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.
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.
Part II — Professional Commercial Service
The occupations described in Part I are the more elementary commercial employments for which excellent training is provided by both public and private commercial schools. This training lays a foundation for the more advanced business education which will be discussed in Part II. It is hoped that men who possess the necessary general education and physical health, supplemented by elementary business education or business experience, will consider these more advanced courses as they lead on surely to successful business careers.
Men who need the foundation courses should take them, and if necessary secure positions suited to their abilities at once. Such men should, however, immediately plan for an extensive course in one of the higher forms of commercial education. Promotion may result from successful office work without supplementary training, but it will surely follow the completion of such advanced business courses as are outlined herein. None should be satisfied until the last educational resource that will help in his progress upward is exhausted.
Plan No. 1088. Accounting
Accountancy has been raised to a professional basis during the past few years. Business has grown to enormous proportions and expert accountants are required as heads of the bookkeeping departments of big business. Then, too, public accountants are necessary for the public audit work required by law, the periodical inspection of books by a disinterested expert, the organization and reorganization of inadequate bookkeeping systems, and the preparation of financial reports desired for special purposes.
Who Should Be Interested
Men who have a good educational background, a sound knowledge of double entry bookkeeping, some aptitude for organization work, proven mathematical ability, and preferably some office or other business experience should have no difficulty in rising to a high place in the profession of accountancy, assuming of course the possession of other well-defined qualifications for success.
Promotion and Opportunity
A man trained in accountancy will find many avenues of promotion open to him. He may become head accountant for a large concern; auditor for several branch organizations; or cost accountant in the production end of big business. He may establish a managerial connection with some large business organization, or become a consulting accountant with a business of his own. As a matter of fact, practically no executive position is beyond the reach of a trained accountant. Many such men develop into efficiency engineers, and devote their time to systematizing and reorganization work.
Salaries
It is useless to state salary limits in terms of dollars and cents for such a profession as accountancy. The limits are wholly dependent on individual initiative and ability. The salary is commensurate with the importance of the work and no man can ask more.
Employment Opportunity
As yet there is no crowding in this profession, and men will find opportunities for establishing themselves in this field in any industrial community.
Necessary Training
A thorough study of the fundamentals of bookkeeping and business practice must precede the study of accounting. Theory of accounting, accounting practice, auditing, accounting systems, cost accounting, practical economics, business law, corporation finance, business organization and management, all enter into the training required for proficiency in the accounting field.
Experience Required and Where to Get It
The training briefly outlined in the preceding paragraph must go hand in hand with experience in practical work. It is highly desirable that men who elect this course take it in one of the large industrial centers where part-time employment can be secured in a large business office at first and later with a firm of recognized practicing accountants. In many such centers courses are offered by the local colleges with this need definitely in mind. Classes usually meet between 5 and 10 p. m. daily, thus leaving the business day for practical work. Those who aspire to the certified public accountant degree given in most States, can thus gain the required experience while preparing in college for the stiff examinations set by the State examining board.
Length of Course
Two or three years must be devoted to study and practice before a man can lay any claim to recognition in this field, and the full four-year period is none too long for those who would achieve the highest places in this profession. It must be remembered, however, that during this entire time good incomes may be earned—often better than a man has been able to earn before in ordinary office work. Unit courses of varying lengths are also available to those who merely want special training for special work such as auditing, or cost accounting. The length of time for these courses will depend upon previous general education, special training, and experience, but should rarely require more than from eight to ten months.
Plan No. 1089. Salesmanship
With the inevitable expansion in business immediately following the close of the great war there will be an unusual demand for salesmen. Already requests are being received for salesmanship training in connection with the Federal Board for Vocational Education’s program of re-education for disabled soldiers. The trained salesman will find a ready market for his services.
Who Should Be Interested
Men who have had a good general education, and who have a liking for the sales end of business should consider this calling seriously. Those who object to being away from home much of the time will not find salesmanship agreeable, as the great majority of selling positions require much traveling.
Training Necessary
The successful salesman must be able to talk fluently and convincingly. He must possess a good knowledge of English and a good working vocabulary; an understanding of human nature; a thorough knowledge of his wares; a familiarity with business customs; and appreciation of the value of business ethics; a fund of information regarding general business conditions; and many other qualifications that, like those mentioned above, can be acquired through courses of training. A familiarity with the principles of accounting and other business subjects also will prove helpful to a man who wishes to make the best possible preparation for the business of selling goods.
The formal instruction in salesmanship will not proceed very far before provision for contact with actual selling is made. Fundamentals can be covered in short intensive courses to be followed by more advance instruction on a part-time basis while the man is learning the practical side of his work in an actual sales department. When the foundations have been laid and the man has indicated the line of business he prefers to be associated with, the Federal Board for Vocational Education will through its placement department, secure for him a position where the practical side of the art of selling goods can be acquired.
Salaries
The income possibilities of salesmanship are excellent, but incapable of definite statement, since so much depends on the salesman. In no other branch of business does a man have greater opportunity to demonstrate his worth. The salesman is the one employee who is quite sure to be paid all he can earn. His sales readily indicate his value to the firm.
Opportunities Widely Scattered
In this profession men may choose their own location to a large extent. Salesmen are in demand throughout the whole country and men who have climatic preferences will be able to indulge them without jeopardizing their future.
Promotion
Promotion to sales manager is within the range of possibilities for live men who make a conspicuous success of their work. The man who is ambitious will have ample scope for growth in this field.
Handicaps
Men who take up this profession should possess good general health, the ability to get about with a fair degree of facility, good hearing, and unimpeded speech. Personality counts for much in salesmanship, and since personal appearance is one factor in personality it should be suggested that facial wounds, which are soon forgotten by friends, often distract attention on first acquaintance and put a man at a disadvantage before his customer. The loss of a leg or an arm will not prove a barrier to this occupation so long as a man’s general activity is not interfered with seriously.
Plan No. 1090. Advertising
The passing from war to peace conditions will increase the demand for all kinds of advertising. Business has largely marked time during the war because of lack of goods to sell and lack of men and facilities.
Now, factories that have been on war work will have to keep their plants busy, win back trade lost through inability to supply old customers, and create new fields for their enlarged producing capacity. Retailers will have to keep pace with the new demands of readjusted commerce. All this means more advertising, and more men to plan and execute it.
Advertising to-day is as much a part of every business as clerking, bookkeeping, or stenography, for no manufacturer or merchant can do business without some form or many forms of it.
What Advertising Is
Consider the sign over the door, the labels on packages, the leaflet, circular, or catalogue describing goods, directions for using, sign cards, window posters, mailing cards, and the like; then, the business letter answering inquiries, or soliciting orders, the follow-up system that turns the inquiry into an order, the trade-aid work of many kinds that helps the manufacturer make good distributors of his dealers-and you have a bird’s-eye view of some forms of advertising work that are almost universally used, yet scarcely thought of as “advertising.” Add to these the demand for sales-producing “copy” for newspaper, magazine, and trade-paper advertising; the planning and preparation of illustrations and typesetting necessary to put the advertising into effect; and the vast quantity of such “copy” that appears daily, weekly, and monthly in various advertising mediums—and it is at once apparent that an army of workers is needed to carry on this work.
Permanency of Employment
The permanence of such work is attested by the fact that there has been an increasing use of all forms of advertising, keeping steady pace with America’s business growth. Even without taking into consideration outdoor advertising—billboards, bulletins and painted signs, electrical advertising display, street-car advertising, propaganda campaigns, civic and organization advertising, each of which offers fields of great extent—the employment of trained advertising men is as yet only in its infancy.
Plan No. 1091. Opportunities in This Profession
The personnel of advertising staffs includes men officially designated as follows:
Advertising director: The man who plans and directs.
Space buyer: The man who knows advertising media and the value of space, and the one who places advertising contracts.
Copy writer: The man who produces copy for advertisements, catalogues, printed matter, letters, follow-up work, etc.
Layout man: The man who assists the copy writer by preparing typographical and art layouts.
Proofreader: The man who reads proof on advertisements and printed matter.
Copy helper: The man who has charge of engravings, drawings, and printed stock, and who supervises the making, shipping, return, and safe-keeping of the same.
Buyer of printing: The man who knows papers, printing processes, their relative values, and also their sources. He also places the printing orders.
Art work buyer: The one who knows advertising art work; where to get it and its value; and who also places orders for illustrations and engravings.
Commercial artist: The man who produces sketches and finished drawings in pen and brush work, in tone and color, and who retouches photographs.
Photographer: The man with special training in posing, lighting, and photographing industrial subjects to secure pictures illustrating features of the product, texture, and construction, who works often with living models.
Correspondent: The man who produces orders from inquiries received through advertising, or who solicits orders through the mails.
Advertising promoter: The man who sells the advertising done by a house to its distributors, and who teaches them how to take advantage of the demand created, and how to use the trade-aid matter furnished by the house to its dealers.
Advertising investigator: The man employed to discover the needs, buying habits, buying power, consumption of competing lines, price limits, etc., of groups of consumers, dealers, or jobbers by actual contact with the individual.
Advertising solicitors: Men employed by publishers to solicit advertising for their publications; by manufacturers of calendars, advertising novelties, etc., to sell their products; and by advertising agencies to sell their service to the advertiser. Every newspaper, magazine, and trade paper must have one or more, perhaps many, solicitors, as must also the advertising agency and the maker of advertising novelties, the bill poster, the bulletin painter, the car-sign proprietor.
While this general list is in no way complete, it serves to show the vast field open to men in advertising and may serve as a guide in selecting the line of work to be undertaken.
Kind of Men Needed and Qualifications Required
Any wide-awake, intelligent, ambitious, optimistic man can become a useful advertising man in some one of its many branches. Physical disabilities will prove no handicap, providing general health has not been too seriously impaired. A knowledge of practical salesmanship helps, for all advertising is only a form of selling. Men of exceptional education and executive ability find a field as managers and production men. Good merchandise salesmen make good advertising solicitors. Commercial artists can be made into advertising artists. Commercial photographers and amateurs develop into photographers of advertising subjects. Most of the other positions can be filled without much previous training by men of ordinary general ability. The humblest advertising position can be made a stepping-stone to something higher.
The kind of men that make good soldiers are needed in this profession—sturdy, honest, determined, versatile men of good common sense, adaptability, and capacity for work. Such men will soon acquire the knowledge of detail necessary for advertising work.
Financial Rewards
No more inviting field of labor awaits the returned soldier than that of advertising, and there are few occupations in which the pecuniary rewards for high-grade service are more attractive. A man’s natural ability and training for this work are the only measure of his earning capacity.
Length of Course
Men who elect this vocation will be given a short intensive course of from four to six months in a day school, and will then be placed with a good advertising firm for practical experience. They will, at the same time, be enrolled in unit extension courses for further training on a part-time basis. The time required for this advanced part-time training will vary according to the ambition of the man himself, the higher he wishes to rise in the profession, the longer will be the period of training, but correspondingly higher will be the reward. Then, too, he will be earning as he learns, and qualifying for a promotion at the same time.
Plan No. 1092. Foreign Trade
For many years past there has been an active demand for men who would be willing to represent American business in the foreign field, and this demand has never been fully met. Just now at the close of the great war there will be an expansion in the foreign trade of the United States, and trained men for this field will be needed as never before. Men who have seen overseas duty may be interested in preparing for overseas commercial service. The living and working conditions are pleasant in almost every commercial center of the world. Of course, hardships are encountered in certain backward countries and in some tropical commercial centers, but in the main a position as representative of an American house in a foreign commercial center is an enviable one. In those foreign commercial centers which have come to be of importance, the American or European colony is a community in itself and frequently one whose social life is delightful. Social position and prestige are so important for commercial representatives in almost all foreign countries, that the term “Ambassador of commerce” has been applied to those who qualify and successfully represent American business houses in overseas commerce.
The possession of a merchant marine adequate to the needs of the time will lend a great impetus to our business activities in foreign countries. More men will also be needed for the large number of tasks connected with the handling of our shipping. The head offices of the shipping lines are at home, and these offices have branches throughout the world. Many employees are needed for the various duties in these offices. Positions in the shore end of shipping include important document work, and other work of a more routine character; salesmen who can sell transportation to foreign trade concerns; ship brokers who devote their time to the chartering of ships; insurance brokers who handle the insurance end of foreign shipping; wharve superintendents and master stevedores; warehouse managers; traffic managers, and port and harbor experts.
Training Required
Plans for giving training to men who desire positions in connection with the shore end of ocean transportation with foreign trade houses are well under way, and adequate vocational training of this type is now available for the first time in this country.
No longer is it necessary for men interested in foreign-trade service to contemplate a four-year collegiate course of study before they can form connections with firms sending their wares to foreign markets. The Federal Board for Vocational Education in co-operation with the United States Shipping Board and in the United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce is actively promoting throughout the United States courses in foreign trade and shipping. These courses are being offered in evening, part-time, full-time, university extension, and correspondence schools, and are open to graduate engineers, lawyers, graduates of collegiate commercial courses, men who have had general college training, men of technical or business training in any branch of commerce and industry, graduates of secondary schools and, in fact, to all intelligent men with a background of business experience combined with a serious interest in international commerce or shipping activities.
Plan No. 1093. Employment Opportunities
Recent conferences with the Export Managers’ Club show that all enterprising export managers are in need of trained men, or men capable of taking such training as will be necessary to the successful carrying of their important work.
There are two general divisions in foreign trade occupations. The first includes active service in the foreign field, and the second service in the home country. In the foreign field clerks, assistants, salesmen, and managers are required. Some concerns send traveling salesmen into foreign countries to cover the field and report back to the home office, while others send men abroad with instructions to take up their residence there and establish an office for the permanent conduct of their employer’s business. The establishment of such branch offices calls for the employment of the usual types of office help. Banks and other financial agencies also are created in foreign countries for the benefit of American exporters and importers.
Who Should Be Interested
Men of the American expeditionary forces who have seen something of the world, and who have gained an interest in and a taste for things outside of the United States, will find in foreign trade service great opportunities. This is particularly true of those who have learned a foreign language, and who are so situated with reference to family ties that they can easily take up an occupation in a foreign country.
The list of positions that will be opened in this field is so extensive that a man may find in it an opportunity to elect just the kind of work he is best fitted to do.
Men who prefer foreign trade service in home offices will find excellent opportunities as soon as they have completed the necessary preparation for such service. Well-defined, intensive co-operative courses of study have been worked out and are being offered in the large foreign trade centers for men who desire to enter this service. Home office positions include those requiring clerical work in connection with the preparation of commercial documents, positions that have to do with financial affairs and foreign exchange, adjustment work, foreign correspondence, foreign advertising, transportation, credits, and collections. Superintendents for packing and loading departments also are required. Men who have had experience in the Quartermaster’s Department of the Army during the war, and who have learned something about scientific handling of merchandise, will find in the foreign trade field opportunities to cash in on their special experiences.
What Training Is Necessary
A thorough study of the general technique of the home office in connection with foreign trade and shipping is considered a necessary foundation in any scheme of foreign trade education. A part-time plan, in accordance with which men may pursue their studies while securing practical experience with foreign trade houses has been worked out, and it is now possible for men to get training under a co-operative basis scheme of instruction and work. Courses offered will be given intensively for short periods and on a unit basis. They will vary in length from 15 to 30 weeks. The same provision is being made for the study of languages and the geography of various countries that are of interest in connection with foreign trade education. The United States Shipping Board is taking steps to establish permanent nautical training schools, as it is expected that more than 10,000 officers will be needed to man the United States merchant marine. This means that men who desire service in the actual transportation end of the business will find an opportunity to secure training and a very ready market for their service upon the completion of their courses.
Salaries
Since special training is required for most of the positions referred to in this connection salaries are proportionately high. Clerks and other office men earn from $1,600 to $2,400 a year. Those who qualify as junior clerks and senior clerks may hope to rise to assistant managers of departments and general export managers. Advancement should be rapid in view of the present shortage of men and the expected expansion of business. In large export departments there are export managers who receive from $5,000 to $10,000 a year. Even the latter amount is by no means the limit for men of unusual executive ability.
The positions referred to in connection with the actual operation of the merchant marine pay from $120 to $275 per month with subsistence. It is possible that these amounts may be somewhat reduced after the war demand for such service ceases, and yet it is certain that the financial returns for this kind of work will be above those for similar service on shore.
Plan No. 1094. Secretarial Work
Executives in responsible positions are finding it necessary more and more to rely upon efficient secretarial help. Such an executive must generally have some assistant who is thoroughly familiar with every detail of his activities, and able to assume responsibility for innumerable details connected with the day’s work. The comparatively small number of available secretarial workers and the hazy conception that has heretofore existed regarding the real distinction between a stenographer and a secretary have forced many executives to be satisfied with stenographic help in the positions where secretarial help is essential. Just now much attention is being given to this vocation by colleges and schools, and there are many opportunities for securing the kind of training needed for secretarial service.
Nature of the Work
There is a wide gap between secretarial and stenographic duties. Skill in writing shorthand and in typewriting is now recognized as desirable for the secretary, but the possession of this skill does not insure secretarial efficiency. Since no training has been available for this vocation in the past secretarial workers have been recruited from the stenographic staff, and it is quite likely that a period of apprenticeship as a stenographer will continue to be a very desirable part of one’s training for the higher duties of a secretarial position.
The trained secretary relieves the executive of all detail by keeping him informed as to important happenings in the business world that may be of particular interest; by making notes of appointments and calling attention to them at the proper time; by gathering data for the preparation of papers and speeches; by standing between him and the public, when the demands upon his time make it necessary to deny requests for interviews without in any way offending those who are refused; by attending conferences, and making notes on important points; by arranging for transportation and hotel accommodations in connection with traveling, and, in every way, by keeping the executive’s time free for the more important managerial responsibilities devolving upon him.
Qualifications Required
Men who possess a good general education, sufficient maturity, tact, judgment, business sense, and knowledge of people may hope to succeed in this vocation providing they have the right kind of training and preliminary experience. Integrity, alertness, ambition to advance, initiative, courtesy, and loyalty are prime essential characteristics. Soldiers who have been attached to headquarters’ division in the capacity of aides and secretarial workers will find in this field opportunities to make their war experience count for the most.
Promotion
No occupation offers larger opportunity for advancement. A secretary is in the closest possible contact with the executive who is in a position to recognize ability by promotion and to whose advantage it is that such promotion shall be granted. The secretary has an exceptional opportunity to learn all the details of the managerial side of the business, and when executive positions become vacant his superior is quite likely to regard him favorably for advancement.
Training Required
As a foundation for secretarial work, a man should possess a working knowledge of shorthand and typewriting, and if these subjects have not already been mastered, they will form the basic part of the secretarial course. In addition, instruction will be needed in business English and correspondence, fundamental principles of accounts and business practice, commercial law, business ethics, and secretarial technique. Many colleges are prepared to give instruction suited to the requirements of secretarial work.
Length of Course
For those who already have a knowledge of shorthand and typewriting, or who have had a course in bookkeeping and related subjects, or who have had valuable office experience, an intensive course of from 8 to 12 months may be sufficient to complete a secretarial course. For those who must acquire this foundation work a longer period will be needed. It should be said, however, that those who know shorthand and typewriting or bookkeeping can usually begin to earn wages in an office position while continuing their study in part-time extension classes.
Salary Possibilities
Secretarial workers may hope to earn salaries from $1,500 up. There is almost no limit except the man’s ability and ambition to rise.
Opportunities
Opportunities in this field are found throughout the country. Men who are interested in social, philanthropical, religious, or political activities may find secretarial openings that will enable them to be intimately associated with the activity of their choice.
Handicaps
A secretarial worker should be able to get about with a fair degree of facility; he should have a personal appearance that is not repugnant to the public with which he is constantly in contact. He should possess physical endurance sufficient to enable him to meet the rather severe strain that secretarial work makes upon a man; and he should possess good hearing and eyesight. An artificial limb would not be a serious handicap providing it did not interfere with getting about too seriously. It is also quite likely that one hand would suffice for the accomplishment of the ordinary tasks of such a position. The main requirement is that a man shall be keen and alert, and that he shall be able to go about his work with vigor and cheerfulness.
Plan No. 1095. Life Insurance Salesmanship
There are more than 200 life insurance companies in the United States having their head offices scattered throughout the chief cities in different parts of the country, with branch offices in each of the larger cities in each State, and resident agents located in most towns of importance. In the smaller towns the life agency is often combined with the fire and accident insurance.
Life companies are divided into the “Ordinary” and the “Industrial” companies, and, combined, employ about 125,000 field agents and about 75,000 persons of other capacities such as clerical, accounting, building and general employees, exclusive of casual employees such as doctors, lawyers, etc.
Life insurance has been made nearly mandatory by modern business practice. It has been popularized by adoption in the Army and Navy, as a scientific method of providing for personal dependents. It is in harmony with the trend of modern social, civic, industrial, and financial-betterment movements. It is progressive within itself—constantly devising new services to meet the requirements of the public and thus opening new avenues to its salesmen.
Life insurance salesmanship requires at the outset but a minimum of training, equipment, and capital, and these are being supplied more and more commonly by sales organizations to their members who qualify for the profession.
Opportunity for Advancement
The work affords opportunities for personal advancement by extension of acquaintance and by choice of associates and customers. It is consistent with the attainment of social, civic, and business prominence and financial independence.
Opportunities for promotion to positions as agency managers, superintendents, and field supervisors are constantly presented to those whose ability and experience justify such advancement.
Whole Time Not Necessary
Age, experience, and growing clientele become assets of increasing value. There is no “dead line” and a permanent clientele of expanding value can be built up from year to year.
While, of course, the agent physically able to devote full time to the work is likely to succeed best, it is nevertheless true that one physically handicapped may succeed measurably although able to work only part of time daily or weekly. Regular office hours and days are advisable but not necessary.
Educational Requirements
Candidates should have at least a grammar school education, and more advanced professional or technical training will be a valuable asset although not essential for success.
Experience
Previous experience in either life insurance or general salesmanship is not necessary, but will be of value, and those who have had to do with insurance work in the Army will find this experience helpful.
How Instruction Is Given
Many organizations are equipped, and others will be, to conduct preliminary central office training courses for men intending to locate at distant points. A list will be furnished later of localities, companies, or agency organizations where definite courses of training are now being given.
The novice will be given theoretical and practical instruction. Field experience will be given under the guidance of qualified field supervisors.
Handicaps
In the following classification certain types of diseases and injuries are grouped according as they are regarded as being wholly, partially, or not in any degree disqualifying for the profession of life insurance salesmanship.
| 1. Prohibitive.—Disqualifying for successful field salesmanship. | ||
| (a) | Diseases: | |
| Advanced tuberculosis. | ||
| Loss of voice and similar bronchial affections. | ||
| Heart diseases not permitting ordinary activity. | ||
| Contagious or infectious diseases, chronic or acute. | ||
| Epilepsy. | ||
| Nervous affections preventing mental concentration or seriously affecting locomotion or speech. | ||
| Nervous affections causing involuntary grotesque muscular movement of face, hands or body. | ||
| Insanity. | ||
| Complete loss of sight or hearing. | ||
| (b) | Wounds: | |
| Unsightly and repelling facial or head wounds. | ||
| Loss of both arms. | ||
| Loss of both legs and one arm. | ||
| Preventing distinct or audible speech. | ||
| Any wound rendering soldier an object of extreme pity. | ||
| 2. Partially handicapping.—Each case requiring individual judgment; many such men might be able to devote part time if not all to salesmanship. | ||
| (a) | Diseases: | |
| Mild tuberculosis of the lungs or throat. | ||
| Recurrent rheumatism of severe type. | ||
| Heart diseases interfering with usual activity. | ||
| Nervous affections causing involuntary marked movements of the face. | ||
| Serious varicose veins forbidding reasonable activities. | ||
| Indistinct hearing or sight. | ||
| (b) | Wounds: | |
| Loss of both legs but not arms. | ||
| Injury to arms or limbs compelling extremely awkward attitudes to be assumed. | ||
| Entire loss of one hand and noticeably unsightly dismemberment of the other. | ||
| Unsightly face or head wounds that can not be covered by hair, beard, or glasses. | ||
| 3. Not handicapping at all— | ||
| (a) | Diseases: | |
| Chronic diseases not preventing ordinary activity and not easily noticed by others. This includes chest and head diseases, rheumatism, deafness in one ear, Bright’s disease, shell-shock, etc. | ||
| Temporary diseases from which recovery may be slow but certain. | ||
| (b) | Wounds: | |
| Loss of one leg if artificial limb can be worn. | ||
| Loss of one arm or hand with or without artificial arm. | ||
| Wounds to arms or legs not requiring amputation. | ||
| Moderate disfigurements that can be covered by hair, beard, garments, or glasses of usual type. | ||
| Scars on face or hands that are not repellent. | ||
| Loss of teeth—if plate can be worn. | ||
| Hernia—if truss can be worn. | ||
Plan No. 1096. Number of Positions Open
The companies selling ordinary life insurance can absorb rapidly 10,000 candidates for sales positions, reasonably evenly distributed between the two classes of partly handicapped and not handicapped. If the latter class predominates, even a larger number could be used.
These men can be assigned profitable and suitable new business locations either of their own or of the insurance companies’ selection, as they prefer, or they can be used at their former place of residence no matter in what sections of the country this may be.
The industrial companies, about 25 in number, can absorb about 4,000 candidates presenting disabilities of a nature that would not preclude the physical activity required, since the nature of the business demands that the routes assigned be fully covered each week.
Financial Returns for Life Insurance Salesman
The average earnings of all life insurance men, whether devoting all or but part of their time to it, and including the unsuccessful and the beginners but a few months in the production field, on the sales of 1917 was $1,000 per capita. The average of those giving it their entire time is nearer $2,000 per agent. An additional yearly income for a number of years is paid on first-year sales through the annual renewal commissions on such business as renews, which in 1917 yielded an additional $1,000 per agent. By reason of renewals accruing in future years, the annual income of a life insurance man maintaining a uniform production will increase steadily yearly.
While the rate of compensation is based upon the commission plan under which the income closely follows actual earnings and is in ratio to the salesman’s efficiency and the intelligent effort he puts forth, the methods of compensation are varied according to individual preference. Such methods include straight commission, commission plus salary, straight salary, drawing accounts against contingent commissions and guarantees, and combinations of these methods as may be arranged.
The items of interest are that incomes are without limit as to maximum and that earnings can begin even during the period of preparation and study. The commission plan is thus not a difficulty, since the candidate will be assisted by his Government allowance until he is prepared to undertake work under a compensation plan which guarantees pay exactly according to earnings.
To those qualifying for executive positions correspondingly larger salaries and opportunities are open, and men having the capacity to direct the activities of others are in constant demand. For this work Army and Navy men, as a class, have had fundamental training.
Earnings Op Industrial Insurance Men
Salaries varying from $10 to $25 per week are paid to the field men of industrial insurance companies, depending upon the size of the district covered. Such agents are expected to make the weekly collections assigned to them and to maintain the volume and number of such collections.
In addition to this salary, the right and opportunity is given to earn liberal commissions on new business secured, which in turn may operate to increase the compensation for collecting future premiums.
Opportunities for promotions to positions as superintendents and district managers are frequent, and the tendency is toward the retention and development of efficient employees indefinitely.
Plan No. 1097. Office Management
This position is one that is usually filled by promotion and one to which any man who qualifies for business by taking a complete commercial training may reasonably aspire. Men who have executive ability; knowledge of men and ability to handle them; the ability to organize the work of an office on an efficiency basis; and a good general knowledge of business are needed for office managers.
Training
Extension courses in preparation for advancement to this grade of commercial employment are available in many places. Those who already have the necessary training for office work will be helped by definite courses of instruction to prepare for this desirable line of promotion. Others who have had neither business training nor business experience may prepare for office work first in accordance with the plan suggested earlier in this monograph, and may later qualify for office management by extension courses under the direction of the Federal Board for Vocational Education.
Plan No. 1098. Banking
The banking business is one in which the higher positions are usually recruited from the lower. Many younger men are employed as messengers, clerks, runners, etc., and it is comparatively easy to find promotion material already in the organization. Since these lower positions pay very small salaries and make no appeal to men, it is not likely that large numbers of men will break into the banking business through rehabilitation channels. However there are many men in our Army who have had banking experience and desire to secure training for further promotion in this business. Then, too, some of the larger financial institutions in the big cities are in the habit of taking on men for a period of training with a view to service in their foreign branches. This practice will grow as our foreign trade expands. Men who have the necessary general education and special training, supplemented by overseas service, will find in this field an opportunity that will challenge their interest.
Training
Foundation work in the general business subjects such as bookkeeping, business writing, business English, correspondence, business arithmetic, and commercial law will be followed by instruction in economics, money, banking, and finance. While there are comparatively few business schools equipped to give the more advanced technical instruction required, the Federal Board for Vocational Education will aid any man who is interested in this business, not only to secure adequate training for it, but also an opportunity to enter this field under the most favorable circumstances possible.
Plan No. 1099. Commercial Teaching
Male teachers are in great demand for all kinds of educational work, but in no department is the need for men greater than in that which has to do with the training of young people for business. The commercial teacher must associate himself with the industrial and business activities of his community; he must mingle with business men and keep in close touch with their business methods so far as they affect commercial training. In practically every city and town in the United States having a population of 5,000 or more commercial courses are being offered in the high school. There are over 1,000 private commercial schools giving intensive training for business positions. All these schools, both public and private are in very active competition with each other for the services of capable men teachers. Not only are these schools in competition with each other for the services of men who are qualified for this kind of work, but they are also in competition with business which is constantly recognizing that successful commercial teachers are usually well qualified for important business positions. To the men who are contemplating training for a future career this fact is of the utmost importance. The training that he takes for commercial teaching and the experience that he gains in such a position will not only lead to high-grade educational positions, but also to business openings of more than ordinary importance.
Two Departments Represented
Commercial teachers are naturally divided into two groups, those who teach shorthand typewriting, and related secretarial subjects, and those who teach bookkeeping, business arithmetic, commercial law, economics, commercial geography, and other subjects known as the business group. While it is possible to make a preparation for either of these two departments of teaching, it is more desirable for a man to qualify in both departments in order that he may be qualified for a position as department head where the supervision of teachers in both lines of work will fall upon him.
Qualifications and Training Necessary
A man who contemplates commercial teaching as a profession should possess the following qualifications: Good personal appearance, abundant energy, resourcefulness, cheerfulness, good general health, and the ability to move about easily. It is undesirable for anyone who is to be brought constantly in contact with the public to have physical disabilities that will be offensive or will seriously distract attention. In dealing with young people in educational work it is even more necessary that unsightly wounds shall not be conspicuously apparent in those with whom such young people come in contact in their work. This does not mean that one who has lost a leg or an arm should consider himself in this class. Among the best teachers that have ever presented commercial education to boys and girls are men who find it necessary to use a crutch or a cane.
Commercial teachers should be thoroughly qualified to handle all of the commercial subjects named above. Their training should also include thorough courses in psychology, pedagogy, school management, and history of education. Such courses of training are provided in a few of the State normal schools, and in a number of the best universities. Men who contemplate this profession are urged to be satisfied with nothing less than the complete course of training in one of these institutions. This is of the utmost importance in view of the fact that for public school commercial teaching State licenses are required and the qualifications therefore, are such that graduation from an institution of high standing is the surest way to qualify for such a certificate. It should be said, however, that for private school commercial teaching there is no license requirement in most of the States. Men who have a good general education and are well qualified in the technical subjects named above, will have no difficulty in securing profitable employment in such schools. Training for such positions can be secured in much less time than is required for the full course referred to above.
Length of Course
An intensive course of one year, assuming a good foundation with which to begin, should prepare a man for a position as commercial teacher in a private business school. The same will suffice for training a man to accept a position as commercial teacher in a high school providing he has completed a normal school or college course. For those who have only a high-school education, two years in a State normal school, or from two to four years in the commercial department of a college, will be required to complete the full training for commercial teaching.
Salaries
The salary range for men commercial teachers may be stated as from $1,200 to $8,000, depending upon experience, general and special education, and personal qualifications.
Plan No. 1100. Plans and Successes of Disabled Men and Women
Chart summarizing data relating to 133 cases of disabled persons who have taken commercial courses—Tabulation of replies to questionnaires sent out to schools.34
| School, case number, and disability. | Cause of disability. | Previous education. | Course taken. | Special arrangements. | Time required. | Present status. | Remarks. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIERCE BUSINESS SCHOOL, PHILADELPHIA, PA. | ||||||||
| 1. | Deaf and dumb. | Natural. | Mount Airy. | Business administration. | Individual help, written instructions. | Not longer than usually required. | Shares equally in profits of firm. | Rendering excellent service. Results in the case of this young man were satisfactory beyond expectation. |
| 2. | Loss of left arm. | Accident while employed. | Eighth grade. | Specia. in banking, arithmetic, penmanship, English. | Arrangement for holding papers, etc., individual help. | Succeeded as well as students of like ability. | $15 per week. | Her progress met all expectations. |
| 3. | Infantile paralysis. | Disease. | Private tuition. | Business administration. | Careful seating; personal interest, and help. | Doing as well as others of similar education. | Is still a student at this school. | This young man’s affliction is such that his parents must bring him to and take him from school every day. |
| 4. | Paralysis. | Paralyzed. | Common school. | do. | Special arrangementfor seating, individual help. | Somewhat longer than average. | Doing satisfactory work. | |
| 5. | War wounds. | 7 wounds, gas and shell shock. | Grammar school. | do. | Correct seating; special and individual help. | Did not finish, but was making average progress. | Is a minister now; average minister’s compensation. | Decided as his physical condition improved to prepare for the ministry. |
| STONE BUSINESS COLLEGE, NEW HAVEN, CONN. | ||||||||
| 6. | Loss of leg. | Accident (factory worker). | Grammar school. | Banking and business. | None. | No report. | Salary $2,500 a year, general manager New Haven Bridge Crucible Steel Co. | |
| 7. | Short leg. | No report. | do. | Shorthand and typewriting. | do. | 2 or 3 months longer than average. | Doing satisfactory work; salary, $90 per month. | |
| 8. | Paralysis. | Born with disability (no occupation). | do. | Business and stenography. | do. | Not longer than usually required. | Satisfactory progress; $2,500 or $3,000 a year. | |
| BOWLING GREEN BUSINESS UNIVERSITY, BOWLING GREEN, KY. | ||||||||
| 9. | Paralysis of legs. | Illness in infancy (no occupation). | Grammar school. | Telegraphy and railroad accounting. | None. | Not longer than usually required. | Employed Postal Telegraph Co., $1,700 a year. | |
| 10. | Paralysis of legs. | No report. | do. | Shorthand and typewriting. | do. | do. | Making satisfactory progress; salary, $1,500 a year. | |
| 11. | Loss of leg. | Accident (student). | Graded school. | Banking, typewriting, stenography, penmanship. | None. | No longer than usually required. | Salary, $1,800 a year. | |
| 12. | Deformed legs and feet. | Deformed from birth. | Eighth grade. | Banking, stenography, typewriting. | do. | do. | Progress satisfactory; salary, $2,100 a year. | |
| 13. | Loss of arm. | Unknown (farmer boy). | High school. | Banking and penmanship. | Metal ruler and paper weight combined. | do. | Progress satisfactory; salary, $1,080 a year. | |
| PIERCE SCHOOL, PHILADELPHIA, PA. | ||||||||
| 14. | Hand and arm crippled. | Accident. | Grammar school. | Shorthand and typewriting. | Special seating; extra individual attention and help. | Longer than usual to change from right to left hand. | Progress satisfactory; $32 per week. | Is happy and contented, according to his own statement. The course selected has given him a better opportunity than any other line he could have followed. |
| 15. | Loss of leg. | Railroad accident. | do. | Business administration, stenography, typewriting. | Special seating. | Average time. | Progress satisfactory. | The very marked success of this man is due to the type of his business training. |
| 16. | Three fingers right hand. | Accident. | do. | Business administration. | None. | do. | do. | He was right handed and by training in pen holding and in penmanship it was not necessary to change to left hand. Works for father. |
| 17. | Left side paralysis. | From birth. | Parochial school, about 8th grade. | do. | Special seating; individual instruction. | Somewhat longer. | Progress satisfactory; present salary $12 a week. | Paralysis affected his right hand so that it was necessary to change to left hand. Acquired fair degree of speed in writing. |
| 18. | Dislocated hip. | Accident. | No report. | do. | Special seating; individual attention. | Less than average. | Progress satisfactory. | |
| NORTHWESTERN BUSINESS COLLEGE, CHICAGO, ILL. | ||||||||
| 19. | Loss of both feet. | Accident. | Grammar school. | Combined business and stenography. | None. | Longer than average. | Progress satisfactory; present salary $25 a week. | |
| 20. | Amputation of left hand. | do. | do. | Business course. | do. | Shorter by 2 months than average. | Favorable reports. | “It is our opinion that the business public will be more considerate of the application of the crippled soldier, and he needs only a chance to dispel any doubt of his ability to adapt himself to requirements.” |
| 21. | Deaf. | Illness. | Eighth grade. | Typewriting. | do. | Longer by about 2 months than usual. | Satisfactory; $14 per week. | |
| 22. | Partial paralysis. | Illness (farmer). | 3 years high school. | Business. | do. | Shorter by 11⁄2 months than usual. | Satisfactory; $15 per week. | |
| 23. | Little use of lower limbs. | Infantile paralysis. | Some high school. | 6 months business. | do. | Finished on time. | Most satisfactory; cashier in bank. | |
| RIDER-MOORE AND STEWART SCHOOL, TRENTON, N. J. | ||||||||
| 24. | Hand maimed. | While playing ball. | Grammar school. | Commercial. | None. | Regular. | No report. | |
| 25. | Both legs maimed. | Unknown. | do. | Shorthand. | Arranged classes so he would not have to change much. | do. | Doing well. | |
| 26. | Loss of leg. | do. | Partial high school. | Shorthand and typewriting. | Reduced climbing of stairs. | do. | do. | |
| 27. | Loss of hand. | Thrashing machine. | Grammar school. | Commercial. | None. | do. | No report. | |
| 28. | Loss of hand and part of arm. | Unknown. | do. | do. | do. | do. | Satisfactory. | |
| DUFF’S COLLEGE, PITTSBURGH, PA. | ||||||||
| 29. | Right leg off near hip. | Railroad accident (clerk). | Grammar school. | Banking, stenography, and typewriting. | Increased space at desks. | Average time. | Satisfactory; $75 per month. | |
| 30. | Right arm off at shoulder. | Accident, millwork (millworker). | do. | Banking and stenography. | Heavy paper weight and heavy ruler. | One-half longer than usual. | Most satisfactory; $100 a month. | |
| 31. | Loss of left hand at wrist. | Street-car accident (pupil). | Eighth grade. | Bookkeeping. | None. | No longer than usual. | Satisfactory; $50 per month. | |
| 32. | Right hand stiff, fingers straight. | Gunshot wound. | High school. | Bookkeeping. | do. | Less than the average time. | Satisfactory, $100 a month. | |
| THE CEDAR RAPIDS BUSINESS COLLEGE, CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA. | ||||||||
| 33. | No use of lower limbs. | Unknown. | Grammar school. | Commercial and stenography. | None. | No longer than others of same education. | Satisfactory; $30 per week. | |
| 34. | Both legs off. | Unknown (farmer). | No report. | Unknown. | do. | Regular. | Satisfactory; $21 per week. | |
| 35. | One leg off. | Mowing machine (farmer). | Only fair. | Banking and stenography. | do. | do. | Satisfactory; $90 a month. | |
| 36. | Both legs off below knees. | No report. | No report. | Business and stenography. | do. | do. | Probably satisfactory; $1,200 per year. | |
| BURDETT COLLEGE, BOSTON, MASS. | ||||||||
| 37. | Hip trouble. | Childhood disease. | Average. | Business and bookkeeping. | do. | do. | Probably satisfactory; $10 per week at start. | This student was lame to the extent that he had to rely upon a cane, yet this did not interfere with his progress in business life. |
| 38. | Short limb, paralyzed hip. | Unknown. | About 1 year in high school. | Banking, stenography, and typewriting. | do. | do. | Probably satisfactory; salary unknown. | Case 38 found it difficult to walk on account of short limb and stiff hip, yet ordinary facilities were adequate for his comfort. |
| 39. | One hand off. | Unknown. | Some high school training. | Business and bookkeeping. | None. | Regular. | In business with his father. | |
| 40. | Twisted neck. | Injured in childhood. | High school graduate. | Secretarial. | do. | Longer by about 2 months than usual. | Probably satisfactory; started in with $8 a week. | |
| 41. | Loss of left arm. | Mill machinery accident. | Average. | Business and bookkeeping. | do. | Regular. | Salary unknown. | |
| 42. | Two fingers missing. | No report. | No report. | Shorthand. | No report. | Progress a little slower than average. | Probably satisfactory; salary $12 per week. | |
| 43. | Hand burned. | Accident. | do. | Stenographer and typewriting. | do. | Slightly longer. | Satisfactorily employed; $15 per week. | |
| 44. | Hip trouble. | Childhood illness. | do. | Business course and bookkeeping. | None. | The same as other students. | Satisfactorily employed; $8 a week to start. | |
| 45. | Right arm off. | Machine accident. | do. | Business course. | do. | Did not complete course. | No report. | |
| 46. | Lame. | No report. | do. | No report. | do. | Regular. | Satisfactory; $25 per week. | Was very lame and had to use cane constantly. Completed course. |
| 47. | Very lame. | do. | do. | do. | do. | do. | No report. | Uses crutch. Handicap does not interfere with his progress. |
| 48. | Very deaf. | do. | do. | Business administration. | do. | Less than average. | do. | Completed course but underwent an operation and died before taking place. |
| 49. | Short leg. | Unknown. | do. | No report. | do. | Regular. | Doing excellent work; $12 to start. | Walked with cane. |
| 50. | Lame. | do. | do. | do. | do. | Has not completed course. | No report. | Excellent student and mentally qualified to take any business course. |
| UTICA SCHOOL OF COMMERCE, UTICA, N. Y. | ||||||||
| 51. | Loss of left hand. | Accident (was a mill hand in cotton mill before accident). | Eighth grade. | Bookkeeping. | do. | “Not much longer.” | Doing very well; present salary $18 per week. | |
| WATERBURY BUSINESS COLLEGE, WATERBURY, CONN. | ||||||||
| 52. | Loss of right leg. | Railroad injury. | Grammar school. | Banking and stenographic. | do. | Regular. | Holds responsible position; $30 a week. | |
| 53. | Right arm off (student). | No report. | 2 years’ high school. | Bookkeeping. | do. | do. | Salary $40 a week. | |
| 54. | Deaf and dumb. | Unknown (student). | Equivalent to grammar school. | do. | Special instruction. | About 3 months longer than average. | No report. | “I believe typewriting would be better as they could make fine copyists; easier to place.” |
| FERRIS INSTITUTE, BIG RAPIDS, MICH. | ||||||||
| 55. | Leg off. | Accident (was a farmer prior to accident). | High school. | Banking. | None. | Regular. | “Doing well,” $1,200 a year. | |
| MEEKER’S BUSINESS INSTITUTE, ELMIRA, N. Y. | ||||||||
| 56. | Left arm off. | Mine accident (was a mule driver in coal mine). | Eighth grade. | Banking and stenographic. | Individual instruction. | 2 months longer. | Most successful. | This man is now a millionaire. |
| 57. | Hunchback. | Fall. | High school. | Banking, stenography and typewriting. | An adjustable screw chair. | Regular. | Salary $100 a month. | Now in Government in Washington; doing excellent work. |
| 58. | “Club feet”. | From birth. | High school graduate. | Shorthand and typewriting. | None. | do. | Satisfactory; salary $150 a month. | |
| 59. | Left arm off; legs paralyzed. | From birth and accident. | 1 year high school. | Banking, stenography and typewriting. | Special attachment on typewriter. | Regular. | Most successful; salary $175 a month. | |
| 60. | Left hand off. | Unknown. | High school. | Bookkeeping. | None. | 2 months longer. | Not much of a success; salary $60 a month. | Did not apply herself to her work while at school. |
| SPENCERIAN COMMERCIAL SCHOOL, LOUISVILLE, KY. | ||||||||
| 61. | Leg off. | Accident (was newsboy). | Eighth grade. | Business and shorthand. | do. | Regular. | In Government, Washington (present salary about $150 per month). | |
| 62. | Right arm. | “Do not remember;” was a railroad man. | Country school. | Bookkeeping. | Heavy paper weight. | do. | “Very successful” salary $120 a month. | |
| 63. | Right arm. | Machine accident (factory girl prior to accident). | Eighth grade. | Business and shorthand. | Heavy paper weight; shift for typewriter. | do. | “Quite successful” salary $70 a month at time of marriage. | |
| MORSE BUSINESS COLLEGE, HARTFORD, CONN. | ||||||||
| 64. | Leg off. | Accident. | Grammar school. | Shorthand and typewriting. | None. | Regular. | Satisfactory; salary about $75 per month. | |
| 65. | Left arm off. | Accident (was a tool maker prior to accident). | do. | Bookkeeping. | Weighted ruler and paper weights. | do. | Satisfactory; salary $30 a week. | The Morse College has educated a number of one-armed people. |
| 66. | Deformed. | Accident. | do. | Shorthand. | No report. | do. | Satisfactory; salary $35 a week. | |
| 67. | Deaf. | Illness (was engraver and newsdealer prior to illness). | do. | Bookkeeping. | do. | do. | Satisfactory; salary was $2,000 (now deceased). | |
| 68. | Helpless from waist down. | Illness (was farmer prior to illness). | do. | Banking and typewriting. | Revolving desk for holding books, special typewriting table. | Completed work in much less than average time. | He was exceptionally successful; salary $2,500 a year; cashier in country bank. | Since the instruction in the Morse Business College is so largely individual, special arrangements for these cases are reduced to a minimum. |
| WORCESTER BUSINESS INSTITUTE, WORCESTER, MASS. | ||||||||
| 69. | Right arm off. | Caught in machine (student). | High school. | Shorthand and bookkeeping. | None. | Average. | Very satisfactory; $1,200 to $1,500 per year. | “He was so enthusiastic he did better than some students with both hands.” |
| 70. | Loss of one leg. | Accident (worker in a grocery store). | Ninth grade. | Bookkeeping. | None. | Average. | Salary $1,000 per year. | Had difficulty at first in placing him, but after securing artificial limb it was much easier. |
| GOLDEY COLLEGE, WILMINGTON, DEL. | ||||||||
| 71. | Right arm amputated. | Gunshot wound. | High school. | Shorthand and typewriting. | A paper weight. | Average. | Unknown. | His handicap seemed to spur him on to unusual efforts. |
| THE DRAUGHON BUSINESS COLLEGE, KNOXVILLE, TENN. | ||||||||
| 72. | Index finger off left hand. | Accident (worked in bottling works). | College. | Banking, shorthand and typewriting. | None. | Average. | He is an excellent bank man; $2,000 per year. | |
| 73. | Right arm off. | Blood poisoning (school boy). | High school. | Banking and stenography. | do. | do. | Very satisfactory; $1,500 a year. | Now in employ of the Quaker Oats Co. |
| 74. | Left arm off. | Accident (farm hand). | Common school. | Bookkeeping. | do. | do. | $1,200 per year. | A man with left arm off gets along all right as bookkeeper, etc. |
| 75. | Left arm off. | Gun accident (farm hand). | do. | do. | do. | do. | do. | It is one of the best lines for a man who has lost left arm to follow. |
| 76. | Middle finger, right hand off. | Shotgun accident (farmhand). | High school. 2 years in college. | Banking, shorthand and typewriting. | do. | Completed 4 months ahead of schedule. | Has been very successful; $960 per year. | This man is a valuable asset to the bank where employed, and has certainly “made good.” |
| BANK’S BUSINESS COLLEGE, PHILADELPHIA, PA. | ||||||||
| 77. | Loss of right hand. | Caught in circular saw (mechanic). | Grammar school. | Commercial. | None. | About a month longer than average. | Doing well, $80 per month. | Case 77 is 18 years of age, has pleasing personality and good health; these are very much in his favor. |
| 78. | Loss of right arm below elbow. | Born without arm. | 3 years high school, 3 summers normal school. | Combined. | None; teachers told to be attentive. | About a month or two longer than average. | Is teaching commercial subjects, $90 per month. | Consider this case a most remarkable one. She did everything so well. Teaching high school, State College, Pennsylvania. |
| 79. | Loss of left arm. | Caught in machinery (mechanic). | Grammar school. | Commercial. | None. | do. | Now very successful, $100 per month. | Took much pains in writing, therefore developed into a very fine penman. |
| 80. | Withered arm (left). | Birth (student). | do. | do. | do. | Several months longer than average. | Successful; $70 per month. | |
| 81. | Loss of both legs. | Railroad accident (railroader). | do. | Shorthand, typewriting, English and spelling. | do. | Average. | Successful; $45 to $50 per week. | This case has artificial legs and has very little difficulty in moving about. |
| GREGG SCHOOL, CHICAGO, ILL. | ||||||||
| 82. | Right hand off. | Accident (student). | High school. | Shorthand and typewriting. | Rearranged fingering on keyboard chart. | Longer than average. | About $200 per month. | Although colored, this person had no difficulty securing position. |
| 83. | Sprained wrist. | Fall on ice (student). | do. | do. | None. | No report. | Reporting meetings of War Industries Board. | |
| GEM CITY BUSINESS COLLEGE, QUINCY, ILL. | ||||||||
| 84. | Third and fourth fingers off right hand. | Accident. | High school. | Shorthand and typewriting. | Readjustment of fingering on typewriter keyboard. | Longer by possibly two months than average. | Unknown. | |
| 85. | Left arm off. | Circular saw. | Common school. | Business course. | Heavy paper weights. | Twice as long as average. | Is employed. | |
| 86. | Left arm off. | Unknown. | High school graduate. | Business and penmanship. | None. | Average. | do. | |
| 87. | Badly crippled in hips. | do. | Eighth grade. | Business. | do. | About average time. | Is employed in Rock Island Arsenal. | |
| 88. | Right arm off. | Thrashing machine. | Eighth grade, country school. | Business and penmanship. | Heavy paper weights. | Not much longer than average. | Automobile salesman. | |
| 89. | Paralyzed from waist down. | Unknown. | Unknown. | Business and shorthand. | A chair a little higher than used by other students. | About a fourth longer, but his grades were above average. | He is assistant cashier of a bank. | |
| GRIFFIN’S SPRINGFIELD BUSINESS SCHOOL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. | ||||||||
| 90. | One-armed. | No report. | High school. | Business. | None. | Average. | Is a lawyer. | |
| 91. | One-armed. | Probably in a mill. | Grammar school (?). | Banking and stenography. | do. | do. | Prosperous; leading man in his company. | Is now treasurer of the Chester Granite Co., Chester, Mass. |
| PALMER METHOD SCHOOL OF PENMANSHIP, NEW YORK CITY. | ||||||||
| 92. | Crippled. | No report. | No report. | Banking and stenography. | No report. | No report. | Successful; $5 per day. | |
| BRYANT & STRATTON COMMERCIAL SCHOOL, PROVIDENCE, R. I. | ||||||||
| 93. | Loss of both legs. | Accident in childhood (farmer). | 1 or 2 years High school. | Business. | None. | Average. | $1,300 per year. | “He is active in business every day and is still employed by the same firm. Has entire confidence of his employers and now has charge of the office.” |
| 94. | Blind. | From birth. | Graduate Perkins Institute for Blind. | Typewriting and stenography. | Individual instruction. | Little more than regular. | Satisfactory; $12 per week. | It seems to me that typewriting would be the only course blind persons could undertake satisfactorily. |
| 95. | Both legs off. | Unknown. | High school. | Shorthand. | None. | Average. | No report. | Is working at present and seems to be improving all the time. |
| 96. | Withered arm and hand. | From birth. | 2 years in convent. | Bookkeeping. | do. | Still studying. | Still studying in school. | |
| 97. | Deaf and dumb. | Illness. | Equivalent to High school. | Bookkeeping. | None. | Average. | “Doing nicely.” | Some difficulty in placing him on account of inability to answer phone. |
| 98. | Fingers off on right hand. | Injury. | Educated in Ireland. | Commercial. | do. | do. | “Doing nicely as bookkeeper.” | |
| 99. | St. Vitus dance. | Nervous trouble. | Graduate Mount Holyoke, 1906. | Shorthand. | do. | Possibly 10 weeks longer than average. | “Doing nicely.” | |
| 100. | Totally deaf. | No report. | Private tutor and school to learn lip reading. | Bookkeeping. | None except that teachers enunciated clearly. | Average. | In the same position he took on leaving school. | “I think any man as mentally alert as this one would succeed. I would not recommend such a course for the ordinary deaf person.” |
| 101. | Artificial leg. | No report. | High school. | Commercial. | None. | Average; he had an excellent record. | Head bookkeeper, very successful. | |
| 102. | Withered arm. | do. | do. | Stenographic. | do. | Average. | “Is doing well as stenographer and bookkeeper.” | |
| 103. | Hunchback. | do. | No report. | Commercial. | No report. | No report. | No report. | |
| 104. | Stutters. | do. | do. | Secretarial. | do. | do. | do. | |
| 105. | Spells of queerness. | do. | do. | Special. | do. | do. | Did not graduate. | |
| 106. | Legs affected. | Spinal meningitis. | do. | Teachers. | do. | do. | No report. | |
| 107. | Weak mentally, bad eyes. | No report. | do. | Special. | do. | do. | Did not graduate. | |
| 108. | Wrists badly deformed. | Result of vaccination. | do. | Commercial. | do. | do. | No report. | |
| 109. | Wooden leg. | No report. | do. | Secretarial. | do. | do. | do. | |
| 110. | Artificial foot, very lame. | do. | do. | Commercial. | do. | do. | Has not graduated. | |
| 111. | One short leg. | do. | do. | do. | do. | do. | do. | |
| 112. | Badly burned face. | do. | do. | Secretarial. | do. | do. | Did not graduate. | |
| 113. | Lame, diseased knee. | do. | do. | do. | do. | do. | do. | |
| 114. | Speech. | do. | do. | Commercial. | do. | do. | No report. | |
| 115. | Paralysis. | Infantile paralysis. | do. | Teachers. | do. | do. | do. | |
| 116. | One short leg. | No report. | do. | Commercial. | do. | do. | do. | |
| 117. | Short leg. | Hip disease. | do. | Secretarial. | do. | do. | Did not graduate. | |
| 118. | Hunchback. | No report. | do. | Commercial. | do. | do. | No report. | |
| 119. | Short leg. | do. | do. | Bookkeeping. | do. | do. | do. | |
| 120. | Left handed. | do. | do. | do. | do. | do. | Did not graduate. | |
| 121. | Bad hip, used crutch. | do. | do. | Commercial. | do. | do. | No report. | |
| 122. | Spinal trouble. | do. | do. | Bookkeeping. | do. | do. | Did not graduate. | |
| 123. | Hunchback, badly deformed. | do. | do. | Commercial. | do. | do. | No report. | |
| 124. | Paralysis. | Infantile paralysis. | do. | do. | do. | do. | Did not graduate. | |
| 125. | Paralysis. | do. | do. | do. | do. | do. | do. | |
| PIERCE SCHOOL, PHILADELPHIA, PA. | ||||||||
| 126. | Right hand off. | Circular cutter on milling machine. | Eighth grade. | Special penmanship, English, and arithmetic. | Had an artificial arm; special desk, individual attention. | A month or more longer than average. | Has succeeded very well in her position. | “The good results obtained by training, and the excellent opportunity afforded, would assure us that anyone of like affliction could be readily trained.” |
| ROCHESTER BUSINESS INSTITUTE, ROCHESTER, N. Y. | ||||||||
| 127. | Paralysis. | Spinal meningitis and infantile paralysis. | High school graduate. | Shorthand and typewriting. | Individual attention. | Can not be absolutely regular in attendance; he will require twice the regular time. | No report. | |
| 128. | Paralysis of right leg and arm. | Injury in football game. | 31⁄2 years in Rochester School. | Regular commercial. | None to speak of. | Average. | Earning about $25 per week. | Is constantly gaining in experience and acquaintance and expects to better himself. He is full of courage and hope for the future. |
| 129. | Anchylosis of hip joints. | Rheumatism. | High school graduate. | Commercial and stenographic. | None. | do. | Earning $18 a week; is worth more. | |
| 130. | Paralysis, withered arm, impeded speech. | Cerebral spinalmeningitis. | Was graduated from Grammar school. | Commercial. | None, except individual attention. | About the average time. | With Western Electric Co., Chicago; most successful. | |
| THE MARTIN SHORTHAND SCHOOL. | ||||||||
| 131. | Both hands amputated 4 to 6 inches below elbow. | Was pushed into a bonfire when a child of 7 years. | Seventh grade. | Stenographic. | An aluminum cup was fitted to the stumps. | About 6 months longer than average, largely due to lack of early schooling and health. | Her vocational training a complete success. | Student’s home environment was so bad that it was difficult to counteract it. She received a good deal of newspaper notoriety and it went to her head. Her family seemed to try to exploit her misfortune. |
| 132. | Both limbs amputated. | Run over by street car. | Eighth grade and 2 years at East Liberty Academy. | do. | None. | Average. | Very successful. | |
| 133. | Right leg amputated. | Crushed by mine car (helper in coal mine). | Eighth grade. | Bookkeeping, then stenographic. | do. | A little longer than average, lacking general education. | “I expect him to be very successful; earning $100 per month.” | |
Notes
34 All salaries are on a pre-war basis.