The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-02-19


means of instruction to be used in the
public schools" Battles Rev. On. 68
Sec So
AS soon as Superintendent Scar
borough was firmly imbedded in his
Office he recommended that a law be
passed giving him and the State Board
of Education additional powers over
the school text books. The General
Assembly was too wise to make the
change in 1877 and re enacted the old
law. See Acts 1875 z Ch 162, Sects 35
superintendent Scarboro, in 1879,
made a strong effort to centraIize the
powers over text books in his hands
He took advantage of the reputation
OF John w. Moore, who had lately
written history of North Carolina.
and he, or some one, friendly with his
scheme OF consolidation, got through
the General Assembly the following
statute: Whereas. John w. Moore.
or Herttord county has prepared a his
tory of North Carolina, which has
been examined and approved by the
joint Committee on Education, the
General Assembly of North Carolina
do enact: Section 1. That upon the
publication of an abridgment of this
work and it's approval by Superintend
OF Public Instruction, the same shall
be used in the public schools of the
State as a text book; provided, the
Board of Education shall have first
agreed with the publishers as to the
price which the work shall be sold
for" Acts 1879, chapter 90: In the
matter of the choice of the book,
Supt rintendent Scarborough was left
sole arblter and Rutocrat before the
book was ever written. Even the Sc
lect Board of Education were not
allowed to share with him this power
They were allowed, however, to assist
in the determination of the price. The
The General Assembly in their eager
rush to do something for q real, live
North Carolina author whose history
but few Of them had probably ever
read. put into our statute law the
thin edge of the wedge of consolidated
powers, the thick end of which has
BEEN driven home and priced North
Cardinals public school inter
ests under q school book monopoly.
don't know how long it took Super
intendent Scarborough to decide on
the merits of q book whose friends
were so complimentary to him, but I
do know that Major Moore told me it
took him eight weeks to write it. Tt was
q North Carolina. book, however, and
there was no competition, and for some
cause it was determined that there
should be none till uperintendent
Scarborough chose to let down the
bars. Note, gentlemen of the commit
tee, that it took as high sounding
virtue as 'patronizing home indus
tries" to sugar coat the beginning of
Tod SrR
l1na's public school interest.
But this was not the only act of con-
solidatlon begun or finished at the ses
sion of 1879: The famous School Bill"
of 79 was passed in some sort of shape.
but the effort of parturition killed it.
A committee of investigation devel
oped the fact that it was stolen and an
altered copy substitute d in its stead,
which altered copy passed the third
reading In the Senate, the original hav
ing passed its first and second reading
there and it's three readings in the
House On account of these facts the
two presiding officers of the General
Assembly refused to sign the bill and
the Secretary of State, Colonel Saun-
ders refused to receive it as a law.
Eighty first n @. Report, page 400.
Here IS the clause the fight was about,
and it is ''joe darter" for consolida-
ton OF powers at Raleigh: THE State
Board of Education shall prescribe
from time to time for term of not
less than five years what text books
and books of reference shall be used
in the common schools of the State;
provided, that no sectarian or political
text book shall be used in any public
III Go.9 6nk hn "a
shall not be excluded from the public
schools of the State These provi
SOS, good in themselves, do duty also
as a sugar coating to make the whole
section go down weak stomachs. The
alteration of the bill, or the substltu
ton of an altered copy, and the conse
quent refusal of the two presiding ON
GERS TO sign it and of the State Secre
tary to receive it as law. did not
dampten the zeal of superintendent
Scarborough for the much coveted
powers over text books After having
adopted the books of his choice and
of Mr.. Hendricks choice under the
new still born law, he took immediate
steps to enforce it all hazards He
got him brilliant and expensive array
of counsel paid for by some person or
persons and not by the State of North
Carolina las infer from what follows),
and instituted suit against the two
presiding officers and Col Saunders to
validate The law and make good his
adoption of school text books. He
brought these actions in his own name.
individually and as Superintendent of
Public instruction, and also IN the
name of the State on the relation of
the Attorney General, whose consent
he seemed never to have obtained. il
we are TO believe the following para
agTaph in the Raleigh Observer of May |
81, 1879. which has never been denied
: The Mandamus against the Secretary
of State We are requested by Col.