The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1877-02-28

themselves, as class. The object is
identical with that Of the St. Paul
Chamber of Commerce. Every pub
Usher is at Il perfect liberty to fix and
regulate the prices of his own publ
cations, both their wholesale and re.
tail prices. Nearly every class of
society has it's associations, in order
to promote the mutual interests of the
individual members of the society.
Thus, physicians have their city,
county, and State associations. They
mutually agree upor4 ascale Of fees
which all will charge for performing
certain things. So much for each
visit +; so much for am.
putating a limb; so much for an
Obstetrical case, etc. Lawyers have
their bar associations for the mutual
benefit and advantage of their profess
sion-though, I believe they never es-
tabljsh any scale of fees. In that, l
believe, their only limit is the length
of the purses or the extent of the en-
durance of their clients. Sh0emakers
have their societies. Steamboat men
and railroad men have theirs, miners,
tanners, tailors and blacksmiths have
each their societies for mutual pro.
lection. And last, though not least,
the farmers have their grange lodges
for the same object. Do the terrible
and rascally book makers do anything
different from the rest of mankind ?
Are they sinners above all who dwell
at Jerusalem! Let us look little and
see whether or not school books are
higher in price, in proportion to what
they were before the war, than mis-.
cellaneous books, or the price of any
other manufactured commodity. Take
for instance, the dollar and half
quartO volume issued from the press
o.day. 1t could have been bought in
1858 or 1859 for IS or 80 cents at retail.
A pair of calf skin boots that would
now cost nine to ten dollars could
have been bought then for five or six
dollars, or even cheaper.
So with a suit of broadcloth clothes,
or silks, or any other fancy goods. We
have to pay extravagant prices for all
our machines; sewing machines, NOW.
ers, reapers, threshing machines, etc.
Books are no exception to the general
rule. Notwithstanding all this, no
State has ever before undertaken to
interfere with the matter of trade and
commerce to regulate the price of
commodities consumed by the people.
This has heretofore been left to regu.
late itself according to the rules of
supply and demand. Why should
there be made discrimination in the
matter of school books beyond any
other! Books, like all other commo.
dities, in their prices, have been, aAd
are governed by the unsettled state of
the finances of the country. The
prices OF everything have been duct.
uating as the currency has been un.
certain in value. Whenever there is
a return to specie payments, and the
financial policy of the government is
so definitely settled as to command
the confidence Of capital, this trouble
will be removed, and manufacturers
Can look ahead and make their calcula.
tions with some certainty that what is
true to-day will continue true for
years to come. Then prices will de.
cline, and they will cd tinue to decline
approximating, and eventually reach
ing the rates held previous to the
war, providing no new disturbing
causes, financial or political, arise to
impair the confidence OF capitalists III
the settled, fixed peace and prosperity
of the future.
Let us suppose this bill is to pass,
who can tell but that before two
years matters will have so changed
that books will be far below the con.
tract rates =? Will there be any gain
in that?
Second. If this law goes into effect,
all the school books in the hands of
the school children and in the fami-
lies of the State will become a dead
loss. There cannot be less than $500,
600 worth of these, to say nothing OF
those on the shelves of the book SELL
ers and small country dealers, such
as druggists, grocers and dry goods
dealers. These all within the short
space of six months are to become
valueless. In rural districts school
books are very seldom changed. Once
let a series of books go into general
use in such localities, and it. continues
in use for a generation. Many of the
books purchased for the eldest child
of the family, such as a practical
arithmetic, or grammer, or typography,
or history, or reader, when taken care
of is used successfully by several
younger children in the same family.
Unfortunately this is not true in our
cities and towns. Now, if Il law is
adopted requiring all the families in
the rural districts of the Stata To Law