The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-02-23
PAYOF SOME PREACHERS
GOOD
While the Average ieariy ncwurI
OF a Preacher In the United States
Is 1868, Some Metropolitan Minis
ters Receive $4,000.

The request of DR.. J. II. Jewett of
the Cars Lane Congregational
church, Birmingham, Eng, that the
$4,000 salary offered him by the
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian church,
New York, be cut down to an equiva-
lent of what he is now receiving, has
called especial attention to the figure
$4,000 Is a ministerial stipend; and
il raises the question of clerica
wages in general, and the point as to
whether $4,000 on Fifth avenue Is in
the long run much more liberal than
$1,000 in country town.
A salary of $4,000 Is not, as has
been reported. the highest ministerial
salary-Dr. Malcolm J. Mcleod of the
St Nicholas Collegiate church, New
York. receives $4,000 year, and DR..
David J. Burrell Is also said to receive
$4,000. The same salary Is given t,
;he rector of Trinity, DR.. William
Manning. The salary of DR. Charles
f. Aked of the Fifth Avenue Baptist
church THE Rockefeller church,, was
recently raised from $4,000 to $l2,-
eco. Yet the figure named by the Fifth
Avenue Presbyterian church for DR..
Jewett. since it carried with it
manse, amounts In substance almost
to Sl5 600. The officers of this church
mad previously offered DR.. Jewett
$4,000 in money, but he refused to
accept it.
In the Methodist Episcopal church,
the best-paid minister-in Pittsburg-
draws $500 year; one gets $8lOO
and one $1,000 in New York city, while
there are only ten men in Greater
New York who receive yearly over
$4,000.
Compared with those commercial
salaries which are pointed out to high
school graduates at commencement
time, these figures are mediocre, II
not skinny. But from within the pro-
fession they look large-in dollars
if other circumstances are overlooked.
The average annual salary of min
lister of the gospel in the United
States is 1868. The average salary
for cities of the first class 100000
inhabitants and over is 1929, for the
second class 100000 to 300000) it is
S1110; for cities of the third class
10000 to 100000 $1063; for the
fourth class (cities of 25,000 to So
000) it is 1912. For the area outside
these classihcations the average sal
airy is 1913.
In Scotland, which is almost entire
ly Presbyterian, each church pays in
to the general sustentation fund as
much as it can collect from its con
gregation, and every minister of the
Presbyterian church in Scotland
draws from this fund c $50, or $3.50
year This guarantees him certain
minimum In addition, each congrega-
ton can add as much more to this in
come as it wishes. Similarly, many OF
the Presbyteres of this church in the
United States have aff&ed a minimum
of $500 for their ministers, and this
has, in a number of cases, recently
been raised to $1,000.
What was considered the highest
salary in Scotland is said to have been
paid to DR.. Hugh Black, as pastor of
St Georges Presbyterian church in
Edinburgh-noW of the Union Theolo
gical seminary in this city. This was
G1000-$5000. In England the sal
aries in both the Presbyterian de
nomination and the Church of Eng
land are perhaps twenty-five per cent
higher DR.. Jewett probably is receiv-
ing G1200 or G1500 This would
make his New York offer appear to
double his salary; but, on the other
hand, living in England and Scotland
takes little more than half of what is
required on this side