The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1919-05-14

When we consider that the TAG, OOC
erage salary of $500 a year; wheI
moreover, we consider the fact tn
living costs have actually advanc.
1913 per cent. since the beginning
the war, thereby cutting the buyin
power of these insignificant salari
in half, we can easily determine Il
only a fool or martyr would choy
teaching as a profession, or wo.
long remain in it unless terrible
ditiOns were swiftly remedied.
What a crime is this! What
Indictment. What an unpardonE
sin at the doors of an enlighten.
people who now find themselves a
the head and forefront of the demo
cracies of the world! How can we
better prepare or the great under
takings of reconstruction than by
setting ourselves Immediately to
the remedying this perilous condi-
ton. In these trying and chaotic
times when the world is beset by un-
rest, 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 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 minister to the wounds of the
nations. Their minds must meet
and solve the difficult and crucial
problems that will be their Inherit
ance. Their hearts must be so i'm
bued with the horrors of war and
with the poverty and anguish that
inevitably follow in its wake that
they in their time will enter upon it
only as a last resort in national self
defense or in support of some great
principle of humanity.
Never has there been a more
urgent need for for high-minided,
great-hearted, 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 thousands of men
and women of ability who would
prefer to teach are reluctantly leav-
ing this chosen calling, forced by
the hard necessities of their very
existence.
The teachers asks no larger at
the hands of fortune. They enter
their profession for service, not,
riches. But they invest YEATS and
money in preparation 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 per-
nit them and their dependents to
live decently and in comfort.
In every community reached by
the Literary Digest there are readers
of foresight, of vision, broad-mind-
ed men and thoughtful women who
will see-nay, perhaps have long
since seen-the critical and COMPEL
ing Importance of this problem. We
are directing this appeal to them.
We urge them to compare the sal
aries of their teachers with the
wages of those who are doing work
of equal value. There will be a
challenge in the facts that will stir
the community to action.
Let each community invest in
schools so that it may thereby invest
in a trained manhood and woman
! mood that can play their part in the
great period of rebuilding and re-
construction that lies before Us. Let
each community set for it's goal, as
far as is practicable, minimum
wage of at least $1,000 a year for
the teachers of America. This would
, cost the nation 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 profess
sion; we are not pleading or spe-
cial class; we are pleading for Am
erica: for her larger, her brighter,
her richer future, for the fulfilmentt
of her glorious promise. We are
pleading for coming race of men
and women who shall be qualified to
make complete the work of our fore
fathers who founded this nation and
dedicated it to liberty, and who will
bring to full fruition the new VIC
tories that we have won in freedoms
Il E. 4