The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-05-11
The Poor Pay Of College Professors.

According TO tho NeW Haven Pnllddfxss the
salaries Of full professors ct Yale College are
only about $500 year. Even President
PORTER gets only about $4,000 . year. The
tutors, who arc chiefly young unmarried
men, arc better paid IN proportion to their
necessary expenses, for they receive from
$1,000 to 81. 800 year.
At Harvard College the salaries Of the full
professors arc generally $4,000 year. but
some get only 5000. Tutors are paid d, 1000
and are allowed quarters. The Instructors
receive from $500 to 81 800 . year. President
ELIors salary was formerly only 5000 .
year. but a special endowment for the pur-
pose having been raised, II he now, we be-
licvc, somewhere about $500.
Small % these salaries are, they arc yet
greater than those OF college professors gen.
orally In the United States, who, on the
average, probably get scarcely more than
half the pay given by Harvard and Yale.
Columbia College, however, Is q conspicuous
exception in this regard. It pays higher
salaries than any other American college, its
professors receiving $1,000 year. But,
considering the greater cost Of living 10
New York, o Columbia professor may not be
better of than professor In ono Of tho In
terror colleges whose salary 10 much smaller.
Yet our college faculties are made up Of
picked men, some OF them standing at the
very head Of their several branches Of knowl-
edge, and having q worldwide reputation
for scholarship and scientific requirement.
Their names alone are Of great value to the
colleges they serve, and their loss would DO
seriously felt by the institutions, which
might have to hunt far and near to All the
vacant places, for the supply is small, and Is
not increasing with the demand.
1t may be that college professors are paid
as much as the run OF professional men. The
average incomes Of lawyers and physicians,
for instance are small. Teachers, as rule.
are III paid. But In no profession and In no
business do the leaders get 30 little as these
distinguished scholars aud men Of science
who are engaged In college instruction They
may be the masters Of their specialties, the
choicest men in them, and yet their pay will
be scarcely equal to that Of the rank and file
OF the other professions. A moderately sue
cessful lawyer or physician, tho clergyman
Of city parish, or An engineer in fair prac-
tice will make more than they, though his
reputation be only local and his ability far
from remarkable.
Can 1t be doubtful, then, that our colleges
will ultimately be obliged to put up with in
ferior work II they continue to pay their pro-
fessors 30 i'll In the long run tho best
ability goes where 1t gets the best recon.
pense: and the modern world more and more
demands expert knowledge and special skill
and power, and Is more and more ready to
pay high price for them.
Accordingly, unless our leading colleges
get sufficient endowmcnts to pay their pro-
fessors more adequate salaries, the intel
lectual force and peculiar ability now spent
on college instruction are likely to be d.
verted from 1t. They will seek employment
where they can be used to better pecunlary
purpose. That Ia, the moro capable men will
choose profession which offers moro SUBJ
stantial rewards than that OF the college
professor.
In colleges, as elsewhere, small supply and
great demand must send up price,. Harvard
and Yale and Columbia cannot expect to al
ways command the services OF teachers aud
lecturers Of rare distinction unless they
properly remunerate them. They cannot
expect to go on paying second-rate and third
rate salaries for drst-rate work.