Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1868-11-12
.E RUTLAND HER AID.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER A., 1865.
Shall the State nanTd al tdu' ''i"h
he Sustained

he sustained
Thi, /, question Which Just r'N Is
To great extent, egjtat.i both, Dog 'h'
people aud the pres, sud 10y thu h. '-'
ture Book agent, from The ,.'..- m
traver,ing tn State with .'h.r t'.n fl'
selected textbooks, seeking Dc mas' 'a.
people return "a neg tive answer u.
Burlington Free Press opens its column
daily Tor open and implied ccnsUrc, both
upon the list Of textbooks selected, aAd
upon the members Of the Board who made
the selection To not one Of these attack,
has the Board seen fit 10 rcIlv, IWt u
seems 10 hc time q have TIE WHSLE rr#a
stated fairly. Tho people should mI T.
stand the causco of all these attacks, i,it,
indeed, true that worthless books have
been collected, or that the Board j. mcom.
petont, and under the control Of publish.
err, who commit all manner Of crime
in order To secure monopolies, OF mus, We
look further Tor an explanation Of these
attacks These charges have been Ere.
quently made, but never has there been
any proof offered 70 subs,antiato them,
nor can there be. 1t is true, that various
criticisms have boon made upon two or
three of the books selected, but has any
man or uewsprint right TO accuse anoth.
er Of bribery or incompetence. because
he differs from him in opinion as to which
of two books is 10 be preferred
1t may be possible that the State Board
of Education is able TO differ honestly
with the Superintendent Of the schools of
Burlington, or the teachers at Brattleboro
or Brandon. OF course, we must suppose
the Superintendent Of Burlington to have
the better Judgment but il is barely pos
sihle that with the ignorance of the
members of the Board, as the Free Press
states, fair amount of charity will ac-
quit the members OF dishonesty in diff
fering from him on the subject Of text
books, and Of refusing 10 elect him Socrc-
tary. 1t may, also, be supposed, that other
publishers may have teen as artful in
their designs as those who were success
full Some fault is also found with nearly
every textbook selected but perhaps
most with the readers and Biographies. /
But it must be remembered that the
former were also selected by the old Board
of Education, and the latter were. AT the /
time, in use in very many of the States, |
and even in almost every school in Con-
noc.iout, about which much has been
said Is the Board dishonest because it
agrees with educational men in other !
States: But some Of these critics are
themselves inconsistent: now the Board .
is dishonest because it failed 10 select
Hilldrds readers. a year since it was
corrupt because it failed to consider Va
sons readers, the only readers fit for the
school room vide Secretary Adams last
report.
But it IS said, the members Of the
ooard were incompetent for their work.
Which one Of them can the Free Press
specify as incompetent: They were all I
men of liberal education, and were select /
cd because they were among the most
prominent educational men Of Cur State. .
The only proof thus far offered is the fact
that they have opinions Of their own, and .
refuse dictation The whole cause of this
quarrel must be Sought elsewhere. and it /
is not difficult to find it. The former Sec !
rotary thought he could control the new
board, and select such. books as his inter-
est dictated The Sttte Lge dtrect,d H,.
5oafd 10 decjje, The board did its duty,
refused 10 allow him 10 complicatc the
school system, and, in, consequence, it
finds itself attacked. Had the board sub
mittod, not word of this controversy
would have been heard. 1t is attacked
aGd slandered, because il did its duty.
Any one, who examines for himself
will find that, with few exceptions, every
enemy of the board can be comprised in
one Of three classes. lie has either some
personal quarrel with the board or is in
tie interest OF some publisher, or has
taken up the cause ii Secretary Adams,
which WIS 50 completely oyerthrown last
year For the exceptions, we must look
-u.ong tho few, the vaIy small number
who oYPo-e 80 system Of uniformity.
Then let IL answer oar question with the
strongest affirmative Even il the books
Ealf tlt ma .