Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1895-06-06
1895

| influence on me, but / told him per-
haps he could find men that he could
buy TO introduce his books, but | did
not believe he could any woman il
the State of Maine. What the paper.
say about their way Of doing bushes:
is true. as | can testify, and they
ought to be exposed, nos only by the
press but by the individual sehoo
officers whom they are trying 10 buy
up"
1. In West Virginia the Legisla-
ture selects the school books to be
used. On the 18th of February. 1891,
Mr.. Ferguson, a member, introduced
a resolution asserting that George Il.
Howard, an agent OF the American
Book Company. had offered bride IL
a member, and demanded an investi-
CATION. The investigation was made.
Howard was found guilty and called
to the bar of the House, where he
was severely reprimanded. He
should have been sent TO the pc nit m
tiary.
THE TRUST AN OPPREssoR.
5. The oppression of the trust and
its repeated and shameless brides
grew so unbearable in Oregon that a
committee of hundred citizens OF
Portland undertook to Investigate.
A subcommittee, appointed for the
purpose, made long report to the
committee of the whole, which was a
scathing arraignment of the trust.
After abiding TO the Washington
bribery, the committee says: I'm
California, as appeared by the pub
lished affidavit of the agent of Ivison,
Brakeman, Taylor 4 Co, the same
combination except Appleton q Co.,
and the Harpers furnished to its agents
to be paid to the members of the San
Francisco Board of Education. the
lump sum of $11 $685. These are
only specific instances, but the his
tory of this company's operations in
Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, New
Jersey and other states, gives Us the
impression that its methods are cor
rupt and leads this committee to the
almost irresistible conclusion that
this is well-defned policy of the
company itself in the selection of
some of its agents and instrumentali-
ties. When the fact is considered
that brides are carefully offered, and
successful bribery is always secret,
and that for one attempt exposed
many more are successful, the de-
moralizing and corrupting nature OF
this company in its dealings with
public agents and officers must be
universally conceded. Practi-
cally the American Book Company
furnishes all the public school books
for the State of Oregon, a selection
so unanimous and unwarranted that
in itself it suggests occult influence
and gives to this corporation a p
as we estimate it, of over $4,000 4
wear. "The effects of thi,
monopoly is disastrous to our public
school system. and is largely respon-
sible for its unsatisfactory results in
this State and city The very poor.
est books of concern directly inter.
ested in selling its poorest works are
put in the hands Of the children al
prices far above their real value. Re
spectacle publishing that sci
upon the ground Of merit only, unable
and unwilling TO compete against
such INSCRIPTIONS practices, retire to
more enlightened States, and our en-
tire school system, veritable schoo
machine, is put into the hands of a
foreign corporation for the further.
ance of its own interests and the per-
! petuation of its own power
WHAT WILL THEY DO ABOUT IT?
The Richmond State and other pa.
pers have demanded proof and speci-
fication. We have furnished them in
this statement. We have surrounded
Massey with network of direct and
of circumstantial evidence which he
cannot escape.
There must be an investigation
Not an Investigation by a committee
appointed by the Governor, because
snch a committee must necessarily
pass upon the Governor official neg
ligence, to say the least of it. This
committee must be appointed by the
Legislature at the next session with
full powers to call for papers, sum
mons, and examine witnesses and
probe the matter to the quick.
We know that Massey is a willy fox,
that he has in his time hoodwinked
and outwitted many parties and men,
but it looks as if he has been run to
earth at last. The people must know
the truth. They must find ont where
Massey got it.
The people are in the saddle this
year, and corruption must be driven
from its hiding places in Virginia as
well as in New York.
| We have faith that the same stout
heartedness and honest thought be-
fore which Tammany, intrenched in