Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-05-10

This weeks Literary Digest con-
tains an energetic appeal for bet
ter wages for school teachers
subject which is forcing itself upon
public attention in all parts of the
country. Justice for the Foster
Parents of Our Children" is the
title of an editorial which is here
reproduced at the request of E. G.
Fisher, superintendent of the Rock
Island public schools, who warmly
endorses the sentiments expressed;
1t is strange that the generous
hearted American people, who
poured out their riches so prodigal-
ly in. response to every patriotic,
every charitable appeal, and who
accorded such enthusiastic and lib
eral support to every measure and
to every group that helped win the
war, should have neglected to
properly encourage and reward the
services of one of the noblest pro-
LESSONS in the field of human ac-
tivities-a profession that in lofty
ideals, in unselfish principles, in
sacred responsibilities, stands side
by side with the ministry of the
Gospel itself.
We wish to bespeak, with what
ever power and authority we may
have and with such words as may
be granted to US, some measure OF
consideration 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, receiving these children,
can indeed be said to hold in the
hollow of their hands the future of
America. We expect these devoted
men and women to watch over and
care for our sons and daughters as
though they were their very own,
to drill them in the arts and sci
ences, to train them for business
and for citizenship, to instruct
them in manners and in morals, to
do for them those things which we
would do had we the training and
the leisure.
No class has assumed so heavy,
so trying a burden and response
bility with such willingness as
these consecrated men and women.
No class has performed their in
creasingly heavy tasks more deVot-
edIy, more conscientiously, and
with less thought of self. No class
served their country more whole
heartedly. more Loyalty, during the
trying and tempestuous times OF
war, day by day pursuing their
round of duty, day by day helping
the young people, and through the
children the parents, to see the
struggle il it's true light, thus Sc
curing the cooperation of the com
munity in every measure under
taken by the government to win the
war.
Truly they have made the nation
their everlasting debtor. Truly had
they not done their work so we'll
their republic would not outlast
the span of a generation.
What then have the teachers rel
ceived at our hands in return?
They have received little of honor
and somewhat less of pay. Other
classes have prospered; other
classes through powerful organlZa-
tions have secured generous wages,
The teachers have no spokesman,
however, to demand even the sim
pie Justice of a living wage, so to
them we give their petty pre-War
pittance, so meager, so pitifully
Inadequate, that it places a burn
ing brand of shame and disgrace
upon this nation.
The men and women who are
making the Americans of tomor-
row are being treated with less
consideration than the janitors who
sweep out the building in which
they are employed; they are earn
ing on the average, less than the
wages given to the scrubwoman
employed in the public buildings OF
the United States government. Nor
NAL school graduates receive less
salary than street sweepers; high
school principals and superintend-
ents less than section fOremen;
country school teachers less for
instructing the farmers children
than he pays his hired man to feed
his hogs.
In a certain town of Illinois, for
instance, the average wages of Is
miners for one month was S217,
while the average monthly salary
of Is teachers in the same town
was $55. In another town miner
who, by the way, was an enemy
alien, drew more than $1,000 last
year, while the salary of the high
school principal in the same town
was S765 We welcome with all