Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1920-04-30


Salaries
To the Editor Of the EUenia1 Capital:
Why should the school teacher re-
ceive more pay? Can anyone ask this
question in true earnestness? II there
Is a man or woman so inconsiderate
as to think that the school teacher
should not receive more pay ii Is time
TO stop reading this article else they
may be offended.
In the first place the school teacher
has been grossly underpaid for the
last ten years In the days when a
pound of sugar could be bought for
four and one-half cents a pound, the
teacher had TO skimp to make ends
meet Only last fall a teacher from
Garrett county was asked how she
could AFFORD to dress as she did. She
was dear old lady who had sacri-
feed her life for the work; yes, dear
reader, sacrificed is the word. She
replied that she had made that dress
over eight times, and that she had
done the work herself Now this wo-
man was fortunate, indeed, that she
managed to find time to remodel a
dress.
Most teachers, of course, get tc
school abou. quarter or nine and they
work hard until after three. 1t Is
nearly four O'Clock when they leave
the school building, E1t their work is
far from finished. They have to 60
home, make over hat, press a dress
for next day. wash a pair of gloves,
mend some clothing, and perhaps she
has a dress, if she is fortunate, to
make. These are only a-4ew of the
tasks that help to fiji a busy day
Then after supper when her more
fortunate sister, the office woman
goes to the movies, the teacher gets
nut a set of little books on methods,
ytc., and tackles the work in hand fol
he next day. She plans for two hours
IN the evening what to give the young
hopefuls the next day. Then if she has
little time left she will be able to
read the newspaper If she has good
at the daily paper, she goes to bed
and when she says her prayer she
thanks God that she was able TO dc
what she could this day. That is the
kind of a woman our school teacher is
Talk about a man sacrificing his
life that he might go into heather
lands and teach the heather how to be
better citizens; why that man is 6
mere "four-fiusher" compared to ouI
little woman who contends with forty
to sixty real live young Americans
every day For all this work our little
woman receives the munificent salary
Of seven hundred dollars per year
Oh, yes, few of them get a little
hardly keep normally healthy child
in ice cream sundaes.
She was underpaid before the II. c
l.. reared its ugly head, and now that
this ravaging wolf is at large, where
does the school teacher come in? She
does not come in at all. With all the
strictest economy she has been known
to so without a breakfast or even a
luncheon. She sometimes finds very
near pay day that she has to cut down
on supper and come to Benjamin
Franklin's famous fare. OF course
Ben Franklin was great man. but
how many of our great men would
have become great if they had to sub
Sist on q few rolls and water. The
prisoners in our pals receive better
fare than this. And yet she is sup
posed to teach the young of America
ana at the same time keep quiet as to
her feelings on various matters. Is ii
am wonder today that the country is
oyorrun with bolsheyists?
The teacher has been made the
uRderdog for so many years with
small pay that she, in spite of the bet
ter inclinations, has let little of her
bitter feelings seep through and in
oculate young America with the boil
shevist germ. Yet people are willing
to entrust their young ones to her for
six hours per day and at the Same
time expect her TO teach them whole
some things and then give her a laost
unwholesome pay. Give her more pay
and reap the reward better voung
America in 1880. Let us build for tie
future by correcting our errors Of to-
day and yesterday.
"a TEACHER Z"