Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1920-02-06
Regents Considering Faculty De
mands--Living Advances SO
Per Cent--SalarieS 3J


the president and board OF regents
of the State College the faculty or
ganization known as "The Associat-
ed Teachers of the State College OF
Washington" presented a full report
covering their investigation of fac
ulty income and expenditure. The
report states that adequate and i'm
mediate relief in the form of salary
advances should be forthcoming IF
the college is to be spared such in
jury as would mean calamity to
the state at large" The committee
representing the association urged
that the regents at once take steps
to make increases in the salary bud
get that would give to salaries at
least the purchasing power that
went with the salary scale of
1914. the increases to take effect
January /, 1920.
1.-The expected return to the old
scale of prices for living has not
come; nor is it in sight" the report
continues. Instead of falling,
prices continue to rise, and experts
report that we must expect them if
not to make further advance, at
least to maintain their present high
level The decline in the purchas-
ing power of the dollar has brought
poverty to the college professor and
his family and he knows it. But
there is far greater issue at stake:
The first and greatest need of the
nation today is that its educational
system render its maximum of eff
fective service. Never before has
there been such need for the spe-
cialsts in the physical and biolog
ical sciences and their applications
should make their utmost contribu
tions. Our countrys business.
whether for war or for peace, the
prosperous activities of the farm,
the forest and the mine, the entire
fabric of our commercial and indus
trial life. indeed, depend in an ever
increasing degree upon the energy,
intelligence and industry of the sci
enlist In no less measure RESPONSE
biiity falls on the specialists in the
social, political and economic fields
and on the interpreters of human
life; they must give their best of
knowledge and wisdom to the end
that the forces that have thrown the
whole world of human relationships
into turmoil may be so controlled
and guided that construction and
not destruction shall be the ultimate
outcome"
IF our colleges and universities
fail, then our entire educational sys.
tenn fails, and both our nation and
our civilization are threatened with
topping ruin, In view of such an
issue is it not in order to urge that
the teacher be made at least as
strong for his task as he was in old
er, easier times? AS for the teach
er's own attitude, is it too much TO
say that at such a time even passive
acceptance of his reduced circum-
stances becomes in reality breach
OF the trust reposed in him by the
commonwealth"
The report calls attention to the
fact that the poverty arising from
the advance in the cost of living
without corresponding advance in
his income is Gripping the college
teacher, making him less efficient as
an investigator, less reliable as an
interpreter of human life and it's
problems, less potent as a leader and
guide of youth and less valuable in
any and every aspect of his work as
an educator. So great a proportion
of his time and energy is going into
non-professional activities that ex-
cellence in his proper calling is sim
ply out of the question. He makes
a garden, he cares for COW. he is
an attendant of chickens and rab-
bits; he is first assistant in the
nursery, in the laundry and in the
Kitchen; he is a tailor. he is a car
penter, he is a painter and paper
hanger. he is a cobbler and in vaca-
ton times he is a farm hand. These
are all honorable activities and oc-
equations but the serious prosecu-
tion of such accomplishments tres
passes upon time that should go to
the study and to the laboratory The
crying need of today for kind of
specialized service that only the
teacher and the scholar can give is
not to be met by the divided inter.
ests of man-of-all- work"
The committee pointed out furth-