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

According to tho NeW Haven PUttddtttSs the
salaries of full professors ct Yale College are
only about $500 q 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 1880 year.
At Harvard College the salaries Of the full
professors arc generally $4,000 year. but
some get only 5000. Tutors are paid $1,000.
ind are allowed quarters. The Instructors
receive from $500 to 81 800 year. President
ELIor's salary was formerly only 5000 .
year. but a special endowment for the pur.
pose having been raised, It is now, We be-
lieve, somewhere about $500.
Small 10 these salaries are, they ore 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 a 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 one Of the 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 be
seriously felt by tho institutions, which
might have to hunt far and near to fll the
vacant places, for the supply is small, and 10
not increasing with the demand.
II may be that college professors are paid
as much rs the run OF professional men. The
average incomes Of lawyers and physicians,
for instance, are small. Teachers, as a rule.
are Ill paid. But in no profession and In no
business do the leaders get 30 little as these
distinguished scholars and men of science
who are engaged In college instruction. They
may be the masters OF their specialtles, the
choicest men In them, and yet their pay will
DO scarcely equal to that Of the rank and file
of the other professions. A moderately sue
cessiul lawyer or physician, the clergyman
Of city parish, or an engineer in fair prac-
tioe will make more than they, though his
reputation DO only local and his ability far
from remarkable.
C8n IL % 0OuOtIul, Chen, tnaC our cOale8ee
will ultimately be obliged to put up with In
ferior work II they continue to pay their pro-
fessors 30 III 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 a better pecuniary
purpose. That ls, the moro capable men will
choose profession which offers more SUBJ
stantial rewards than that OF the college
professor.
In colleges, as elsewhere, small supply and
great demand must send up prices. 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 seoond-rate and third
rate salaries for Arst-rate work.