Arizona republican., 1919-01-26
DELAY ACTION. LIN MINIMUM WAGE F EACHERS BILL.
Measure Opposed In House
 Committee Of Whole, And
 After Warm Debate, Delay Action Until Wednesday

With only the lower house of the legislature in a half-day session, not much was added yesterday to the sum total of accomplishment of the Fourth legislature. Perhaps there would not have been even a halliday session of a single house, but for the announce ment that the Arizona Anthem bill would be considered in the committee Of the whole. That announcement was made on the promise of d member of the Cochise congregation that the anthem would be sung.
 But that outburst did not eliminate and House Bill 15 went over, retaining ! it's place on the calendar, on the state ment that a. quartette was practicing on it and would shortly be in posi- tion to submit it to a critical audience such as is constituted by the member | ship of the house and the habitues of the galleries.
 l The most interesting episode of the l day was the debate in the committee | of the whole on pr. Lacy's bill fixing | the minimum wage of teachers in Ari- Zona at s100 a month, the pay to run through the calendar year. As soon as the bill was read Mir. Lines moved it's indefinite postponment. .Dr. Lacy then entered upon defense of the ? measure.
 Parents Were Teachers He said that though he was not a teacher and had no direct interest in the movement, he yet had a personal interest in the welfare of teachers. His grandfather, Rev. Drury Lacy, had baen president of Hampden- Sidney college, and his father president of Davidson college.
 When the war left his family strip ped of their fortune, his father opened an academy for boys, and his mother seminary for young ladies. The doc- tor said that since his residence in Miami he had had an official interest in the schools of that camp and he had seen them rise from an attendance of 150, with four teachers, to the pres- ent attendance of 1,250, with more than 40 teachers.
 Those unfamiliar with the work of the teacher. he said, could not com : prehend the hard work and drudgery involved. Then there were the long years of preparation of the conscien- tious teacher for her profession. Then came the small financial return foI nine or ten months of the year iu which she might by the strictest econ- omy save enough to take her away on a vacation to regather her strength of body and mind.
 There had been, he Said, an increase of nearly 100 per cent in the cost ot living, while the salary of the teache, was the only one that had not beer increased.
 Would Close Many Schools
 The bill was supported by MT. Kim
 ball who also spoke of the long anc
 costly preparation for teaching which ! he regarded as the noblest of callings
 and the worst paid. In the course o
 his remarks he suggested an amend . ment to the bill which he would offel at the proper time. It was that tn,
 minimum wage should apply only tt teachers holding first grade certificate! and those who would engage to give si, weeks of their vacation to educationa
 work. MT. Nyne and others also sup 7 ported the bill.
 MT. Lines said that at the risk o appearing to oppose the teachers h, would object to the bill on the ground that it was not applicable to all tn F schools of the state, or for that matte l to a great many of them There wer
  ] with such small attendance that the! : could not now at2he present salarie paid teachers, Lt the schools run
 ming more than six months of the year t It would be impossible for them t = comply with such a law; it woult h mean the closing of the schools il scores of districts.
 9 He said, moreover, that the lav
 would prevent the development o teachers. In his own locality ther 1 were many families from which youni
 women had emerged as teachers. Wit
 difficulty they had made their wa, through the high school, but they | could not attend one of the normals | With such equipment as they hat they were given a chance in tn
 schools, and when they succeeded the,
 were enabled to continue through tn | normal course.
 Bill Goes Over Mir. BarroWs also opposed the bill partly on the ground that he did no believe that it would stand test il
 the courts and, if so, the state coult not at this time afford it. After som | further debate it was decided to alloy the bill go oyer to next Wednesday
 retaining it's place on the calendar. The committee reported favorabl.
 on the following bills:
 An appropriation of s353.75 to cove a deficit of the state law library fo
 the years 1914 and 1915. MT. Edd
 in charge of the bill, said that pre- vious to the time of the creation 0 the office of librarian and the install
 ing of Mr. Cronin in it, things were i
 rather chaotic shape in that depart
 nent. Bills amounting to more tha
 S4000 had accumulated and other were coming in. A relief bill wa
 passed to cover all the known indebt
 edness, but since then, bills amountin
 10 the sum asked for had been pre-
 sented.
 favorable report was made on tn
 appropriation committees bill for s4, | a0A fol. the contingent and clerical ey