Page:The History of the University of Pennsylvania, Wood.djvu/44

38 to give a brief statement of the salaries of the officers, and the cost of tuition at different periods, from its origin to this time. Such statements are interesting; as they enter into our means of estimating the character of particular periods of history, and in some measure enable us, by comparing the past with the present, to judge of the progress or decline of society.

When the academy first went into operation, the rector received a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds, Pennsylvania currency, which on the appointment of Dr. Allison was augmented to two hundred pounds; and the salary of Dr. Smith, when chosen provost of the college, was fixed at the same sum. The other professors received from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty pounds each, and the ushers, from sixty to seventy pounds. It would appear that these sums, small as they would now be considered, were in those economical times sufficient for the decent support of the teachers: for they remained without increase for several years; and there were few instances of resignation of office, on the ground of inadequate compensation. By the year 1761, however, an advance seems to have taken place in the cost of living, which rendered an augmentation of the salaries necessary. That of the provost was accordingly raised to two hundred and fifty pounds, and the others in nearly the same proportion. It has already been stated, that Dr. Smith, after completing the collection in Great Britain, received from the trustees, as a reward for his services, the gratuity of one hundred pounds annually, independent of his salary; so that his income from the college now amounted to three hundred and fifty pounds. In a letter, however, written to the board, in the year 1774, he states, that, on account of "the advanced price of necessaries, and the growing expense of a growing family," he finds it impossible, with all decent attention to frugality, to make this sum answer for his support; and,