The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-02-28
PLEA FOR BETTER SALARIES
Why Teachers in Salt Lake Schools
Should Receive More Re-
Enumeration.

To The Salt Lake Herald:
The recent discussions relative to II. B.
2l7. which provides for the increase of
the tax from 81 to 81 mills for the
school maintenance fund i'm cities of the
first class leads me to ask for space in
your valuable paper for this article. writ
ten from the standpoint of a taXpaver.
When the salaries paid to our teachers
are compared with those paid by other
towns Of our rank in the west We fall
considerably below. In Salt Lake City
the grade teacher receives from 1850 to
$40 per year, while in Seattle the maxi
mum for grade teacher is Si.0g1 per an
num-. In Los Angeles grade teachers
salaries range from $500 to $50 Der an
num- while in their high school the sal
aries range from Sl0j0 to S1,150, which IS
Iar above our schedule. the minimum
Inere being nearly equal to our maximum.
Inc salaries at Boise. Butte and Denver
are much in excess of what they are here
IL IS worthy of note that the schedules
III all of these cities have been modified
WITHIN the past twelve months because
OF the increased cost of living
Ihe salary question is under discussion
In all parts of the country. Ohio and In
diana have recently passed laws fixing
the minimum salaries of teachers and A
similar law is now before the. Kansas
legislature The teachers of New Jersey
this year have received an increase of >
per cent During the past seven wears
creased Al per cent In a New Jersey
town Of only 5000 inhabitants the min
lmum Is $3.50, with maximum of 500.
In Kansas City. Mo. the Salaries rance
from $3.50 to $3.50 in ten monthly pay
ments. Let it be remembered that the cost
of living in the east, especially in the
central states, is far below the cost here.
from the statistics published in The
Herald few days ago / CLEAN some in
teresting facts relative to the cost of lv-
ing. under the title of Expenses of
rnsa1ar
ferred entirely to local conditions, a
glimpse at a recent bulletin of the ma
tional bureau OF labor (No. 60, published
in July, 1906, throws additional light
upon the subject According to this au-
thority the prices of tWenty-eight out OF
thirty articles of staple food stuffs are
higher than they have been since 1896.
understand the teachers schedule of sal
same as il was ten OF twelve years ago.
One hundred dollars then meant more
! than 500 means now, and while the sal
aries may have been adequate for III lse
times of financial depression. today they
are entirely inadequate ana the poor
teacher has difficulty in making both
ends meet No teacher can do justice 10
her work or to herself without sufficient
salary to maintain her professional and
social standing and to furnish a little
more than actual living expenses for
twelve months in the year. The efficiency
of the work done in any system of schools
will! be in direct proportion to the Fecog-
milton of the efforts of the teaching body
Now, to get to the point of this com
municatiOn, / wish to ask, What is the
most business-lilSe method of dealing with
| this situatiOng Is it not TO meet il in
the same manner that has been pursued
! by competent business men III CONNER
/ cial lines of activity In the bulletin to
I which reference was made above, a tabs
I NJ forty-tWO industries is given. showing
that since 1904 wages have incheased in
tEirty-seven Of these forty-tWo indus
/ tries In an editorial IN The Herald.
I think. few weeks ago, was given a list
! of grssping corporations. all of which
have advanced wages on an average 81
/ 80 per cent within the past few months.
Moreover il will be recalled that the ma :
tionai house Of Representatives has just
acted favoTably upon the postmaster. gem
erals recent suggestion that il would be
| necessary to increase the wages of mail
| clerks in order to retain competent men.
Is il any less necessary that teachers
4 wages be increased for like purpose? IL
/ has wisely been said that process OF
| wedding out has been in vogue among
teachers for the past few years. But il
has been a wedding out from among the
| most competent ones, because they found
better compensation in other lines OF
! work.
When we consider the vast influence 81
| a teacher upon the lives and characters
of the coming generation, ii would seem
wise to secure the best teachers to be
had--not the best to be had for such q
nlggardiy sum as some narrow-minded
.
and it is my candid opinion that any at
tempt to curtail salaries so that they
will barely meet the expenses of living
is a serious biunder-a blunder that Of
business principles alone the thinking
/ taxpayer will hesitate long before max.
ing. Especially is this true when W.
consider at what small expense to ths
taxpayer the conditions can be remediee
the passing of a law making possible
when necessary an Increase in the tas
levy of / mill, 10 cents on the hundred
dollars. On valuation of S2,G0 fhis
would amount 10 tax of s. per annuTn
or Just the amount that some parent:
paid for a months tuition per child I
few years ago when the revenue was ex
hausted before the end of the schoo
year For this reason alone Il would D,
economy in the long run to the taxpay
ers of Salt Lake City, as well as SCUM
business policy. for the legislature I.
pass the bill making possible the increas
of tax levy whenever such increase be
u comes necessary
Superintendent ChTistensen-s recon-
mendations for increased salaries ar
along the right linss Let us hope tina
the legislature viii make it possible 10
: the school board to put them in force
TAXPAYER