The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-26


 TIT IS STRANGE that the generous hearted American people, who poured out their riches so prodigally in re- sponse to every patriotic, every chari- table appeal, and who accorded such en- thusiastic and liberal support to every measure and to every group that helped win the war should have neglected to properly encourage and reward the ser- vices of one of the noblest professions in the field of human activities-a profes- sion 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 whatever power and authofity we may have and with such words as fay be granted to us, some measure of consideration for the foster-fathers and mothers of our chil- dren-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- to in fov~ hue; citizenship, to instruct them in manners and in morals, to do for them those | things which we would do had we the l training and the leisure.
 | No class has assumed so heavy, so try | ing a burden and responsibility with such willingness as these consecmted l men and women. No class has performed their increasingly heavy tasks more de, votedly, more conscientiously, and with | less thought of self. No class served their country more whole -heartedly, more | Loyalty, during. the trying and tempestu- ous times of war. day by day pursuing their round of duty, day by day helping the young people, and through the chii- dren the parents, to see the struggle in it's true light, thus securing the co-opera- ton of the community in every mea sure
 undertaken by the government to win the war. - rg,sI51 {.
 Truly they have made the nation their everlasting debtor. Truly had they not done their work so well this republic
 would not outlast the span of a genera ton.
 l What then have the teachers received i at our hands in return? They have re- ceived little of honor and somewhat less
 of pay. Other classes have prospered.
 other classes through powerful organi-
 zations have secured generous wages
 The teachers have no spokesman, how ever, to demand even the simple justice | of a living wage, so to them we give
 their betty pre-war pittance, so meager. so pitifully inadequate, that it places a burning brand of shame and disgrace upon this nation.
 The men and women who are making the Americans of tomorrow are being treated with less consideration than the
 janitors who sweep out the buildings ir | which they are employed; they are earn. ing on the average, less than the wages
 given to the scrubwoman employed ir the public buildings of the United States lgovernment. Normal school graduates re-
 ceive less salary than street sweepers
 high school principals and superintend.
 ents less than section foremen;- country ! S6h inc 1,e
 farmers children than he pays his hired
 man to feed his hogs.
 In certain town of Illinois, for in
 stance, the average wages of 15 miners
 for one month was s217, while the average
 monthly salary of 15 teachers in the same town was $55. In another town a miner
 who, by the way, was an enemy alien drew more than $27O0 last year, while the salary oN the high school principa
 in the same town was $7s5. We welcome . with an our hearts the long belated rec ognition that is being given to the mar that this same workingman will be tn, |. first to join with us in asking better pay
 for those who teach his children
 No wonder there are 5o,OOO vacancie. in the teaching forces of the schools No wonder the ranks are being filled with weak men and with immature womei who merely use the profession as a step , ping stone to something better. No won der there are 30,00O teachers in the Unitet States who have had nd schooling be , yond the eighth grammar grade. Smal
 wonder, indeed, that 100000 of our schoo : children are being trained by teachers