STATE UNIVERSITY SALARIES. 429 



than in 1898-9. The increased cost of living, however, during this 

 time should be taken into consideration before a final conclusion is 

 reached in regard to the real state of affairs. 



Before leaving the discussion of this the most important of the 

 plates, the reader should be warned against ascribing too great signifi- 

 cance to the ordinary ups and downs of the curves. In the first place, 

 the arithmetical mean leaves much to be desired as a single expression 

 for giving an idea of a set of numbers that differ much among them- 

 selves. Secondly a rather slight change in number and salaries of 

 the professorial staff of an institution will in some cases change the 

 average out of proportion to the actual change. The scheme of giving 

 the averages is, however, the best that can be used, and when the 

 trend of the curves for a period of years is taken into consideration, 

 it is believed that they very fairly represent the situation. 



Naturally an inspection of the complete data from which the curves 

 were plotted reveals many interesting and important points which the 

 curves themselves fail to show. For instance, one interesting feature 

 that presents itself is that in the majority of the institutions there 

 appears to be a ' normal ' salary for men of full professorial rank ; 

 that is, a sum which all professors receive unless there be a special 

 reason for their getting more or less. This is inferred from the 

 following figures taken from the data for 1904-5, but typical of the 

 whole period: In Kansas 57 per cent, of the professors are receiving 

 $2,200 each; in Nebraska 47 per cent, receive $2,100; in Minnesota 

 48 per cent, receive $2,400; Indiana pays 53 per cent. $2,500; and in 

 Ohio 40 per cent, get $2,250. (In 1905-6, 36 per cent, will receive 

 $2,500.) In Wisconsin 33 per cent, receive $2,500 and 20 per cent. 

 $2,000. Wisconsin has apparently two ' normal ' salaries, a condition 

 not presented by any of the others. In the cases of Missouri and 

 Illinois no considerable proportion of the faculty receive the same 

 salary. These so-called ' normal ' salaries do not coincide with the 

 average salary, they being sometimes higher and sometimes lower and 

 differing in maximum by over $200 from the average. 



In regard to high salaries, Wisconsin heads the list. In this 

 institution, in 1904—5, ten deans and professors are receiving from 

 $3,000 to $4,500. The lowest recorded salary, $1,000, is also on 

 Wisconsin's list. Illinois and Missouri are the only other univer- 

 sities of the eight that pay a professor more than $3,000. All of 

 them are paying some men $2,500 and in four of them this is the 

 highest salary paid. All but one, Indiana, pay some of their pro- 

 fessors less than $2,000. It should be borne in mind that these figures 

 refer to salaries of men of full professorial rank and do not include 

 associate and assistant professors. 



Taking the period beginning with 1898-9 and closing with the 

 present academic year, 1904—5, it is seen from the complete data that 



