The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1947-02-13

nation. Exactly why are teachers
their profession in num-
bers? Why are promising and able
young people declining to enter
teaching?
But the Courier-Reporter had
a further question to ask-what Is
the situation in our own home
town, right here in Kennewick?
First they asked the teachers Of
the Kennewick school system to
select an average, or composite,
teacher type, whose living prob
lens would be to some degree
common to all teachers.
The teachers considered. They
rejected the example Of the mar
ried teacher, whose salary only
augments that Of her husband, as
untypical. For the same reason,
they ruled out the widow with
the support of minor children. The
case Of man teacher, head Of his
own household, they avoided as
being too complicated for accur-
ate analysis. .1..a.a
At last they decided to select
as their typical teacher the single
lady teacher without dependents.
This was the imaginary school
marin about whom the Courier
Reporter started asking questions.
And she was promptly dubbed
Miss Pedda Gogue by members of
the editorial staff, for reasons that
are obvious.
Aiming themselves with care
fully worked out budget, reporters
and teachers began calling on To-
cal business heads for expert in
formation.
To start with, they found that
Miss Pedda Gogue made $4,000 a
year, but after the "deducts" had
gnawed into her pay check-$250
for income tax, and $140 in contri-
buttons to the teacher retirement
fund-her take-home pay was
81, $40 a year or $134.16 a month.
At once it was apparent that
Miss Pedda would provide for her
needs only If she budgeted care
fully and well. Whether even
such careful planning would turn
the trick remained a matter for
doubt.
Referring first to her budget
item Of SIS a month for housing,
Miss Pedda Gogue called on the
firm Of Fyfe and Spaulding,
Realtors. There she was assured at
once that she might as well dis
miss the possibility of renting a
small apartment. In the first place,
she learned, there were no such
apartments to be had. And in the
second place, il there were, she
could not expect to rent one for
SIS month.
Miss Pedda Gogue perforce
adopted the solution found already
by thousands of other teachers
a single room in a private home.
That it is at best only make
shift solution was made clear by
one of the teachers. Eve are often
accused of being a little bit
queer" little bit different from
other folks" she commented Bit
terly, "but after you have spent
years living in other peoples
homes-forcing yourself to adapt
your living habits to theirs, care
fully selecting the company you
will entertain, and being most cir
cumspect about when they call on
you; and never, never feeling like
it's really your home, you under
stand why that is. You understand
why teachers will deprive them
selves Of other necessities just to
have little place of their own"
And then there is the matter of
food. "A single room is no place
to cook. So the single teacher who
lives in private room takes her
meals out.
Sixty dollars a month for
meals, said the budget. "And that"
according to Florence Tedford Of
the Arrow Grill, sis holding the
figure down to rock bottom"
Taking long look at the bud
get, Miss Pedda Gogue figured it
down to a daily basis. Three meals
a day. Forty cents for breakfast,
sixty cents for lunch, and a dollar
for dinner.
THAT doesn't take care of tips
or tax either" Mrs. Tedford re-
minded. "The tax on two dollars
worth Of food runs six cents. OF
course, the teachers don't tip much,
but our girls know what their Sit
uation is, and they don't expect
it,"
Now for clothing: $3.50 a
month, according to the budget.
That sounds, the teachers admit
ted, like a lot of money until you
get to looking into it. Teachers
are expected to maintain good
classroom appearance. The prob
lem is how to do it on $186 a year.
Canny buying is the only hope
OF possessing a presentable ward
robe, they agreed, and they were
not too hopeful about the efficacy
of that.
Shopping at Keolker's Mona
Monroe Shop, Miss Pedda Gogue
made start on her clothing pur-
chases by buying good medium
priced suit. The suit is almost an
all-purpoSe garment for teachers.
It may be worn to social functions
and In the class room too. II wears
well and imparts q neat appear
ance to its wearers. It costs $3.50.
Its purchase, Pedda found, left
$136.50 in her annual clothing
budget. Still ahead lay the shop.
ping for the remainder Of the
minimum items Of years ward
robe. She figured: four pair Of