The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-10-12
STATE TEXT BOOK PUBLICATION.

vigorously at.EOCdllll5 inc PuDiiSdIAoll "
school text books by the state. One of
them, the Scio Press, even goes so far as
). -t'' to claim that this eau be done 'for one
:, third Of the money the people are now
,, paying the American Book Company" "
dEui Statements of this kind are very easy to
900" make, but are not susceptible of proof.
,l From all investigation Of the subject, 1t Is
found that the system ofstate publication
IGt has been tried by but one state-Callfor-
." MIA. Tie most reliable. data obtainable
+, ,s is had from a. pamphlet containing the
ri proceedings of the California Council of
FiT Education, wlii.fl met in December 1892.
~, In 1882, the matter of state publication OF
~ text books,was..h first advocated. Although
lgI the plan met with stubborn opposition on
.t!i" the part Of the San Francisco press and
prominent educators of the state, the leg
?; islature of 1897, 3,-basing its action upon
~ estimates furnished by the state printer,
tu that were afterwards found be altogeth-
- - er toe. 1ow,-passed an act, amending the
i....a constitution so as to provide for the pub
iillicatioh text books by the state. The
'ii''i teachers at once saw what disastrous
,,'., effect the scheme would have on the pub
on lie schools, and at the California Teach
Eu"ers Association, which met in December,
- 1883, an exhaustive report was llnani-
,rJ 1nous1y adopted, that concluded with the
declaration that t'the publication of
nj" school text books by this state is inexpe-
~ dient and if1practicab1e, and will, if at
i J. tempted, result in. great pecuniary loss to
IT the state, and inexpensive and unsatis-
ID factory books for our schools Esti-
- p, mates of, the cost of publication were
~ shown to be erroneous and misleading,
,ii but despite the warnings from the press
from superintendents, and from teachers
the constitutional amendment was
~. adopted rrat the ensuing election. ....
tit.s. Opponents to the scheme claimed that
= Il, would j cost at least S25o, 900 to inaugu
rate. the system, and that after the books
= If v.r.. +, abIished they would work great
u injury on thctsctools. because of their in
- ferior duah y. For this; the report claims,
thev. were &c cr1sed d ofworking in the. in
,d terest of priva! !te p .1blishing firms In the
' original estffsatt the public printer placed
the cost of the pr. nting plant at $52485
After this had serv, d the purpose of de-
..ceiving the public, made another est
=" saate, placing the cos at S115'ooo lie
: Soand. 9atter on, that til is amount was too
Tow, and filed a third estimate IN Whlch
- heHp1aeed the cost at $3.50, ooo' thus 'irtu-
a1ly endorsing the estimate made Dy tne
~; teachers convention. This amount was'
4 however, entirely too low asN the, appro-
itil, l,Or;atiols up to April goth, 1891, were
-. $3.50 900. But the printers 1rish >kes oio
T,1iot end here. When the book "eFe
70 ready for distribution it was dlscov. 'reo
that the original estimate was also too 10 w.
This Discrepancy is shown by the below
9, tabulated statement: - .,. ...,u,
:di NAME OF BOOK. ss-s., Esr1MA-, PRES
,"te - m Lis9.. l. ''a TED COST ENr COST |
m ,,,,s State At s First Reader a ~ & 40 :. 40
!. -" !. SbsIIlr S1siTa Reader :. s. ST . 90 90
-, . 1T is boldly charged that the selling
, prices cited above fall far below the ac-
tua1 cost of manufacture, which statement
is proved by citing the regular biennial
deficiency in the state printing de-
partment. This shows that the expendl7
r. lures for that office during the FIVE years |
Immediately preceding state publ1ca-
tions were s4o1, ,617.2Ss while during the /
q five years following, the same depart
1nent:cost 1,o6s, ,Se7.o7. rrs4.art.
n.e@' The cost Of series of twelve text books,
'' under state publication, is $I.23 more
in California than in Ohio, where the
i, books are furnished under state con-
Ia. tract. In Missouri the difference in IA !
vor of q state contract IS SI.24 per pupil,
i. and in. Indiana $1.eo. In California,
readers, three in number, cost SI.25, !
while in the state of Indiana SI.2o Will
purchase a series of five readers. Be
tween the first and second readers
of the. California state series, and also be-
tween the second and third, there is
break of at least a year, which has to be
supplemented by readers published by
private concerns. AS whole, the sys-
Fl TEN has been expensive. The books have
Il, not been, up to the proper stand
~ ard in binding, illustration, grad
sins and adaptability, while many of the
% 'pa ,psbtieat abound in misleading con-
;, fheting and incorrect statements. Besides
: ( -dnsevexal 06 the books the composition IS
l'etr1Hadfsliana oftens incorrect,
~ 'eda9Ep Isf prespa by the experience of
/. .l,ezi sister statssand4, continue the con-
q atractsysteih.hi sodoing, she can secure
: nithR beABoBks aeshefaast possible cost.
"a - 'iHAvE the people Of Oregon no candl-
dates for senator? Tt looks, nows pretty
mnch al A1ddgliir gliir' Dolpf t%ould bf the
choice by accrafnation. If there are to
1. d liIE .ai,IEY .1aliollLc altle II.o..ah1al /