Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-06-14

effect On the condition of the American
universities of the small pay received
by the professors. He contends that a
man who has the stuff OF good pro-
lessor in him, or, as IN NJ calls it,
1.-THE grit of spontaneous scholarship,
VIII not allow the smallness of his salary
TO "cool his ardor or cheek his en-
thusiasm''; and he points 70 the vigor
and industry Of the German professors
as showing how little effect poverty
really has, or ough. to have, on the
quality ofuniversity teaching. Unfortu-
nateiy. the illustration oyerlooks the
fact that professors, like other people,
are influenced inrgely by their envir-
onment. They are not monks or SOL
diers, and do not form communities
apart living in monasteries or barracks,
They are part of the society which
they serve, and share in its tastes,
habits. and standards. The German
professor cares little about money, be-
cause plain living is the rule not simp-
ly OF his own class but OF the official
and professional class; that is, of the
best society throughout Germany. In
other words, it is 1.-THE thing to be
poor, and live as if you we're poor, in
Germany. The military and civil Off
GERS who form the flower Of German So
ciety are poorly paid, and not only
make no attempt at display, but look
on display or luxury as vulgar. They
get the consideration which they enjoy
not from their means, but from their
position. Thepossession or acquisition
Of money is, therefore, not sign Of
social success. A mans wife and chill
dren are not troubled by his not possess
sing 1t. Some of the most highly placed
and respected men in the community
live no better than the German pro-
lessor does, entertain no better, and
have as little money as he has. Conse-
quently the world at large in Germany
does not associate failure or small value
with a small salary. 1t has constantly
before its eyes great and successful
men who are also poor. 1t does not
place the money-making power highest
or even high among the human facul-
ties. There has undoubtedly been a
change in this respect since the war,
but nevertheless it is in the main true
that in Germany no one thinks as yet
OF estimating mans worth by the
pay he gets, or thinks of measuring
the amount of respect due to him by the
way in which he lives.
Now, we wish very much that this
state OF things existed here or in Eng
land. But it does not exist. More
over, it is passing away more or less
rapidly in all the countries in which it
does exist. All civilized societies in
our day tend to the commercial type,
and more and more adopt the CONNER
cial standards and tests. Consequently
we see no chance of introducing it here,
and, though it is everybody's duty not
to drift idly with the current, it is sheer
waste of strength to try to row dead
against it. The people, or perhaps we
should rather say the farmers. of the
United States, who are not used to
handling or spending large sums Of
money, have been making gallant
effort during the last three-quarters Of
a century, in fixing the salaries of pub
lie offices, to rebuke the notion that
money ought to be the main considera-
ton for an American officeholder. Ac-
cordingly, in all the States, the salaries
of judges and other functionaries have
been fixed with reference TO the wants
of an ideal man of really lofty soul,
utterly absorbedin the pursuit Of things
not seen, and by no means in reference
to the wants OF the ordinary American
man of our time, whom we have to get
to fill nearly all our salaried positions,
with wife who likes comfort and ex-
poets some share in the social life
around her, and children who chafe, AS
all children do, under poverty, and like
taste of the good things that are
going. The result has been simply
that the leading lawyers hardly ever
go on the bench, and that the ablest
business men will not accept political
positions, but take service with the
great moneyed corporations. There is.
in fact, in our time an immense and
most unfortunate diversion of the talent
of the country away from the admins
trative service of the Government,
mainly owing to the smallness of the
pay and the precagiousness of the posi-
ton.
Our colleges have largely fallen into
the same mistake. Not only have they
overlooked the great loss of influence
which has overtaken the ministry, and
with it the professional calling which
was at one time SO closely connected
with the ministry, and the great
changes in the manners and castoms
and standards of living of the commun-
munity which have taken place, but
they have persisted, like our CORES
pendent in setting up an ideal professor
Of their own construction, asking how
rauch salary he needed, and paying all
The others accordingly. What the
ideal professor always says is, that the
merest trifie is enough for him and his
family; that they are in fact so absorbed
in study that they hardly know what
they eat or wear, and that they should
be ashamed of themselves if they need
ed much money. The actual profess
sor is, however, a totally different per-
son. He is mostly amodern American,
fond of books and teaching and study,
it may be, but also fond OF such of the
social and aesthetic pleasures of his time
as he can afford. The proof is that
there is, we believe, no case on record
of wealthy professor living with the
Spartan simplicity which college trus-
tees try to persuade themselves that all
professors love.
In fact. poverty and very plain liv-
ing are things which, as has been wit
tily observed about marriages de raison
everybody thinks good for other people
but which hardly anybody thinks good
for himself. 1t does not follow from all
this that life of luxury or OF devotion
to money-getting is good for profess
sors any more than for other people.
There is measure in salaries and in
money getting, as in everything else.
Man was intended to be a moderate
animal. But it does follow from it
that it is in our time. and in our coun-
try, bad policy for the great institu-
tions of learning to hold out the teach
ing profession to the young men as a
little corner reserved in the midst of our
luxurious American society for the prac-
tice of endurance and fortitude. 1t
ought to be held out to the rising talent
OF every generation as calling in
which, like all others, man who loves
it and pursues it with zeal can have
not only its special and peculiar pleas
ures, but also fair amount of the ma
terial comforts which the bulk of his
countrymen seek. and are praised for
seeking by all contemporary moralists
and theologians. - The Nation.
-----s-s-.-----
Make Them Work.
Colonel T. ID. Curtis, in the Country
Gentleman, says regarding the manage
ment OF bulls: Make bulls work either