IO6 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [April, *2O 



such manner as this. A young man fresh from college, fired with enthusi- 

 asm and with ambition, enters one of these positions. He has no experi- 

 ence and little training, yet is possessed of great energy and is very indus- 

 trious. He accepts the low salary offered in expectation that increases 

 will be given as he becomes of greater value to his employer. He labors 

 for from three to five years, we will say, under these conditions. Increases 

 are extremely slow, yet at first his enthusiasm overcomes this drawback. 

 Gradually his enthusiasm and ambition dwindle as the question of food, 

 clothing and shelter becomes more and more pressing, and as he observes 

 his former associates advancing in other lines of work. Finally he resigns 

 and goes to more profitable employment, perhaps retaining Entomology as 

 a hobby, his place being filled by a victim fresh from school who will un- 

 questionably follow in his footsteps. These years of training and experience 

 are lost to him and to the science in which he would make large sacrifices 

 if it could but supply him with a compensation sufficient to enjoy the 

 necessities of life. 



A scientific field replete with a shifting group of workers reflects but little 

 credit on any profession and we will emphatically say that teachers do 

 wrong in urging students to take up the profession without presenting the, 

 whole truth. 



A man who, in his heart, really wishes to be a Naturalist is willing to 

 give up most of the best things that life has to offer, but by entering the 

 field of Entomology one should by no means infer that he must become a 

 vagabond. There are, to be sure, a few fairly well paid positions available, 

 but these are filled by men who occupy, them for long terms of years and 

 usually nothing less than death renders the positions available for the 

 younger men. 



In the past Entomology has been as much a hobby for private workers 

 as a profession wherein men might earn a living. A large proportion of 

 the constructive workers in the subject have been dependent on other fields 

 of endeavor for their financial support, and have turned to Entomology 

 for their recreation. How much greater service they might have rendered 

 to the science if it had been possible for them to devote all their energy to 

 it. This condition still remains, perhaps to a less degree. As long as this 

 continues it is doubtful whether Entomology will take its place among the 

 greater sciences to which its importance entitles it. We are glad men have 

 such attachments for a subject; we are glad ours is a study which can thus 

 afford men a recreation and which is at the same time a distinct service. 

 But we would lift it from the rank of a hobby into the status of a pleasant 

 and fascinating profession. 



How then is this condition to be remedied, for it must be relieved short ly. 

 The younger worker can help himself but little. It remains, therefore, for 

 the men in the highest positions to awaken to the conditions and bend 

 every effort to raise the standard of the profession thru fair salaries for 

 their assistants. 



