748 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE STATUS OF AMERICAN COLLEGE PROFESSORS 



ONCE MORE. 



By Professor JOHN J. STEVENSON, 



NEW YORK UNIVERSITY. 



A BOUT a year ago, the writer discussed some matters bearing upon 

 -*--*- the condition of college instructors in America. A restatement 

 of some parts of that discussion is necessary, as events occurring 

 during the interval have tended to divert attention from the more 

 important issues. 



An impression seems to prevail that the Carnegie foundation has 

 rendered unnecessary further discussion of the salary question. But 

 the provisions of that trust, perhaps intentionally, are such as to pro- 

 voke further discussion, for the salary accorded to emeritus professors 

 is to be in direct relation to that received prior to retirement. As the 

 payments will be only to men of sixty-five years and upward, they will 

 affect at best only a few years at the close of a long period of service, 

 and in all probability, they will be of personal interest to a very small 

 proportion of the whole number of college instructors. 



The writer has been criticized for laying stress on the matter of 

 salary and for thus introducing a mercenary feature which is degra- 

 ding to the profession. But education is no longer in charge of 

 ecclesiastics pledged to lifelong celibacy, and theoretically at least, to 

 lifelong poverty. The notion that teachers should be indifferent to 

 pecuniary matters is a survival, which still holds in the minds of some 

 youthful students and occasionally gains control of a college trustee, 

 but it has never found favor among tradesmen. While it is true that 

 no man should become a college instructor merely to gain a livelihood, 

 it is equally true that the matter of income should not be ignored, 

 for in our day one is hardly to be commended for choosing a profession 

 in which poverty or the observance of the strictest economy must be his 

 lot through life — provided always that he is fit for anything else. And 

 this is what makes the question of salary so important from the stand- 

 point of the college. Statistics show that in the leading eastern insti- 

 tutions and in the leading state universities the average salary of 

 professors is about 2,000 dollars; but this is the salary of a full pro- 

 fessor and is the maximum which most men may hope to receive after 

 years of service. Such being the case one must recognize the danger 

 tc which colleges are exposed especially on the side of pure science, 

 which for educational purposes is the more important. 



