The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-02-18
! GREAT QUESTION
Nr. B. F. Johnson Says State
Uniformity in School
Books Will Save Hun
dreds of | thousands
of Dollars.

To the Educational Committee and
Members of the General Assembly Of
North Carolina:
Within the next few days you will be
called on to decide one of the most inn
portant questions that has ever been pre-
scented to this body, pertaining to the
educational and financial welfare of the
people of North Carolina. An opportuni-
ty is offered you by a responsible body of
men representing an aggregate of more
than one million dollars of Southern cap
tal in which they guarantee to furnish
the people of this State better textbooks
than they have ever had the privilege of
using before, at an annual saving Of
more than one hundred thousand dol
lars year The contract offered by our
people in addition TO the personal finan-
cial resources and backing to which |
have already referred. is underwritten by
a guarantee and bonding company of half
a million dollars organized especially
for providing bonds and guaranteeing
contracts made by solvent individuals
and corporations.
For the first time in its history the
people of North Carolina have an onpor-
tunity to purchase books from Il South
ern House, one that has already issued
more than fifty textbooks by the best
Southern Authors, in which the following
North Carolina Authors are represented:
Prof James A. Mclaughlin. formerly
superintendent of the schools of Wades-
boro n. c.. Prof. E. Men. Carr, of Rose
Hill, n. c., Rev. DIR. j. Il. Shearer, Pres
dent of Davidson College, n. c., Prof.
G.. NJ. Smithdeal, formerly of Guilford
county, n c.. Miss Louise Manly, born
IN, h.,t Il ~
Basil Manly. native of North Caro-
lima. Besides the above we have the
manuscripts of six or seven prominent
North Carolina educators and teachers
undergoing examination in our editorial
department. and so far as these books
prove satisfactory they will be published
and placed on the market In encourag-
ing home enterprises you are promoting
the cause of education, you are encour-
aging Southern authorship, you are
building up your institutions and con-
ferring n lasting blessing on the rising
generations.
Now gentlemen, the issues of this aues-
ton are sharp and clear. Are you pre-
pared to say that you will during the
next four years pay into the hands of
Northern book corporations between four
and FIVE hundred thousands Of dollars
for inferior. unsatisfactory. and out-of-
date books? Any successful educator
will tell you that n large proportion Of
the books in use in the schools in this
State are worn out and out of date; they
have been discarded in Virginia, in
Georgia, in Texas. and in every other
State where this question has come up
within the last two years, and the peo-
pie have recognized the fact that they
have the opportunity to buy new books
better suited to their requirements at
less money.
Besides a direct saving of more than
hundred thousand dollars a year to the
parents in this State the proposition
which we make. contemplates taking off
the hands of your children these old
wornout, worthless books and replac-
ing them by fresh new books-this will
be done at an expenditure Of many thou
sands of dollars on our part. The repre-
sentatives of our competitors claim that
fully three hundred thousand dollars
would be required for this purpose, and
if their calculation is correct, yon get
three hundred thousand dollars worth
OF new books for o. wornont. worthless
unteachable books, which if placed on
the market would not bring five thousand
dollars We relieve the merchants and
dealers of any loss by taking off of their
hands the new books they have purchas-
ed and supply them, book for book, new
books in the place of them.
Wi. it not Shake that great party to
which you and / belong if you say we
rejected a proposition from a Southern
organization and a Southern institution
calculated to save the people Of tnis
State hundreds and hundreds of thou
sands of dollars and conclude to continue
an arrangement which will be putting in
the hands of remote uDfriendly corpora
tons your hard earned dollar? On a
sober second thought | am persuaded
that there is not "a man in the Legisla-
ture of North Carolina who is willing TO
place himself in such an attitude before
the people of this State and of the whole
world.
Our books are manufactured in the
South our employees are Virginians and
North Carolinians, our royalties and the
money for material work in different
ways is scattered among your own peo-
pie Reject our offer and your money
goes to New England. to New York, to
Chicago and other Northern cities.
During the past ten years paper and
other material used in the manufacture
of books has fallen in price fully 40
to 80 per cent. and get you are paying
the same prices for textbooks that you
paid ten and twelve years ago 1t is
simply because you are in the grasp of
monopoly, ana they will not willingly re-
lease you until they have squeezed from
your pockets every dollar that they can,
and to do this they come and employ
numberlcss agents in this State in order
that they may continue to force upon you
high-priced and out-of-date books that
have been discarded almost everywhere
else. The children of North Carolina
deserve just as good books as the chill
dren of Georgia, Texas, or any other
State, and with proper legislation you
can give them just as good at almost
half the price you are paying at present.
How are we to move forward educa-
tionally or advance in material progress
if we continue the hide bound and lick
the-hand- tliat-smites policy that has ours
ed the educational interests of the South
so many years!
Already / have referred to the sue
cess Of orr publications. we have secur-
ed large numbers of adoptions through
out the South, and have even been ship
ping books to Illinois. Massachusetts,