The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-06-02

cos ana AG leh5I pzUU UUU Chu NO duulhlly
saved to the tax payers Of the State.
During the late session Of the Legisla
ture what was known as the O'Hagan
Bill was before the Senate. 1t was as
proper a measure as was ever laid be,
fore legislative body. 1t was confined
in its provisions to readers alone it pro
vided for an absolute reduction in prices
of at least 80 per cent. 1t was backed
by a written offer, contingent upon the
passage of it or of any similar measure,
from responsible publishing house to
put in a bid to supply all the Public
Schools of the State fOr five years with
full set of readers, equal in all respeC 8
to any no y in use, at 9 cost not exceed
ing 81 55 for the wh le set, the retail
price CIV hiCh is now rom So to So 50
The firm by whom offer was made
proposed to give bond In $4,000 for the
faithful performance of the contract; and
such men as Joseph r. Swami, M. A.
Dongherty and Mr.. Deshler, of Colum.
bus, publicly and over their own sigma
lures vouched for the responsibility of
the firm. Competition being open to all,
the probability is that this firm would
never have gotten the contract in case the
bill had become a law. They would have
been brought below 81 55. And yet this
bill was indefinitely postponed
The book ring are adopts as lobbyists.
When public man who is beyond the
reach of their seductive arts becomes
their assailant their favorite policy is to
turn aCCuser, and put him on the defen.
sive. They are skilled in the art of con.
iuring up false issues to co ceal the main
question. In this case the great ones.
ton was, shall the price OF school books
be reduced? The book ring and their
champions artfully contrived to trans
form it into an attack upon the character
of the firm who made the offer, and
whose great otfense, probably, was its in
dependence of their control. If stran-
ger had stepped into the Senate during
the discussion he would have been
tempted to suppose that the matter be.
fore that body was an impeachment
trial, instead of a plain, practical meas
ure to remove from the tax payers of the
State a burden of at least $250,O00 a
year.
Our free school system was based up
on the idea that all the children in the
State should have the benefit of a good
Common School English education that
would fit them for the practical affairs of
life, and that the children of the poor
and needy, thus far at least, have equal
advantages with the children of the
rich.
Practically it has to a large extent be.
come the exclusive possession of the
rich and well to do classes, while tens of
thousands Of poor mems and laboring
mems children are kept from school and
excluded from its benefits by the extor-
tiouato prices charged for school books.
Another evil is the totally unnecessary
multiplication of these books, and com
pelling, in main cases, each pupil to @
through the whole series. And this,
upon an average, takes some ten to
twelve years of the pupils time, and
much more of the time Of poor mans
children than the parents can spare.
And all this for no other earthly pur-
pose than to filCh money from the tax
payers and put it into the pockets of
the publishers, their agents and allies.
1t would be sound policy for the State
and for the best interest of her citizens,
to get up a set of tex books of their own,
composed of smaller number than
are now in use, and better adapted to
the object in view; to have them pub
lished by contract, as the Revised Stat
utes wtr3 published, and distributed
through t le agenty of the Commissioner
of Com non Schools, reserving to him
self a profit of five per cent. on the cost
of production.
In this way the State could furnish
the books for go per cent. less than they
now cost, and from the FIVE per cent.
rroft derive a revenue of $25 900 year.
OIt Of this sum S. 900 would meet all
new and additional eXre lses arising
from the change. Out of the balance
$4,000 the State might make arrange
ments to loan to the children of the
needy the school books they require, and
thus exempt them from the taunt of
pauperism. The statutes that now pro.
vide for supplying with school books
those who are unable to buy them
are dead letter. A nan with the spirit
of an American freeman in his breast
would rather starve than have his name
entered on the public records as a quasi
pauper,
Our school system is falling into dis
r3pute, 1t was simple, economical af
fair in its origin. Partly through the
agency of the school book Cormorants,
and partly from other causes, it has be.
come complicated and ex.ravagant, and
costs much more than it should COST
The State seems to have resigned her
legitimate authority over it, and left it
to the tender merCies of the book pub
fishers and their cohorts, who are drag.
ging it down to the level of their own
sordid principles Of action. They dictate
what books shall be used, and when one
set shall be changed to make room for
another set. They have taken into their
own hands the practical management of
the whole system. No matter what par
ty is in power, the State Government
folds its arms and looks on while they
run the machine.
And they tell us we mu It let it run on
in the same way. We must not interfere
with the laws of trade. This is the stand.
ing argument with which they seek to
influence weak and tilnid minds. 1t is
is as much as to say to the tax payers of
Ohio, "You may raise the money, bat
we will manipulate it," And they do it
with vengeance, for their own inter.
ests
Who established this system of free
schools2 Not the school book publish
ers and their confederates, but the Gov
ernment of Ohio, Who enacted the laws
by W lich, in all it's ramifCations, it is, or
should be, go7erned2 The anne Govern
ment. Who is it's rightful guardian ?
The State Government. Who defrays
the vast expense of the system, amount.
ing to SO 600, 900 yoarP The people Of
o lio.
Who, then, has a better right than the
Government, representing the people of
Ohio, to say what quantity and what
kind Of text books shall be used in the
public Schools, to regulate the cost OF
those books, and to order and direct any
thing connected with the practi al work.
inc of tha evatem?