The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1869-03-04
CON- MON SCHOOLS .
PROPOSED NEW MEAsJ EL5.

lwo-the change from the district TO the town
-y-teiu, uud Teachers Institutes. Let u5 now
consider
). COUNTY stPERViSoRS
This Is TO have one person in each COUNTY
a5w elected, whether by the town school
committees, as formerly similar off ,er was,
70 be appointed by the Governor and Council,
or directly elected By the people, report
.toh. not advise - it'll salary each OF $1,000,
uf ala03a ior tne State; soma of the daties Of
said ottieer, to BE- to visit and inspect the
schools in their respective counties, to be an
aid to the State superintendent, to be ian Aei-
gisory Eiucltional Board. -.
The report points to many advantages likely
10 accrue from this measure, tie chief oi which
Is that ibis new Off ser will make up, in part,
Gor the deficiencies an short-c )ming' OF town
school committees But if this Office is made
elective, as 1t probably would be, IL not the
risk equally great OF getting poor supervisor
rs Of getting poor committee men: May II
not be exchanging King log tor King Snake =:
For III our experience, formerly, in electing
county members OF the B}afd OF l. lucatlon,
Tie question was no.--"Is he Tt. has lie the
proper quat1catiou7 has his soul been touch
"a with a I've coal from the educational atar:
but. lcdat Has .e loi, 05d can 10, of l'afty Gitd
seett Aud thus, iht.4, the office became only
another element in the race for political prefer
nent and sectaran advantage. Aud II there
may be one spot on earth which shall be s3-
red, aud free from those blighting Influences.
Iet that be our common schools. Perhaps hui
man nature may have changed, SO rs NOR to
know no tness but true merit, bat, reason
lng from the past, this scheme, IN this direc-
tion. VIII bc failure. Besides for reasons
argued last week against 'FHeachers Ihs.l-
tutes," we cannot but think that Tie great tinan-
Nial burdens, already resting, as they must for
years to come upon the people, forbid the an
uual expenditure OF SlS,09o for any measure
uot deemed vitally necessary, and OF unques-
TONED utility. True, 1t is claimed that this
: 600 yearly, may be saved by
4 UNIFORMITY or SCHOOL BOOKS.
Here we fully agree with the superintendent
that the multtudinous schoo! books, and tlelf
frequent changes, very great nuisance,
great burden to the people, working vast
detriment to the schools, to suppress which
evil should invoke the strong arm OF the
law. lie states i'll his report, what we every
where see, that there are almost as many yari-
cites Of text books Us there are scholars, "a
thing fatal to all classification, and wearing
out the lives OF the teachers in truitless en-
teavors Besides avoiding this evil, he shows
that States which have directed this matter by
law, arranging with the book publishers 10
supply the schools ut first cost, save, on the
average, uaf La.5 in the price Of books. COM
pared to the present method here. For the
peoples specially Schoo! Committees who
make these frequent changes-shouid know
that the dearest things you can have are those
that seem to cost nothing. The gift ''thread
and thumbs" which so please unthinking pur-
chasers, Race to Be paid Jor under some other
name; and when rival publishers put new
books into the schools in exchange Tor Old ones,
you pay dearly for this generosity, Lwce-oncc
in the exhorbitant price al which they are put
after being once introduced and again in the
evils OF the ceaseess changes 10 which this
Tree thread and thumbs" business give rise.
But there are several live lions in the path
Of this measure. For who are to be the judges
TO say, with the autholity Of law, trlat and
,li.ose books are the proper and only ones to be
used? The Faculties OF our Colleges? The
Governor and Council? May we not fear that
here, also, our schools may suffer from the sell
nshness OF sect, and the books be ever chang
ing, as now, with the rise and fall Of political
partiesf Of ali existing authorities if con-
sistent with their other duties, we should pre-
"a, llalt
in the hands Of our Supreme Judges, as gen
tlemen of culture and tried integrity-repre
senting all sects, and whose position places
them beyond the faint of political prejudice
IL you create a special commission OF from
each county, 10 be elected by the peopte, or tc
be appointed by legislative or executive author
tty, we fear ih4 evil influences adverted to will
80 influence the selection to make the We rk
imperfect and unsatis isfactory.
5. COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE
The report says ''The State loses 80 to 50
per cent OF its brain power from truancy an d
absente cism," and argues in favor 0 severel
laws in remedy OF this great evil. At presen,
our laws are only permlsslve to those town.
which choose TO adopt compulsory measures
In very limited way-such as sending habit.
Gal truants to the Reform School, &C. What
want, SO far as is consistent with persona
freedom, is for authority, somewhere, TO say
that these costly opportunities shall not be Sc
lost. 10 us 1t has always seemed gross ab
surdity, peryersion OF reasoning, to conaDe
taxation for school houses and the support O
schools, while the other part of the contract
the proper using of theln-is left u rO!aAtuy,
and uncared for thing. In all compacts, botl
human and Divine, justice demands the proper
fulfilling Of obligations on both sides. Is the
compulsory support Of schools, therefore, less q
trenching on civil rights, than compelling the
other party-the scholars-to fulfill their par,
by awaiting the emselves of them:
PRUDENT FARMING. Probably, during pc.
fiod OF twenty or Thirty years, the price, OF al
larm products will be on The average, just re.
lallon to the cost Of production and to The val
ue OF the land; and 1t would be difficult to say
that for so long period any one leading branch
would be in the main more profitable IMAM uuy
other branch When The prices of any com.
modify become excessively high, Increased
production will vary likely soon TO make them
excessively low; and 1t will be only after a