The morning journal-courier., 1908-07-21
PAY OF TEACHERS.


 In very interesting and impassion- ed speech last week Mir. Bryan spoke of the inadequate compensation given school teachers. His audience was composed of men and women who are engaged in the arduous task of in- structing the young and while he dis avowed any intention of making an ad- dress he made one which cannot fall to impress those who have given thought to the inequality of salaries paid in the different vacations of life. He could have without exaggeration made his remarks apply to all undertakings in life the exact profit of which cannot be accurately estimated
 MT. Bryan by no manner of means overshot the mark in these sober words. You take those children at ~period when their characters are form irg, and by the impression you make upon them you must largely depend for their usefulness in after years Wheth- CT our children are comfort to us, a pride to us, a source of helpfulness to us, depends very largely upon what the teacher does, for the teacher more than any other one co-operates with the parent in the development of the child" It vas exactly this view of the seriousness of the work done by the teacher that led The Journal Courier year ago to strongly advocate a raise in school salaries, and we re- call with satisfaction that later the board of education arrived at q like conclusion and presumably for like req sons. People have grown So accus- toned to sending their children to school and have grown so unaccus- toned to visit the schools-they have in fact so adjusted themselves to the echool system with all 1t implies that they rarely realize what the teachers undertake, and. what they accomplish in behalf of both the pupil and the par ent. It could easily be demonstrated that the school teacher plays a larger part in the development of the child than the average parent himself and yet of all vacations it is the one most dangerously neglected.
 The fallacy into which MT. Bryan naturally fell in the course of his re- marks is seen in these words: Now compare your compensation and your work with the compensation and the work of those who have secured favor itism and privileges. Compare your work and your reward with those, for instance, who have secured control of some great industry and who, by means of this control, are able to reach their hands into the pockets of eighty millions of people and by fixing arbitrarily the price of what they sell and which the people must have are able to gather reward larger than they earn" No such comparison Is pos. sible and If 1t were 1t would give little satisfaction. The truth is that profes. s,'1 ,.o1 yA,fy la l., commercial standards except in rare instances and under extraordinary con. 6itions. A wholesale house. for exam pie, can tell to nioety what compen sation drummer should receive. I can all be computed by the sum ant total of the sales he makes. The com Tensation given the president of { great corporation can be readily fxec because the results Of his labors art shown in the annual earnings. To es timate the value of the services of teacher calls for an imagination whicl few know how to exercise and faitl which fewer yet know the inspiration of. To attempt as MT, Bryan does t, make political capital out of some thing which he cannot remedy If elect ed president 6 dozen times shows ex actly that lack of boise which ha made him and still makes him objec tionable to thousands of men as a can didate for high executive office.
 We agree that all teachers belong t the underpaid class but until a fai and more equitable scheme of human compensation has been devised thai has yet been suggested We look for lit tie change Men and women will con tinue to teach for the love of teachin on small pay just as many men con tinue to preach the word for the lov of 1t and not for the compensation in volved.
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