Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1910-01-07
COST OF LIVING
HITS EDUCATORS
ASSISTANT PROFESSORS IN HIGHER
INSTITUTIONS ARE UNDERPAID,
SAYS CALIFORNIAN.
SCHOLARSHIP SYSTEM ABUSED.
Members of Association of American Uni
versities Hear Severe Criticism of
intellectual Valet" System.
MANY UNIVERSITIES REPRESENTED

MADISON, Wis, Jan. 4-[Special
That 80 per cent. of the assistant pro-
fessors in American universities must
supplement their salaries by outside
work, in order TO make both ends
meet" that they receive, on an average,
just enough to suffice for an unmarried
man, and that "a per cent. of them are
married and have families to support,
were facts presented with other striking
statistics by Prof. Guido Marx of the
engineering college of Stanford univer-
sity in a paper on The Problem of the
Assistant Professor" before the Associa-
ton of American Universities, which
opened its annual convention at the uni
yersity this morning.
Replies to questions sent to go assist
ant professors IN the twenty-five institu-
tons represented in the association
showed that the average assistant pro-
fessOr receives his appointment at the
age of 31.25 years, after spending, as q
rule, some seven years in graduate study
In preparation.
Scores Scholarship System.
'Sixty-three and a half per cent. of
the assistant professors have received
some assistance financially i'll pursuing
their studies, preparatory to university
teaching said Prof. Marx. The schol-
incumbent, and he must go in debt, or
undertake some outside employment to
exc out his funds, taking time and
strength which otherwise would be spent
upon his university work
One deplorable effect of the present
scholarship system is the fact that the
debt thus incurred takes, on an average,
six. eight, Or ten years in the repaying
The manipulation Of the fel1owships for
the building up Of a strong or large
graduate department lies dangerously
near the immoral; and this is doubly true
when the fellowship carries with it bur-
dens, some teaching duties which make it
but disguised, underpaid instructorship.
Nor can the practice of some professors
of intellectual valet, be too strongly con-
demned.
Rise in Cost of Living.
The rapid increase in the cost Of
living III the past twenty years has made
the situation of the assistant profess
sor acute, for there has been no general
increase of salaries commensurate with
this. AS a consequence these men find
themselves driven to a lower ard lower
standard of living. This is a grave
menace to the efficiency of the institu-
tons, both present and future, it must
be remembered, it is from the ranks of
these that the higher positions must be
tilled-the full professorships and the
heads Of colleges and Institutions
This afternoon Dean Louis f. Reber
of the University Of Wisconsin extension
division presented a paper on university
extension work, and at six the delegates
are to be entertained at dinner by the
faculty of the University of Wisconsin,
at the University club.
Noted Educators Present.
Leading educators from the greatest
un; ersities and schools of the country
are present at the sessions, among them
being: California, Prof. Frederick Slate;
Carnegie foundation President Pritch-
EFT; Catholic university, DR.. g. w. Bel
ling; Chicago university, President II. P
Judson, Dean A. ". Small of graduate
school of arts; Dean Salisbury of grad
uate school of science and letters: Clark
university, Prof. Sanford; Columbia, w.
II. Carpenter, Munro Smith, T. z. Ke-
pei; Cornell, Dean Merritt; Harvard,
President a. l.. Lowell, Charles II. Has
kins; Illinois, President E. J. James, Al
bert 2. Carman; Indiana, President w.
l.. Bryan; Iowa, President E. G.. Mac
Lean; Carl e. Seashore; Johns Hopkins,
DIR. W. W. Willoughby; Kansas, Chan
cellor T. Strong; Leland Stanford, Pres
ident d. Starr Jordan.