Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1868-11-19
THE RUTLAND HERALD
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER Il, 1865


.
IN. law. are 10 hs regretted u 'h"n'd
be the aim Of al Legislators 70 w'N 'W
,tatut.. as stable ~ /, ransi,l,a' "ltl
tu.,ice and equity, rise dttre iut "tl' n"
fail TO be heaped upon thr whole ~ stein
Thi. is especially true -, regards 'h"'
laws which relate to our educational m
tere-ts No interests in the stat" 5rt 90
sacred, and concerning none Is the neces'
atty so great Of preventing misapprchen'
sion as the actual meaning OF the Legis'
la,ure, A. a time when all manner Of rs,
saults have been made upon the riuea'
,ionsl system u the State and its cliei
executors, there seems to be much more
than an ordinary necessity Tor the Law
makers to entertain no propositions which
gire rise To further confusion and misun-
Outstanding. For this reason, we regre,
TO notice that a bill has been reported 10
tho House Of Representatives which con.
strues tho act oi 1866, requiring the
Board Of Education TO select list OF tex,
books, as merely advisory. and not bind.
ing, upon superintendents and teachers
Had this proposition been made in 1866
Il would have had far different, effect.
and would have required a comparison
between two systems, standing each upon
Its own merits
Now. it comes before the Legislature az
In reality proposition to repeal existing
laws, so far as uniformity of tex, hoei.-,
Is concerned.
l, is very likely that the trainers OF
this bill had other reasons which induced
them TO present it TO the Legislature.
But as il follows in the wake Of all tn,
attacks which have been made upon tn,
Board of Education and the authorized
list OF text books, il seems clear to us that
its passage would be considered by peopl,
generally an Endorsement Of all these al.
taoks, and that its effect would be 10 throw
out Of use the authorized list wherever
the State Board has less influence than
the Legislature. Now, we submit thai
this Is not good faith to the publishers
They came before the Board of Education
relying upon the province of the State and
made propositions as TO the introduction
OF their books at low rates, on the condi
tion that their use should be continued
Tor i've years. Some of those books ar,
Vermont editions, which would be worth
less, except as old paper, outside of thi,
state. We quote from the supplemental |
report OF the Board Of Education, las,
year, in reply to Secretary Adams pro
Posai to the Legislature TO make a
change in one series.
Whether this can be done and vet pre-.
serve the good faith Of the State, is
question worthy of grave consideration
The law of last session, under which Tn,
selection of books has been made, declare
that the books so selected shall be and
remain authoritative and binding for thu
term OF aye years. Since the selection OF
Aiatchells Biographies, the publishers, re.
ying upon that law and upon the con,
rat implied in it, have brought out new
'dision OF their intermediate Geography
especially adapted to the schools Of Yer l
mont, with new and carefully corrected
nap OF the State, and several pages OF
stter-prass and questions relating to the
of the State This edition i,
low ready for use. Having incurred this
arge expense, in reliance upon law OF
Vermont, would it be just to them and
lreditable to Vermont to exclude those
looks from our schools, and leave them al
most entirely unsaleable, as hay would
iced be in any other Stata aron the
lands Of the publishers i
II these remarks we're true year ago
- to this and other books, how much
more forcible are-hey now at the present,
inner 1t will not answer these objections
o say that publishers are rich and grasp
ny, andhave no claims upon the State,
my more than the representation of the i
"a "bloated' annuls their
lain upon the National honor. More.
Il
,tfer OF the State II is true that no esa
tracts Of this kind can be enforced aeains,
he State, but this fact only strengthens
the plea of those who rely upon she good
Iaith OF the State. These reasons seem,
70 our minds, sufficiently sopeible to out
weigh all that can 10 said in favor of the
bill now before she Legislature. Blu,
thsre arc o,Gsr objections which are even
more forqible,
Snch an enactment would, as we said /,
above, be considered all endorsement al
the attacks which have been made upon
the former State Board of Education, and
we trust, that in u former article, We suf
iciently demonstrated the necessity OF
sustaining those who have been assalled
simply because they did their duty and
refused dieta'ion And We have reason
to believe the new State Board endorse
their action. But the greatest objection
70 the bill, and the one which with IL, out
weighs all the Others, is that it oyerthrows
the system of uniformity, which for ten
years has been, in the estimation Of nearly
every friend OF education, OF such meal
eulable benefit to the State.
: Should this bill become a law, we
should at once be compelled to return to
old system which, previous to 1858,
ed change of books every term
teachers and scholars the immense
vantage of classes in number out of
pportion to the number Of pupils,
many cases allowed books to be se-
those who had no knowledge
\pn the subject, except that