The Coconino sun., 1919-05-16

something better. No wonder there are thirty thousand teachers in the United States who have had no school ing beyond the eighth-grammar grade and small wonder, indeed, that seven million of our school children are be- ing trained by teachers, mere boys and girls themselves, who have had no professional education whatever.
 "When we consider that the 740,000 teachers of America are paid an aver age salary of $630 year; when, more over, we consider the fact that living costs have actually advanced 103 per cent since the beginning of the war, thereby cutting the buying power of these insignificant salaries in half, we can easily determine that only a fool or martyr would choose teaching as profession, or would long remain in lit unless these terrible conditions were swiftly remedied.
 "What a crime is this! What an sin at the doors of an enlightened peo- ple who now find themselves at the head and forefront of the democracies of the world! How can we better pre- pare for the great undertakings of re- construction than by setting ourselves immediately to remedying this peril ous condition. In these trying and chaotic times when the world is beset by unrest, by anarchy, by revolution. by the devils brood of appalling evils that follow in the train of war, we must make sure that the foundations of our republic are set on a rock that it may stand against the flood.
 "The peace and security of the world of the future will be in the safe keeping of the generation now in our schools. These boys and girls must weave up the raveled sleeve of civilization. Their hands must minis- ter to the wounds of the nations. Their minds must meet and solve the difficult and crucial problems that will be their inheritance. Their hearts must be so imbued with the horrors of war and with the poverty and an- guish that inevitably follow in its wake that they in their time will enter upon it only as last resort in na- tional self defense or in support, of some great principle of humanity.
 Never has there been more urg- ent need for high-minded, great-heart- ed, splendidly trained, 100 per cent American instructors to drive home the vital lessons that these times hold. Never has the future of the nation been so clearly committed into the hands of the teachers. And yet thou sands of men and women of ability who would prefer to teach are reluct- antly leaving their chosen calling, forced by the hard necessities of their very existence.
 "The teachers ask no largess at the hands of fortune. They enter their profession for service, not riches. But they invest years and money in prep aration for their life work and the knowledge they gain is shared with others who themselves use it to their own profit. Teachers, then, by every right and in all justice expect a return that will permit them and their de- pendents to live decently and in com fort.
 'ln every community reached by the Literary Digest there are readers of foresight, of vision, broad-minded men and thoughtful women who will sec nay, perhaps have long since seen the critical and compelling importance of this problem. We are directing this appeal to them. We urge them to compare the salaries of their teachers with the wages of those who are doing work of equal value. There will be challenge in the facts that will stir ! the community to action.
 Let each community invest in zl, khot fhnrahty sruoGt in trained manhood and womanhood that can play their part in the great period of rebuilding and reconstruc- ton that lies before us. Let each community set for it's goal, as far as is practicable, minimum wage of at least $1 900 a year for the teachers of America. This would cost the na- tion perhaps as much as we spent so gloriously in but one week of the great war. | "We are not pleading merely for the welfare of some single profession; we are not pleading for special class; we are pleading for America; for her larger, her brighter, her richer future, for the fulfillment of her glorious promise. We are pleading for com ing race of men and women who shall be qualified to make complete the work of our forefathers who founded this nation and dedicated it to liberty, and who will bring to full fruition the new victories that we have won in freedoms cause. We are pleading for wider teaching of the principles, the purposes, and the ideals of this na- tion that all men shall know her meaning and shall have equal access to her opportunities; that the light of Americanism will so shine that it will flood every home, every heart, in our great land"