Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-02-19
STATE SCHOOL TEXT.B0oKs.
Statements Refuted Concerning Their
FERMENTATION nnd Publication


Preparation and Publication.
A lengthy article appeared yesterday in
the San Francisco Chronicle, intended to
cast odium upon the issuance by the State
of public school textbooks, for which the
people SO nearly unanimously voted when
the constitutional amendment upon the
subject was adopted. The papers which
" stood in" with the school book publish
ers' ring at that time, and were so badly
sat down upon can only find comfort
now in hoping for a failure of the new
method, and attacking those who are of
ficially charged with work of preparing
and publishing the books.
The REcoRD-USIoN strongly supported
the Constitutional amendment, as also
urged legislation to faithfully carry its pro-
visions into effect, and will be prompt to
expose any conduct of officials calculated
to impair the success of the plan, or need
less delays in providing the books for pub
lie use. But the public will need to view
with caution and suspicion the post mortem
reflections of papers which lost their cause
for the school book publishers ring
when the matter was finally SUBJ
mitted TO vote of the people.
A representative of the RECORD UNION,
dll6I lIlt dDOhe
sought an interview with the Governor.
who is President of the State Board of
Education, which is charged with prepar-
ing and publishing the State textbooks,
and also upon State Superintendent
Wecker, Secretary of the Board, and Mr..
Raymond, editor of the State textbook
series. None of these gentlemen, however,
desired to enter into a discussion of the
statements made, with a view to having
their remarks published. Colonel Ayers,
State Printer, is not in the city, and hence
was not seen. The following facts. which
were cleaned from conversation had, will
be of interest to the public:
l. In reply to the statement that the
State Board has decided to publish certain
books--eight in number-not authorized
by the Legislature, the strongest and only
thing to be said is that it is wholly and alb
solutely untrue in every particular Prior
to the meeting of the Legislature in jan
uary, 1885, the Board discussed a scheme
of publication which embraced certain
books not provided for in the subsequent
Act of the Legislature, since which the
Board has addressed itself to the prepara-
ton of such books only as are named in
the Act.
.. The statement that a member of the
Board had declined to report information
received by him on the subject of provid-
ing geography, except upon certain con-
ditions, is also denied, and met by the
counter statement that all correspondence
with publishers on this subject is, and has
been for more than six months, on file and
open to the public in the office of the Sec
retary of the Board.
3. The statement that $4,000 has been
placed in the treasury at the disposal of the
State Board and that $63, COO of it has al
ready gone, can be answered in but one
way, and that is b. simple denial, and
reference to the law which will disclose
the fact that the State Board has control
over but 5000 altogether of the appro-
priation of $4,000 made by the Legis-
lature.
4. The State Board of Education has no
authority whatever to authorize the State
Printer to go. or to require him to stay, and
the statement that his business trips are
made under or by its direction, is of the
same peculiar kind as the other statements
already referred TO.
). AT a recent meeting of the Board. GER
tain limited sums Were set aside TO be ex-
pended by the members in charge of the
several publications, in procuring work
done in compiling the readers, an arithme-
tic, speler and a grammar during the
intervals between meetings of the Board
These amounts are TO be accounted for at
every meeting and vouchers rendered to
the last penny by the receipts of the parties
doing The work, and this is all there is of
putting the $4,000 into their own pockets.
This seems to dispose of all statements
rejecting upon the Board, and disposes of
them by such statements as are proved by
their records and by the law.
One of the members of the Board, in re-
ferring to the published article, remarked:
When the work is all done the Board
will be entirely content with the verdict of
the public on the questions of quality, cost
and time employed in the preparation and
issuance of the books. All intelligent peo-
pie, especially makers of school-books and
manufacturers know that the movement
of any enterprise is in its earlier stages
slower than when the appliances of work
are fully in order. The First Reader
of the series, however has been in type
since Christmas. and waits for engraving.
which is going forward as fast as that kind
of work can be done. One hundred and
fifty pages of the Third Reader are also in
type and in process of electrotyping The
Board has thought il better to push the
leading books-namely the readers and
spellers-to completion daring the present
season, than to stagger along under the
load of the whole series-a feat no private
publisher ever dared to attcmpt-which
would result in bringing nothing to a finish
till the whole is done.