One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money

by Harold Morse Dunphy

If you never had any trade or think that some navy-yard trade would suit you better than the one you followed before you entered the service, you can take training for that new trade.

In any case, if, in order to take the training that you desire, you need to take some general school training, such as arithmetic or English, you can take that training in addition to the training for the work itself.

These are only a few examples of the possibilities for training for navy-yard jobs that are open to you through the Federal Board for Vocational Education.

If you are interested you should, of course, take your plans up with your vocational adviser and secure the necessary approval.

In any case carefully consider if, through training, you can not either hold down a job that you could not hold down now, or fit yourself for a better job than you could hold down with your present knowledge and skill; that is, see if you do not think that out of all the different kinds of training open to you, there is some training that will help you to secure or hold down a better job in a navy yard than you could without the training.

If you can secure the approval of the Federal Board for Vocational Education for the particular sort of training that you desire, almost any sort of training is open to you.

Handicaps and how to Overcome Them

If you have a certain kind of disability, what is your chance in navy-yard occupations? Perhaps you have lost a leg or an arm or an eye; does this cut you out of any chance to work in a navy yard? It certainly does not. For example: if you have lost an arm, the number of jobs that you can do with one arm and an artificial arm are surprising; you can take training so that you can do almost any sort of clerical work or work in the drafting room. You can operate almost all machine tools in the machine shop. You can do shorthand or typewriting work.

If you have lost a leg you can learn to fill almost any position in a navy yard that does not require climbing or too much standing and walking. You can do almost any sort of clerical work as well as anybody else; you can operate almost all sorts of machine tools; you can do all sorts of assembling work, pattern making, and work in the drafting room.

If you have lost both legs, with artificial legs you can learn to fill almost any position where you can sit at your work. You can do this in the drafting room; in nearly all clerical positions; in many inspection jobs. There are many other jobs, such as work in the sail and rigging loft, in the tailor shop, and in the machine shop, where you can sit at the work.