New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-12-07
President Butler Says School
Must Regulate Its Staff
to Meet Increased Salaries
or Face Bankruptcy
New Scale Is Approved
Trustees Agree to PaySS,OOO
to Professors and Add to
Funds to Assist Students

When the new pay scale Of ss,o0Q.
to $4,000 year for Columbia pro-
lessons goes into effect, President
Nicholas Murray Butler said Yesterday.
1t would be necessary to limit the nuns
Der of professorships. Otherwise, hs
declared, the university would be bank4
rupt.
The scale, which has beer aps
proved by the university trustees. will
not be applied by infexible rule. A
few especially distinguished profesx
sors will receive $4,000 q year. This
increase Of expenditure entaied By the
new salary standards, approximately
100000 year, Is expected to be COW
cred By the increases in tuition feea
which become effective. But once the
new scale is in operation, DR.. Butler
said here would be prompt end to
a system Of holding out prospects Of
professorships to newly engaged in~
structors or assistants
Change Must Be Made
ut will be necessary" he explained
ITO take formal steps to limit the num-
Der of professorships, associate profes>
sorships and assistant professorships.
and to make promotions or new ap-
pointments only when vacancies occur
by death, retirement or resignation, or
when circumstances plainly require the
establishment Of additional teaching
positions in the higher grades Of SER
vice. Emergencies should be met by
adding TO the number of associates.
lecturers and instructors a. occasion
may require, without holding out to tho
persons appointed any prospect Of ad.
vancement in grade unless vacancies
shall be created In the manner stated.
Zone cause Of the embarrassment
under which the university now J.
is that young men Of competence Ind
faithful service have been advanced In
grade In response to the urgent re-
quest Of their immediate colleagues on
the teaching staff in recognition Of
their individual merits.
What Teachers Will Get
Under the new scale associate pro.
fessors will receive from $4,000 to
$4,000 year; assistant professors, 3d.
900 to $4,000; instructors, $4,000 TO
s2,4O0, and assistants. $1,000 to $1,000.
The trustees also have made provision
for charging scholarships and loan
funds for students working their way
through the university
DR.. Butler reviewed the history Of
the University since the Civil War with
reference to salary increases, and
pointed out that advances granted in
slsIo, during a similar era thigh
prices, yielded salary average higher
than that OF the new scale, in compare.
son to cost of living
AT that time" he continued oh.
college was small, and the number Of
its teachers few. The annual income
of 100000 or $4,000 was sufficient to
enable the trustees to make q hand
some addition TO the salary of each
teacher then in service.
For short time after this standard
OF payment was established newly an
pointed professors received salaries OF
$500. Very soon, however. the period
of rapid growth began and teaching
positions were increased at SO rapid a
rate that 1t was no longer practicable
tor the trustees, with the fund at their
command. to continue to pay salaries
at the scale established IN 1876 From
Iiol liHlt W lHe present the trustees
have struggled year after year to paw
the best possible salaries without run
ming the corporation hopelessly into
debt During the last fifteen years sal
aries have been increased by not les.
than 100000, an amount equal to the
income on an endowment of more than
eight million dollars
despite the best efforts of The tru.-
tees, however, the scale of salaries ia
IN 1919, far below the point fixed in
1915, while living costs are higher"
Tuition Cost Increased
Referring to the decision to increase
tuition DE-. Butler said:
Trustees believe this to be a sound
policy from an educational as we'll az
from financial point Of view. particu.
larry if ample provision is made for
deserving students who need assist
ance, and for that very large number
at Columbia who are supporting them
selves IN whole or in part. Such stud
ents are theg lory and pride OF Column
bia, and if we can help it not a single
one of them will be asked to bear any
heavier burden than he is now carry
ing.
"On the other hand, those who pay
the tuition fees pay them for period
varying from but one to seven years,
duu, DIS Tie increases are relatively
small and widely distributed, the addi-
tional cost in any individual case is not
large. The relief to the teaching staff,
however, is permanent, and covers the
work Of lifetime. Surely no one will
begrudge a somewhat larger payment
intuition fes when it is realized that
this payment is for the purpose Of
making possible an increase in the
| compensation of the teaching staff. as
we'll as toad deserving students who
need assistance"
Seeks to Avoid Waste
President Butler added that in his
judgment there were two things which
should precede any appeal for public
assistance or increase of endowments
on the part of university. The first
was to max sure that there were no
wasteful. overlapping or unnecessary
expenditures. These, he said. can be-
deter mined only il a university has
established rigid budget system, in
which every item Of Income and Of ap>
preparation is specifically bet out and
accounted for.
Columbia University has had such q
budget for nearly twenty years. and 10
Is possible at any moment TO answer
the most searching inquiry eisher - "a
Income or expenditure.