Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-10-23

| be saving of many thousand dollars.
1t is obvious, however, that in its
practical workings, this wise and useful
measure must encounter some difficulty.
| A body of men must be found, not only
| competent to make the selection of text
| books, but possessing the confidence OF
the public in their competency. And
supposing thoroughly competent body
of men to have been found, and the pub
| lie acquiescence in their decision to have
| been pledged beforehand, even then 1t
would be certain that their choice
would disappoint, in some particulars,
great many intelligent and well dis
| posed persons. Some are constitution
ally disqualified from judging of text
| book formed on a radically new plan
most men beyond the age of fifty are in
| clineh to make unfavorable comparisons
| between all new books and those used in
| their boyhood; teachers, especially, have
| their favorite books, old or new, to
which they are attached by their feelings
quite as much as by their convictions.
! But all these influences working against
| unanmity of opinion, are as nothing
| compared to the havoc made by book
| publishers, their agents and retainers.
! The hope of gaining the undisputed pos
| session of whole State for even one
| text book, often makes publisher q
| persistent lobbyist and hanger-on where
| ever influence can be gained the loss
of tiff he is inscriptions himself and
can find tools to his hand-sOmetimes
| converts him into mischief maker in
| the legislature, an agitator and SANDER
er in The public press, and an enemy of
the whole educational system which he
could not rule.
THE n CENT SELECTION OF TEXT BOOKS.
| With reference to the competency of
the Board by whom the last selection
was made, it is not for us to speak.
| They are men well known to the public.
who can judge whether or not they had
the ability and integrity which so impor-
tant trust demanded. We simply APP
pend heir names John w. Stewart,
Merritt Clark, George n. Weber, Ben
jamin Ii. Steele, b. F. Bingham, NJ. H.
Bucklam, David M. Camp. Every one
of these gent .emen has been at some
time teacher in the common schools.
| All of them. have identified themselves,
| both by sympathy and practical cooper
alton, with the educational system OF
| the State. 1t has been insinuated that
the list was adopted by minority OF
the Board, with the sufferance of the
rest The facts have already been given
| to the public, but we will state them
again. The members of the Board, well
! aware of the difficulty Of their task,
first made a long and laborious person,
! al examination of the different text books
| submitted. On coming together and
comparing their views, they found some
diversity of opinion, but fdr more agree
ment than they had expected. Each
subject was fully and freely discussed
! Every member of the Board was present
and voted when every vote was taken
| Every book on the list, with the eXcep-
ton Of the readers, was finally adopted
| by unanimous vote, and in the excep
tional case, there was but one dissenting
| vote.
EOW THE LIST WAS RECEIVED.
The utmost that the Board hoped tC
accomplish was to reach a decision
which would comIRend itself to all judi
ciOus and disinterested persons as IN TIL,
main wise and just, and they expected
that oil such persons would waive thell
preferences for any single book, for the
| sake of preserving the system. Our sue
| cess in both respects has been greater
! than we anticipated So far as we are
able to Judge, the list, in the main, sat
isles and pleases those whose opinion!
are of value. We are convinced that il
public opinion were not tempered with
| by dissffected parties, the action of the
! Board would be entirely satisfactory tC
| the public. OF course the Board knew
very we'll that their choice would not
| satisfy those who had mcrceuary reas
| OnS To- being dissatisfied We expected
( that this clamor would be raised by
them. 1t was openly threatened il
| case certain books should be rejected
and now that the books have been reject
! ed, it is no more persistent or unscrupu
/ lOUs than was anticipated.
THE TACTICS OF THE OPPOSITION.
On the publication of the new list
! most of the conn 'eting publishers honor
| ably accepted the situation, and with
drew their agents from the field. One
| firm proceeded az once to carry out the
threats they had freely made i'm case OF
! the rejection Of their books. The pub
! fishers of GFeetlcaf's Arithmetics, books
/ which had dorle good service in then
/ day, refused to abandon the field they
[ had occupied for twenty years. Avail,
/
| lection existing in certain quarters to-
ward the Board, growing ont of the cleo.
! ton OF the new secretary, they com
menced a violent assault pp0n him and
| through him upon the whole Board with
| the hope of either breaking up the Board
| Of Educ alton altogether, or of getting q
new Board appointed who might bysome
! special legislation be empoWcredto make
new selection Of textbooks. Having
| contrived to get articles hostile to the
| Board inserted in several newspapers,
| and having thus created in the public
mind presumption OF something wrong,
| they secured in the Legislature the APP
| poip tment of committee to investigate
/ the action of the Board and its secretary.
| The result of that investigation is before
| the public 1t justiles the action of the
| 30 ard in every respect, and dismisses as
! Ct Oundless every charge that had. been
/ L Jade. We quote from the report:
"A three hours examination failed to
bring out a single fact calling for cen
sure, or such as. would even subject them
! to criticism. On the other hand il app
| peared that the Board had discharged
| their duties with fidelity, and, as we
+ think, in every instance wisely and well.
/ In making the selection
|. of textbooks, it appeared that the Board
/ had taken the most scrupuious care to
/ protect the State from unnecessary ex-
| pense, 1t also appeared that the new
list of textbooks is upon the whole
/ cheaper than those. now in use.
/ 1t is our opinion that DR.. French is com
| petent for the position he holds and that
/ he has thus far honestly, ably and faith
| fully discharged the duties of his office u
| Fooled in this vancouver, the agitators
return to the attack through the press.
Now an article appears in. one news
paper signed by a delicious name, then
another article in another paper calls at
tention to it, then third from q distant
| part of the State catches up the echo,
and it is perfectly evident all the while
that all these articles have emanated
| from one and the same source, one in
/ variable conclusion being. reached in
instance, namely the superiority of
/ ~