DR JOWETT'S NEW YORK SALARY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10765, 13 May 1911, Page 2

DR JOWETT'S NEW YORK SALARY.

• CONTROVERSY ON COST OP LIVING. An extraordinary controversy has been provoked in New York by the action of Dr Jowett, of Birmingham, in refusing the salary of £2400 offered him bv the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Dr Jowett has written to" the trustees of the church that he wishes to accept no more than an equivalent of the stipend he is now receiving at Birmingham. "Chivalrous but mistaken" is the verdict of a large number of American olergvmen whom the newspapers have interviewed on the subject of the amount of the salary a man would need j in New Y T ork to enable him to live as he could in England on £IOOO a year. Dr Charles Eaton, pastor of the Madison Avenue Baptist Church, declares emphatically, "A clergyman in Birmingham, England, is far better off on £I2OO or even £IOOO than he would be here on £2400." The Rev. W. Morns Britton, rector of St. Clement's Episcopal Church, agrees with this estimate and adds, "Dr Jowett' when he comes bere will find that he will have to spend £6OO on rent and that the calls on his charity will enormously exceed the resources of his purse." The Rev. Dr David Wylie, of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, similarly declares, "Dr Jowett evidently looks at the matter from.the point of view of a minister in England, where the clergyman's house rent and cost of living generally are less than half what they are here. I know several clergymen who assure me that they would rather have £IOOO a year even in a New England town than £2OOO in New York." The Rev. Dr Parkes Cadman, of the Central Congregational_ Church, Brooklyn, expresses the opinion, "Dr Jowett displays the noble and self-sacrificing disposition which we who know him would expect. But he is evidently inadequately informed regarding the Expenses of living in New York. He will require every halfpenny of £2400 and will find he is unable to do more than barely live on that amount in the post lie is about to assume."

Newspapers contain many other expressions by well-known clergymen who insist that £2400 in New York is scarcely equivalent to £IOOO in England. The Tribune has interviewed the wives of some clergymen. They unanimously share their husbands' convictions. Some of them even appear to cherish the fear lest Dr Jowett's chivalrous action should have the effect of retarding the movement for a rise in ministers' salaries generally in New York. They point out that a successful minister must keep abreast of current literature, employ a secretary, respond liberally _ to appeals for charity, and "if he desires to perform good work among the better classes he must he able to allow bis wife to dress on the same scale as the ladies of his congregation."