The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-02-05
FREE SCHOOL BOOKS.
It Will Evidently Meet With
Very Strong Oppo-
sition.

! opposing the adoption of the proposed
constitutional amendment in regard to
free text books for the public schools:
| Constitutional amendment No. 2, in
troduced by Assemblyman Brooke of
| Sacramento, among other things pro-
vides that text books shall be given free
of cost to the children of the common
schools throughout the State.
| Among the many reasons why this
amendment, with the above provision,
should not be adopted there is one
which demands special attention: name-
| ly, the expense in which it would in
volve the State. At present the burden
of taxation weighs heavily on the peo-
pie. The cry goes up from all quarters,
taxes are too high; taxes are oppres-
sive.' What is to be done to remedy
this evil, to stop this extravaganza, this
waste of the public funds? Many of the
papers of the State are fully alive to
this evil, and just in their condemna-
tion of it.
Politicians catch the popular cry, and
to insure public patronage, insert
planks in their respective platforms
pledging their party to a reduction in
taxation. The one-dollar limit for San
FRANCISCO, and the fifty-cent limit for
the State, or any limits that may be
called for by the people, are cheerfully
adopted by all political parties; but
scarcely have these men assumed power
when, in many cases, their pledges are
forgotten; or, to put it more forcibly,
are deliberately broken.
| This surely has been the case in the
past, and may, or may not be the case
in the introduction of this Constitu-
tioIal amendment The gentleman who
introduced it may have acted in good
faith, and, as he thought, for the best
interests of the State. The amendment,
at first sight, looks plausible, and may
meet with the appreciation Of those who
give it only superficial glance. Yet if
properly digested, it will be seen that
/ the giving of text books free of cost to
| the children of the common schools
throughout the State is a dangerous
experiment, calculated, should it be in
corporated in the Constitution, to in
v5lve the State in an enormous expense,
and the already overworked teachers in
unnecessary toll and labor.
| How much, let me ask, will it cost
the State to supply the school books
gratis to all the children attending the
public schools? Who can answer the
question? Who can solve this prob
lemY Is there any man in the State
OF the Legislature, now in session, an
swer it? / venture to say that of the
120 members composing that body there
is not one who can solve this problem.
Some indeed may say this question is
4 ,l,l-
solved. The statistics show the num-
Der Of children attending public schools
of this State and the books necessary
| for their use. They also show how
much it costs for material and labor in
the getting up of them. What, then, is
to prevent the State from ascertaining,
at glance, how much it will cost to
supply them gratis?
THE RESPONSIBILITY
| Your correspondent admits that the
State knows the number Of children at
tending the public schools. the number
of books necessary to supply them, and
| the cost Of material and labor, but
should she assume the responsibility of
| furnishing them free of cost? Can she
! tell how many of them will be neces-
sary in course of time to supply the
wants Of her school children? She
carrot. nor is there a man living who
can give her this Information. This is
mystery which time, and time only,
can unravel. When children get these
boclss free of cost they will surely abuse
| them, and as no one can tell the extent
to which this abuse may be carried, so
no one can tell what it will cost the
| State to furnish them gratis. At pres
enr children must apply to their pa
rents for money to purchase their school
books, and should they prove indiffer-
ent in their treatment of them or lose
them, they must apply again for money
to replace them. They know that in
applying to their parents second time
| for money for such a purpose they run
the risk of mourning their displeasure,
aid in many cases expose themselves
to corporal punishment This of Itself
makes them careful not to abuse or
lose them. Parents themselves having
to supply the necessary funds to their
children for the purchase of these
books exercise a certain salutary super
vision over them in the use of the
same, and in many cases, after some
OF the children have passed on to higher
grades they preserve these books for
! those who are coming after.
| Let the State, however, assume the
responsibility of furnishing these books
| free of cost to all the children of the
schools and what will be the result :?
! Will school children, knowing that they
can have these books gratis, be as care
full OF them as they now are? They
will not. And to expect this of them
would be the hight of folly. Will par
ents, not having to supply the funds
necessary for the purchase of them,
exercise the same supervision over their
children in their treatment of them
that they now exercise. They will not
1t is an old and true saying that what
we get without cost or labor is not ap-
preciated by us, and in the matter of
school books, should this become law
this saying will surely be verified.
Again, when children go from one
school district to another, or from one
county to another, will they go to the
trouble of packing up the books they
have from the last school in which they
studied, when they know that they can
get them gratis at the schools of the
district or county to which they re-
move? The question suggests its own
answer. Suppose the teacher of the
district, into which they have moved
should call for the books they had from
the last schools they attended, and they
| tell him that they left them in these
schools, how is he to find whether they
are telling the truth? Must he lake the
names and addresses of the teachers
under whom those children studied last
and write to them to know whether
such and such pupils had any books