Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1856-01-11
OBJ 4allp Spp.
rRInAY- IANUARY n 1856,
rae Transcripts on rhe Salaries of School
Tenehera.

ers' salaries. Whether the Article was writ.
ten, as is modestly indicated, by the editor of
that paper, who has SO recently introduced
himself to our citizens as the censor of their
: politics and their morals, or by some conde-
scending correspondent, who, for the nonce,
is willing to dignity the columns of the
Transcript with his logic and his statistis,
matters not to us. We only intend to correct
the misstatements, and expose the weak con-
illusions of the writer of the article, whoever
he may be.
The evident design and purpose of the
article is to defend the action of the Schooi
Committee Of last year. at their last meeting
whereby, without solicitation or request Of the
male teachers of the public schools, they ad-
ded from one to two hundred dollars to the
salaries of each of them, and thus en-
deavored to bind the city to the payment of
much larger sum than the majority of our
citizens would consider suitable compensa-
ton for the services rendered, with the ex-
ception of the increase voted TO Mr.. Hunt,
teacher of the Sycamore Street Grammar
School, which increase still left the amount
of his salary less than that of the other
teachers of the same grade, before the last
amount was added thereto.
The Transcript, with owlish gravity,
says it was not proposed to raise the salaries
advanced last year, and none Of them had in
t:mated desire for greater compensation. -
1t would have its readers believe that it
knows about what it is talking, but the facts
greatly overrated his kno Wedge of the subject
upon which he talks.
The salaries oil all the male teachers acre
raised at the same time last year that the sal
aries of the female teachers were raised, and
there is no force in the argument, that the sal
aries of the male teachers should be raised
again now, because those of the female teach
ers had been raised.
At a meeting Of the school committee held
on the 4th Of September, 1854, Mr.. james,
from a committee appointed to take into con-
sideration the subject of teachers salaries,
made report recommending virtually the
same increase of salaries, as that voted by the
last board, at Its last meeting. This report
was amended by increasing the salaries of the
male teachers, excepting the Principal of the
High School, one hundred dollars each, and
also by small increase to the salaries of the
female teachers. who had been entirely neg
lected in the original report, and it was adopt
ed as amended
Subsequently, the present Principal of the
High School was elected at salary one hun
bred dollars in advance Of that received by
any of his predecessors in that school. So
tile salaries Of the female teachers have
not been raised since the salaries of the male
teachers have been raised. and we have yet to
as---- that the male teachers, any more than
the females, with perhaps Uuv ez1ovr.;-->, l.--.
intimated any desire for an increase of salary.
The action Of the committee, in raising the
salaries, was not based upon any petition or
request, coming from the teachers, and We
must infer that it was the result Of sudden
freak Of generosity, which the state of the city
finances would hardly seem to justify.
The Transcript further says, that " salaries
of $1,000, $1,000, and $500, are not one sin.
gle cent more than the services of the teachers
are worth" We concur entirely in the state
ment that our teachers are among the very
best-our city may well be proud of each and
all of them, and yet the high authority of the
Transcript notwithstanding, we assert that
the salaries of last year are fully adequate to
the services rendered. The wages of school
teachers, like everything else, are not exempt
from the application of the universal law of
supply and demand, and in proportion to the
pay OF those who exercise their talents in 9TH
or departments of exhausting intellectual la
Dor. we think the salaries of the teachers of
the public schools of Worcester are fully up
the mark, and that further increase would
be unwarrantable.
The very statement of the Transcript, that
the average wages of teachers of the same
grade, in New York, Chicago, and other west
ern cities, arc $1,000 or $500 confirms our
position. Every one knows that the cost of
living in those cities is very much greater than
in Worcester. and that the salaries paid, if not
more than seventeen OF eighteen hundred dol.
lars, are not so large in proportion to the ac-
tual cost of living as are paid in this city.
Let those who consider the salaries paid to
the school teachers OF Worcester an made
quate remuneration for their services, examine
q few Of our statistics.
The salaries of the Professors in Brown
University, with two exceptions, one Of whom
Is Doctor Of Divinity, and the other Doc
tor Of Laws, are $1,000. The salaries Of the
Professors in other New England Colleges. do
not average that sum, and it is a question that
citizens Of Worcester may well ask whether
there is any good reason why they should pay
larger salaries to school teachers than are paid
to the Professors of Colleges.
Again, the average of the salaries of eleven
clergymen Of Worcester who receive the high
est salaries, is $1,000, and leaving out of the
calculation the four oldest and wealthiest So
cieties, the average amount Of salaries paid to
each is only $ll0O. The cashiers of three of
our Banks receive, one 1920, one $500, and
one Sl40o. Their positions are Of great re-
spohsibility and labor, and they are obliged
TO furnish heavy bonds. We have not heard
that they are not able to support their fami-
lies comfortably. The Judge of our Police
Caurt receives Sl2OO--our Civ Marshal