Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/430

376 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO University The time has now come when the work of the Board of Recommendations should be broadened and assistance given to our students and graduates who do not expect to become teachers Provision has been made for the secretary of the Board to collect information concerning possible openings in the business and professional world; to acquaint himself with the students desiring positions, and to assist in securing such positions. .... The work of the Board has been and will be provided for by the Uni- versity without charge either to the student or to the employer. Full informa- tion concerning every applicant for a position will be kept on file in the office and recommendations will be based upon the scholarship, character, and executive ability displayed by the student while in residence. The annual reports of Mr. Slaught, the secretary, were most interesting and informing. He frequently mentioned the "increas- ing number of candidates [for positions] among the women and the increasing number of calls for men." Of the four hundred and seventy-nine appointments in 1908-9 two hundred and forty were men and two hundred and thirty-nine were women. Appoint- ments were made in forty-three different states, and there were applications that could not be filled from five other states. There were fifty-eight appointments to other than teaching positions. The salaries received ranged from four hundred and fifty to twenty- six hundred dollars a year, and averaged not quite a thousand dollars. The following year the secretary encouraged candidates for teaching positions by declaring that there was a gradual increase in the salary scale; that while in some departments there was an oversupply of candidates, "especially among the women," there were many departments in which the supply was "totally inade- quate," and that the most important and pressing consideration was "the question of professional preparation of candidates," thus emphasizing the importance of the work being done by the School of Education. The secretary did not content himself with efforts to secure initial appointments for students just leaving the University. He followed them in their subsequent work and interested himself in securing promotions and better appointments for the more deserving, thus assuring the alumni of the continued interest of Alma Mater in their fortunes. In 1911-12 it appeared that the average salary of those receiving appointments exceeded a thousand dollars a year. In 1912-13 six hundred and four appointments were made, distributed through almost every state