The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-07-31
SCHOOLS DURING THE
FINANCIAL CRISIS.

"A lew years ago, says lue SculidA
Bureau Bulletin, when so many pri-
waite non-Catholic institutions of
learning, universities and academies |
were being handsomely endowed by
the munificence of wealthy men and
women, and public or state univer-
stiles were being granted practically
unlimited resources from public
funds, the question was discussed
whether or not Catholic institutions,
lacking these endoWments, would in
the course of time continue to be able
to compete with institutions whose
financial resources were so great
During this controversy Rev. Henry S.
Spalding, S. j., now of st. Xavier
College, Cincinnati, contended,-and
the correctness of his contention was
admitted-that the fact that the
teachers in Catholic institutions were
mostly members of religious orders
who gave their entire services to the
cause of education without compen-
sation other than modest living
within the rule of their orders, con-
stituted condition, the equiva-
lent VI du tuuOWuOuI dI1Ol
mittee representing the North Central
Association of Colleges and High
Schools, which adopted resolution
reading in part: "These (Catholic)
teachers do not receive any pay and
have no private contracts with the
| institutions. Many Of the in
situations undoubtedly receive in this
| 10
| endowment. Where the in
| stitution has considerable number
of members of the faculty it would
seem entirely legitimate to compute
| the services of these instructors as
| income from endowment"
Endowment of Men and Endowment
of Money.
At that time already the question
was asked whether this "endowment
of men" could be depended upon as
safely as the "endowment of money"
The war and conditions following in
it's wake have not only rendered the
question acute, but have put both
forms of endowment to the test; and
the result has been that many non
Catholic private and numerous public
educational institutions have failed
utterly or in part, while Catholic
schools, colleges and universities have
been able to meet the financial strin-
gency in a most creditable manner.
Writing in the June issue of The
Educational Review Crank Pierre
pont Graves, editor) Father Spalding
again takes up this interesting ques-
ton and advances proof for the con-
tention that the Catholic system
has indicated itself in a most salts
factory manner He says that he has
often been asked whether the system
mentioned were "dependable,' and
whether it would work in a crisis"
He goes on to show that the crisis is
at hand, that the schools have already
passed through part of the critical
period. Illustrating the seriousness
of the school situation, he writes:
thousands of schools in the coun-
try are idle because there is no money
to pay teachers, and millions of chill.
dren are being taught by those from
unframed ranks. Many of the ablest
professors have left their chairs in
the higher institutions of learning
y 4" AS regards the highly en-
dowed private universities, "some of
them the richest institutions in the
world, we find that the same eco
nomic difficulties have upset all the
plans that sufficiently provided for the
needs of the past, and pointed to a
safe financial foundation for the flu
ture. A recent dispatch in
the daily press announced that the
private universities need two hundred
and fifty million dollars, not to in.
crease their efficiency, but merely to
exist"
The Answers a QUESTIONABLE
Brought.
In order to ascertain the facts in
the field of Catholic schools, Father
Spalding addressed QUESTIONABLE to
teachers and directors of schools rep
resenting teaching communities OF
women with schools from Massachu
| SclIS " SOlOIduO ne lulOIuldtlOu
sought was:
1. DO you know of any Catholic
! school, whether parochial, high school,
or college, that has been forced tc
close on account of financial Difficult
| ties?"
| 2. do you know of any Catholic
school that was forced to shorten its
term or discontinue any courses or
account of the financial strain?"
| The responses received are the ba
| sis of the statements made above
! The answers to the first question were
negative, except that it was reported
| that one medical school under Catho
| lie auspices had announced that il
would be forced to close, owing to in
sufficient income. The information
contained in the responses to the sec
| ond question the writer summarizes
| thus: ut appeared that one small
parochial school with four teachers
was forced to close one room. AL
though the pastor announced that he
| could pay for only one teacher, the
| other two remained, giving their serv
| ices gratis"