The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-05-11

According to tho Nas Hdvew Rlllddfsam tho
salaries Of full professors ct Yale College are
only about $500 year. Even President
PORTER gets only about 1000 year. The
tutors, who arc chiefly young unmarried
men, arc better paid in proportion to their
necessary expenses, for they receive from
81, 900 to 81 .5ooa year.
At Harvard College the salaries OF the full
professors arc generally $4,000 . year, but
some get only 5000. Tutors are paid q, 000,
and are allowed quarters. The instructors
receive from $500 to 81, 800 year. President
ELIor's salary was formerly only $500 .
year, but special endowment for the pur-
pose having been raised, It is now, We be-
lievc, somewhere about $500.
Small a. these salaries are, they are yet
greater than those OF college professors gem
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 conspicuous
exception in this regard. It pays higher
salaries than any other American college, It's
professors receiving $1,000 year. But.
considering the greater cost Of living In
New York, Columbia professor may not be
better of than professor In ono Of tho in
terror colleges whose salary is much smaller.
Yet our college faculties arc 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 arc Of great value to the
colleges they serve, and their loss would be
seriously felt by the institutions, which
might have to hunt far and near to All the
vacant places, for tho 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, arc small. Teachers, as q rule,
are III paid. But in no profession and In no
business do the leaders get 80 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 a city parish, or an engineer in fair prsc.
tice will make more than they, though his
reputation DO only local and his ability far
from remarkable.
Can It be doubtful. then, that our colleges
will ultimately DO obliged to put up with in.
ferior work II they continue to pay their pro-
fessors 80 Ill? In the long run tho best
ability goes where it 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 t.
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 It, They viii seek employment
where they can be used to better pecuniary
purpose. That Ia, the more capable men will
choose profession which offers moro sub
stantial rewards than that Of the college
professor.
In colleges, as elsewhere, small supply and
great demand must send up prioee. Harvard
and Yale and Columbia cannot expect to al
ways command the services OF teachers and
lecturers Of rare distinction unless they
properly remunerate them. They cannot
expect to 60 on paying seoond-rate and third
rate salaries for frst-rate work.