Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-05-25


An adjourned meeting of the 1ard OF Trus-
tees of the Public Schools was held Friday nj mt
at the Fran kiln school building-M sior Rfchar Is
In the chair, DIR. Pardon secretary-for the
Mr.. A Hart In the following comm unicAtion to
the EVENING STAR:
IHss SCHOOL BOOK eEsI!oN AGAIN.
Communication from a Saaos! Ts ,,.s ,sz.
Editor S,ay: Ia an article in your esterdsys ps.
meeting, Concerning the question Of ehsagins
"Geogrsphies," you done the justice 20 those who
they were 81 nc OF
doubt be 50 asr as to insert few remarks from the
Tsphes especially since for the PRESENT Al least
III proPositIoh has not been entertained By a ma
Mhs, desire e say is simply this, that it i.
Board who we're So much Interested IN having the
present Biographies Ia (Cornells) sd pied as
g. have not even aitenpted 70 def nd the book Tor
its merits ss Tex-Book. On the contrary their
question of the of the said book as comp.red
wish other Biographies, TO be brought 10 f5r de-
to going into the merits or dement's Of tS b1af
which hey appear to have 50 much interestY Wisre
we're so pueh .rlHsd and aiHsd By c. rtain "siick
B Boz aren't could not help but the utter
nd they not show their hanos, by defending the
oo1s Ior ~, us merits; II i has ANY, :,
efmit TO say that the writer thi. al &C oaston
meet mlny of that class Of indivitusis and while
ne mas iOund tn III as class e 1tienanIy a. any
ser OF men he knows of, he fOuai that there are
s0f ,hs- among them, Ike You would fnd among
exception, L would only state, that two year ago,
rIs tie was made in ne boar ad5pt
Agent for that DO * offered, In pre- sence of witness
H., TrI nper OF tn Board =. much a. s50O.-a. he,
isscr OF said books stating at the time that he did
not, but that it was matter Of business with him.
nsny sets OF CyeIoI sedias we're sent here at
School Board, cannot be xsctly fouad out, but mat
q respectable number Of sets came, is known aud
bers paid mileage to travel home from i'm aee
nary trips to enable them &c vote for the adoption
OF cornell seographies, but It is known that some
More reasons Of Ike sub,tsrtial nature csn be
Psce Of better ok, two years Ego, ana WHY sucS
Chords are n ade 10 keep IL there.
As the question efs change Of Biographies will BY
no means end Jet, when ever 10 comes no again in
the o ard some more reasons for the great interest
tanning the book in the Schools will not a,ons be
sp9ken about, but proven by 0nmi 'tskesbls evil
cence. ANTI CORNELL.
Mr.. richards caused the RESOLUTION unIer
which the meeting was held to be real, in
which Mr.. Hart is ''redueseso to sustain the
charges made, and that he present, on or before
the 2lst instant, to every member he proposes
to inplicate, the specific nature Of the charge
ana evidence, and names of witnesses against
HIM" and stated that Mr.. Hart had the foor.
Dit. hart said he had previously stated that
ne nad no charges to make. He had "a ade ref
eTence to the Encyclopedia question, and Mr..
Harris wac the gentleman he referred to in that
matter. de had notified him in writing, as pro-
yided by the resolution, but he was not there
He was satisfied that Mr.. Harris would make a
statement to the board which he had heard him
make previously and this woald be satisfactory
to him.
Mr.. Champlin suggested that as MIR. Hart had
been offered 500, that subject be first coa-
Mr.. Hart remarked that 1t was a personsI
matter, but if the board was ready to 90 into it
he was.
Mr.. Detrick.-Mr. Hart is a member of the
o3aId' ara II the charge was against himself
why not answer it.
Mr.. Hart submitted an affidavit that rabout
the time when the proposition was made in the
BOARD OF trustees to change Biographies by
eeived letter from ID. Appleton & Co., of New
YORK, informing me that they had sent BY ex-
press a set of their Biographies, and also two
other books, "Adler's Unabridged German
Dictionary" and "Kohlrsnsche's History OF
Germany" translated byJames ID. Hasr A
day or two after met Mr.. SOper, the agent for
ID. Appleton & Co., who asked me whether /
had received sons book, excusing himself for
not sending any to me sooner, stating that he
had forgotten all about it until Mr.. Mcclellan
there were two books among thos. sent which,
not being text books, could not accent, and
that had taken them on the day thew arrived
70 the Franklin school building, where | had
placed them in the library belonging 10 the lst
district. Mr.. Soper at the time said tina
II they had any book that i desired he would
send 1t to me, when L told him that il
he did i should feel compelled to re-
turn such books, as / could not ACCEPT a book
from a schOo-book publishing house, or its
ageDts, except text books for examination A
short time after, aud before the question of
changing Biographies was decided in the DO ard
one AFTERNOON met Mr.. Soper at the Franklin
school building. MIR. VIM. l.. Cowan, treasurer
OF the board, was also there. Mr.. Soper took
an intermediate geography OF the Cornell series
and commenced to show me what he termed the
superiority OF said book over that of Warren.
We had an argument about IL for about ten or
fifteen minutes, when he closed the book and
put 1t away. saying, al see / can't convince
you, > or words 10 that effect. / remained AT
the Franklin building until past O'clock and
then LETT In company with Mr.. Cowan. MIR
Soper left the building with US, and we walked
10 Pennsy Iyanis avenue and towards x street
then my place of residence. When we came in
front OF the Metropolitan hotel MIR. SOBER in
sisted upon our going in with him, when told
hlin That II was against my rule to dine away
from home. He then informed me that he had
already sent waiter to my house to inform nv
vile that would not be home to dinner. Helm
Mr.. Cowan and IN selD consented. He took us
20 his room, where he found MIR. Goodwin. who
leit the room as soon as We entered. He then
SAID the following TO me: ." Mr.. Hart, L see I
can't do anything by talking with YOU on the
me mus OF these Biographies; you know as much
and more about it than do. Now, we are both
D BUSINESS men men s1d | want to talk business to
thing Is worth to me great deal in the position
hold In the house If Tsucceed. Now You can
help me. If / can't make the $500 dollars
want TO make as much as l can. Now wha.
can you do for me by not opposing the chanse?''
This IL the language used by him at the time; I
remember IL distinctly. told him that he had
the wrong man before him; that could not be
bought; that should act in the matter as nv
judgment prompted me, admonishing him never
to approach me again with any such offers IL he
did not want to make personal enemy of me
This happened all in the presence of Mr. Cowan
When we left the hotel Mr.. Cowan remarked TO
nae: THAT was square offer, but you stood it
An affidavit Of Mr.. W. l.. Cowan, the treas
urer OF the board, was appended, corroborating
the statement OF Mr.. Hart as substantially cor,
rect.
Mr.. O'Driscon called attention to the absence
Of dates in the affidavit.
Mr.. Hart replied that this took place some
time in the winter OF II or ~.
Mr.. Champlin urged that as the board wished
TO be fully informed as to the facts, that thew
should not be too critical. He desired a full
expression of opinion, and that an opportunity
be given the agent, MIR. Soper, TO make a state
menJ.
Mr.. wolf.-I would like Mr.. Cowan to make
statement Of the facts. How did you regard
this conversation?
Mr.. Cowan.-I thought ii a square offer. Had
It been made to me should have regarded il as
q bribe.
Ar. Lloyd.-what hour was it when Won went
to the Metropolitan? How long were you there?
Mr.. Cowan--I don't know what time. was