The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1923-02-15
THF UNDERPAID PARsON.

from a play which has gained increased popu-
larity in the United States this year.
1t is just possible that the play house is not
exactly the place to go to learn how we should
treat ministers of the gospel or to get economic
ideas or ideals of how our religious work should
be carried on but Just the same the man who
wrote that line has written one which should
make the trustees the Vestrymen and the
stewards of the churches stop and think
One of the/really greatest industries in the
world today is the teaching of the religion of
Jesus Christ The teaching of it has done more
to make possible the advancement of the world
and the assurance that man will be safe in the
pursuit of happiness than anything else. It's
done more for the uplifting of the world than
any other great "ndustry," and yet the men
who are actively engaged in the work of teach
ing this great religion can be set down as the
poorest paid class of workers in the country
and in the world.
The average minister of church is expected
to know all, and be all and see all, and live on
forty dollars week He is expected to dress
just little better than any other worker; he is
expected to be responsible for better edu-
Gated family; he is expected to have ability and
fnesse; he is expected to be subject to calls
,WHlCH d HlclHDeI Vi IHe IRE department WOulQ
call irksome; he is expected to be able to preach
a great sermon, extend human sympathy in
every possible way, and at the same time be
civic leader.
Advancing the Kingdom of God has come to
mean lot more than riding over circuit and
preaching a sermon on alternating Sundays.
Preachers today are expected to be directors of
human thought, and they are expected to di-
rect it in the right direction. A lot of fellows
who work as clerks and accountants in Keno
sha would scorn employment at the salary
which is paid to some of the ministers.
The minister wants to be part of the COM
munity He wants to develop in himself as
well as in others the human side of things, and
he wants to develop this with the idea that he
is paying his own way rather than that he is
high-grade leech on the community.
We are not inclined to believe that Kenosha
ministers are any more poorly paid than those
in other cities, but we would be willing to wa
ger that, in most churches of Kenosha the man
who furnishes the moral and religious proven
der of the flock is working at a salary consider
ably less than the average salary of the men
who attend his church.
Religious teaching is mighty important
thing 1t never has had the consideration that
it is entitled to- Hundreds and thousands of
men who have given to the world their best
thought and their best efforts have been forced
ito live pinched life during their most valuable
service to humanity, and to go down into the
shadows of old age with absolutely nothing or
at best mere pittance to care for them
It's not because these men have not been
thrifty. It's hard for man to support fam
lily and be the mentor of community, and still
be thrifty on forty dollars week or less If
you doubt the suggestion, just try it on.
Possibly an organization of the Sky Pilots
Amalgamated Union might help. Possibly, if
the ministers would declare their independence
and declare that, if the people did not think
religion worth paying for, they would go into
the insurance business and exc out an exist
ence there that might help to arouse some of
the people to the plain duty they owe faithful
workers
The big business proposition of making the
world better and brighter should be one which
would appeal more to big men. These men
should put themselves into positions where
they would see to it that man who does the
work of the ministry of the church does it with
the understanding that he will be paid living
wages for his work. These men can be counted
on to work overtime and on holidays, if neces-
sary, and they won't ask time, and half or
double time for their work.
We are fully convinced that man can
preach a better sermon when he prepares it
with full stomach, and that preacher labor
ing with the pangs of hunger working on him
is not liable to present the brightest side Of the
religion which he believes III.
The man who gets his religion for nothing
usually gets about what he pays for The re-
Igion worth while is the religion which
believes that the man who spreads it
is worth his hire, and that the man who re.
.ceives it is getting lot more if he pays for it