The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-22
MINISTER'S FLAT SALARIES New York Episcopal
 Diocese Acts. ETHER sl,OOO OR .sl,7OO Presbyterians Have Tried That
 Plan. Over one Fifth of the Congregational Ministers of London are Struggling Along on Salaries less Than
 0e2S . Year.

 salary in the Episcopal dlocese of New York Is hereafter never to be less than S1200 if the man be single. or &i2oO with . residence provided if the man be married. The question has been set- tied and it is up to the churches them selves to raise the money.
 There never has been matter of such vital importance to the church as a whole as this one of salaries. Each year. the various denominations face 1t and most of them shirk 1t. The result Is that hundreds of men are struggling along trying to do nobiy for the church a work tn which ahey can have only . half interest for the reason that they are wondering all the time how they are to pay the bills of the family. Thel ate Bishop Potter was the best friend the under-paid preacher ever had and 1t was due largely to his words that the New York diocesan convention decided unanimously that the time had come when the churches must do more for the mon in the pulpit. ~
 Some months ago the Presbyterian General Assembly declared that 5000 and q residence was the minimum to be offered pastors or missionaries of the denomination but there are far more working for less than that, there
 
 amount than there are acturally re- ceiving even $500 year.
 IL has recently been stated that over one-fifth of all the Congregational ministers in London are receiving less than Se25 a year. Twenty -six of them raise less than $500 for the minister's salary, 23 more under s625. i've under 3750, s1 under e1000, and 7S under $500. Then the sums run to $3750, t~ Ia Arfn nd nniv al are found paying that amount. Rev. R. Fotheringham, chairman of the London Congregational Union. has called attention to this disparity in ministerial stipends.
 ''Is it a proper thing. he asked his fellow workers, "that one-fifth Of our ministers should be struggling to live on less than se35' a year! do not suS- gast that the higher paid ministers are overpaid but what does trouble me Is the striking inequality of the salaries. I believe that some way should be found for those who receive the better remuneration to help free from worry those whose parishes raise a living wage"
 And in the discussion which follow ed, no speaker made any attempt to tackle the problem set forth by the chairmen but simply made sugges- tions as to how Congrsgationalisr might be made more effective, forget ting that the men who must do the work are the very ones who should be helped financially.
 The Baptist Church in Canada has been losing men to this country in almost @ steady stream because 1t could not pay the salaries that men should ~have for the work they are called upon to do. The Christian Church has been considering plan to consolidate some of its congregations with one man at the head instead of having several struggling churches. none of which was accomplishing any thing for the sole reason that it was hampered in monetary way.
 All of these consideration made mare than ordinarily important the stand taken by the New York Episcopal dio- cese. committe named a year ago to consider the matter had It's report ready when Rev. Dr. Leighton Parks, rector of St. Bartholomews Church, was called upon to make known the work of the Committee on Inadequate Clerical Salaries. The convention was all attention at once for the decision that was likely to follow wouldprob- ably be a turning point not only for the Episcopalians but for other denom- |. nations as we'll
 The report was in the form of a res oIution to the effect that the conven tion was of the opinion that the mini mum salary for an unmarried clergy man in the diocese of New York should be $1200 and for a married clergyman st200 and a place in which to live or S1500 in cleaO money: Dr. Parks de- c1ared there were twenty-one mission stations or parishes in the diocese pay ing less than the minimum and the clergyman of fifteen of these parishes were married. One man whom he