The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-15
nd Culture Penaized By Conditions In Former Kasers Realm

concluded the learned doctor, II seems to me is the fate of the young and especially of the children, These hard times may he punishment and they are perhaps just punishm ent. but it is not fair that the punishm mt should fall on the heads of the babies. Ii makes no difference if We old people die. We have lived our lives and IL might he as well if we pass away. 1 have been here more than threescore and ten years and l am ready to gG. So are many others Of my age in my class. But our babies are dying for want of milk and our children need the food which they must have tp hecome strong, able men. That surely is not God pur- pose and l do not believe it can long contiue."
 Big Brain On Way To Poorhouse.
 have entitled this letter BE house." This expresses the situation among the live. thinking. intellectual Germans of today. The culture ana science of the country are on the edg 2 If dissolution, because these men are practically raupers and their means of existence have been wiped out by the fall ef tho mark. This class in eludes the lawyers, doctors, artists musicians authors and all those who had their own individual fortunes invested in conservative securities. It includes the professors and schooi teachers. of whom Germany has tens of thousands There are today in the p'tblic sthocls more than l0,000,ooo pupils and of the less than 100000 teachers about 30,060 are women There are in the universities more htan 100, 100 students who are sup ported by very slender allowances from home. which by the shrinkase |. practically nothing. The University of Berlin has .000 such students, Munich has 7,50o. Leipzig has over 5.0o and the Universities of Bonn and Breslau each almost as many
 Un;xer.ity Professors At s5 n Month.
 The universities are well equipped with professors. Berlin has more than 900. Munich over 300, and Bonn and Heidelberg each POO and upward These professors are getting on an average a salary of 10000 marks month the amount having been hXed the first of this year. This is equal, and it is impossible to see how they can find food for their families Many of them are selling their books consisting in some cases Of fine edl- tons which represent the saNlnGs ol n lifetime, and one whom l met the
 
 all his classics and even some refer- enee books and that his wife had had to pawn the family silver to pay recent coal bill
 University tutors are now getting ninety thousand marks month or a little more than four dallars, and public school teachers, who have all ways received very low wages, are paid so little that it amounts to comparatively few cents day. A teacher of Swedish gymnastics, who is well-known here desparing of fixing mark price for her services. has established rate of one pound meant she takes the equivalent Of that price for each hours work.
 \ Nation Of Scholars.
 How widespread these conditions are can be understood only by those who realize the part education takes in the life of the German people. The nation has been crazy on culture and it has more schools to the square mile than New England. It has had universities Of note for hun- dreds of years. Leipzig was founded in l409. and Heideioerg In 1886. The country had trade schools before the days of our Revolutionary war. and there was q mining academy at Fret- berg ten years before we declared our independence. Germany has trade schools of every description and technical high schools in all of the chief centers. The Technical High school of Berlin covers acres. IL has several hundred teachers ana about five thousand students. Leip- zig has municipal industrial school ehemnitz has schools for weaving and nearly every German state has schools for the building trades some of which have been in existence for two generations. There are seven state schools for naviga- ton and many agricultural and hor- ticultural schools.
 Teachers Who Receive s1 A Week.
 In nearly all such institutions the teachers have looked upon their jobs as good for life and a pension and II is on this ground perhaps that the salaries have been so low. The pub lie school teachers were started in at about s25 a month and when wom- an had reached 40 she received a lit tie over $500 per annum At AS. she mi ght retire. At that time her salary would be s725. but l am not sure she received this full sum as pension. They were fixed by law and were in marks The number of marks has been increased many times. but to re- duce them to gold one must now di- vide the amount by 5000 and the re- suit means only enough to buy ones food to say nothing of clothing talked with the superintendent of the model public school of Berlin yester day. He Is getting $6 a month and he has five little children. He told me he was earning $l25 month before the war and added that the men teachers under him are new earning something like s1 a week and women teachers nine-tenths that amount.
 Living on One Cent n Day.
 Of all the intellectuals, the univer- | sity students have the most conspie- l uous poverty. The doctors and law yers. authors and artists are scat ! tered and one does not see them ir l large bodies. The students mi ght bt l called union of educated paupers l who are trying in every way to make ! the ends meet. In the past they wer: | incomes of such have been so reduced | that the average amount allowed tc each boy by his family is about thirty 1 cents month or one cent day | Some of them are living on this ant | others on but little more, adding tt | their incomes in all sorts of ways
 In order to aid them the govern ment the cities, and in many case. individuals, have contributed to tht establishment of student boarding