The Normal School Crisis UM Springfield, Illinois 1921 TheTSformal School Crisis Dean O. L. ]VIANCHESTER Illinois State Normal School Letter on Same By FRANCIS G. BLAIR Superintendent of Public Instruction Issued by FRANCIS G. BLAIR Superintendent of Public Instruction Springfield, Illinois 1921 vn 3 SCHNEPP & BarneSj Printers Springfield, III. 1921 43993— 2M LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ^.^.-^.•VEl FEB281921 DOCUMENTS DIVISION INTRODUCTION. The founders of the Ilhnois system of pubHc instruction saw clearly the need of providing teacher-training institutions. A con- troversy arose as to whether certain funds should be used to estab- lish a state university or a state normal school. Those people who be- lieved that no school system could be a success without well trained teachers and that well trained teachers were impossible without a state established and maintained teacher-training institution won and the Illinois State Normal University was founded at Normal in 185 T. It would be impossible to estimate the far-reaching influence, of this in- stitution upon the quantity and quality of instruction in the schools of this commonwealth during the first fifty years of its existence. The state recognizing the value of the service of such an institu- tion established four other normal schools, and it was believed that hav- ing established them it had committed itself to their support. There has been no change whatever in the appreciation of the central place teacher training schools occupy in a common school system. There has been no change in the appreciation of the far-reaching effect they are having upon the standards of scholarship and education throughout the state. But for reasons rather difficult to discover, the state has not supported these institutions in such a way as to make them most serviceable to the commonwealth. To be sure, little complaint can be offered on the side of their physical equipment. Our five normal schools have, in the main, good buildings and good equipment. The lack of support has touched the spiritual side of these institutions. For many years it was considered such an honor to teach in the normal schools that men and women of the highest training accepted places in the faculty without much consideration of the question of salary. They were men and women devoted so thoroughly to their pro- fession that little thought was given to its economic side. Gradually it began to appear that these institutions were falling a victim to the very excellence of their work. They were training men and women to go out into the schools and teach with such rare excellence as to command something like a just and fair economic reward. Soon the very graduates of these normal schools, as high school principals and city superintendents, were receiving salaries in excess of the teach- ers in the institutions from which they graduated. Moreover the re- wards in industrial lines were becoming greater and the cost of main- taining one's self as a teacher in a normal school was mounting higher and higher each year. At last educational leaders of the state awoke to the fact that the normal schools were no longer attracting to their faculties the best men and women of the state and nation, and that their influence for good was being curtailed. Every attempt to seek out the cause and remove it led to the conclusion that the teachers in these normal schools were being underpaid — underpaid when com- pared with the services they render, underpaid when compared with the salaries paid to their graduates, underpaid when compared with the appreciating costs of everything they had to buy. With the discovery of this breakdown and its cause, has the state moved quickly to remove the cause? It has not. Of course, all sorts of explanations may be offered as to why it has not done so, but these explanations do not obscure the fact that for over a decade this decline in the teaching equipment of our normal schools has been going on. The normal school presidents and the boards in control of these schools, have seen more or less clearly the situation and have been presenting it to the legislative committees and state authorities. Now and then some added support has been secured, but all efforts seemed to fall short of convincing the state authorities that the exist- ing conditions were critical and demanded radical and far-reaching remedies. The paper prepared and presented by Dean O. L. Man- chester is the most effective and compelling presentation of this situation and its causes which has ever come to my attention. With a view of bringing it to the attention of those who are concerned in maintaining the highest standards in our teacher-training institutions, I am pubHshing it as a state document. January 25, 1921. Superintendent. THE NORMAL SCHOOL CRISIS O. L. Manchester (The Normal School Council having under consideration the question, How to Secure Adequate Support for the Normal Schools of Illinois?) Four years ago I tried to show this Council that the humiliation of the Illinois Normal School had begun twenty years before. It was no accident that in the eighties and in the nineties the professors in our normal schools were the educational leaders of Illinois. Two thousand dollars was not a high salary but it was more than was paid on the average to superintendents of our 42 largest cities, excepting Chicago, and as much as was paid to heads of departments at the University of Illinois. As one looks back today he wonders whether upon this salary question we normal school people were asleep during the twenty years preceding the outbreak of the European War. Slowly prices rose, until by 1913 they were 60 per cent higher than in 1896 and 40 per cent higher than the average level of the nineties. With the prices of commodities rose the salaries of public school teachers and of pro- fessors at the State University. Between 1897 and 1916 in three classes of our largest cities — excepting Chicago — salary increases averaged, for superintendents 85, 45, and 74 per cent respectively, and for high school principals, 82, 66, and 136 per cent, while at the Uni- versity of Illinois for heads of departments they more than doubled. During the same period for a week of service the money wage of the normal school professor increased 16 per cent. Perhaps nobody in- tended this humiliation of the normal teacher. A rise of three per cent a year in prices and in superintendents' salaries may have escaped notice. But while the normal school professor's salary in 1897 had exceeded the high school teacher's salary by 31 per cent and the superintendent's salary by 8 per cent, by 1916 the superintendent's pay was 30 per cent and the high school principal's pay 14 per cent above that of the professor. If the twenty years preceding the outbreak of the War form the first period of normal school degradation in Illinois, the briefer time since the outbreak completes a second period. Price rises became startling. Taking 1913 as a starting point and letting the prices of that year be represented by 100, "all commodities" culminated in 272 last May. This is the official figure of the Bureau of Labor based upon the prices of over three hundred commodities, each being given a weight in the reckoning corresponding to its im- portance in the trade of the country. Bradstreet's index was about $8.64 the middle of 1914 and reached $20.87 last February. Dun's figure was running about $120 in 1913 and May 1 of this year reached $263. The Annalist's index, which was 146 for 1914, touched 336 last June. Averaging the figures for the four authorities, we may say that prices culminated this year at a point nearly 2^ times their pre-war level. ■ ^■^ ■" — —■ i ■-^ , p 5n «o i J3 ~~ %— 2 — s 5_ =*»' ^^ 1 N CO ^ o-x — i ~" a_ -i § is 1 t>- fl ^ t r vQ_ J @ ^v T 1 > ^— r ■~- 2^ ^ J \ ^ -4 1 > *- / N \^\ ^ £ L . . c 3— W v / > V r ^ i lO -^ / <\ i ^ A ®x ;ir 1 < ) ^ -4 \ ^ ^ X \ \ 1J= ii i 3 'l ( , ft ,^ ^W — f 'Y '^^ r \\ ^ fi— f ^ ^ / ^ N^' \ p-IN^^-®-l ^ O ^— i-:\ ^ ■^ — ®r L^-r W ^^r~ /• ^My / W r ^ / ■<^.\ \ "< " O ^ — e^V ;V\ HH R- 1 — )\ \ Pt5 p ^ — ^v X/P© V S i^^ s^^ * -A \ ^ \^ / IV' \. \ ^ ^ ^g^v^ <^ -. > V < ''n^«^ ^^ y i — — 6 — V_5 ^ \^ ^ ?^ V ' K \ Ir^ # ;^ < Q^ ®A^ -9- < \ 9 ^ . > ^i^ T ^■ '•> ?T^. ■ ~* — ??-- -^-V: e^-^:?- u -If J V ; > -M < !! TTTTt | EXPLANATION OF CHARTS CHART I, Page 4 This chart shows how the normal school professor's salary failed to rise as prices rose, while the salary of the superintendent of schools or that of the high school principal kept pace with the increase in prices. The result was that the normal teacher, who, from a salary standpoint, was in the lead in 1897, not only lost the leadership, but by 1916 had taken last place. 1 2 3 1897 Normal Professor Superintendent H. S. Prin. $2,000 $1,854 $1,523 1916 Superintendent H. S. Prin. Normal Professor $3,016 $2,647 $2,321 The price lines are those of the standard authorities. Salary computa- tions are based upon official sources. Evidently, any city of considerable size in Illinois could take for its superintendent or high school principal, so far as salary is concerned, the aver^age professor from any one of our normal schools. CHART !l, Page 6 This chart shows what the average normal school professor has lost be- cause his salary did not rise during the last five years as the price index did (printed at the right). The total loss is $600 + $1,900 + $2,400 + $2,300 -f $3,000 = $10,200. For retail prices the Bureau of Labor alone has attempted com- putations upon any considerable scale. We know that the prices of 22 principal foodstuffs, weighted, for 45 cities, rose from 100, assumed for July, 1914, to 219 for July, 1920. We know that ten standard varieties of dry goods have sold in Chicago and in central Illinois cities this year at three or four times their pre-war prices. Our ex- periences testify that something of the same sort has been true in the case of shoes, clothing, house furnishings, coal, building materials, etc. A depreciated medium of exchange is a most terrible means of robbing a salaried class. This may occur without the sufferers reaHz- ing that it is taking place. So, perhaps, it was from 1896 to 1913. This has not been the case during the last five years. But how many of us can tell the extent of our losses? Let us take the case of a teacher who, we may suppose, received for the years 1916, '17, and '18 a salary of $2,500, who then got a 20 per cent raise, receiving $3,000 for 1919 and also for 1920. Now what did he really receive in the aggregate for the last five years, what would he have received had he been paid as the rising cost of living demanded, and what was his total loss? We shall use first the Bureau of Labor indexes. Year Index Number Salary Received Salary Deserved Loss 1913 100 $2,500 $2,500 1916 124 2,500 3,100 $ 600 1917 176 2,500 4,400 1,900 1918 196 2,500 4,900 2,400 1919 212 3,000 5,300 2.300 1920 240 3,000 6,000 3,000 Total received $13,500. Total deserved $23,700. Total loss $10,200. Dun's indexes for the same years are : 100, 123, 169, 190, 190, 206. Deserved salaries for 5 years: $3,075, $4,225, $4,750, $4,750, $5,150. Total of deserved salaries : $21,950. Total loss $8,450. Bradstreet's indexes for the same year are: 100. 128, 170, 203, 203, 205. And the deserved salaries for the last five years are thereby $3,200, $4,250, $5,075, $5,075, $5,125. Total of deserved salaries, $22,675. Making a total loss of $9,225. The cost of living indexes of the National Industrial Conference Board, based upon family budgets, and the most conservative estimates we have, are for the last five years : 108, 132, 152, 182, 200 ( ?), mak- ing the deserved salaries: $2,700, $3,300, $3,800, $4,550, $5,000. Total, $19,350. Loss, $5,850. We might average these four estimates and conclude that our teacher has probably "lost out" during these last five years to the ex- tent of $8,375. And he represents quite accurately any one of the best-paid professors in our Illinois normals. If any are inclined to smile at this argument, such should try answering it. 8 Quite as serious is the lot of our professor when compared with the fortunes of teachers at the State University, of high school prin- cipals, or of city superintendents. We shall consider the last-named only. The superintendents of schools in our 40 largest cities — exclud- ing Chicago — received in 1897-8 upon the average eight per cent less than did our typical professor, but by 1913 the superintendent was getting $2,721 a year, $3,000 in places over 15,000, while our professor received then for 39 weeks $2,321. Just how many thousands of dollars our normal school man has ''lost out" in comparison with the superintendent since 1897 we shall not attempt to figure, but beginning with 1913 the account stands as follows: 1913-14 1914-15 1915-16 1916-17 1917-18 1918-19 1919-20 1920-21 Superintendent $3,000 ?3,125 $3,294 $3,493 $3,507 $3,677 $4,302 $5,074 Professor 2.321 2.321 2.321 2.321 2,321 2,321 2,767 2,767 $ 679 $ 804 $ 973 $1,172 $1,186 $1,356 $1,535 $2,307 Total loss $9,012 ; all because when prices went up the superin- tendent's salary went up while the professor's salary did not. It would seem that during this same period our professor has been losing out in comparison with nearly everybody. Not only must he doff his hat to the superintendent in any town of 8,000, or over, in Illinois, but the high school principal has him beaten. There is just one principal, I think, in cities from 15,000 up who receives as little as he. When I built my house in 1896 the best-paid carpenters on the job got $2.50 a day. I was receiving four times that. By 1913 Chi- cago bricklayers, wiremen, plasterers, and plumbers, were getting 75 cents an hour; carpenters, cement finishers, painters, sheet-metal workers, 65 cents ; stone-cutters, 62.5, and structural iron workers, 68 cents. The average was 69 cents an hour for the ten classes of artisans. Our head of a department was then getting roughly $60 a week. The artisan working 44 hours a week earned half as much as the professor did. Now the most regular rate for each of these ten artisans is $1.25 an hour. The artisan by working 53 hours a week can earn practically as much — $66.25 — as our department heads average ($66.70). In the Illinois Zinc Works at LaSalle'the rollers — mostly Germans and Poles — have been averaging $12 a day, or about $3,500 a year. This beats our professor. The passenger conductor on the C. and A. averages $250, the engineer $300, a month. Either beats our professor for the year. In 1913 the rates of the McLean County Medical Society were $2 for a day call, $4 for a night call, $1 for an office visit. Now their rates are just twice these figures. A Bloomington physician with a good practice clears $5,000-$6,000 a year. An average practice means $3,000-$4,000 clear. This beats our professor. The electrician, who has been fixing the clock in my office, gets $1.31 an hour; that is more than the I. S. N. U. lavishes upon its dean for his office work — $1.05 an hour. EXPLANATION OF CHARTS CHART III, Page 10 This chart hows how the average of the best paid Heads of Departments at the Illinois State Normal University has "lost out" financially as com- pared with the average superintendent of schools in cities of 8,000 or over in Illinois, during the last eight years — all because the former's salary did not, during war times and after, rise with the price level, while that of the latter did. The total loss, as shown in the text, p. 8 was $9,012. CHARTS IV-IX, pp. 11-16, show how normal school teachers in Illinois have "lost out" as compared with almost everybody during the last five or six years. The wages of normal teachers have risen only a little over 20 per cent, while those of skilled labor have doubled, those of common labor more than doubled, and those of factory labor in ten principal industries been multi- plied by two and one-half. CHART IX shows the whole situation at a glance, with superintendents' salaries included (p. 16). The figures from which these charts are constructed are all taken from the most reliable sources — the Monthly Labor Review, New York oflBcial reports, publications of the National Industrial Conference Board, and the recently published monograph. Trends of School Costs, by Dr. W. Randolph Burgess, of the Educational Department of the Russel Sage Foundation. CHART VIII is from the last-named source. 10 " Si i ? i 1 A ^ a a 1 e (0 \ \. 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">-,. * ^x^ (0 ^N -. 1 or N u \ q: \ s; o o - < -J 1 -1 O O ~ X \ \ \ \ \ li. o . \ u Si o IaI ^ ^ m ■ n U \ Hi 1 ^111 ^ ■ OURS AGES ORMA EACH ALAR 1 1 1 4 • O » Z 1- CO 1 i 1 1 ' 1 1. 1 S 3 § S 1 s 8 ! 3 s ! i J = 1 1 15 i \ s \ 1 \ \^ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ ^^ \ \ \ \ \ \ i \ V \ \ - \ \ \ \ \ \ \ OS \ \ \ \ \ \ \ 02 i \ \ \ 1 d o s \ "x \ \ \ 1 ■ CO \, \ 1 \ i fe u \ \ \ E - (0 CO 5 f X \ 1 Jl^ t \ \ X WAGE WAGE ' SALi \ \ \ \ I ! o i « « K H < y 1 i IK S ^ o S o \ S9 H < 1 < K U \ 1 \1 M ! \1 m i 1 1 ^] M 8 8 ? = ? i i 16 ^ 1 i s c e' \ W -^, \ d f i i \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ u < < B 0» \ \ \ % V K ts \ \ •< \ 1 h 1 1 la o \ \ \ V ^ k O o X u tp 1 1 o3 <^ \ ^ •4 'i ' < z I i V \ s ^•^ \ \ ! t— 1 >\ \\\ ^ i V \ \,\ i \ S>-. \ i i-S v \ V < ^\ \ \ i \ s'\ s I \ a 1 -1 CI i . J 1 ^ s s i ^ ^ i h b i w_8_J 17 My commercial-traveler neighbor expects to clear $5,000-$G,000 a year. My dentist friend sends his girl away to school and has a new auto every second year. Another neighbor of mine buys and sells land; he confessed to having "cleaned up" $15,000 last year. I told him his was a damnable business and that I wished I belonged to it. In ten principal lines of industry, according to the Industrial Con- ference Board, the wage increases from September 1914 to March, 1920, were as follows in per cents : silk manufactories, 182 per cent ; woolen goods, 172 per cent; cotton goods, 172 per cent; leather goods, 170 per cent; furniture, 167 per cent; metals, 110 per cent; printing and publishing, 96 per cent ; boots and shoes, 105 per cent. This is an average increase in hourly wages since 1914 of 151 per cent. In New York factories the increase within the last six years has been from 100 per cent to 221 per cent in earnings per worker. The figures are official. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania also publish statistics as to factory labor. Wages have doubled in these states within six years. The Bureau of Labor keeps records for over 700 industrial establishments. From March, 1919 to March, 1920, one year, wages in them rose 23 per cent. The wages of the employees of the United States Steel Co., from 1913 to 1919, rose as follows: blast furnace workers, 140 per cent; Bessemer converter workers, 99 per cent; open hearth workers, 133 per cent ; plate mill workers, 134 per cent ; sheet mill workers, 111 per cent; blooming-mill workers, 118 per cent. These per cents average 122>^. On top of earlier increases while the railroads were under private management, railroad employees since December, 1917, have received the following wage increases in per cents : supervisory forces, 74 ; clerical and station forces, 84^^ ; maintenance of way and unskilled labor, 883^ ; shop employees, 72 ; telegraphers, etc., 101 ; engine service employees, 76 ; train service employees, 84 ; stationary engineers and firemen, 120 ; signal department employees, 85. These per cents average 87. No doubt the wages of railroad employees have doubled since 1913. These rates affect nearly two million men. Nobody working around an Illinois coal mine can be paid less than $6.86 a day or in a mine $7.25 a day. Rates run up to $8.43 a day for shift leaders. Engineers get from $219 to $242 a month. The award of the Anthracite Coal Commission gives anthracite coal workers the following increases for April, 1920, as compared with rates for 1912, in per cents : 20 classes of inside workers, 132.8 per cent; 14 classes of outside workers, 167^ per cent; four classes of breaker workers, 1703/^ per cent. The farm hand who, if single, got $40-50 a month before the War now gets $50-65 ; the married man before the War got $45-$55 and now receives $60-70. These figures mean an average money increase of 25-30 per cent for the single and 28-33 per cent for the married man, in both cases the living being furnished, which is worth more than twice what it was before the War. The wage of casual labor — male and female — is at least twice its pre-war level. 18 It is safe to conclude that union labor rates and the wages of skilled labor generally have doubled since 1913 ; the wages of un- skilled labor have done considerably more than that. In 1913 the Illinois State Normal University paid six assistant professors an average salary of $1,640 ; now it pays 10 an average of $2,030. This is for 42 weeks. Here is a money increase of 24 per cent since 1913, and a weekly salary now of $48.33. A Chicago hod- carrier with his $1.00 an hour or a plasterer's assistant with his $1.06 can beat our assistant professor and work less than 50 hours a week. Since 1913 the hod-carrier has received a wage increase of 150 per cent, the plasterer's assistant of 121 per cent; our assistant professor of 24 per cent. In 1913 at the I. S. N. U. 18 instructors averaged $1,384 a year. In 1920 at the I. S. N. U. 21 instructors averaged $1,666 a year, or $39.90 a week. This is a money increase of 20 per cent since 1913. This average per week — $39.90 — is just 2^ cents more than the most poorly paid labor in an Illinois coal mine receives for a week of 5^ days. In 1913 at the I. S. N. U. 12 training teachers averaged $1,362 for 42 weeks. In 1920 at the I. S. N. U. 12 training teachers averaged $1,608 for 42 weeks. Here is the lowest average salary and likewise the lowest rate of increase — 18 per cent ; 7 "standbys" got only 14 per cent. It is $38.28 per week now. Yet the training teacher must be an expert in her line and must work long hours; and misfits here are fraught with serious consequences. . Instructors or assistants in three classes of our largest city high schools have within four years received increases of 67 per cent, 28.5 per cent, 46 per cent, which is more than twice on the average what our assistants and instructors have gotten within seven years. Grade principals in the same three classes of cities have enjoyed increases within the same four-year period of 31, 46, and 55 per cent and grade teachers 853^, 59, and 64 per cent, compared with our training teachers' 18 per cent within seven years. In cities of over 15,000, grade prin- cipals now average over $2,000 a year. Three of our women grad- uates last year took positions paying more than 37 of the 42 women of our faculty were receiving. Finally, the town of Normal — a place of 5,000 — pays the prin- cipal of its Community High School and the superintendent of its graded schools, $5,000, which is just what the great State of Illinois pays its normal school presidents. The La Salle Twp. High School pays $7,500 ; Kenilworth, $6,600 ; Joliet, $5,500. So we see where we are and how we came to be where we are. The whole situation was clear to us four years ago and we stated our case fully and clearly at that time. But those in authority said the country was facing war; there was no telling what expenses Illinois might incur ; prices were going up ; we must wait. So we got nothing. 19 We waited patriotically and with little complaint. Two years ago we asked for a 30-per cent increase but the experts of the finance depart- ment said prices were about to come down and that ten per cent would suffice. Governor Lowden listened carefully to your representatives and the ten per cent was raised to fifteen. We were forbidden to ap- proach the legislature and the budget went through without contest. The State tax rate was reduced. The treasurer's report upon its ap- pearance showed that there had been in the general fund in the treasury October 1, 1918, the sum of $13,609,211. And then it developed that in spite of the finance department's experts and the expert friends of these experts, prices were obstinate about coming down. They were higher for 1918 than for 1917, higher for 1919 than for 1918, and averaged higher for 1920 than 1919. Our losses in consequence I have attempted to indicate. And now we are told prices are already down, are fast approach- ing the pre-war level ; and wages everywhere are coming down. Let by-gones be by-gones. Let the dead past bury its dead. Soon all will be well. Now whether prices are already down or how far they are down depends upon what we mean by "down." Do we mean the level for the present year is below that of 1919 ? Or do we mean they are lower than a year ago? Or do we mean they are below the peak points reached sometime last spring? Or do we mean wholesale prices are down, or that retail prices and the cost of living are down ? Bradstreet's index for December 1 is $13.63, a fall of 34.6 per cent from a peak point of $20.87 for last February. Dun's index is now $211.6 a fall of 19.5 per cent from the peak point of $263 for last May. The Labor Bureau's average for November is 207, a fall from 272, the peak point reached last May, of nearly 24 per cent. Average, 26 per cent. Bradstreet's index is now 32 per cent below his index of a year ago ; Dun's index is 13 per cent below and the Labor Bureau's 10 per cent below the year-ago index. Average, 18 per cent. Bradstreet's average for 1919 was $18.66 ; for 1920, $18.81. Dun's average for 1919 was $231 ; for 1920, it was $248 ; the Labor Bureau's average for 1919 was 234 and for 1920 will be at least 240. In each case the 1920 level is the higher. According to Bradstreet wholesale prices are now 56 per cent above their level August 1, 1914. They are more than twice (2.07), according to the Labor Bureau, what they averaged for 1913. Dun's figure shows them 76 per cent above the pre-war level. Now, fine commercial indicator as Bradstreet's index may be, personally, in trying to determine cost-of-living changes I should dis- card it altogether. Averaging Dun's and the Labor Bureau's figures, we find then that the cost of living is now 91^ per cent above its pre-war (1913) level, judging from wholesale price reports. In times of rising or of falling prices, however, retail prices al- ways lag behind wholesale prices. Especially do the wholesale prices of raw materials fall faster than the retail prices of consumption goods 20 made therefrom. The retailer, holding out for his profit, refuses to mark his goods down. Moreover, labor-cost as well as material-cost figure in retail price, and wages lag behind prices when prices are falling. Thus, at present, wools, hides, raw cotton, corn are selling at not more than half their prices of a year ago; but there has been no such drop in men's suits, in shoes, in calico, or in corn flakes. It is not unnatural that at present raw wool is about half its price of a year ago, woolen goods at wholesale Yz their prices of a year ago, and woolen suits only "20 per cent off." How far retail prices are really down I may leave to you. Did you find things "down" when you did your Xmas shopping? Did you pay 65 cents a pound for a turkey, 80 cents a quart for oysters, 90 cents a dozen for eggs, $9.00 a ton for coal, 10 cents for a pair of shoe- strings? Or a month's wages as a school-mistress for a new coat? The price crest was past early in the Spring, we had August sales in May everywhere, yet the Wall Street Journal, October 16, said, "As yet the consumer has received little benefit." Bradstreet thought the retail prices of foods went down 10 per cent from July through Oc- tober. The National Industrial Conference Board — than which we have no better authority on the cost of living — writes that the decrease in the cost of living from October 15 to November 15 was 2 per cent. And Babson in his letter of December 21 says that retail prices are not down as yet more than 10-15 per cent from their high point last spring. I believe this tallies with our experiences. "Twenty per cent off," "Thirty off — Now will you come in and buy?" Yes, but "off" what? Why, off the 287 in which foods culminated last May. Off the 356 for cloths and clothing in March. Off the 363 for house furnish- ings last August. Off the 272 of last May for "all commodities." And 30 per cent off prices at 272 leaves "all commodities" still 90 per cent above their pre-war level. No wonder some conclude that the only place to find something cheap is in the newspapers. But what of the future ? It was twenty years after the Civil War before prices settled back to their pre-war level, and certain forces and conditions had their effects then that cannot be expected to operate now. Within that 20- year period our transportation system expanded as never before, costs of production in manufacturing fell marvelously, the production of cereals doubled. Immigration was unrestricted, labor was almost un- organized, and our unit of values changed from a greenback to a gold dollar or its equivalent. Yet prices fell on the average only five per cent a year. Today there remain no great areas of agricultural land to come into cultivation, railway building is at a standstill, the limit of eco- nomies in manufacturing seems to have been reached, labor is organ- ized for a fight, immigration is to be restricted or stopped, and we have an elastic currency system. Moreover, we shall erect tariff bar- riers against imports. The equation of exchange is M V + M' V'= P T. The level of prices can come down from a decrease in the circula- tion of money or from a fall in bank deposits subject to check, i. e., 21 in a reduction in M or M'. With our federal reserve banking system in full operation there might be some question as to why prices should come down at all. May we not be on a new and permanently higher price level ? Our per capita circulation for the past two months, October 1, $58.64, and $59.48 November 1, has been higher than ever before in our history, and it shows no signs of a fall. Nor has there been any fall in bank deposits subject to check. The cry against contraction will stop any considerable reduction in the currency, or any serious curtailment of loans to legitimate business ; and deposits are but a re- flection of loans. No administration, no political party will care to be responsible for the business crisis that would follow contraction. It is economically undesirable and politically impossible. Lower prices might come from an expansion in trade — an increase in T. But all the indications are of a diminishing trade, which will tend to keep prices up. The only thing that remains to pull prices down is a decreasing V or V, i. e., a lessened velocity of circulation of money or of bank deposits. If people do not spend so freely, if the turn-over of their cash or deposits is less often, then prices may fall. And this is what has brought prices down the last few months. People stopped buying. The very people who bought furiously when prices were rising and they thought they were going higher, refused to buy at the first inti- mation that prices were to be lower. In vain sale after sale was staged by the merchant who had to sell to pay his debts, and for whom busi- ness had become unprofitable now that the thitherto lagging interest rate and wage rate had overtaken prices in their rise. But after all V and V depend upon human nature. They vary widely among peoples, between country folks and city folks, among individuals. But the arc of their oscilation for any particular people as a whole is a narrow one. For 20 years before 1916, when prices first took their upward shoot, V's variation had averaged not over one- half of one per cent and V" not over 2^ per cent per year. They changed little during the War. If the fall of prices depends upon V and V' we cannot expect a rapid reduction in the cost of living; the arc of their oscilation is too short. Americans have been spenders too long to be made savers over night. A dollar burns a hole in an Amer- ican pocket. Losses from price reductions so far have come out of employer's profits and out of the sellers of raw materials already produced. But so soon as bed-rock is reached in these directions, and further reduc- tions must come out of wages or out of the prices for materials and goods not yet produced, then things will move very slowly. The Mechanics and Metals National Bank of New York thinks the worst is past and that altered credit and monetary conditions have left prices on a permanently higher basis. The only reputable authority in the United States who makes a business of forcasting prices, Roger Babson, has predicted that the cost of living will be from fifteen to twenty per cent lower for 1921 22 than it has been for 1920. And this seems reasonable if after all the fuss and fury of the last ten months the cost of living is not down more than ten to fifteen per cent from its peak point of last spring. At any rate, it is the best and almost the only really expert and scientific estimate we have. After 1921 might follow a five per cent annual subsidence for a year or two. In view of this prospect, are we, the normal school teachers of Illinois, entitled to a fifty per cent increase for the coming biennium? Dun's index figure for 1920 is 206. The index of the Labor Bureau will be at least 240. The average of these two is 223. Since 1913 we have received one general increase of fifteen per cent and a few scattered increases that may bring the total to 120. Fifty per cent on top of this will mean that we shall get 80 per cent more in money than in 1913. Now if this last year's living cost of 223 is to come down 17 yz per cent — taking the average of Babson's 15 and 20 — then the cost of living index for next year will be 184. A year later it might be 179. In other words, in spite of our starving time of the past five years, we shall be getting less next year and less per year for the biennium than we received in real wages in 1913. It would seem that the State could afford to treat us squarely — even liberally — for once. Yet fifty per cent would mean a wage restoration, not a wage increase for us. But would not this fifty per cent increase be treating us too liber- ally in comparison with other labor whose wages are now on the de- cline ? If we may average the figures we have here for New York fac- tories, 221, and for wages in ten principal industries, 251, we have 236 as an index figure for factory wages in 1920. The reduction being made in textile mills of the East is 22^ per cent, and this is higher than the average reductions that are being made the country over. This 22^ per cent off, or 40 per cent off the war-time gain, will leave factory labor at 183 per cent of its pre-war wages. Ordinary labor is getting now 228 per cent of its pre-war earnings in money. Cut this 20 per cent or take ^ off the war-time gain and we leave it with 183 per cent of its former rates. Skilled labor has not fared quite so well in increases during the war. Its wage stands now at just about twice what it was in 1913. Cut this 10 per cent — give the bricklayer, for example, $1.12^/2 an hour instead of $1.25 — and skilled labor will get in money 80 per cent more than its pre-war wages, and will have lost 20 per cent of its war-time gain. Public school teachers have not got even yet the full measure of increases due them. For example, superintendent's salaries should come up between five and ten per cent. City teachers generally from 1913-14 to 1919-20 averaged an increase of 61 per cent. By now it is probably 80 per cent. And salaried labor generally that has not yet been the recipient of so much as an 80 per cent raise, has something coming to it. And so readjustment or reconstruction will have been accomplish- ed with prices, wages, and salaries about 80 per cent higher in money 23 CHART X. For explanation see page 2S , |WAR-TIME PRICES & NORMAL- SCHOOL SALARIES. 1913 IBM 1915 1913 1917 t913 1919 1920 [ 2ed I 1 1 1 1 t grjn 1 !^ 1 1 2SG 9Ar j i 230 / S20 / .n j / 1 *" i SOQ _._^'.ir^ ^,, ^ 1 I90| 180 170 160 M y- .-/>■ / / / ^ / r' / ISO 1 1 / y 140 j / 130 / . 120 110 100 SO 80 70 60 50 ! ^■y^ i ..^/ /' - — ~- F^S^ y^:± >^:^2~—-7:=' i 1 j 1 1 ■^^^ 1 1 ! 1 1 ^^.^ __!.. i NORMAL SCHOOL SALARiES B^ADSTRECT'S INDEX OF -- IN MONEY. PRICES. —REAL WAGES OF NORMAL ^l^™"^"- "*DU8TRIAL BOARD - SCHOOL TEACHERS. COST OF LIVING. —DUNS INDEX OF PRICES . prIceI""^^"'^ '"°^* °^ 1 24 than they were in pre-war times. Even this will mean that prices will have fallen from the Labor Bureau's peak point of 272 to 180, a drop of 92 points. If there had been no war at all prices for 1921 would have been about 130. Such a reconstruction will be immeasur- able easier than any return to a pre-war level, and it will be with justice to all so far as the future is concerned. But even thus we normal teachers should be writing off our disastrous losses of the past five years. Is it not to be feared, however, that if we are given this fifty per cent increase, we shall be getting more than we are entitled to in com- parison with what other normal teachers are receiving in other states? In Wisconsin for heads of departments the maximum is, after 8 years of service, $4,000, though so high as $4,800 may be paid in spe- cial cases. We shall use the $4,000. In Missouri the maximum, at Warrensburg, is $3,500, and at Kirksville $3,660, which average $3,580. At Terre Haute the maximum is $3,960 ; and it is the same at Cedar Falls, where 11 heads now receive it. In Michigan at Ypsilanti and at Kalamazoo it is $5,000 ; 11 people are now receiving that at Kala- mazoo. In Ohio, at Kent and Oxford, the maximum is $3,600. At Albany, Teachers' College, it is $4,500. The average maximum then, counting each state once, for these seven states that include all our border states to the north, west, and east, with Ohio and New York added, for a full professor or head of a department is $4,097. Now if we get our 50 per cent and our head of a department is given $4,500 as a maximum, and the teachers in normals in these various states get 10 per cent for the coming biennium then our maximum will be just about the average of their maximums. And we should rank little better as to other classes of teachers — assistant professors, instructors, and training school critics. In other words we shall be even then with our 50 per cent advance, as to salaries, "just averaged," being behind Michigan and New York, on a par with Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana, and ahead of Missouri, and perhaps Ohio. But what normals in other states are asking will average much more than 10 per cent. Minnesota normals want a 60 per cent increase, Cedar Falls 20 per cent, etc. There is a considerable advantage for the state that leads the pro- cession. It can attract the best teachers from the normals of other states. Would that Illinois might lead for once ! The issue today is between the 30 per cent offered by the budget committee and the 50 per cent requested by the Board. Now what burden would this difference of 20 per cent impose upon the taxpayer ? The normal schools of Illinois have been getting about $500,000 a year for salaries. Twenty per cent of $500,000 is $100,000. The assessed value of the property of Illinois is over four billions. One per cent in the tax rate means $400,000 of revenue, and to get $100,000 we need one-fourth of one cent in the tax rate. The farmer in central Illinois with 320 acres of land assessed at $50 an acre and with per- sonalty to one-fourth the value of his realty, is assessed for $20,000. And this one-fourth cent in the tax rate would cost him 50 cents in taxes. The eleven biggest retail stores in Bloomington have an average assessed valuation of $21,336, and that would mean that this one-fourth 25 of one cent would cost them on the average 53 cents. It would be 1/2504 of the total Bloomington rate of $6.26. We take it we normal school teachers have already re-imbursed both farmers and merchants for this burden, in the prices we have been paying them for four or five years. Of course, I do not believe that this $100,000 would make any diflference in the tax rate, since there are nearly sixteen millions of dollars in the revenue fund of the treasury now. ^^loreover, it is an error to think that the people of Illinois wish the schools degraded for lack of revenue — normal schools included. Wherever they have had a chance at the tax rate the people have not hesitated to raise it to provide adequate revenue for teachers' salaries. The real question at this juncture is : SHALL THE DEGRADATION OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL IN ILLINOIS BE MADE PERMANENT? It matters little whether prices stay up or go down. After a certain minimum of necessaries is assured, it is not what we get ab- solutely but what we get relatively, that counts. Not what prices may do but what they have already done spells discomfiture for us. In the new tax rate the University of Illinois is assured six and two-thirds cents, which means over two and a half millions a year. Considerable of this, no doubt, will go for salary increase. A fifty per cent increase would hardly put us on a par with the University teachers now. So the case seems hopeless. They will outclass us permanently. Yet there is no reason why sons and daughters securing a cultural education or preparing for private business, should at the expense of the State be taught by more efficient teachers than sons and daughters of a humbler class, preparing for public service in the schools of Illinois. Our professor was once in the race with the best-paid superintend- ents in Illinois. Fifty per cent increase will still leave him with $1,000 a year below the median for superintendents in cities of 25,000 or over, and just on a level with the average superintendent in places from 8,000 up. Now nobody believes the salaries of public school super- intendents, high school principals and assistants, and grade school principals, are going down, no matter what prices do. The advent in force of the community or township high school, with its abundant resources, is sufficient to guarantee that. \\'ith anything less than fifty per cent our relative discomfiture here will remain, even if prices sink to a pre-war level. We have seen that the artisan once got one-fourth what our pro- fessor did ; that before the War he was getting one-half as much, and that at present it is a close race between them. Now, the rates of skilled union labor are not going to fall much, no matter what prices do. In fact, in Chicago the present buildings trades agreement on the basis of $1.25 an hour runs until Alay 1st, 1923. In Bloomington, our bricklayer, whom we have used for purpose of illustration, who is now receiving $1.25 an hour, regardless of our reconstruction plan and its award of $1.12^^, announces that after January 1st he must have $1.50 an hour. Are we to have lost out relatively and per- manently here too? Is an education to cease to pay? 26 CHART XL For explanation see page 28 EAST AURORA WEST AURORA BLOOMINGTON DANVILLE DECATUR EAST ST. LOUIS ELGIN JOLIET PEORIA QUINCY ROCKFORD SPRINGFIELD NORMAL PROFESSOR ALTON BELLEVILLE EVANSTON FREEPORT GALESBURG JACKSONVILLE MOLIIfE OAK PARK ROCK ISLAND WAUKE6AN NORMAL PROFESSOR BLUE ISLAND CAIRO CANTON CENTRALIA CHAMPAIGN CHICAGO HEIGHTS CICERO DE KALB GRANITE CITY KANKAKEE KEWANEE U SALLE LINCOLN MATTOON MAYWOOD MONMOUTH MT. VERNON OTTAWA PCKIN STREATOR URBANA NORMAL PROFESSOR tSOOO S60O0 S7000 27 Not upon what prices do but upon what the legislature does de- pends the future of the normal school system in Illinois. Let prices do what they will. Salaries in our normals not commensurate with those paid in other normal schools or to public school teachers, mean an extensive individual strike and poor stuff employed to take the places of the strikers. Students, especially normal school students, know when they are getting good or poor instruction. They will not go or stay where teaching is poorer than in the high schools whence they came. This is a time of stress for the normal school anyway. If to the other difficulties naturally inherent in the present situation is to be added the obstacle of meagre support, may not the Illinois normals as well board up their doors and surrender their function to the high school training classes? Why should would-be teachers go away from home for inferior instruction? Yet the Illinois normal never had the chance that lies before it today. People are awake educationally. Not only from country and city elementary schools comes the clear call for really expert teachers, but from our new township and community high schools is a demand for pedagogically trained secondary teachers. And these new schools can pay almost any price. They are revolutionizing the salary schedule in Illinois. But it is the decree of fate that the institution that does not live up to its opportunities, loses even the prestige that it has. We are at the parting of the ways. No faithful workman ever ought to have to ask for what is clearly his due. Much less should teachers, who are not expected to organize, to bargain collectively, or to strike, to whose calling attaches a certain dignity — much less should they have to beg repeatedly for what is simply justice. Such a necessity is beyond measure humiliating. If it were not for my family's sake I would black boots before I would do it. I understand that Governor Lowden admits that we should have had 30 per cent two years ago. Now if we should have had, it is the simplest justice that we be given, as back pay over-due, for the months of the biennium already past, the difference between 30 and 15 per cent, now. It is a strange argument indeed, that because we have been refused justice so long, it should be denied us permanently. And for the remainder of the current biennium this same per cent should be provided for by legislative enactment or otherwise. Thus would be restored to our professor less than one-ninth, as we have seen, what his loss has been for the last five years. As for the coming biennium, normal school salaries in Illinois should be at least fifty per cent higher. Fifty per cent would be but a tardy restoration of a one-time wage. Sixty per cent would put us abreast with our best competitors. If we — the present occupants — are not worth so much money, then for the sake of the children and of the future citizenship of the State, let those in authority turn us out and find teachers who are. But will the representatives of the People of Illinois refuse per- manently to give to the State's School System at large the measure of support that this same people, whom they represent, has already gen- erally and generously accorded the schools in their local democracies at home ? 28 EXPLANATION OF CHARTS CHART X, Page 23 This cnart shows for each year the real wage of the normal school teacher, the same being found by dividing his money wage by the average of the price or cost of living indexes. DURING THE PAST THREE YEARS THE NORMAL TEACHER HAS RECEIVED LESS THAN SIXTY PER CENT OF HIS PRE-WAR WAGE. IS FIFTY PER CENT INCREASE TOO MUCH? CHART XI, Page 26 This chart makes three classes of Illinois cities: those that by the census of 1910 had a population of over 25,000, excepting Chicago; those between 15,000 and 25,000; and those of from 8,000 to 15,000. The normal school 'professor, who, a generation ago, from a salary stand- point, was ahead of or on a par with all but six of these JfS superintendents, is now behind all but one. This is because the normal teacher's salary did not rise as prices did, especially since 1914. Even with a fifty per cent increase the normal school professor will still be behind all the superintendents of Class I, behind six of the ten of Class II, and behind ten of the twenty-one of Class III. In 1897 the normal professor was ahead of all high school principals but two or three. The high school principals of these 43 cities now average $3,814 a year. Forty-nine township and community high schools in Illinois pay their prin- cipals now an average of $3,885. With a 50 per cent increase the normal school professor would average about $3,600 for 36 weeks. IS FIFTY PER CENT TOO MUCH? 29 LETTER ON NORMAL SCHOOL SALARY SITUATION. December 1, 1920. To Director of Finance and Chairman of the Budget Committee, Capitol Building, Springfield. Dear Sir : At the recent meeting of the Normal School Board a recommenda- tion for a 50 per cent increase in the legislative askings for salaries and wages for teachers in the normal schools, was considered and re- affirmed. You appeared before the Board. After some discussion -of the question, you asked that the Board present to you facts and argu- ments in support of the Board's recommendation. The Board appoint- ed Francis W. Shepardson and myself to prepare and furnish you with the statement. One of the arguments in favor of the 50 per cent increase in the salaries of normal school teachers over the budget for 1914, was that the salaries of public school teachers had increased greatly within the last 4 or 5 years ; in fact, the high school boards were able to pay much higher salaries for their teachers than the normal schools are paying. I am presenting herewith data to show: First, the increase in amounts expended for teachers' salaries and wages from 1914 to 1919 ; second, the ranking of Illinois with the other states of the Union, based upon the amount of money expended for public education; third, the academic and professional — or lack of — qualification of the present teaching force of Illinois ; and fourth, conclusions and recom- mendations, based upon or growing out of these facts. As the question of an increase in the state distributive school fund is under considera- tion by you, some of the matter here presented is intended to bear directly upon that point as well as on the normal school salary question. 1. Exhibit "A," enclosed herewith, prepared by the statistical clerk of this office, shows the amount earned by public school teachers in Illinois for the year ending June 30, 1914, was $21,781,221.22 the year ending June 30, 1919, was 29,684,882.69 a gain in dollars of 7,903,661.47 a gain of 36% This gain has been made mainly during the year ending June 30, 1919. The data for 1920 has not yet been tabulated for the entire state. The statistical clerk has, however, tabulated the data for ten typical counties covering the increase in salaries from July 1, 1914 30 to June 30, 1920. This shows an increase of 77 per cent. The sta- tistical clerk assures me that with Chicago included, he believes that the percentage will go higher than 77. An increase of 77 per cent in that period is a large increase compared with the 15 per cent which the normal school teachers have received during that time, but, meas- ured in the price of commodities which teachers must buy, they are receiving less in 1920 than they did in 1914. NOTE — Since this article was written, data for 101 counties have been received and tabulated. This shows an increase of the amount paid teachers in 1920 over the amount in 1914 of $17,615,731, or 81 per cent. But the number of teaching positions in 1914 in these 101 counties was 31,432 and in 1920, 36,199, or a gain of 4,767. This shows an average annual salary in 1914 of $687 and in 1920 of $1,083, a gain of 57.6 per cent. 2. Every session of the general assembly, those who seek larger and more adequate revenues for public education are told that we are taxing the wealth of Illinois for public school purposes to the limit, and that any considerable increase in the state distributive fund or in the authority given to local boards to increase their rates will unsettle property values and cause resentment on the part of taxpayers. At times the impression is created that Illinois is expending abnormal amounts on her public schools. What are the facts? While the increase of 77 per cent in the salaries of public school teachers from 1914 to 1920 may seem generous, yet with all this in- crease Illinois, in the amount of money expended upon public educa- tion, falls far below its rank in wealth, manufacturing and agriculture among the other states. In the Statistical Report of the United States, published by the Department of Commerce in 1918, Illinois is ranked second in wealth. New York alone standing ahead of it; in capital invested in manufactories it ranks third, following New York and Pennsylvania, whereas, exhibit "B," furnished herewith, sets forth as the results of an analytic study of the state school systems of this country (by Leonard P. Ay res, for the Russell Sage Foundation) that Illinois ranked 2/th in the average expenditure per child in average attendance of the public schools of the state during the year ending June 30, 1918, and in average expenditure per child of school age (5 yrs. to 19 yrs.) for the same year Illinois ranked 24th. As a check upon this investigation by Mr. Ayres, exhibit "B" also shows the rank- ing of Illinois, as made by the National Commissioner of Education, in expenditures for public education in the years ending June 30, 1912 and 1914. These data show that in 1914 Illinois ranked 23rd in amount expended per capita of total population, 21st in amount ex- pended per capita of children five to nineteen years of age. It is further shown that while in 1912 Illinois ranked 9th in per capita estimated wealth, she ranked 34th in the amount expended per each $100 of wealth for public education. The matter presented in exhibit *'B" shows clearly that Illinois is not being taxed excessively for the support of its public school system in comparison with other states of the Union, and that there will have to be a number of increases in the state distributive fund in the rates allowed to local boards of 31 education before Illinois takes the educational rank which its wealth, the extent of its industrial and agricultural pursuits, as well as the character of its people, demand. 3. Exhibit "C," furnished herewith, is an anaysis of the academic and professional training of the teaching force of Illinois for the year ending June 30, 1919. This shows that 4.4 per cent of the teaching force have never attended school above the elementary grades ; that 8.9 per cent have never finished a high school course ; that 36.7 per cent have not gone beyond the 4 year high school; that 63.5 per cent have not gone as far as graduation from a normal school or a college. While the war has helped somewhat to create this discreditable situation, Illinois has always ranked low in this respect. What are the causes? First, the legal standards of qualification are too low. Every at- tempt to lift these standards has been opposed by certain persons who insist that it is well-nigh impossible to secure teachers enough to sup- ply the schools even with standards as low as they are. While we have lifted the requirements for nurses, veterinary surgeons, dentists, doctors, public accountants, lawyers and others, we have been unable to lift the standard of qualification for teachers to a corresponding extent. Second, some are disposed to feel that the normal schools are somewhat responsible for the lack of a sufficient number of well trained teachers. In an indirect way this is true. But so long as teachers without normal school training can secure positions to teach and salaries almost as large as those paid to normal school graduates, the blame can not be laid directly upon the normal schools. Third, the main cause is the lack of salaries which will attract the best young men and the best young women into the teaching busi- ness and lead them to make the necessary preparation to do the work well. Until Illinois is willing to ofifer an adequate wage to the teacher we can not expect young men and young women to spend from 2 to 4 years in the normal schools in preparation for their work. Fourth. Conclusions and Recommendations. 1. Other states like Pennsylvania and New York, having their attention drawn to the critical condition revealed by the war, have appropriated many addi- tional millions of dollars for an increase of teachers' salaries. Illinois at the last session of the general assembly increased the state distrib- utive fund from 4 millions to 6 millions of dollars annually. To put Illinois where it should be, this distributive fund should not be less than 25 per cent of the total amount expended for public education. This would require an appropriation of approximately 15 millions of dollars annually for the next biennium. Nothing less than 10 mil- lions of dollars annually should be considered at the next session of the general assembly. Further, while the last general assembly enacted some very helpful legislation in giving the local boards of education larger taxing powers, there still remains a certain group of our larger cities which needs additional revenue legislation. The boards of edu- cation in such cities as Rockford, Freeport, Aurora, Quincy, Bloom- ington, Danville, Springfield, East St. Louis, Cairo, and others, should be allowed, upon an affirmative vote of the people in each district, to 32 levy a separate tax for high school purposes. This would place them on an equal footing with those districts which now are organized under the community or township high school plan. The increase of 4 millions of dollars annually in the state distributive fund and the in- crease that would come in these large cities would add to the school revenues perhaps 20 millions of dollars annually and would provide such salaries as would make possible higher standards of qualifications for teachers. These higher standards would fill our normal schools with thousands of these teachers in preparation and in the end would give Illinois an adequately trained teaching force. 2. But with no increase whatever in our standards of preparation or attendance the normal schools should have the 50 per cent increase in their salary budget, in order to keep the high schools from taking their teachers away. It is discreditable to any state system of educa- tion to have the normal school teachers paid lower wages than the teachers whom they prepare are getting in the common schools. How- ever, if this enlarged program goes through the legislature, a much greater demand will be made upon our normal schools ; they will have to increase the size of their facilities and pay a wage that will attract and hold men and women who are thoroughly prepared to do the im- portant work of preparing the teachers of a commonwealth. In order to transform our untrained teaching force into a trained teaching force in the next ten years, our normal schools should turn out not less than 3,000 graduates annually. If Illinois is to do for its children what it should do and take a rank corresponding to its rank in wealth, manu- facturing and agriculture, it must make large increases in the appro- priations for its normal schools and common schools. I hope you will approve the increase of 50 per cent in the salary budget of the normal schools and the increase of 4 millions of dollars annually in the state distributive fund. Yours sincerely, F. G. Blair, Superintendent. EXHIBIT "A." The following statement shows for Illinois the total amount earned by public school teachers in 1914 $21,781,221.22 in 1919 29,684,882.69 Gain 7,903,661.47 Gain per cent 36 Data for 1920 not yet tabulated for entire state. By a study and comparison of a group of ten representative coun- ties, namely : Boone, Adams, Sangamon, Carroll, Champaign, Clark, Douglas, St. Clair, Brown, and Bond, there was an increase of 29^ per cent in total paid teachers in 1920 over the amount paid in 1919. I think it conservative to estimate an increase in the whole state of 30 per cent. If so, the total amount in 1920 was $38,590,347 If so, gain since 1914 was 16,809,126 If so, gain per cent since 1914 was 77 33 EXHIBIT "B." The following data shows the ranking of the State of Illinois with the other states of the Union as determined by money expended on public education : In a publication recently prepared by Leonard P. Ayres for the Russell Sage Foundation, entitled *'An Index Number for State School Systems," you will find 1. Page 49, Table showing Illinois ranked 27th on Average Ex- penditure per child in average attendance in school year 1917-1918. The following states outrank Illinois ; Ariz., Cal., Colo., Conn., Idaho, Iowa, Kans., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Neb., Nev., N. D., N. H., N. I., N. M., N. Y., Ohio, Ore., Penn., R. I., S. D., Utah, Wash, and ^Vyo. 2. Page 49, Table showing Illinois ranked 24th in Average Ex- penditure per child of school age (5 to 19) in year 1917-18. The fol- lowing states outrank Illinois : Ariz., Cal., Colo., Conn., Idaho, Ind., Iowa, Kans., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., Neb., Nev., N. D., N. J., N. Y., Ohio, Ore., S. D., Utah, Wash, and Wyo. In the Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education for the year 1913-14, I find the following information: 1. Illinois ranked 23rd on Amount Expended per capita of total population. These states rank above Illinois: Utah, Idaho, CaHf., N. D., Mont., Ariz., Wash., Minn., N. J., Neb., Ore., Iowa, Colo., Ind., Mass., Ohio, S. D., Kans., Wyo., Conn., Nev., N. Y. 2. Illinois ranked 21st on Amount Expended per capita of chil- dren 5 to ip years of age. These states outrank Illinois: Calif., Mont., Nev., Wash., Ariz., Utah, Ore., N. J., N. D., Idaho, W>o., Mass., Colo., Minn., Neb., Ohio, Conn., N. Y., Ind., Iowa. 3. The same report shows that, while in 1912 Illinois ranked 9th in per capita estimated luealth, she ranked ^4tJi on amount expended for each $ioo of zvealth, and. While on the amount expended on each $ioo of zvealth Illinois ranked 34th, on amount expended on each $ioo assessed valuation, she ranked 8th. This shows how widely the assessed value of prop- erty differs from the estimated wealth in the several states of the Union. 34 EXHIBIT "C." This statement shows the qualifications of the teachers occupy- ing the 35,023 teaching positions in Illinois during the school year 1918-19. Percent of Total Qualifications. Number, number. No. having attended no school above elementary 1,520 4.4 No. having attended but not graduates of High school 1,641 4.5 No. graduates of 4 year high school only 9,724 27.8 No. having attended but not graduates of state nor- mal school 6,670 19.1 No. having attended but not graduates of college. . . . 2,707 7.7 Total not graduates of normal school or college 22,262 63.5 No. graduates of state normal school only 7,369 21.1 No. graduates of college only 4,097 11.7 No. graduates of college and state normal school. . . . 1,295 3.7 Total graduates of normal school or college 12,761 36.5 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 021 496 543 4 §