250 



NA TURE 



[December 3r, 1908 



purpose has been to establish an efficient sj'stcni of 

 retiring pensions for professors in the higher centres 

 of learning. Up to May, 1908, sixty colleges and 

 universities had been admitted to the benefits of its 

 retiring allowance system, and one hundred and six 

 professors and eighteen widows of professors are 

 alreadv receiving allowances amounting in the aggre- 

 gate to more than 37,000^. 



A natural sequel to this first important task has 

 been the collection of statistics relating to the salaries 

 of the American professors, and a comparison of the 

 figures with those prevailing in Germany. The report 

 which has been drawn up contains an introduction by 

 Mr. Henry S. Pritchett, president of the foundation, 

 while the arrangement and analysis are due to Prof. 

 E. L. Thorndike, of Teachers' College, and Messrs. 

 John G. Bowman and Monell Sayre, representing the 

 Carnegie Foundation. For the data concerning the 

 German professor. Dr. A. A. Snowden is responsible. 



We learn from the report that there are about 1000 

 institutions in the United States and Canada 

 bearing the title " college " or " university." A great 

 many of these, however, do not rise above the rank of 

 indifferent high schools; roughly speaking, nearly one- 

 half of them are not colleges in any true sense, and 

 the pay of their teachers is proportionately small. As 

 it would be unfair to draw conclusions from thev' 

 institutions regarding the average pay of the teachti' 

 of real distinction, the committee has based its con 

 elusions mainly on information derived from the 102 

 institutions in the United .States and Canada which 

 appropriate annually more than goooL for the total pay- 

 ment of the salaries of their instructing staffs. The 

 tables indicate that in these institutions the salary of a 

 full professor ranges generally from about 270!. to 960!. 

 per annum, and that the average is about 500/. It 

 is pointed out th.at the variations in salary correspond 

 to some extent with difTerenccs in cost of living, and i 

 that while a salary of 400/. may be a comfortable one 

 in a small town in the middle west of .America, double 

 that salary may not secure equal advantages in New 

 York. It appears that all the salaries below 300L are 

 paid either at colleges where living is comparativelv 

 inexpensive, or they are paid under exceptional con- 

 ditions, in addition to free rooms and board. 



FVom an examination of the corresponding figures 

 for associate professors and assistants, Mr. Pritchett 

 concludes that an .\merican who has taken a post- 

 graduate course and prepared himself for the profes- 

 sion of higher teaching may hope to obtain 250?. at 

 the age of twenty-eight, 270/. at thirty-one, 450/. at 

 thirty-three, and .soo?. at thirty-five. The report also 

 discusses the details at fifty-four of the most iinportant 

 institutions, where the total annual expenditure varies 

 between 2000J. and 9000/. It is found that though 

 several of these institutions are doing excellent work 

 as " colleges," it is pr.-ictically impossible for a 

 " university " to exist and do good work under goooZ. 

 a year. The scholarly atniospliere maintained at some 

 of the smaller institutions is in direct relation to the 

 rel.-itively high salaries they pay their teachers. 



There are very few large prizes in the teaching pro- 

 fession. In onlv two or three colleges does the salarv 

 rise above loocL, and it would appear that in several 

 instances those drawing this salary have been 

 .-ippointed under conditions which have since been 

 modified. 



Mr. Pritchett is keenly alive to the need for better- 

 ing the position of the university teacher. It is pointed 

 out that the professor can never expect to earn the 

 '•'rffp income which is the reward of enterprise and 

 ability^ in such learned professions as medicine and 

 law. The attraction which leads able men into the 

 NO. 2044, "^'OL. 7(j] 



teacher's calling springs from two sources, first, the 

 sense of power and responsibility which the true 

 teacher feels ; secondly, the love of study and of the 

 scholar's life. Held in a position of highest dignity 

 by those about him, he lives a life of frugalfty, of j 



simplicity, of influence, and, above all, of happiness. 

 He lives, as Mr. Lowell observed, in the only recog- 

 nised aristocracy in .America. A man who chooses 

 this calling should be freed from financial worries. 

 -A salary below the line of comfort means a struggle 

 to live and educate the children of the family. Prob- 

 ably there are very few professors in any country wh<> 

 do not utilise their salaries to the best advantage bv 

 living the simple life, so that when the financial 

 worries come the sacrifice takes the form of abandon- 

 ment of research and the undertaking of outside 

 work, often remunerated at a rate which makes but a 

 poor return for the demands it imposes on the pro- 

 fessor's time. The need of opportunity for research 

 is strongly emphasised by Mr. Pritchett. Another 

 cause which is detrimental to scholarly productiveness 

 is the large amount of administrative and routine 

 work frequently devolving on the teachers. 



The second part of the report deals with German\ . 

 The committee finds that the German professor ma\ 

 expect in time a far greater financial and social 

 reward than comes to his .\merican colleague. Ht- 

 has, furthermore, a place of far greater security, and 

 with full protection ior his old age and for his wife 

 and children. On the other hand, he has to go 

 through .-i longer period of probation than tin- 

 American before attaining the coveted chair. A 

 German who possesses such ability that he may expect 

 in due time to become a full professor, and who 

 prepares himself for university teaching, must expect 

 to study until the age of thirty with no financial 

 return, to study and teach as a privat-doceiit until 

 nearly thirty-six, with an annual remuneration of less 

 than 40L, and to leach from thirty-six to forty-one 

 with an annu;il remuneration of from 120?. to 400/.. 

 by which time he may become a full professor 

 and will continue to receive his salary until his 

 death. 



The committee is very strongly of opinion that tlv- 

 low .scale of salaries of American professors is in no 

 small measure due to the multiplication of weak and 

 unnecessary colleges, and also to the tendencv t-) 

 expand the curriculum over an enormous varietv of 

 subjects without regard to thoroughness. A college 

 of ten professors who are strong teachers, conim;md- 

 ing fair compensation and teaching only such subjects 

 as they can teach thoroughly, is, as .Mr. Pritchett 

 points out, a f;ir better centre of intellectual life than 

 a college which seeks with the same income to 

 double the numb'r of professors and to expand th'- 

 curriculum to include in a superficial way the whole 

 field of himian knowledge. In many instances given 

 in this bulletin the low grade of college salaries is due 

 to the attempt to maintain a universitv with an 

 income which is adequate only to the niainten.ance of 

 a good college. 



In regard to the multiplication of classes, it is 

 pointed out, in so many words, that as a rule neither 

 the professors nor the president of a university college 

 are fighting business men. When it conies to ;i 

 question of asking for more money, they are bv 

 nature diffident of placing their own jjer-^onal claims 

 in the foremost position, and they adopt the " path of 

 least resistance " by associating their demand with 

 some desirable extension of the teaching work of 

 their institution. They hope all along that their own 

 candle will be relieved from the pressure of the bushel 

 which dims its luminosity. But, unfortunalelv, thev 



