Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-10-22
,dJress of the state Board OF Education
io the citizens Of Vermont.

,rho Board Of Educition submit to the public
ndG1lnvinc statement. not somucli fnf the pur-
va If yindicating themselves against anony-
80 and irresponsible charges. IA because
,o, hold Themselves bound 10 furnish ~ the
e,,ie. whose servants thoy are, all important
Ects explaining their official action
rNiroRNirY OF TExr hooks.
Fifteen Years ago, after full dclihcration, the
e,ate adopted the policy Of securing. by law,
,nicormity Of text.b books throughout nll the
,,,blic schools Of the State. The advantages
nrthis system are obvious. Booksare no longer
changcable at amy moment according to theptc
corence. wise or unwse, Of individual super
;n,cndonts. teachers parents or pupils. or
,broneh tho mercenary persistence ni hook
,o,ts Teachers know In what iext-hnnk~
,tcv arc 10 he examined and from what they1
,,c IN teach for five years Mt least in any part
If the State pupils are thus saved from con
msiop teachers from interference, ANA parents
rs,m exnense And when by subsequent
enactment il was provided that all changes,
when found desirable. should he made gradu
Xiv and only rs now books should We needed
and now classes formed, every reasonable oh
ioction to the measure wnsreniovcd. change
III tho entire list of textbooks, II ~ improha.
blea thing should occur, would not necessarily
ioyolye any additional exptnse 10 the State.
aod might be a saving OF many thousand dol
lars
A. il obvious, however. that in it, practical
workings, this wise and useful measure must
encounter some difficulties A body ul men
must I've found nOtnnly competent TO make the
selection Of textbooks. hut possessing the CON
flence Of the public in their competency And
.upposing thoroughly competent body VI men
IN have been found, and the puhlcaquieecence
i'm their decision b have heen pledged before
hand, even then IL would he certain that their
choice would disappOint. in some particulars,
4, yfcat many intelligent and well-dsposed per
sons Some are constitutionnlly disqualified
from Judging Of textbook formed on n rndi-
caily new plan most men beyond the age OF
ffty are inclined 10 make uninvnrahlc cnrnpnr'
sons between oil new books and those used IN
their boyhood tenohcrs. especially, have their
EyUrite hooks, old or new. 20 which they are
attached liv their feelings quite ~ much ~ by
their convictions But all these influences
working against unanimity Of opinion, are ~
nothing compared with the havoc made D.,
book publishers. their agents and rcmincrs
The hope Of gaining the unni-putcd posses
sion VI a whole State for even one textbook.
often makes publisher persistent lobbyist
and hangcr-0n wherever influence can be
.nincd the loss NJ it'll he l. interruptions
himself and can Gnd tools 90 his hand-s0mc
times converts him into mischiel.ma in
the Legislature, ON agitutor and .lnndercr 10
the public press. and mn enemy ni the wh0r
educational system which he could not rule.
rnE RECENT SELECTION or 1fxrBoaKs.
With reference % the competency Of the
Bard hy whom the last selection WIS made, - /
Is not for us 10 speak. They are men well
known 90 the public, who can Judge whether
or not they had the ability md integrity which /
20 important trust demanded We simply
amend their names John w Stewart Mrr
ritt Clark George y Weber. Bennmn II
steele. -. f. Bingham, NJ II Buckham, David
VI Camp Every one OF these gentlemen lm-
hecn no some time o. teacher Boo uc ium' n /
srlppl. All of them have deurhed item /
selves. both Us SYMPATHY aud rs practical cn 7
openii w. with the educational system 90 tle
State r. has been in.inuatcd ilnt the li-i
wa adopted hy minority of the Bafd with I
The sufcmncc 0f the rest. Tie tncts have al
teidy been given 10 the public, hut We viii
state them agin. The members of the Board,
well aware 40 the difficulty oi their task. hrs'
made long and lahOrous personal eX'mina
tom of the different textbooks submitted ou
coming together and comparing ueir vew-,
tlcy found some diversity Of opinion NIt if
more agreement than they had expected. tfc'
subject WIS fully and freely discussed t'cr'
member Of the Board was present nit voted
when every vote was taken. Every t"k "r
the list. With the exception ul the heHlcrs,
wa, finally adopted by unanimous vote, auf
10 the exceptional case, there was but one ii'
senting vote.
now rnE LIST WAS RECFyEp.
The utmost that tie ard hoped TO accom-
plish was to reach decision which would com
mend t-elf T. al iudiciou- md disinierestef
persnns rs m The mann wise and just, and tn'S
expected that an such per-uu- would waiv
their preferences iur any single h"k, Tor tt'
sake ut preserving the system Dor succes- 10
both respects has been greater than we antei
pated 50 far as we are able to judge, tie li-i
10 the main. pleases and satishcs thuee whose
opinions are Of value. We are convinced tha'
II public opinion were not tempered With N
di-aiIected parties. the action Of the Board
would he entirely satisfactory 70 the public
OF course the Board knew very well that Their
choice would no; satisfy those who had mercc
nary reasons for being dissatisfied. We tx
peoied that this clanor would he rai-ed by
them Il was openly threatened in case Ger
tain books should he rejected, and now that the
books have been rejected, It is no more persist
eut or INSCRIPTIONS than was anticipated.
THE Board then give detailed account n
what they are pleased to term the Tactics Of
the opposition, laying the blame Of the opp.
nents Of the change Of Textbooks to the puh
fishers Of Greenleai's arithmeiics, aided h>
that portion of the press which they were able
to control They then go on
rHENcn's ARiTmErcs
An attempt has heen made u rouse public
prejudice against tie action Of the Board fr-
cause they adopted tie arithmciic- Of their
own Secretary They nd sn for two reasons
first. because every member of the Board crn
,idercd them on tie whole the hest arithmetic
for Vermont and secondly, because five out OF
the six teachers consulted, advised their adop.
ton. l. seems hardly respectful % the good
sense Of our people 10 be obliged 10 sny, thar
f..s t,N, ~ fu-urpr4IlIn i.Hiff-
ton 10 a gOud book that its author was resi-
dent Of the Stgte, md Secretary Of its Board of
Education
rRorl1s oN school books.
Statements have hcen made which are entire
liz unwarranted and ludcrnusly eXtravngHnt.
respecting the profits made on school buks
The publishers NJ Textbooks extensively used.
no doubt make good profit out Of heir hu.i-
ness, hut it il tie extensive sale and not the
wide margin Of profits. which makes the bust
ness a good one. But he that as 10 luoy, the
Board has secured from an the publishers ut
tie hooks on the new list, excepting Robert
Davis & Co the puhlishere Of GteucaI~ Al
zebra, written contracts % furnish the pre-
scrlbed textbooks, for five wears 10 come, ~
rates far more favorable 10 dealers and purcha
sers than those which have been paid in yeur-
past The new list under this mana cement
will save the State thousands OF dollars Per
annum over the old one A. 10 the per cent
said to he paid by publishers to authors,-en-
other invidious charge against the Secretary
it isascertained that from two 10 ten PEI cent
on sales is the rate allowed for copyright
What is the amount of copyright puld by ale
publishers to the author of French AIitbme
tics, or of other books on the list, We are uo
informed. Every text book upon uur table wa
paying copyright to somebody. why it SHOULD
be an objection to hook that it paid copyrgh
to citizen of this State, instead Of to some on
out Of the State, Il not clear 10 our minds.
THE PETITION OF TOWN svPTRINTENpENTs.
There was laid upon our table document
purportng TO he petition, signed by lurg'
number Of town superiniendenis, against
change of Arithmetcs. That document re
ceved a respectful attention. But when tn
mntter was examined inton little more closely
il was found that some OF the signers were no
superintendents that several had, in othe
communications To the Board, advised a change
and that the petition, so called, was not a spon
taneous expression OF opinion, but n oh tina
had been worked up by the agent, and in tn
interest Of Greenleai's Arithmeties. Wethere
fore thought it not entitled to very much con
sideration.
THE TEACHERS OPINION or GREENLEAF.
1t has been said that Greenlears were OK
cuded from the Arithmeics on which Oh
teachers consulted were asked Ia give ttel
0piuion On that pOnt, the following testi