Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-07-25

The whole cost OF this entire series is
given at SLIGO. The retail price for the
series will be 81. The cost of the books
now in use is $ll.l5. The cost of the
State series to parents will therefore be
little more than one-sixth Of the pres
ent cost"
The number of school children in the
State in 1882 between the ages Of 3 and
IL years was zig, $50. At present the
number is, doubtless, 250,000. The diff
ference between SLIGO and sll.l5 per
child on 250, 600 children is about $2,.
3S7, 500. This sum is worth saving to
the people Of the State Of California.
Year by year the multiplication Of
text books has been going on and the
expense is becoming enormous. As
specimen of the lavish waste of money
in this State in this direction, the follow
ing list OF text books in this city and
county is given:
LIST OF BOOKS.
McGuffey's readers, FIVE volumes, used
in the city, while the county uses Ban.
croft's, five readers, 80 that a change
from city to county or county to city
will require ten readers as starter. Two
OF either one of these series would be
enough.
Then in arithmetic we are to have
Robinson's shorter course, including
Primary and Complete arithmetics, in
either two or three volumes. This is
retrenc hnent of two books from the
old list Of books.
A most useless book is also used in
the city called Reed & Kellogg's Graded
Lessons in English, in two volumes,
while the county matches this with
Swinton's Analysis, in two volumes-a
publication Of no use to the human race.
The city returns the compliment with
another needless work called Reeds
Word Lessons. About as useful as q
''reed shaken by the wind"
Anderson's Popular (who knew it was
popular!) History Of the United States,
Bartholemew's Drawing Book Series,
Payson, Dunton & Scribner's Copy Book
Series, Harper's Introductory Geo.
graphy, Harper's School Geography,
Mason's Music Readers three volumes),
Bryant & Stratton's Book keeping,
Maury's Revised Physical Geography,
Young's Government Class Book. clos
ing with a still more worthless book,
Whitney 4 Knox's Elementary Lessons
in English.
Here are thirty different publications,
and if change Of residence from the
city to the country is made, the list of
books swells to 81 volumes.
But as if that list was not enough
to make the parents of children frantic,
HIGH SCHOOL LIST.
Algebra, Mines, and poor besides.
Geometry, Wentworth's, dilution of
Playfair's Euclid.
Botany, Gray's, very good.
Rhetoric, Kellogg, hardly up to the
average.
General History, Swinton, useless.
Natural Philosophy, Avery, mild and
harmless.
Literature, Swinton, perfectly use-
less book for school-room.
Trigonometry, Wentworth, brief and
inferior.
Geology, Dana. very good.
Chemistry, Youmans, an excellent
book.
Zoology, Prof. orton. brief but very
fair.
Astronomy, Lockyer. fair treatise.
Palmer's Bookkeeping, Robinson's
Higher Arithmetic and Latin and Greek,
about eight books more, making twenty
one more volumes to add to the previous
list. so the wearied child has to wade
through over fifty volumes to get
through course of study in our public
schools. This High School course adds
about $50 more to the cost Of
books, which would add $500, 900
more to the present amount, or
two and half millions of dollars spent
in getting the children Of the State
through the public schools, after which
for specialties they must attend other
schools of learning.
This enormous expense, as MIR. Kipne
well says, is six times too much. Our
State is being bulldozed by the publish
ers of books till the people are book
ridden to the point of revolt. The
trifing tax on tea which precipitated
the Revolutionary war, was not drop
in the bucket compared to the millions
of dollars which the book publishers
rob from the State of California with
the sale of trashy school.books. 1t is
time for reformation in this matter.
The age demands better books and fewer
of them. Half of our school-books are
of very inferior kind aud two-thiris of
them ara useless altogether. They are
compilations reduced in essence aud
vigor, and curtailed in scope and com
pleteness. Some State official ought to
stand up for the rights of the people and
start the good work of reformation. The
State Superintendent of Public Instruc-
tion or the Governor would be the
proper person to begin the work of re-
deeming the State from the excessive
burdens which previous officials have