Waterbury Democrat., 1901-08-30
PUBLIC SCHOOL HISTORIES.

PUBLIC SCHOOL HlSIORlES.
 During the late winter and early spring says an exchange, controver- sy concerning the accuracy of certain histories used ill the public schools of Washington attracted attention. and some outline of the facts were given in the Freeman columns.s The histories assailed were those of Barnes, Mont gomery and Ridpath. Gen Charles A. Boynton-one of the leaders of jour- nalism, the superintendent of the local associated press and q gentleman with an honorable record as soldier-was most prominent in the fight. Aside and apart from the peculiar fact that Gen Boynton had found time during his laborious and busy life to fit him. self as historical critic, curious se- quel to the war against these histories has come to light.
 Dr Joel Dorman Steele was the au- thor of Barnes history. His widow, Mrs Esther B. Steele of Elmira, N. Y., took considerable interest to repudiate the attacks or to correct any errors which had uni1tentionaIly deformed the work of her husband. She opened a correspondence with Gen Boynton. and took pains to see him in person. upon inquiry it developed that the CT TOTS alleged to be published in Barnes History of the United States were certain statisticaI information con- corning the battles Of the Civil war. Mrs Steele went carefully over the ground. eliminating the infnaterial al- legations, and finally brought the mat ter to an issue. She explained that the statistical statements could be easily corrected if access were given to the data which Gen Boyntons claimed disproyed or nullified certain state ments. She was informed that all the material errors. could be corrected by a certain Col Kellogg.
 Gen Boynton then pointed out the portion of the yWork to be revised, which amounted to about fifty pages, and the revision was to consist of the correction of this statistical data. Mrs Steele communicated with Col Kellogg. and was informed that he could under take to correct this portion of the work for compensation of eighteen hun dred dollars, or a price of about S36 per page. Certainly this was good pay for literary work. and the modest col onel seemed to think that he was very lenient in his charges. Mrs Steele re- monstrated with him, and also with Gen Boynton. It was pointed out that the compensation demanded would be exorbitant if the fifty pages in centro- versy were to be rewritten anew in~ cfnQ6 nf hninn Ivy tain correction made. Mrs Steele called attention to the fact that very noted astronomer had just finished re- yising an astronomical text book of the late Dr Steele. that he had gone through the whole book and brought all the text up to and in conformity with the latest scientific discoveries. For all this work he had charged only $2OO. But Gen Boynton and Col Kellogg were obdurate
 After Mrs Steele peremptorily re- fused the proposition and the Barnes absurdity, Colonel Kellogg reduced his demand to $500 for the work The Barnes company refused to pay this, stating that they thought the reputa- tion of their text books could stand even the criticism of Gen Boynton and VI AASAAO5e3, anu tlAttt it wa fCly Ifu- material in a primary school whether hundred or so men more or less on a side were engaged in battle or not.
 Mrs Steele, however, is very sensitive as to her husbands reputation, and paid the money-$ $500- demanded for the revision and correction of the work by Col Kellogg.
 Now the question arises, Who is Col Kellogg andwhat has he done in history to warrant such an exhorbi- tant price for his work? Of course, he
 may have access to the papers and
 reports from which the war records were compiled, but the natural infer
 ence is that any information in his I possession was acquired as a public | servant, and 1t was never intended 1 that it should be used as q club to 1 intimidate publishers whose books 1 given to the public before these docu- ments were collated; and, again, if Col Kellogg were selling his informa- tion in the open market, would he ever receive such compensation for similar work?
 The fact of the matter is that I 'Barnes's History of the United States" Ridpath's and Montgomery s, are fair and courteous in their treat ment of certain questions. The part played by Catholics in the latter part l of the fifteenth and the first half of
 the sixteenth centuries is ungrateful
 to minds fanatic, in the idea that
 Rome is the impersonation of the 1 Scarlet Woman. It is not out Of place to remind Catholics that they will always be subject to such criti- 1 cism and onslaught until they assume I q proper place in the body polite, and
 make 1t dangerous for such eranks to play their tricks