The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1873-01-10

that like the rest of Us he is not carrying heavy
| stock OF the books in which YOU seem to have
such deep interest. The county is losing no
| interest on her money TO tattcn plcthorc purses
| OF booksellers or others
You are deeply interested in Dr. McGuflry and
Mr.. Sargent They would, doubtless, be very
grateful to you for your kind sympathy: Have
| you the same sympathy for all Southern author.
| ana publishers? Why did we not have your
| valuable aid when we were trying, some wears
| since, TO get books into our schools mute and
| Pnbti%ted by men who are Iraiiy Southern The
distinguished Maury at the head:
In regard to the quality of the Readers touched
! upon by Trustee, We can only say that after CON
snltation with a leading member of the Stale
| Board and II prominent educator of this State,
| we were Informed that We We're making II very
| desirable change for both schools and teachers.
! The matter in the 50. called New McGuffcy Read
| rrS Is largely taken from the old SERIES which
| has been worn thrCadbarc for years, and even if
| the Readers displaced were more modern in their
! style, we were informed that il was desirable to
iavca change iii such books once every few years,
| rs the teachers and scholars both worked the
| better for the change.
We hay" already discussed the binding of the
| books, and think that one good bnokb 5
| opinion i. worth more than halfn dozen opir-
| Ions from persons who are not experts.
Trustee does not seem to have been very care
| full III his figures in the offer made hy the book
| sellers. llrquotcs McGuttcy' 18th and 18th Read
| crH at 4il cents in the rejected bid, when they
should be as stated by us--3IlG and 60 cents.
| The New American, fourth and fifth, ~ and II
| cents, will show Just the percentage claimed in
| our article, neither more nor less.
| MI Trustee can only see an apparent cheap
| ness i'll anything that we are now getting, al
though We are buying chalk crayons ut III cents
| per gross for which we were paying 40 cents
! Mr. Trustee has discovered u new method Of
| estimating the value of copy-books 1t is only
! necessary To double the number of lines in u book
| IN order To double its value. Good Mr.. Trustee
don take out patent for this, for if you do it
| Will spoil The copy-bOok trade Know oh much
! abused and patient public, that the very argu-
| mcnt used by VI Trustee to show the increased
value of the displaced books is the condemnation
/ OF the system used in those books. All first
! class copy-bookS with the same kind OF matter,
have Of necessity the same nun Der of lines lcav-
| ing room for the extended letters such as n and
| y i'll order that they may not interfere with each
| other. This not being the case in the Potter d.
| Hammond books, the tendency is for the schoI-
ars 10 shorten the letters improperly and thus
defeat The very object for which The books are,
| ruled. Spcnccrlan, PayS0n and Scribner and
the books we are now using are all properly
| spaced. Baltimore county uses the same book 5
| that we have adopted, and the ijt,S do not seem
to be the bugbear suggested by Trustee, who
forgcts that but for the new books We should
still have TO pay as high as $I.35 per dozen for
the many-llncd copies which are the subject of
his admiration.
Mr. Trustee next says "Thc same offer that
was made to our Board was made TO the Cecil
county School Board by the same parties, and
the contract was unanimously awarded to Bond IL
Co., the defeated competitor before our Board ~
! Then follows some comments which we need not
repeat
Now, citizens of Hartford county, what is the
inference that yOu are wished TO draw from
such statement as the one just quoted: What
Inference could be drawn except that WE have
been partial or unjust whilst the Cecil County
Board have acted in good faith.
We were not prepared to answer the broad as
scrtion thus made, till we had written to the
President Of the Cecil County Board, whose an
Swcr is now before us. From the facts contain
ed in his letter We unhcsitatngly pronounce the
statement quoted untrue.
The award was made on Il list of prices on
which the successful bidder was lower on al.
most every article than The bids of his compc-
ttor As an instance, Potter ~ Hammond, the
many-lncd, was offered at 81 cents per dozen.
Was this the same bid We rejected? Brooks
Arithmetics were offered at figures VARYING from
anything offered here Mr. Is. made no bid on
these books with Us, but did on Rays books,
which he did not offer there. Was this the same
bid that we rejected? Raub's Spoilers were bid
for at much higher figures than the New Amcri-
can with us. Was this the same bid ? McGut-
fcy'S Readers were offered at the same rates as
with us except the 4th and 9th, which were 50 and
| 56 cents respectively, against 81 and 60 cents
with us. FcwSmith's English Grammar was of.
fcrcd ut 80 cents. We had no offer on these
bookshelf Trustee says that We rejected the
same bid that Cecil County unanimously adop-
ted. Need we say more to convince the public
that there must be some other motive than
their good at heart, TO produce this sort of mis-
representation.
If Mr.. Trustee wants any further notice taken
of him, let him drop his mask, and come ont
with facts. We have more important ones that
have not yet met the public eye, and if Mr.. T.
is anxious to drop his alias and hoist his flag,
We have only to say "lay on, Macdutf'
W. w. VIRDIN,
Chairman Book Committee