' L-. J-l. I ' ■
. < ■;
JUSTICE
• . - * y I
For the Foster-Parents of Our Children /
IT IS STRANGE that the generous-hearted American people, who poured out No wonder there are fifty thousand vacancies in the teaching forces of the J ,
their riches so prodigally m response to every patriotic, every charitable schools. No wonder the ranks are being filled with weak men and with imma- f
appeal, and who accorded such enthusiastic and liberal support of every meas- ture women who merely use the profession as a stepping-stone to something bet- * /
ure and to every group that helped win the war, should have neglected to properly ter * No wonder there are thirty thousand teachers in the United States who have
encourage and reward the services of one of the noblest professions in the field of ' hac * nc > schooling beyond the eighth grammar grade. Small wonder, indeed, that /
human activities —a profession that in lofty ideals, in unselfish principles, in sacred seven million of our school children are being trained by teachers, mere boys and /
responsibilities, stands side by side with the ministry of the Gospel itself. themselves who have had no professional education g {
[When we consider that the 740,000 teachers of America are paid an average /•' j
We wish to bespeak, with whatever power and authority we may have and with salary of $630 a year; when, moreover, we consider the fact that living costs have f
such words as may be granted to us, some measure of consideration for the foster- actually advanced 103 per cent, since the beginning of the war, thereby cutting /
fathers and mothers of our children—the school teachers of the United States of t^le buying power of those insignificant salaries in half, we can easily determine /
America. j that only a fool or a martyr would choose teaching as a profession, or would long .jf >
remain in it unless these terrible conditions were swiftly remedied. • /
There is no class of workers of whom we demand so much. We commit into What a crimes this! What an indictment! What an unpardonable sin at the
their keeping the minds, the bodies, and the very souls of our children in the doors of an enlightened people who now find themselves at the head and fore- /
tender and formative years of their lives, and they, receiving these children, can front of the democracies of the world! How can we better prepare for the great ,'
indeed be said to hold in the hollow of their hands the future of America. We undertakings of reconstruction than by setting ourselves immediately to remedy
expect these devoted men and women to watch over and care for our sons and ing this perilous condition? In these trying and chaotic times, when the world is /
daughters as though they were their very own, to drill them in the arts and sci- beset by unrest, by anarchy, by revolution, by the devils brood of appalling evils *'
ences, to tram them for business and for citizenship, to instruct them in manners that follow in the train of war, we must make sure that the foundations of our
and theTisure S We W we the tramin g republic are set on a rock that it may stand against the flood.
The peace and security of the world of the future will be in the safekeeping of
/ No class has assumed so heavy, so trying a burden and a responsibility with the generation now in our schools. These boys and girls must Weave up "the rav
such willingness as these consecrated men and women. No class has performed e e s eeve o civilization. Their hands must minister to the wounds of the
its increasingly heavy tasks more devotedly, more conscientiously, and with less nations. 1 heir minds must meet and solve the difficult and crucial problems that
thought of self. No class served its country more whole-heartedly, more loyally, WI JJ -A T lnhentance - Thei f hearts must be so imbued with the horrors of war
during the trying and tempestuous times of war, day by day pursuing its round f/ 1 • e poverty an anguish that inevitably follow in its wake that they in
.of duty, day by day helping the young people, and through the children the par- the "" t ' me f WI " enter " pon ". °"y < a last resort in national self-defense or in
ents, to see the struggle in its true light, thus securing the co-operation of the com- suppor o some grea principe of humanity.
munity in every measure undertaken by the Government to win the war. i Never has there been a more urgent need for high-minded, great-hearted, splen
didly-trained, 100 per cent. American instructors to drive home the vital lessons
Truly they have made the nation their everlasting debtor. Truly had they not that these times hold. Never has the future of the nation been so clearly corn
done their work so well this republip would not outlast the span of a generation. rnitted into the hands of the teachers. And yet thousands of men and women
of ability who would prefer to teach are reluctantly leaving their chosen call- f
What, then, have the teachers received at our hands in return? They have f° rce d by the hard necessities of their very existence. /
received little of honor and somewhat less of pay. Other classes have prospered; The teachers ask no largess at the hands of fortune. They enter their pro- /
other classes through powerful organizations have secured generous wages. The fession for service, not riches. But they invest years and money in preparation for /
teachers have no spokesman, however, to demand even the simple justice of a liv- their life work, and the knowledge they gain is shared with others, who themselves /
ing wage, so to them we give their petty pre-war pittance, so meager, so pitifully use it to their own profit. Teachers, then, by every right and in all justice expect / , 1
inadequate, that it places a burning brand of shame and disgrace upon this nation. a return that will permit them and their dependents to live decently and in com- '
fort. $
The men and women who are making the Americans of to-morrow are being t • , ~ , jF
L V „. fo j , Ar ;i.v. eonmrlorofion f L, .i • •• i . .i , . 8 1° every community reached by THE LITERARY DIGEST there are readers of fore
trea ed with less consideration than the janitors who sweep out the buildings in sight, of vision, broad-minded men and thoughtful women who will see—nay, perhaps have
which they are employed; they are earning, on the average, less than the wages long since seen—the critical and compelling importance of this problem. We are directing
given to the scrubwomen employed in the public buildings of the United States this appeal to them. We urge them to compare the salaries of their teachers with the wages €
Government. Normal school graduates receive less salary than street sweepers; of those who are doing work of equal value. There will be a challenge in the facts that will /
high school principals and superintendents less than section foremen; country Stlr the communit y t0 action.
school teachers less for instructing the farmer's children' than he pays his hired Let each community invest in schools so that it may thereby invest in a trained man
man to feed his hogs. hood and womanhood that can play their part in the great period of rebuilding and recon
struction that lies before us. Let each community set for its goal, as far as is practicable, a
i _ „_ f •_ c in- • r • . .1 r . minimum wage of at least SI,OOO a year for the teachers of America. This would cost the
In a certain town of Illinois, for instance, the average wage of fifteen miners nation perhaps as much as we spent so gloriously in but one week of the Great War.
T. L n LT W r ill ' I i he a . Verage m ° nthly u Sa ! ary , of fifteen teachers in we are not pleading merely for the welfare of some single profession; we are not plead
town w sss . In another town a miner, who, by the way was an enemy ln g for a special class; we are pleading for America: for her larger, her brighter, her richer
alien, drew more than SZ,/UU last year, while the salary of the high school princi- future, for the fulfilment of her glorious promise. We are pleading for a coming race of men
pal in the same town was $765. We welcome with all our hearts the long-belated an . d women who shall be qualified to make complete the work of our forefathers who founded
recognition that is being given to the man who works with his hands. We believe th * s nat * on and dedicated it to liberty, and who will bring to full fruition the new victories
that this same workingman will be the first to join with us in asking better nav sat5 at WC haVC W^ n .v, n ee d° m s cause. We are pleading for a wider teaching of the principles,
for those who teach hi? children. 8 "" ™ g
that the light of Americanisn shall so shine that it
shall flood every home, every heart, in our great land
I Since This Appeal Was Printed in the New York Papers, May sth ;
I GOVERNOR SMITH has signed the Bill generously increasing the pay of the school [.
I teachers of New York State and In doing so wrote: "Neglect the school-houses and j
j you provide a fertile field for the spread of the doctrines of the discontented, who,
I without a proper understanding of the benefits and blessings of our free country, cry fc
I out from the street comers of our important cities for the downfall of our state | j
I and the dissolution of our union." I '
® Thejiterar/Dfeest II
A
gXimiSBTTRG TELEGroOPH!
yum. 2,1919.