The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1923-08-01
THE PROFESSIONAL MANS
LIVING PROBLEM

tcI 1eccHtiy puDliSHcu III tnlS COL |
umn, expressed a desire for an ex-
pert budget for man in his class
whose income ranges from $4,000 to |
1900 a year, showing show he can |
save enough in 100 years to bury hum
self decently when he dies" This |
Young man at the age of 80, with an |
income that has not averaged 81, 800 Il |
year, is wondering If it "pays to ed !
ucate oneself, to marry, to attempt |
to establish and maintain a cultured |
American home. to rear children. to !
be an active member of ones society. |
working for better conditions and re- |
lations among ones fellow men"
Brushing aside for the moment IL |
nancial considerations. we declare ur- |
qualifiedly that such life does pay !
pays the man himself, pays society !
and the country richly. even though |
the man dies without a dollars worth |
OF property to will to his family. ex-
cept an insurance policy. The lives |
of tens Of thousands of professional |
men whose useful careers are made |
possible only by closest economies |
and continuous self-denial. amply |
Of the family whose life is intellect
ual and refined. who keep abreast Of |
the best thought Of the times, who |
live always on n narrow cash margin. |
and who stand for responsibility and |
honor and righteous principles. is all |
important in the best American life. |
The four leading professions-,n |
numbers and in influence-are those |
followed By the lawyer, the doctor, !
the clergyman and the teacher. In |
almost any decade, except the mos. !
recent, all Of these professions have |
been underpaid as whole-as badly |
underpaid. all things considered, as !
ever was common labor or the trades |!
Now that wages have advanced be- |
yond all precedent, it is timely, as |
our correspondent suggests, TO give |,
consideration in an era of high living |
costs to professional men who live
on fees and salaries, and who are
popularity regarded as highly pros
porous because their positions require |
them to maintain at least the out |
ward semblance of financial ease even |
when sorely pinched for lack of |
funds. The public judges the profess |
sions by their leaders. and think |
them all fortunate-financially Blu. |
the landlord, the grocer and the but |
cher know better.
Take the lawyers first-not in the |
big cities. but in the towns of fro., !
10000 down to the little county seats |
of two. three or four thousand pop |
ulation, where their number totals |
largest, and what will one find! Two |
or three of dozen. possibly half a |
dozen out of 80. with an income in !
excess of their necessities; and here |
and there, one whose accumuIations /
compare favorably with those of sue
cessful business men in their COM |
munities. No wonder so many of them j
seek to supplement- their inadequate |
incomes by following to their utter |
ruin the ignis fatuus Of political Of |
flee. Teaching is VIGOROUSLY the /
poorest paid of the professionals
scandalously underpaid in many pub
lie schools that the State has been |
compelled to establish by law mini
mum salaries, small enough in all |
conscience. In most colleges il is no
better when qualifications required
are considered: In one of the finest
small colleges in America, established
in 1885, now endowed with slightly
more than a million dollars, profess
sors were paid only 81 500 year in
1910. In 1920 they got $1,000. Now
they are getting $4,000. But all around
them are business men earning much
more, even men in the trades, and
property rapidly while
they scrape along unable to save a
dollar, yet performing a service to
the sons and daughters of well-to-do
men, Of incalculable value to society
at large. We need not discuss the sac
rifices of clergymen here. They are
known to all; men from whom radi-
ate the finest influences of life,
working at the price of a mere ex-
mp treasures in hea- /,
ven, doubtless, but unable, many of
them, to give their children even a
college education.
Only the medical profession has
within the last decade advanced to a
business basis. The dreadful "flu"
years put them on their feet, econom-
ically, but at heavy costs to tens OF
thousands of bereaved families all
over the land, many OF whom gave
up the savings of years to provide
medical attendance and save the lives
of loved ones during long periods of
i'll health following that awful
scourge. Now the profession is we'll
organized. Its fees for service have
been greatly increased everywhere,
and the outward signs of it's pros
perity are visible in improved homes,
sound investments and many luxuries
the physician of 20 years ago never
dreamed of possessing.
What shall the lawyer, the teach
er, and the clergyman do in the grip
of present living costs? 1t is easy 20
say unite in demands for larger fees
and salaries, but that will not suf-
flee for this weeks or this months
budget. With multitudes of men in
these three professions barely "get-
ting by" on their present incomes.
and in many cases dipping into the
small savings Of former years, it is
little less than insulting for "the high
priests of thrift and economy" to
preach to them. It IS not the task CT
a business mans paper to show them
the way. But we may In all sincerity
give them full credit for the nobility
of their service to mankind and de-
clare again what we said in the be-
ginning, that they are among the most
useful Of men, that their lives are of
the greatest importance to the well
fare Of society and OF the state, and
that We are glad to do what we can
to promote their financial interests
BY trying to arouse public sentiment