l80 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.84 



" Insects Injurious to Vegetation " in INIassachusetts. The salary paid 

 to Asa Fitch, the first State Entomologist, was $i,ooo. The salary paid 

 to Townend Glover in 1863- 1877 was $2,000. The salary paid to Riley 

 when he succeeded Glover was $2,000 a year. That paid to Comstock 

 during his two years as chief entomologist to the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture was $1,900 and $2,000. When Riley returned 

 to the Department in 1881, the salary was advanced to $2,500, and 

 there it remained for many years and was my own salary when I 

 succeeded him in 1894. In 1902 it was increased to $2,750; in 1904 

 to $3,250; in 1906 to $4,000; in 191 1, to $4,500; in 1919, to $5,000; 

 in 1924, to' $6,000, and in 1925 to $6,500. During all these years the 

 salaries of the principal assistants in the Bureau were being gradually 

 raised from $1,200. 



The salaries at the i)resent time are in very marked contrast to 

 those of earlier years. The Chief of the Bureau now receives $8,000. 

 There are two who receive $6,400 a year each ; one who has $6,000, 

 two have $5,800, six have $5,600, one has $5,200, two have $5,000, and 

 forty-six have from $4,000 to $4,600, no less than twenty-eight of 

 these receiving $4,600 each. 



Of course, the C()mi)ensati()n in other walks of life has also in- 

 creased, either corres]X)ndingly or nnich more greatly. The vastly 

 increased cost of living brought about largely by the World War is 

 naturally responsible for much of these increases, but I like to think 

 that the good work done by the economic entomologists and the 

 rapidly increasing appreciation of the value of these services on the 

 part of the intelligent public have been measurably responsible. 



In other branches of scientific work under the government similar 

 increases have been made, but I am inclined to think that the contrast 

 between earlier conditions and those of the present are even more 

 marked with the economic entomologists than they are in many other 

 branches of science. I recall very well when in the i88o's Dr. William 

 Trelease was made Director of the Shaw Botanic Gardens in St. 

 Louis he was given a salary of five thousand dollars a year, and at 

 that time that sum seemed princely. It stood out painfully alone 

 among the salaries paid to biologists. 



As to the salaries paid to the men working under the States, either 

 in the colleges or in the experiment stations or under the State Depart- 

 ments of Agriculture, I have no sure information. That many of them 

 have been absurdly underpaid is certain. I remember that in one case 

 that came to my attention a few years ago a man who had long held 

 the position of State Entomologist, had done service of the highest 

 rank and had reached a commanding position in the scientific world. 



