The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1918-03-15
STATE TEACHERS
ANNUAL MEETING.
More Money For SchooIS-More Pay
For Teachers Topics To Be
Considered.
written for the March Number of
Southern School Work, by President
E. L.StephenS of Lafayette lnstitute)

E. L.StephenS of Lafayette lnStitute).
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the
4th, Str and eth of April, are the days
set for the annual convention of the
State Teachers Association, and the
place has been changed from ShreVe.
port to Baton Rouge. Try to be there,
fellow teacher. Your country is calling
you. 1t may seem to you first thought
that it is because your country is call
ing you so hard, that you are planning
to stay at home this time instead OF
going to the teachers convention. But
on the second thought you will realize
that you are teacher and that it is as
a teacher or nothing that you will serve
your country in this time of its need;
and that if your profession is about to
suffer mortal blow by reason of your
Indifference or your absence from its
counSels, your ability to serve your
country is about to be impaired or de.
stroyed.
The profession of teaching is right
now being seriously impaired, and a
terrible blow is about to fall upon it.
1t is every teachers business to swarm
together with all the rest to try to-
ward it of. The blow referred to is the
reduction of the teachers pay to what
is called in economics 1.-The margin of
subsistence" and below that. This
reduction has been going on steadily
for ten years past, but has been great
ly accelerated since the beginning of
the great war-while the pay OF almost
all other occupations has been greatly
increased And the thing has been
! done in such subtle and almost under.
handed sort of way, that we have not
been aroused to sense of the wicked
ness of it. 1t has been done indirectly.
They didn't come right out and reduce
the amount of our salaries like man!
They secretly, surreptitiouSly, and like
thief in the hight, reduced the value
of the dollar they paid US so that the
food, clothing and shelter we used to
to be able to buy with one months
salary now costs us two months SAL
ary. We have been robbed-JuSt as
surely as if a burglar had broken into
the house and walked off with our valu.
ableS-tle us say, The Harvard Class
icsD. Let any teacher who reads these
lines make the application to his own
case make a list of the necessary and
useful things your salary could buy ten
wears ago, and compare it with a cor
responding list Of what it can buy to-
cav. You will find that your salary has
remained almost stationary, with per-
haps a small raise from time to time in
consideration of your increased ELI
cieucy, experience and length of ser
. vice, while the goods that your Salary
could buy have been reduced more thar
half. And you will realize that, il
, effect this has been an actual reduction
of the already small reward you re
ceived from your profession. And OF
! inquiry you will find that most othe
| occupations have not been correspond
ingly reduced. They have manage
7 thru some means or other to get NOR
nav for their services so as to meet tn
} higher prices for the things they hav
/ to buy. But the teaching professlo
( has not done so. Why not? What's tn
Z matter with us? Are we what Rim
I Lardner would call "a bunch of dubs!
, Well, that is the great questo
} which is going TO come up at at II
) Baton Rouge meeting. Brother Slste
: and if you are not already asphyxiate
{ with the lethal poisoning OF the ro'
Z pay you have been getting, you will
, there-and shouting! State Superb
, tendent Harris, our champion al
= leader, has gone OH the rampage #
< MORE MONEY FOR THE SCHOOL
= He points to the fact that better pay
Y other callings is taking tine best teaf
y ers out of the profession; that, On II
= account, either many of the Scho
= must he closed, or they must be Ike
= o)sn by poorer grade Of teache
W