8 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 13 
standards of academic life, the means of enjoying family life, and a reasonable 
provision for the assistants and the equipment necessary for the economic use of 
his time and energy.” 
The scale of salary prevailing in the Faculty of Arts and Science at Harvard Uni¬ 
versity is given as follows: 
Instructors, $1,200 to $1,500; assistant professors $2,500 to $3,000; professors 
$4,000 to $5,500. 
The booklet issued by the University further says: 
“On this salary basis teachers at Harvard with the highest scholarly attainments 
and with unusual teaching ability cannot afford to remain today unless they have 
private incomes or earn money by outside work. 
“It is safe to say that 90 per cent of the teachers at Harvard cannot live, without 
personal sacrifice, on the salaries paid them for teaching. 
“Harvard may expect loyalty from her teachers, but she should not expect eco¬ 
nomic martyrdom. 
“The young scholars, who should be the professors of tomorrow, stand between 
two alternatives. One is three years of additional labor and a considerable invest¬ 
ment before they can become Doctors of Philosophy and thus qualify as university 
teachers. The other is the world outside the college. . . . They see at the end 
of seven years of study $1,200 a year, slow advancement and a station in the economic 
scale lower than waiters, policemen, chauffeurs or street cleaners.” 
The salary scale now prevailing at Harvard University, which is the subject of the 
above statements, is materially larger than that in effect in a large proportion of our 
colleges and universities or in our state or federal bureaus. Living costs in Cam¬ 
bridge, Mass., are approximately the same as those in some other localities and are 
larger than costs in the middle west and the far west. The condition of teachers 
and experimenters, as described in the Harvard publication, obviously applies in 
general elsewhere. The following letter is one among several received by your 
Executive Committee along with replies to their questionnaire: 
“Since living costs have risen and neither state or federal service can or will pay 
enough to cover even a small part of this increased cost, there seems no other road 
open but to enter the commercial field. This presumes that one must be proficient 
in some other line or profession. But when a man can step into another line of work, 
at a salary larger than he can get after twelve years of successful work in his chosen 
line, it’s time to wake up.” 
The present condition is, no doubt, as fully recognized by administrative officers 
as by the teachers and experimenters themselves. Such recognition is the basis of 
the efforts to raise large endowment funds now in progress in several of our univer¬ 
sities. Unfortunately, it is not likely that such efforts can be duplicated in similar 
degree throughout all institutions that employ scientific men. In addition there 
are large numbers who are employed by various governmental and state departments. 
The profession of entomology is sharing in the salary problem. The inevitable 
effect is to injure the profession itself in serious degree and to darken the horizon for 
the men who are engaged in it. Young men of promise are attracted to other lines 
of work. Capable men now in the profession leave it. Large numbers who have 
already spent a part of their lives in the profession find their energies scattered and 
their efficiency diminished. Furthermore, as the months passed during this current 
year commodity prices have increased instead of decreasing and the difficulty has 
grown increasingly acute. 
In this state of affairs your Executive Committee desired to perform whatever 
service might helpfully and constructively assist toward a betterment of conditions 
for entomologists. With that intent and with the assistance of a special committee 
