_Stimulants to competition._—If any occupation shows circumstances making entrance easy for new applicants, or if advantages for promotion are readily seen, or if it seems to have a special respectability with the advantage of social privileges, especially if it in some respects seems a work of philanthropy, there will be multitudes ready to engage, and willing to undertake the work at less than average compensation. It is commonly said that these peculiar advantages are a part of the compensation. They operate simply as a stimulant to competition, making more people willing to enter such employment at small wages than would be willing without these special advantages. A good illustration of such employments is found in common school teaching. While a teacher does need an expensive preparation, and success is dependent upon special adaptability to the work, it is nevertheless true that the work can be taken up readily and as readily laid down; it confers upon the applicant the privilege of social recognition and somewhat of personal dignity; it gives opportunities for some note in the community, and, with all, it is considered a work of philanthropic character, entitling to the gratitude of the public. The result is that teachers everywhere command less of salary or wages in proportion to their abilities than other classes of wage-earners. Fortunately, this stimulant to competition appeals largely to those characteristics of the individual teacher which make him more serviceable in his calling. The opportunity for a life of study, added to other considerations, makes still more effective the competition of earnest, philanthropic students, such as the world needs for teachers.