Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-12-30
raE euRsT1os OF FREE r1xr-BooKs

and In gestigation showed that it was a kind
Of bus ness in which the most extravagant
charges were possible, and in which the
public rere made to pay much more than
they s,iould have done. Bat the PROPOSE.
tion I'll st the Safe should furnish the text
books nevertheless one which requires to
be exanined most carefully, for it by no
means Follows that it affords the remedy
deman led. The tendency to fall back
upon the State for everything is indeed one
which on sht to be resisted, for not only
does Experience show that Governments
cannot perform work of this kind econom-
ically. bat even if they could do SO the
community would be injured by learning to
shift its proper responsibilities and burdens
upon the State. Aud it is necessary further
to have clear understanding of what is
meant when the phrase g free textbooks
is meant. When loosely employed this
phrase i, very apt to convey the impression
that under the proposed plan the books
would not cost the people anything. But this
is obviously an illusion. The State can no
more Obtain textbooks for nothing than
individr ais can. And whatever the State
expends for this or anything else, must
come ogt Of the pockets Of the taxpayers.
In the same way the tenn Free Schools"
Is clearly a misnomer. The schools are
really Only free to those who pay no taxes.
All property-owners contribute to their
support and many property owners Of
necessity p'y great deal more than they
would fsthey had only the education of
| their own nschildren tc provide.
| 1t must be understood at the outset that
the plan Of free text books involves an
increase OF taxation. To what extent this
increase would go is OF course a question
largely, though not altogether, of estimates
and details It depends upon the nature
OF the scheme adopted. If the State, as
has been serously proposed, should begin
by engaging. competent persons to compile
an entire lew series of text books, and
should thea undertake the printing, en-.
craving, b nding and publishing of this
series, it is evident that it would have to
invest very considerable capital in regu.
4 lar pablisf iDg business. Nor is it possible
tosay whaismessure of saving there would
be in such acheme. For though prelim-
mary calculations might be made demon.
strating considerable economy, the actual
outcome W MID depend upp2 .hee-c .aee character
of the mar agement, and that must be prac-
tIcSlly an unknown quantity until expert.
ment has determined it. Experience, how
ever, jastiiis the fear that any such estab-
lishment s'ou!d be far less economically
administered than corresponding private
business. The incentives to economy which
are always present in the latter, are mainly
absent In s-State establishment. The igi-
lance whic weeds ont Incompetence, which
turns every particle of material TO account,
which shus every avenue Of waste, is usu.
ally wanting in public institutions. In
fact it is not admissible to count that vici.
lance as one of the factors in the case, but
on the contrary, allowance mus. be made
for extravaganza and waste.
The trouble is that those who make this
kind of proposition always take too much
for granted. In the present case it must
be assumed that the right kind of men
would be selected to compile the text.
books; that they would DO their work
promptly that the right kind of men
4 would be chosen to manage the mechanical
part OF the enterprise tina. there would
be neither veLality nor waste in the in.
vestment OF the necessary capital in plant,
paper, ink, plates, and SO forth that after
the State printing and publishing offiee
had been established there would be no
political pressure exercised to get incompe.
/tsSs crsn employment in il s; that the staff
would be as competent as that of private
firm ; and ms u equ2slly eehvions ooasider.
ations. And if It turned out ,.4s any or
all of these assumptions had not been JUS.
titled, all the preliminary estimates would
be invalidated, aud where a considerable
saving had been figured out, an actual loss
might be the outcome. 1t thus appears
that there could be no certainty as to the
economy of the proposed measure, while ii
it fell into the hands of men who were
both corrupt and incompetent, it might
easily prove white elephant to the State.
The presumption that any such plan
would result in considerable saving ia
indeed not warranted. Nor is the under
lying principle of the proposition economi-
cally sound. It 10 IN the direction of
patern~e government 1t is in the line Of
increase of those drains upon the public
revenues which, because they are indirect
and partly concealed, afford room for the
greatest extravaganza and waste. In the
supply OF textbooks what is really wanted
is not a Government monopoly, bu. free
trade. All that is i ecessary to protect the
public against the iIlpositions of publishers
is to refuse 20 givesany publisher mo.
nopoly of the supply. 1t might be found
advisable to buy cel tain copyrights, thoush
that is open to serious objection. But |
there is really ro little danger in any
system which pla 1es too much weight
upon textbooks, for the tendency then
must be to undervalue the importarcs of
good teachers. Uniformity in textbooks
is not indispensable. The principles of all |
branches of knowledge must be convened |
in identical terms IN all trustworthy text |
books, and the teachers ought to supply |
the rest. A community which comes TO |
regard textbooks aad uniformity as every. |
thing will probably lose instead of bene.
fitting by the change We believe indeed |
that already there are far too many text.
books, and that they interfere with the
soundness Of the instruction conveyed in |
our schools. There are many other points
requiring to be dealt with in connection !
with this subject, but we have said enough
perhaps t make it apparent tAst the prop
osltion for free textbooks is not the |
simple and obvious panacea which many
people seem to have thought it.
GovERoa STEPHENS RASH ACT.
Governor Stephens, of Georgia, has been |
very shsrply censured for pardon:ng Cox,
the murderer of Aston, and i-. self.defenss
he Sas gisa- 'Ehs. e is plelsed TO call his
reasPns for clemency. Hs says be has
rsc,kived hundreds OF petitions, embrac-
"Tnp many eminent eit;zepe kuyar, |