The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-08-10
RUMORS OF AN
ugly SCANDAL
School Directors Shift the
Blame of the Text
Book Raid.
The Action of Many Teachers
May Be a Subject Of In
vestigation.
INDECENT Fund Exhausted and the
General Indignation In
creasing.

book job. There is general disposition
on the part of those connected with the
affair to shift the responsibility to the
| shoulders of his neig hbor, but this mode
of doing things will ubtedly result in
| a.general exposure if it be persisted in.
The mem bers of the "solid nine" element
of the School Board say the course OF
study which provides for so many new
books and innovations was the creation OF
Superintendent Webster, and that they
adopted it only after his approval.
There is talk of an investigation being
held in connection with the actions OF
certain teachers and their apparent desire
TO forward the interests of one or two
paper and printing houses that have made
big profits out of the scholars during the
past week. Scores OF complaints have
been made against some OF these teachers
during the past few days. and Superin-
tendent Webster is being urged by his
friends to put himself right before the in
dignant public.
The matter of blank note books seem to
have afforded the teachers an excellent
opportunity to assist" their friends in
the stationery business. A rather humor-
Gus phase of this came TO the notice OF
Director Waller yesterday and the victim
of it happened 10 be no less person than
Director Charles A. Bantel. When Ban
tels children came home from school on
Friday evening last he was handed a list
of the new books they would require for
the present term. Running bis eye down
the list he caught the words "Bank Stock
No, l." and Bank Stock No. g." The
school director was puzzled. He had
heard the curriculum read once or twice
at meeting of The board and remem-
bered no such books as these. In despair
be rang up Waller by telephone and asked
what kind OF a textbook "bankstock"
was. Waller was so much alarmed that
he rushed peli neil 10 the office of Super
inIendent Webster to tell him to call a
halt on the way matters were being car
ried on at the Adams Cosmopolitan.
Bantel dropped in the office at the same
time and was told that "bank stock" re-
frrred 10 a certain kind of notebook the
Myself & Rollins Company made, and
that it was not prescribed in the course of
study. Explanations were then In ord er.
The trio proceeded TO the school at once
and instructed the principal that it was
against the rules to recommend any books
or articles not contained In the course of
study. The various teachers were UNI
moned in turn i'll the effort 10 find who
had been adding to the financial burdens
of Director Bantel. The culprit proved to
be an elderly woman and she pleaded ig-
norance OF the regulations governing
teachers in justification OF her action. A
dozen similar cases have been called to
the notice of Superintendent Webster and
it is probable that charges will be filed
against all these teachers at once.
the representative of the firm of Myself
q Rollins is woman who at one time
neld a job as a teacher and is accordingly
well acquainted with the instructors. AS
a ubiquitous canvasser she is withou a
peer, Tor since Monday last she has visited
almost every classroom IN the City in her
efforts to monopolize the blank note book
and blue pad bloter sales for her en-
pioyer. Her methods have been so sue
cessful that an order will be made at to-
nights meeting closing the doors OF the
SCHOOLS to her and all other canvassers.
Instances OF her methods are reaching
the board that are very interesting In
one school she entered tue classrooms as
the children were being dismissed and
holding up certain form OF blank book
in formed the scholars that this was sam
pie of what they should buy and told
there it could be obtained. Itwas piece
of enterprise that the teacher apparently
approved OF, and when the little ones re-
turned home that evening there were in
Inns would be increased on the morrow.
The members OF the Com mittee on Ele-
mentary instruction of the board say that
the order issued by superintendent Web
ster, that the pupils should procure
Wards business forms, was made without
their approval. 1t was their instructions
that these forms SHOULD be purchased by
the teachers for general class instruction
in bookkeeping. Some of the Directors
say that Superintendent Webster has been
in 1ocently made the tool OF ring 20 fitch
the department and the taxpayers out of
big money. As it is Webster seems to be
in a very unenviaDle position; but the
Rainey lieutenants in the Sofia Nine
could probably tell more about how the
raid was engineered than anybody con-
nected with the department. This, at
least, is the opinion of the thousands of
indignant parents. There is talk of call
ing the notice of the Grand Jury to the
condition of affairs and asking that full
investigation be made.
Croker d Co.. who have the contract
for printing the new rules of the depart
ment, have notified the board that they
do not care to deliver the goods unless
some specific guarantee of payment is
made. The reason for tais action, it is
said, is the fear that there will be no funds
for this purpose if Mayor Phelan yetoes
the proposed tax levy.
The School Department Is authorized
by law to provide fund from which pay
ment may be made for school books 10
supply the pupils of INDECENT parents.
Since the action of the Board of Educa-
ZION in adding new and expensive TEXT
books to the long list already in use manv
demands have been made on this fund.
and it is now practically exhausted.
Parents who have been able heretofore 10
raise in some way money sufficient to
meet the educational demands OF their
children now find that the burden is
greater than they can bear.
The books ordered by the board cos,
in many instances three times as
much as they are worth. The CALL las
Sunday quoted the prices charged for
Heart Culture" and Wagner's "Pacitic
Coast Stories" and produced the fig
cures obtained from re putable publishers
that the expense to the buyers of the
books was three times as much as it
should be. These books are said lie be
printed in San Francisco.
The textbooks supplied by the Ameri-
can Book Com pany are printed in the
East. In November, 1885, this concern
secured the introduction of "American
Classics" and at the Mission last evening
a gentleman purchased a copy for his
child. The price was 20 cents. He noted
the size of the book, the quality OF the
paper and the style of the binding, AMI