The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-05-31
THE SCHOOL BOOK QUESTION.


made, publicly and privately, upon the
| American Book Company since the Sub
| Text Book Commission and the State
| Textbook Commission of North Carolina
| began the work of selecting and adopt
| ing text books for the public schools of
| the State have all been inspired by GER
tain of the company's competitors in bus
mess; but there are doubtless many who
do not know the facts. For their bene-
| fit and in order that the truth may be
known to everybody, public attention is
invited to the following:
The American Book Company seeks to
have the North Carolina State Textbook
| Commission adopt its books on their mer-
| it's. 1t is fact beyond reasonable dis
| pute that the text books of this company
are the best in the market; and con-
| sidering that in these books are combined
all the essentials that go to make strictly
| first class publications for school use,
they are the cheapest. Nobody knows bet
ter than the instigators of the attacks
upon the American Book Company that
| these claims are true. They fear the re-
| suit of comparison of their own books
with those of the American Book Com
| pany; and therefore, they depart from
1
/ lousy attempt by a seemingly never
/ ending stream of cunningly devised mis-
| representations to excite unwarranted
| prejudice against the American Book
| Company. 1t is an attempt to turn the
issue from books and their merits to the
| publishers and their possible personal af-
/ fairs. To all impartial minds, the course
| of the American Book Company in this
matter must appear in favorable contrast
with the course of the competitors re-
| ferred to.
in the various attacks on the Ameri-
can Book Company, every one of them
| inspired by business competitors, and all
of those appearing in the newspapers paid
for as advertisements, it has been repeat
eddy insinuated that the company is a
| "trust"-let it be remembered, by the
way, that this effort to injure the Amer
| lean Book Company is always an insin-
| uation never a direct charge. The fact
| is, there is no such thing as textbook
| trust. The American Book Company is
| simply one of the one hundred and sew
enty-six text book publishing companies
in business in the United States Among
| the more prominent of these companies
| are the following:
| Allyn & Bacon, Boston; American Book
| Company, New York; Appleton & Com
| pany, New York; Benziger Bros, New
| York; C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse, New
| York; Butler, Sheldon & Co.. Philadel-
! phia; ]. w. Burke G. Co., Macon Ca. ;;
| Columbia Book Company, Philadelphia;
| Crane & Co., Topeka, Kansas; Cushing q
| Co., Baltimore; Dulany & Co., Baltimore;
| Eaton & Mains, New York; Educational
| Publishing House, Boston, Ellsworth &
| Co., New York; Eldredge G. Bro, Philadel-
| phia; Funk & Wagnalls' Co., New York;
| CHM & Co., Boston; Globe School book
| Company New York; Hunter & Welburn,
| Nashville, Tenn; Heath & Co., Boston,
Houghton. Miffin & Co., Boston, Holt &
| Co., New York w. r. Jenkins New York;
| The B. F. Johnson Company
| Richmond; kellogg & Co., New York;
| Krone Bros, New York; Lee & Shepard,
| Boston, Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia;
| Longmans, Greene & Co., New York; Lit
! tie, Brown & Co., Boston; Lowell & Co.,
| New York; Macmillan & Co, New York;
| Morton G. Co., Louisville, Ky; Myers g.
| Co.. Harrisburg, Pa. Morse & Co., New
| York; Mutual Book Company, New York;
| Potter & Putnam Co., New York Poly
| glot Book Company, Chicago; Prang Ed
ucational Co., Boston; Public School
| Publishing Co, Bloomington, ILL.,; Put
MANS Sons, New York; Practical Text
| Book Co.. Cleveland, Ohio; Rand, Nc
NalIy & Co., Chicago; Raub & Co, Phil
| adelphia Richardson, Smith & Co., New
| York; Sanborn & Co., Boston, Scribner's
| Sons, New York; w. H. Sadlier, New
York; ShewelI & Co., Boston; Silver, Bur-
| dett & Co., Boston; Schwartz, Kirwin &c
Fauss New York; Sadler, Rowne & Co.,
Baltimore; Sewer & Co., Philadelphia;
| Scott, Foresman & Co.. Chicago; Stand
| ard School-book Company, st. Louis; Sib-
| ley & Quicker, Boston; Thompson, Brown
| & Co, Boston, University Publishing CO.,
| New York; Whitaker & Ray Co., San
| Francisco Wheeler & Co., Chicago; Wood
| & Co. New York; Western Publishing
House, Chicago; Werner Schoobook Co.,
| Chicago; Woodward G. Tiernan, st. Louis;
and of these more than twenty now have
bids under consideration by the North
| Carolina State Text Book Commission.
In view of the foregoing facts, it is
not only absolutely untrue that the Amer
| lean Book Company is a monopoly or a
trust" but it is nothing less than dis
graceful that any of its competitors
should insinuate that it is; and the in
| situation is confession that these COM
| peIllOFS CduuOl nope W S6ll lHSll bOuhS
in competition with the American Book
Company based upon the merits of the
books alone.
The attempt to show that the American
Book Company has the animosity Of the
Governor of Louisiana though adroit, is
| merely another Misrepresentation. The
American Book Company has no contro-
versy of any sort with the Governor of
| Louisiana; he has made no attack on the
company: and neither he nor the COM
pany is in any way responsible for the
paid reprints in North Carolina papers of
articles and editorials in the Louisiana
press.
We do not believe that the unworthy
methods adopted by certain of the Amer
lean Book Company's competitors in North
Carolina will work injury to the company
| The purpose of these methods is too
thinly disguised to deceive anybody; and
we are confident that both methods and
instigators will have the unqualified con-
| domination Of all who practice decency in
business and of all who desire the real
| interests of the schools and school chill
dren in North Carolina to be properly
| conserved
]. w. THACKSTON,
A. l. BRANHAM,