Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1919-10-26
EDITORIAL OPINION OF
IDAHO EDITORS
BACON AND SCHOOL TEACHERS


BACON AND SCHOOL TEACHERS
post. Idaho Falls).
The city Of Idaho Falls Is short of
school teachers. The county Of Bon
neville is short of teachers. The state
of Idaho and the whole nation for that
matter is a reason for this dearth of
teachers and that reason can be en-
bodied in a very few words: They
are not paid enough"
Edgar S. Jones of Taylorville. H.,
under the head of Bacon Is Now Sixty
Cents a Pound" has the following to
say In the October number of the
Journal of Education:
I'm certain mining community in
Illinois during 1918, August Smelzer
and Charles Sulygski. miners, received
for their wages $3.50 and s1,720, re-
spectively, for mining coal. Many 9TH
ers received $4,000 or more. These men
who were aliens were just two of
thousands who Jared as well or bet
ter. In this same community sixty
teachers received an average Of $3.50
year or monthly wage of $55 month
not one-half the amount that the driv-
ers of the milk wagons in Chicago
receive. The high school teachers IL
this same locality received on an av
erage of $500 a year or sos q month.
These teachers had from three to four
years of college training. An 1S-year
old boy who fixes the brakes on a
Ford" often receives twice as much
as the teacher. Another fact to be
| taken into consideration is that while
August Smelzeer was an enemy alien,
that the teachers of your boy and
my boy are United States American
women and men and how we'll their
work of developing citizens in the
past has been done is evidenced by
the patriotic response during the
| great war"
| 1T must also be remembered that
while demands have been granted to
! many industrial workers lit is not
questioned here that the workers were
not entitled to this increase, but on
| the other hand that this added wage
has for a long time been unjustly
withheld) the great body of Ameri
can teachers has never gone on a
| strike, but have continuously given
their best physical, mental and moral
powers to the tutoring of the child
Is 1t not now the time for America
to awake and pay the teacher a wage
| that is commensurate with her serv-
ices? There is not a real teacher that
is not earning $1,000 year and at that
4 figure the compensation would only
pay for the pure intellectual work
This pay would not take into consid-
GRAFTON the moulding of character. one
of the main functions of the teacher
Any individual may recall with pleas
ure and satisfaction the moral lessons
learned in school that later in life
caused him to stand f1at-footed and
look the world square in the eye.
Il Railroad men (the section men re.
ceive more of financial reward than
the average teacher in the United
States), government employees, BARRIERS
drug clerks and in fact all workers re-
ceive a compensation far in advance
OF the best teachers.
"All will agree that the public schoo
is the basis of our civilization; it IL
the melting pot for the rich and the
poor, the black and the white, the ma.
tive born and the foreign born; 1t II
the training place for our future citi.
zens. When so much is at stake is II
anything but fair that the average
wage that Is paid to the teachers OF
the United States should he increased
at least 100 per cent? In the majority
of the states the law uses the tern
loco PARENTS, meaning that the teach.
err takes the place of the parent while
the pupil Is under the teachers di.
rection.
There is no more worth while and
vital work than the instruction OF thu
children of a democracy and vet thu
IHeasFe IindHcial GecOinpenSe tndt I'M
teacher receives hardly pays for tn,
necessary comforts of life. She work.
and plans until late into the night
her hours are practically all the wax.
ing hours. This foster mother of tn,
child who develops year after yea
such characteristics as trustworthi,
ness. courtesy, obedience, thrift, clean
Illness and reverence is surely entitled
to remuneration that is just. TIL,
street sweeper in any city receives ;
higher salary than the average teach
er. Many OF the best teachers at pies
ent are leaving the field for more lu
crative positions. The condition Il
already becoming alarming. Why no
in the name OF equity and a square
DEAF to both teachers and pupils ad
just the situation? The qualification
standards Of teachers during the pas
ten years have been raised at leas
100 per cent, while the wage has beer
added to but very little"