The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-12-26
Frederick Haskin's etter
ESPECIAL q xAa ArEuaJ
Should Professors Eat.
Especial correspond.nee 81

Washington, D. c., Dec. pa
college professor rang for an ele-
vator in a lecture building the 9TH
er day. After five minutes wait the
elevator came up. The operator
apologiZed profusely for the delay
but he felt that he had good
excuse
The electricians are working
here today" he explained, "and one
of them wanted to go to the base
! ment-and you know their time
costs a lott.
What the college professor said
about his wasted time is not re-
corded. AS matter of fact, the
electrician probably did cost the
} college more per hour than its
teachers do.
The elevator mans idea that pro-
fessOrs rank very low in the scale
OF earning ability has long been the
| popular attitude. But colleges are
| beginning to crusade for the rights
or their instructors. They reaIlZe
that a low salary scale for college
professors is boomerang thar
strikes back at the college in one
of two ways. Either the college
can obtain only inexperienced or
inferior teachers, or else it holds
the self-sacrificing experts who
stay on and divide their energies
between their classes and some
outside work to make ends meet.
Either way, the college with IN
derpatd instructors is not getting
efficient teaching.
Tsafaiu
have been campaigning to make it
possible for their professors to earn
suitable salaries. A goal is set,
and students and alumni go out and
try all the ways of earning money
that have been tested during the
past few years of innumerable
drives.
Each student pledges a sum, gen |
orally large sum for a girl still !
getting an education. And she |
promises to pay this pledge by her |
own efforts during the time allow
ed-perhaps two or three years.
Vassar is now conducting such ,
a campaign. Her salary scale is !
lower than that of any other wom- |
ans college of similar standards. |
Vassar shows she has been able |
to keep capable teachers only be-
cause they resorted to outside en-
ployment, as college teachers eV- !
erywhere are doing. |
Practically every member of the !
faculty at this college who has a I
house takes in roomers, it is said.
A few college girls in house may
llVen things up for the professor,
though faculty members, no doubt,
would prefer a more peaceful at
at home
How Teachers Make a Living,
Some instructors write articles
for newspapers and magazines,
Numbers of them teach at summer i
schools in different parts of the Il
country, when they need to be rest
ing or studying for the next years
work Il
At Vassar there are 102 women
teachers and % men. The wives Of ]
these men help, too. No longer is I
the professors wife satisfied to sit /
at home and turn her husbands [
coat and think of new ways to s
make bread pudding. One at this {
college runs q shop where she sells !
baskets and other craftwork done Y
Dy mountaineers. Another writes
books, and third is a /
photographer. II
But even these devices do not al :
ways stretch a salary that was /
neager in 1913 over a 1921 expense {
account Except where colleges {
lave conducted drives and raised t
instructors have scarcely {
received any material increase in {
,ay during the boom of salaries in {
most lines of work {
1t is figured now that the cost of I
living is still roughly rs per cent {
higher than in 1913. 1t was los S
,er cent higher in 1919, and it is /