Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-06-26

quiry concerning the publication Of text
books at the State Printing Office:
SACRAMENTO Cal. June %. 1891.
! Hon. 4. J. lfouldcT-DEAR SIR: In reply to
! your favor OF the 21st instant l will say that
! if the Perry amendment to the Constitution
should be adopted, and the next Legislature
| should appropriate the money necessary to pro-
| vide textbooks this department would be ready
| to enter actively upon the work of printing and
! binding, at least as soon as the State Board of
! Education would be able to furnish the adopted
| compilations | can give you no idea of the
! time it would take the state Board to compile
| the textbooks in question. In the course of a
| general conversation with General Wclckcr on
| the subject this morning, found that ne was
/ not prepared 10 give any definite answer TO the
! question of time. The book publishers will
doubtless place every obstacle in their
! cOmplishment of the plan, and the Board
| will have 70 exercise great care to avoid
! legal difficulties in actual or presumed infringe
ment of copyright. The time that may be con
sumed in overcoming such Obstacles viii de-
pend altogether on the good fortune of the
Board i'll choosing specialists, whoare both com
petent to the task and of sound and discriminat-
ing judgment IN steering clear of copyright
breakers.
I am astonished that the assertions of the
book agentS-that the textbooks the State shall
produce will be necessarily inferior in quality
and higher in price than those now offered
should have any weight with intelligent Cali
fornians. will answer for the mechanical por-
ton OF the work, that Il Will not be inferior.
Why should it, We can buy as good paper and
we have rs good presses and as good workmen
rs the publishers in the East have. In NV re-
port to the Senate at the last regular session,
gave very detailed and circumstantial estimates
of the cost Of printing the school books: and |
have seen no reason since then to modify or
alter the figures then set forth in any material
particular. So that in reOtierug that report a
complete answer is given to the assertion that
books produced by the State would cost more to
the children than Is now eXacted by Eastern
publishers or their agents.
believe and have believed for long time
that the best solution to the textbook question
Is for the state tC own its own copyrights and to
print and distribute at cost the books required
by the great mass of the school children The
new Constitution has transferred the fights that
were periodically made on this subject in the
Legislature to the School Boards OF the counties
These contests are not pleasant to contemplate
and the frequent scandals they give rise to are
anything but beneficial to the cause of popular
education.
This state has certainly taken the first step in
the new departure, and | believe nothing can
prevent her from making the grand experiment
which, have no doubt, will i'll the end greatly
inure to the benefit of the school children.
Yours respectfully JAMES J. AYERS.
MUSICAL AND LITERARY ENTERTAIN
MENT.-A grand musical and literary enter
| ment was given last evening at the First
Baptist Church, on Ninth street which was
largely attended. The following excellent
programme was rendered in fine style
instrumental duet, by Miss Gertie Ger
IRISH and Mrs. Genung; recitation. The
Shipwreck,' Miss Lena Teeplc: solo. % 1t
| Was a Dream, Mrs. George VI. f. Smith
| recitation, odd Mother Hubbard and Dog"
| Eugene NanderCoOk; solo, " The Lover
and the Bird, Miss Belle Hoagland; duet,
Love Shall Guide Thee, Misses Gertie
Jones and Lulu Morrill, flute solo with
Z
| fish airs, Charles Neal and Miss Cameron
solo, " Good Night, Sweet Love. to Thee"
J. ). Graham; recitation, The Old Actors
Story Mrs. James Seadlcr, solo, THE
Night Song Mrs. Addie Carter: quartet
McsSrs. Graham, Sanborn Aucrbach and
Carroll. An admission fee of p cents was
charged. After the close of the exercises.
icc-cream and cake was served free to all
present.
BARwICK's REroRT-At 5 last night the
barometer was falling from Olympia to San
Diego, with southeriy winds and light rain
from Tatoosh, Washington Territory to Cape
Mendocino, California. From Red Bluff to
san Diego the wind was westerly and the
weather clear, and blowing "a miles per
hour at san Francisco, 2S AT Cape Mendo-
emo nine at Red Bluff and eight at Sacra-
mento, and less than six miles at Los An
geles and San Diego. 4 foul weather sun
set was reported from Olympia 10 Cape
Mendocino.
CADETS CELEBRATION.-The Governors
Guard Cadets, attached to the First Ar
Gllery Regiment, last evening celebrated
| the fourth anniversary of their being mus
tered into the regiment by street parade,
led by the new Cadet drum corps of the
| regiment. subsequently the young men
gathered in the armory accompanied by
large number of friends, and enjoyed an
excellent luncheon and musical and literary
| exercises. The occasion was q very merry
one, and the Cadets took it in i'll all its full
ness.
GoING To ScoTLASD.-James Scobie, the
well-known contractor, who had the con-
tract for doing the masonry on the line of
the California and Oregon Railroad above
Reddlng, but OF course suspended opera
tons when the railroad company decided
TO cease work on the extension of that line.
has sold all his wagons, derricks horses,
etc. and yesterday came down from the
" front on his way to San Francisco He
intends to make trip to Scotland with his
family in about month.
THE ELoCUTIoSARY ENTERTAINMENT
The elocutionary entertainment of II. c.
Eastman laStcvening wasnot largely attend
ed. Mr.. Eastman gave varied readings and
Rotations He is an accomplished reader,
but in mimetic parts is at his best Mrs.
A. T. Pinkham and Miss Lizzie Griffin
added very much to the pleasure of the
evening by giving, respectively, vocal and
instrumental selections, both ladies acqult-
ting themselves with much credit.
FRFDYpICYSpr-pc .1srp RFEp This il
the best brewage of genuine lager ever pro-