The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-10-19

uhuCl tlio hOouihS. I1Ous W. Il
Burke Intervewed-He Says Farr and
His Friends Refused to Accept Proper
and That If the Bill Be.
comes a Law 1t Will Prove Unsatis-
factory Because 1t Does Not Provide
What the People Want" The body |
of the interview is as follows:
Some interest having been manifested /.
by our citizens as to why Hon. NJ Y. /
Burke voted against the Farr free text !
book bill, a Herald reporter last evening
interviewed that gentleman as to his rea-
sons for opposing the measure. In re-
sponse to the question whether or not he
was opposed to free text books, Mr.. Burke
replied:
Decidedly l am not. On the contrary
l am heartily in favor of the principle"
why, then, Mr.. Burke" queried the re-
porter, did you vote against Mr.. Farr's
bin?'
Let me explain to you," was the an
swer I'm the first place" he continued,
"the law as it now stands provides that
the school boards may furnish free text
books but the Farr bill changes it so they
shall furnish them. Now that may sound
all right. but 1t is not for the reason that
the bill is not what it puIports to be, a
real free text book measure. 1t did not
satisfy many Of the members of the house
who opposed it, simply because of its
shortcomings. / was one of those who
were dissatisfied with it simply on account
of its imperfectlons.
I'VE thought, however to remedy the
defects and thus get the bill in such
shape that We could conscentiously re-
cord our votes in its favor. To this end
Mr.. Hartley, Of Fayette, on the second
reading Of the bill, moved an amendment
providing that the state should pay for
the books, thus really placing free text
books within the reach Of the people. The
amendment was adopted, but Farr and
his friends for some reason We're not salts
fled with the change, and during the ad-
iournment for dinner they put their heads
together and decided to reconsider the
amendment for the purpose of knocking
it out, which they did in the afternoon
and then talked on another amendment
which provides that when the means Of
the district are exhausted twelve citizens
can appeal to court and the court may, If
it be aijudged proper, order an additional
milIage for the purpose Of paying for the
ioes not provide for free text books be-
cause the district must be assessed to pay
! for them, and may be assessed on the
double at that.
1.-THE changes myself and others who OPP
posed the Farr bill desired to have made
| in it, would provide that the school
| boards should purchase the books and in
the annual report which they are required
| by law to make to the court and state SUI
perntendents report the number of books
purchased, which should then be paid for
| by the state on warrant of the auditor
| general to the state treasurer But this
simple plan did not meet the approval OF
| the lobbyists of the book publishing firms
who were working In the interests of the
| Farr bill. The fact that the book trusts
wanted the Farr bill to pass, Is another
reason why did not like the measure"
But" asked the reporter, does the
bill not provide that the state shall make
an appropriation of S2OOO,0)O to purchase
school books for the use of the schools?"
mo sir" was the response there is no
such provision, and the only assurance
that we have that such an appropriation
will ever be made Is that Mr. Farr and his
friends say that it will be. But by what
authority they make such an assertion is
more than / can tell, since the bill itself
makes no provision of the kind. The OBJ
tanning of an appropriation will be an
other matter altogether. During the de-
bate put the question to Mr.. Farr as to
what assurances there were that the ap-
preparation would be forthcoming and he
could give none"
"Then you do not think the Farr bill is
what its title would imply?"
"Well," added Mr. Burke, at is intend
ed to be a small step in the direction of
free text books, but 1t Is by no means
what the people want, and WILL should il
ever become a law, be found anything but
satisfactory Had Mr.. Farr and his
friends been willing to do what was right
in the matter we would have made proper
provision for the supplying of free text
books at the expense of the state anC
would in a great measure have shut Out
the text book monopoles. voted against
the bill because, as / said, it does not pro
vide what the people want-in othel
7 words It is q misnomer. Lytle, the father
of the free text book bill of two years ago
denounced the measure in the severes
terms"
The objections which Mr.. Burke
raised in the foregoing interview have
been proved utterly groundless by the
| laws practical test. But why doe
Burke now pretend that he voted fo
the Farr bill? Why does he call those
people liars who simply tell the trutl
' about this forgetful statesman, anC
, who, as the foregoing extract shows
, have Mr.. Burke's own word Of NOR
, than year ago, that Mr.. Burke of to
day is utterly mistaken in his state
: ments.
We trust that the Scranton Truth
. with its accustomed fairness, will Sc
: these facts right before its readers.