Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1867-06-14
The School Book apecu.at Ion.

The matter Of text books in the publ Z
s;hools is one which has for years, been a
ruitfal source Of speculation, pccu a,ion, i'm.
! position, fraud, and general rascality.
The operations in this department Of indu .
| try seem, for the most part. TO be CT d., dn
p,dagoeues or publishers agents" from tie
commonwealth of Massachusetts OF the domir
ion Of Connecticut. These persons come ID
Chicago in the interests Of publishing house
which has brought out n new spelling book OF
it is the interest Of the publisher to have in
| troduced into as many schools as possible
The book is submitted to the board of educa :
! ton, and the agent expatiatcs largely, volu
bly,, and with what learning he may possess,
upon its superior merits over every other book
in existence. If the board be convinced, the
| book is forthwith ordered to take the place Of
whatever book may have been in use. If The
board be not convinced, it is the business OF
the agent to convince them. The process Of
doing this is various. Sometimes vr,uous
school-inspector may he convinced e the mer-
its Of new book through the sense of sight,
sometimes through the sense of taste, some
times through the sense of touch. II however
it be found that a sufficient number cannot be
convinced through the medium of the senses
other arguments must be used. Somebody
must be made interested in the profits to be
derived from the sales Of the book. or, perad.
venture, a TOOL of the agent or of the publish
must be elected a member Of the school board.
The ways are many the perseverance Of Yam
kec school book makers is rroverbial, and
their purses ia most cases are tolerably long
When a new book has been introduced and
all the schools in the country have been sup>
piled Herewith, the publisher discovers that
new book which he has just brought out. The
second new book must therefore be introduced
in the place Of the ether The process Of con-
vincing school boards Of their duty in the
premises is accordingly repeated, until parents
are notified that the text books have been
changed again, and they must forthwith pre-
vide their children with new looks.
With such success has this system Of swim
dling-it Is nothing less-been carried on in
this city that it is probably not beyond the
truth to say that the changes Of tex, books in
the public schools have sometimes amounted
to half dozen in single year.
1t appears from the proceedings of the board
Of education that another attempt is now max
ing to introduce a new book in the schools, TO
take the place Of one which has been in use
year or two, and which has, i, is understood
been quite generally approved by teachers and
parents. The new look, perhaps, may be as
good as the old one but the reason Of the
proposed change is not that it is a better book
but because the bookseller who succeeded in
getting the other introduced has ceased to be
agent for that book, and had become agen, for
the one it is now proposed to introduce! This
is the whole argument, reduced to tile basis o.
fact.
1t is simply an attempt to compel the pa
rents Of every child in the public schools to
purchase sundry copies Of the new book
Called by its right name, it is an attempt BY q
certain book-concern in this city to extort
money from the public.
1t is disreputable attempt at frau which
ought to disgrace every man connected with it
or who coanives at it. 1t is time that this
system Of petty swinlling was broken up,
and that the retired pedagogues who are en-
gagged in it were exposed to the public repro
baton their small system Of pecula,ion de-
serves.-Chic go Times.