The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1919-05-14

The above is the caption of an ar
ticle nthe Literary Digest of May
10th, and should be read and careful
~ studied by every American citizen
who has at heart the future welfare
of this country. We are in hearty
accord with every word of the arti-
Gle, and in a personal letter from the
editor, we have been asked to have
the article published in the county
papers. Below is the article in full
R. H. BURKHART.
1t is strange that the generous
hearted American people, who pour
ed out their riches so prodigally in
response to every patriotic, every
charitable appeal, and who accorded
such enthusiastic and liberal support
to every measure and to every group
that helped wi the war. should have
neglected to properly encourage and
reward the services of one of the
noblest professions in the field of
human activities-a profession that
in lofty ideals, in unselfsh principles,
in sacred responsibilities, stands side
by side with the ministry of the Cos
pei itself.
We wish to bespeak, with whatever
power and authority we may have
and with such words as may be grant
ID to us, some measure of consider
alton for the foster-fathers and
mothers of our children-the school
teachers of the United States of
America.
There is no class of workers of
which we demand so much. We
commit into their keeping the minds,
The bodies, and the very souls of our
children in the tender and formative
years of their lives, and they, receiv-
ing these children, can indeed be said
% hold in the hollow of their hands
he future of America. We expect
these devoted men and women to
watch over and care for our sons and
daughters as tho they were their very
own, to drill them in the arts and
sciences, to train them for business
and for citizenship, to instruct them
in manners and in morals, to do fol
them those things which we would dc
had we the training and the leisure
No class has assumed so heavy, sc
rying a burden and responsibility
With such Willingness as these con-
secrated men and women. No class
has performed their increasingly
heavy tasks more devotedly, more
,onscientiously, and with less thought
If self. No class served their coun-
Try more Fundamentally, more 10y
ally, during the trying and tempest
lous times of war, day by day pur-
suing their round of duty, day by
lay helping the young people, and
through the children the parents, to
see the struggle in its true light, thus
securing the cooperation of the COM
1lunity in every measure undertaken
BY the Government to win the war.
Truly they have made the nation
their everlasting debtor. Truly had
hey not done their work so well this
'epublic would not outlast the span
Of a generation.
What then have the teachers re-
ceived at our hands in return? They
lave received little Of honor and
somewhat less of pay. Other classes
nave prospered; other classes through
powerful organizations have secured
generous wages. The teachers have
no spokesman, however, to demand
ovn the simple justice Of a living
wage, so to them we give their pet
~ prewar pittance, so meager, so pit
fully inadequate, that it places a
burning brand of shame and disgrace
upon this nation.
The men and women who are MAX
ng the Americans of tomorrow are
being treated with less consideration
han the janitors who sweep out the
buildings in which they are emplay-
ed; they are earning on an average,
ess than the wages given to the
crubwomen employed in the public
buildings of the United States Gov
eminent. Normal-school graduates
eceive less salary than street-sweep-
eTs; high school principals and super
intendents less than section foremen;
country school teachers less for in
structing the farmers children than
he pays his hired man to feed his
hogs.
In certain town in Illinois, for
instance, the average wages of fif-
zen miners for one month was $217,
while the average monthly salary of
fifteen teachers in the same town
was $55. In another town a miner,
who, by the way, was an enemy alien,
drew more than $2,700 last year,
while the salary of the high school
principal in the same town was $765.
We welcome with all our hearts the
long belated recognition that is be-
ino rrivao 70 tbo MOI, 1,,bo ,,,orlys ,u;+L