St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1905-07-26
Teachers and Street Cleaners.

Much has been said about the pay OF
school teachers in Vermont, but as rule
it is assumed that structures in relation
to the small compensation received by
this class of educators apply principally
to the smaller towns. The people of Bur-
lineton may be surprised, however, to
learn that according to statistics fur
nished in connection with the report OF
the committee appointed by the National
Educational association the minimum
wage of the teacher in our public schools
is less than that OF the street cleaner.
This committee, of which Carroll D.
Wright is chairman, gathered its data
from three classified sources, from cities
of more than 5000 inhabitants, from
cities and villages of 5000 population
and less and from rural districts. A
table is given comparing wages of teach
ers with those OF municipal street labor
ers, employed and paid by the munich.
pality, and the remarkable fact is devel-
oped that in only four cities of the
country do the lowest wages of the ele-
mentary school teachers equal the lowest
wages OF the street cleaners in the same
city. The four cities are Chicago. Wash
ington, Columbus, Ca, and Meridian,
Miss, In the last two places the teach
ers are white and the laborers are coored,
which fact may account tor the compare
tive range of wages.
Our readers will be practically interest
ed in some figures taken from the report.
According to the table in question the
Burlington street cleaner receives at the
rate OF $3.50, while the lowest teachers
compensation in our schools is only $216.
In New York, including Brooklyn, the
minimum wage OF the elementary teacher
is $40 year, while the man who cleans
the street and Pushes the sewer earns
1851. In intellectual Boston the teachers
wage is 1852 and the street la borer's
5000. In Philadelphia the teacher gets
$40 and the street cleaner 5000. In San
Francisco, one OF the most liberal OF all
cities in school matters, the elementary
teacher begins at $500 and the street
cleaner at $3.50. To Seattle the teacher
gets $3.50 and the street cleaner $697 so.
In Buffalo the teacher gets $500 and the
laborer $3.50. In Cincinnati the teacher
receives $500 and the street cleaner
$493.50. In New Haven, a university
town, the street cleaner is paid 1884 and
the teacher only $500, and 80 it goes on
through list OF torty-eight OF the princi-
pal cities of the United States.
This table allows fifty weeks of work
a year to the street laborer, while, OF
course, the teacher 10 in actual service
only thirty eight or forty weeks. But the
teacher must live through bout the year on
hAr n + ka
street laborer's day is ten hours, but the
necessary work out OF the class room now
brings the average working day OF all
city teachers up to ten hours.
1t may be argued that the teacher has
chance for advances in her salary. But
the average yearly salary OF all the
women teachers in the elementary
schools OF the ACT leading cities in the
United States is only $3.50, less than
street cleaners receive in San Francisco
and Seattle; practically the same as
street cleaners receive in New York.
There is vast discrepancy also In the
preparation required" says the report.
The wages OF laborers here represent, it
should be remembered, the earnings OF
the commonest unframed labor while in
scarcely any city of Importance can a
man or woman secure a position as
teacher withoutsome previous experience
or special preparation. In many of the
important cities, too. preliminary to
this special preparation, a high school
education is required.
In the rural schools teachers salaries
sink to a pittance. Seven dollars a week
is the average salary for all the women
teachers III the state OF Vermont, includ.
ing the cities, and wages TOR teachers in
in typical ungraded schools are quoted as
low as $4. SO week in Maine, Sc SO
week IN Massachusetts, SIS week in
Connecticut, SIS a week in New York
state, Sc so in New Jersey and SIS a
week in Pennsylvania. These figures in
some cases apply 10 men as well as wo-
men, and the number of weeks school 10
he year runs as low as twenty eight.
In the South the school year runs down
to ten weeks. and wages are quoted as
low as $40 a month for colored
teachers. In the Far West wages rise to
correspond with the increased cost of
living. California seems to pay its
country teachers better than any other
state. Its lowest salary reported for a
woman is $11. rs for thirty-two weeks
school. and salaries run as high as $3.50
a year for woman in rural school of
forty weeks.
Ofgreat interest to women will be the
comparison OF the salaries Of men and
women teachers. In the 467 leading cities
IA per cent. OF the teachers are women
and only 26 per cent. Of the elementary
teachers are men. But the average salary
of these men teachers in the elementary
schools is ST. ,161 year, while the aver
age salary OF the women elementary
teachers, doing exactly the same work,
is $3.50. While the average for women
high school teachers is 5000 year, for
men it is ST. 1903, though both must have
the same preparation. The average
salary tor women principals OF elementary
schools is 1910, for men 81, 542. The
same difference runs into special branches,
men and women teachers of music, draw.
ing and so on receiving very diff; rent
salaries.