The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1919-05-15

1 kUCy IOt uOIIC tIFIIl WIN ~ WIZ NAAA
republic would not outlast the span o
a generation.
What then have the teachers receiv
ed at our hands in return! They hav'
received little Of honor and somewha
less Of pay. Other classes have pros
pered; other classes through powerful
organizations have secured generous
wages. The teachers have no spokes
, man, however, to demand even tn,
simple justice Of living wage, so u
them we give their petty prewar pit
lance, so meager, SO pitifully made
quate, that II places burning brand
Of shame and disgrace upon the ma
ton.
The men and women who are max.
ing the Americans Of tomorrow are
being treated with less consideration
than the janitors who sweep out the
buildings in which they are employed;
they are earning on the average, less
than the wages given TO scrubwomen
employed in the public buildings OF
the United States Government. Norm
al-school gradutes receive less salary
than street sweepers; high school
principals and superintendent less
than section foremen; country school
teachers less for instructing the farm
er's children than he pays his hired
man to feed his hogs.
In a certain town Of Illinois, for in
stance, the average wages Of fifteen
miners for month was $2l7, while the
average monthly salary of fifteen
teachers in the same town was SOB.
In another town a miner, who, by the
way, was an enemy alien, drew more
than $2,7OO last year, while the salary
Of the high-schoo principal in the
same town was $765. We welcome
with all our hearts the long debated
recognition that is being given to the
man who works with his hands. We
believe that this same workingman
will be the first to join with us in ask
ing betetr pay for those who teach his
children.
No wonder there are fifty thousand
vacancies in the teaching forces of the
schools. No wonder the ranks are be-
ing filled with weak men and with
immature women who merely use the
profession as stepping stone toI
something better No wonder there
are thirty thousand teachers in the
United States who have had no school
ing beyond the eight-grammar grade.
Small wonder, indeed, that seven mil
lion of our school-children are being
trained by teachers, mere boys and
girls themselves, who have had no
professional education whatever.
When we consider that the 100000
teachers of America are paid an aver
age salary of $500 year; when,
moreover, we consider the fact that
living costs have actually advanced
1903 per cent since the beginning of
the war, thereby cutting the buying
power Of these insignificant salaries in
half, we can easily determine that
only a fool or a martyr would choose
teaching as a profession, or would
long remain in it unless these terrible
conditions were swiftly remedied.
What crime is this! What an in
dictment! What an objectionable sin
at the doors of an enlightened people
who now find themselves at the head
and forefront of the democracies of
the world! How can we better pre-
pare for the great undertakings Of re-
construction than by setting ourselves
to remedying this peril
GUS condition. In these trying and
chaotic times when the world is beset
by unrest, 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 food.
The peace and security of the world
Of the future will be in the safe keep
ing Of the generation now in our
schools. These boys and girls must
weave up the raveled sleeve Of civ
ilization. Their hands must minister .
to the wounds of the nations. Their
minds must meet and solve the diff
cult and crucial problems that will be
their inheritance. Their hearts must
be SO imbued with the horrors Of war
and with the poverty and anguish that
follow in its wake that they
in their time will enter upon it only as
4 last resort in national self-defense
or in support Of some great principle Il
of humanity.
Never has there been more urgcn
need for high-minded, great-hearted
trained 100 per cent Amer
can instructors TO drive home III,
,ital lessons that these times hold
Never has the future Of the nation
been so clearly committed into tht
iands Of the teachers. And yet thous-
lnds Of men and women Of ability |
rho would prefer to teach are reluct-
Intly leaving their chosen calling,