The age-herald., 1901-01-27

offered and therefore graded them upon subject matter binding, relative merit, etc., designating their preferences as l, z, 3, or by per cent, as 70, 75, 80, or 90. Thls work of the sub-commission required number of days and many hours when completed it's report was submitted to the text book commission without other recom- mendations than the grades given to the various books
 "The commission then had before 1t copies of all books offered in different bindings, and also the bids showing at what prices all the books in the various bindings would be furnished. The law provided that the adoption be made for term oi five years and guaranteed the publishers the exclusive use of the adopted series of books in the public schools of the state
 Very Liberal Prices.
 This of course obtained for us very lib- eral and reasonable reductions in prices. The commission was necessarily engaged quite a number of days in making the adoption, but we were able to complete the work by the last day of June 1899. Under the advertisement the commission received bids to furnish a part or all of our books from more than thirty responsible publish CTS, and every bid offered to furnish the books al price lower than that of books in former use. The commission awarded the contract to furnish the books in this adoption to no one publisher, as some pub fishers only offered books upon a portion of the subjects required to be taught, while others desired to furnish a complete series. In the June adoption contracts were award ed to nine publishers, and they were re- quired to execute bonds in sums varying from $5000 to $25000 for the faithful keep ing of these contracts.
 Tn pursuance of the law the commission contracted with the publishers for three general Repositories, one in each grand d. vision of the state, at which should be kept at all times sufficient quantities of books to supply the retail merchants in the respective grand divisions. The pub
 fishers also contracted to establish and maintain immediately not less than four retail agencies in each county, and as soon thereafter practicable placed the books on sale in each locality. The books were put in general use in the schools during the fall term of 1899.
 Under the law the publishers contracted to exchange new books for old ones at that time in use in the state, allowing the owner of the old book 50 per cent. of the price of the new book in exchange To illustrate: Cages Physics was adopted at 80 cents, and a student having an old book could ex- change 1t for new one by paying 40 cents, or one-half the price of the adopted book. Old books in various stages of dilapida ton were generously received by the publishers in exchange without any question.
 Some books already in use in the schools
 were adopted and that avoided the neces-
 sity of an exchange, but of course the
 large number of changes in all the schools
 in the state at one time was not without
 friction and inconvenience This was true
 during the first weeks of the fall term
 but since that time there has been no com-
 plaint
 'The commission adopted at this time
 books for use upon all subjects taught in
 our public schools except the history and
 geology of the state, a higher and mental
 arithmetic, no books being offered on these
 subjects that were satisfactory. The com
 mission advertised for other bids and sub-
 sequently adopted books upon these sub-
 1ects, which were written by citizens of the state. We contracted with the publish CTS for books to supply the entire public school demand for the term of five years
 and had the contract and exchange prices printed upon the back of each book, so that it could not be varied. Books were ex- changed for period of twelve months, ample time to enable all who desired to swap old for new books.
 Formerly No Uniformity.
 Prior to this adoption we had no kind of uniformity as to authors or editions upon any subject You would see in class of twenty in history eight or ten kinds of editions of books by various authors. In many counties all the geographies pub | lished would be in use in some of the schools and it was difficult for the teachers | to classify the pupils and impossible for them to pursuade all those in any given | l books. Many counties attempted county l adoption and some of them made progress | along this line but in that event, students moving from one county to another would l be required to buy new books. With the | change of residence, change of teachers or | change of school officials we had one un- 1 ending change of books in every locality, | and it was difficult for a man with four or | five children to buy books for an older boy which could later on be used by his brother, owing to the constant changes. This was true in every county and of all books. Under the state adoption we have uni l formity on all subjects, the same books are bought and used in all public schools and the teacher in any locality uses the l same text as in another, and an arithmetic | bought for one boy is good for another for | five years in any county of the state. It 1 Is impossible to give accurate informa ton | as to the exact saving under the law The average reduction in prices made by the | commission is more than 32 per cent and | as we have a total enrolment of more l than 5OO,00O school children we certainly save many thousands of dollars annually under this law. It is working nicely every | where, and while many complaints of in | conveniences came to me during the first weeks of the exchange period, I now find no dissatisfaction In any section. The | books adopted were equal in merit, sub | ject matter and binding to those in former | use and in many cases were superior. All books adopted were new and recent edi- | tons and have met the approval of the | teaching profession I think the law has succeeded in Tennessee in guaranteeing uniformity, cheapening of prices of books one-third, and that no change will be made | in 1t by the present legislature