The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-10-12
AIMS FROM THE POOR.

he offef OF a Northern man to come 10 Nlr-
glnla and teach at no other salary than the bare
expenses Of his living may or may not be the
tender Of crank. The serious thing is that
under existing conditions it may be the bona fde
offer OF competent teacher. That there are not
more snch offers Is result rather of pride than
anything else, for ii i the growing shame al
this and other countries that one Of the most
necessary of all professions is that which Is most
poorly paid.
When it is considered that, before anyone is
competent 10 teach he or she must qualify By a
long course of expensive instructions the returns
which follow upon the calling are rdicuously
inadequate. OF scarcely any other person is so
much required and expected as of the teacher.
We have raised high the standards of those who
instruct onr young. We require of them an
equipment of character plus intelligence that is
locked for IN hardly any other calling. We
demand OF them degree OF culture not else
where expected. In their life and manner Of
lvlns, IN the place they shall hold III society, the
teachers OF the land are expected 10 consistently
pose as leaders and examples. In spite OF which
they are paid hardly more than day laborer's
wages. The letter of the man who. claiming TO
be an educated. and competent teacher is will
ing TO work for his keep, is the letter which
thousands ON thousands mi ght logically write.
What is true of the United States is true. al
SO, OF other countries in form even more acute
than with lis. Only recently we read from Eng
land astounding statistics of the unemployed
among teachers, all of whom had taken preIin-
mary course of from four to ten wears in prepara
ton. Thousands of these persons are for the
want of the pittance which they would obtain
if employed, engaged in mental occupations.
| heir capital of special knowledge is being con-
stantly depleted and dissipated in the grinding
struggle of existence. To such unfortunates.
fired most of them with the worthiest motives and
ambition, the world must seem hard and sense
less place indeed
What is true of teachers is true, also. Of min
listers. Everywhere can be found examples of
these men who have pitched their lives on tho
grand ideal OF service 10 mankind, starving with
pathetic nobility, waiting for the end of toll I'M
reqnlted by the world. Among the men who
labor, the necessity of the living wage has pro-
duced It's unions and its militant organizations
designed for self-protection. In the professions
all save few heroic figures of the .old time doc
tor are consistently working toward an adequate
return tor the sale of special knowledge. In a
time OF advancing prices and "high cost of liv-
ing all the world is demanding that both brain
and Drawn receive cmoluments sufficient to the
needs of men in costly civilization, Only. at
the bottom, remain those who logically ought to
be at the top, stays modestly content and silently
suffering the class without which we could not
subslst, from whose unselfsh devotion the world
leeds and draws Its snstenance to do BY reason
OF pure modesty and difidence it does not seem
that the teachers have it in them to helm Them.
selves-certainly the preachers have not. r 4
not time that the world should determine to no
longer require sacrifice to which it is not
entitled that it should no longer consent in its
richness TO receive the aims Of the poor!
Roanoke-"Acorn to OAK is one of the few
among cities or people that have found it pos
slble TO live up to MOTTO
It remained for the aeroplane man to place the
ex- President in a position where he could not
make speech
Mr.. Taft might advertise for applications for
1.-the Job Of Chief Justice