Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1920-04-27
AnericuS!
Wake Up!

painted vivid picture of the alarm
ing conditions that threaten our
country-revolution, anarchy, Boil
shevism, spreading at lightning speed
through the agency of insidious lying
propagandists among the millions of
ignorant people in our land. In his
opinion our only hope of permanent
ly avoiding this disaster lies in EDU-
CATION. Intelligent people every
where are awake to the danger and
are exerting themselves as never be-
fore. IGNORANCE is the cause.
EDUCATION is the remedy. Is
Amerieus free from the cause? Is
Americus making use of the remedy?
schools? Is Americus even saving its
Is Americus steadily improving it's
schools? Is Americus doing it share
to give the lie to the doctrines of
Bolshevism and to save our beloved
land from threatening revolution.
About three years ago the schools
of the nation reached crisis. When
we entered the war, and the cost of
living began to mount in rapid strides,
teachers salaries, already ridiculous
ly low, failed to keep pace and soon
became utterly inadequate. As re-
suit large numbers OF teachers We're
forced out of the profession. Men
and women who had been preparing
to become teachers turned to other
occupations. Many schools were clos
ed. Others were kept open only
through the employment of imma-
ture, unprepared, and inexperienced
persons. Hundreds of thousands of
loyal teachers continued in the
schools only with great personal hard
ship and self-sacrifice. 1t was merely
question of time when they, too,
must turn to other work, unless re-
lief should come. Gradually the pub
lie became aroused to the danger, but
until the present school year very
little was done. The following ac-
count of the situation as it existed
little less than year ago, was given
in "The American Magazine" by one
of our foremost educators, DR.. John
Grier Hibben, president of Princeton
| University:
Less Than $500 Average.
''The average salary of all public
is estimated to be less than 5000. In
101O, WASA LllG last COI1piGGS IlKuE6S
were compiled, it was $543.31.
"At that time the average salary
of the school teachers of twelve
states was below $400, and one
state paid its teachers an average of
Cd cents day.
Compare these figures with the
$1095 a year that New York City
gives to the men who sweep it's
streets, and the $1,277.50 it pays to
the men who drive its refuse carts.
4 Teachers have been called the
captains of the army of understand
ing. Their pay gives scant evidence
| of the fact. Most unskilled laborers
would scorn the annual pittance paid
to the American school teacher.
"Two advertisements were set side
by side in the Raleigh, North Caro-
line, News and Observer of jan
uary 9Th, 1919. One of them read:
'WANTED-Colored barber for
white trade in camp town; permai-
nent position. We guarantee $25
per week. Right man can make $35
per week. Let US hear from you at
once. Fleming & Elliott, 6 Market
Square, Fayetteville, N. 9.
"The second advertisement wasted
no words:
"WANTED-Teacher of Latin fot
Lumberton High School, Lumberton.
N. C. Salary $40 a month. W. II.
Gale, superintendent.
Barber Fared Better.
Here was a guarantee to nc
gro barber that he would be paid
$1,000 year with good prospect of
$500, while the Latin teacher,
drawing his salary for only nine
months, would reheive $6o0-lesS
than half of the negro BARRIERS as
sured minimum.
"The secretary of the Illinois
State Teachers Association called
attention not long ago to one town
where the average wage of fifteen
miners for one month was $2l7.78,
and the average monthly salary of
! the fifteen teachers of the sa ne town
was S55. In another town, an Aus
tralian alien drew more than S2.700
! for his work in the mines last year,
while the principal of the local high
school, woman college graduate, re-
ceived, a salary of $765.
"Such facts make 1T easier to ac-
cept the estimate that there were So,
600 vacancies in the coaching staffs
of our public schools at the opening
of last autumn's session, and that
10000 inexperienced teachers were
placed in schools in order to keep
them open.
"The dean of the graduate school
at Princeton, while on recent visit
to Atlanta, discovered that some of
the women high school teachers of
that city were receiving less pay than
the negro janitors in the same build
ings. Fortv per cent of the Atlanta
school teachers, he was told, have
had to resign in order to earn a de-
cent living. Other cities give similar
reports.
E'Talk with almost any school
teacher, and you are likely to una
earth an underlying bitterness over
the fact that our parents see fit to
deny a living wage to those guards
ians who are entrusted with the alu-
cation, the manners, even the morals,
of their sons and daughters. Youth
spends more waking hours in school
than at home. Who knows that the
influence of those hours is not
greater?
I