Weekly Trinity journal., 1875-06-05
THE SCHOOL BOOKS AGAIN.

Our readers will remember that at the e
meeting of the State Board of Education
last Winter, proposition was carried, by /
bare majority of one, to change the l
Readers and Biographies in use in the &
Common Schools Of the State. The fire.
quent changes of text books and the great l
expense to which parents and guardians
were put thereby under previous admin |
istrations, had been source Of loud COM
plaint. and this action of the State Board,
in substituting the Bancroft series OF
Readers for the McGuffey's while a smil-
ar change was made in the Biographies,
met with determined opposition at the
hands of many leading journals, acting,
it is presumed in accordance with the
opinion Of those communities in which
they were published. After the order had |
been made an Injunction was sued out in
the District Court Of Sacramento res
training the order Of the Board from be- |
ing carried out, which, upon appeal to
the court of last resort was sustained up
on the ground, that that portion Of the
law requiring six months notice to be
given Of any proposed change in the text
books had not been complied with. This
decision had the effect of placing the mat
ter exactly where it stood before the State
Board made its order.
Another meeting was held on the lst
f of June. Meanwhile, a discovery was
4 made calculated to tell heavily agans:
\ Eastern publishers, and it was brought
= about through the stupidity Of one OF
: their agents. The County Supelintend-
C erts of San joaquin and of Santa Clara
: are ex -officio members of the Board. A
short time since Kennedy, who voted for
i the adoption of the Bancroft series, fe-
$ ceived communication addressed to the
+ j." County Superintendent, Santa Clara
k County," which, on opening proved to
S be a letter from the agent of firm Of
IS Eastern publishers. On the inside it was
d addressed to Crawford, the Superintend-
n ent Of San Joaquin county, and the gen
,e eral tone of the letter showed that Craw-
l. ford was acting in collision with a ring
n of Eastern publishers to keep the old
J. text books in continued use. 1t appeared
g also that Boauder was relied on by this
il Eastern "ring." and that it WAS BY the
n "rng's" Instructions that the Injunction
n suit to restrain the Board from its pro-
II posed change of Biographies was com
~ menced. This makes matters have rath-
J. er all ugly look for the Bolandcr- Craw-
" ford crowd and puts it on the Defensive
te 1t is quite evident that the Eastern agent
C. was not very well posted in the geogra
or ply of the State and therefore got the
ID counties of San joaquin and Santa Clara
a. with their Superintcndents, frighttullJ
j. mixed up-hencc the mistake, which vii
If, be good one for the people OF this STATE
H. if it prove the means Of showing up tn,
ly manner in which its educational interest
an are manipulated.
n We opposed the action of tho STATE
Board in making the change last Winte
~ believing that Mr.. Bolander was consci
IN entousy keeping the pledge he gave as
a. candidate, that he would oppose an,
lg change in the text books during his tern
is Of office. But he now rests under tn
DIS imputaton Of being a tool in the hands @
the Eastern publishers whether justly o
inf not, we are not prepared to say. Th
an Board has now taken the necessary actor
- to change the books next year, and tho
IN the Bancroft series may not be adopted
IN it is pretty certain that McGutfty's vii
n be used no more after the next six months
on We have not that maudiin sympathy 70
,le "homc Industry" which some Of our co
an temporaries display, and shall only fnvo
b. home publication when it shows that
tn is as good or better for the use Of scholar
n, than any other work of the same charac
so ter. But those Eastern publishers VIII
Tot have sought to corrupt those having th
is educational interests of the State in the
lat charge should be excluded from the fiel
It's of competition.