step to the manager's chair. Surely 

 he knows just the conditions under which 

 the boys work. On the other hand, the 

 boys feel instinctively that he is their 

 friend. To him they go confidently for 

 assistance in any difficulty. 



From the time the boy hands in his 

 application every precaution is taken 

 conscientiously 

 by the company 

 to safeguard him. 

 Neatness and 

 courtesy are val- 

 uable business 

 assets. The rules 

 presented to a 

 new boy stipu- 

 late that his uni- 

 form must at all 

 times be in per- 

 fect condition, 

 must be clean, in 

 repair, buttons 

 all on, and coat 

 kept buttoned. 

 The company 

 provides as many 

 changes of uni- 

 forms as are 

 needed to keep 

 the boys up to 



