The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-05-28
G.. A. r. AND HISTORY
DEFECTS IN MONTGOMERY,s SCHOOL
HISTORY POINTED OUT.
state Education Board Takes the
Matter Under Advisement-Both
Sides Given n Chance.

The State Board of Education yesterday
granted an audience to the special commit
tee. appointed at the State encampment
OF the Department OF Indiana, G.. A. r., at
Aluncie. to protest against the further use
OF Montgomery's United States history, for
elementary work in the public schools. At
a previous meeting with the board, the COM
mittee was asked TO reduce the oral OBJ
JectlonS then made TO writing, and the COM
mittee was prepared in this way yesterday.
me members of the encampment committee
are ex-Department Commands Marsh. w.
>. Haggard, John j. Todd, w. NJ. Cochran.
W. II. Armstrong and A. H. Graham. The
spokesman was Judge Marsh, who gave in
detail the specific objections to the work.
These were in general that the book is de-
void OF patriotism, and rather leads the
HID to doubt whether their fathers and
relatives who fought in the war on the
Northern side were really not an army of
brutal conquerors, for purposes Of agrees
sion rather than defenders of the unity of
the constitutional government. The work,
the report said, contains no suggestion that
the cause of the North was right. 1t is UNI
fair, it was held, to the soldiery of the
North. and is misleading in its statement
OF facts. The deeds of the Southern armies
are extolled, and so great credit is given TO
Lee that the chnd would naturally wonder
he was not after all the hero of the strug-
gle. The committee recited that the book
uses the sentence The Union was broken
up" 1t was contended that this is q false
assertion, and was proved untrue by the re-
suit of the contest. The book further car
ries out this idea by using the sentence.
1T (meaning the South had left the ma
tlonal government a corpse, lying in state
at Washington This also leaves a false
impression upon the young, and is open to
the objection that it was literally untrue
and was a bit of Zine writing out of
pace IN a history where the minds of the
cnlldren are not mature enough to be dis
c~r1minating, and to see the meaning Of the
inquire OF speech The report further OBJ
Jected TO the way in which the author treats
the battles of Gettysburg, Lookout noun
tain and Missionary Ridge. and TO the fail
ure TO mention such generals as Logan,
history says that the most of the suffering
and loss fell upon the South. and this is a
the committee.
The State board gave the publishers. CHM
% Coz OF Boston. an opportunity to answer
the objections, and T. w. ellison, of Chica-
go. was present for that purpose. He took
up the objections made by the committee,
read, however, from a written statement,
and adding as he went along. He
labored TO show that the book had a
patriotic tone, and that it told only the
tIutu WHEN III Sdlu lndI the south IelL tndt
IL was lighting to repel an invasion, and not
for the preservation of human slavery. He
denied that much was said about Lee. or
that it anywhere stated that Lee was right.
He read from the work written by General
Grant, TO show that the battles of Lookout
mountain and Missionary Ridge were rot
important. In defense of the book, he
stated it contains an account of Sheridan's
ride, which is denied, he said, in the South.
He asked If a book that was seeking popu-
larity in the South would quote a part of
Marching Through Georgia."
Mr.. ellison at this point seemed to grow
very much In earnest, and he turned his
attention to inStructing the veterans that
the war is over. and that they should cease
seeking to protract the fight. This provoked
some OF the ommitte TO remark that Mr..
ellison would make an excellent member of
the Southern Historical Society, which re-
Gently, at Houston, urged its members to
refuse to read works rejecting in any way
upon the motives or actions of the South.
The report was taken by the State board
and Superintendent Geetling was instructed
to have copies made for each member SO
that a decision might be reached by July
1. when it will be necessary to notify the
publishers, If il be so desided, that the con-
tract will be ~abrogated. The contract for
the use of this work will expire July 1. 1896.
The committee is giving Barnes, and the
eclectic histories, which are used 10 some
extent, the same critical research. 1t is
said these, too, are not satisfactory to the
committee. The movement IN the Grand
Army is extending to every State in the
Union, and Indiana, being first in this agita-
ton, is likely. it is said, to achieve a great
deal of renown for the loyal. stand taken.