The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1902-03-04

eu, ana tDat JnlS measure receive
your immediate and favorable con
sideration. Your generous con-
stituencies are confidently relying
upon such redemption of the
pledge SO explicitly made by party
platforms and upon the stump.
They are entitled to it, and / be-
lieve that all such promises should
,be fulfilled to the letter,
In my regular message to you at
the beginning of this session, /
said upon this subject: "The
question of uniform >system of
text books has been much agitated
for several years and / hope you
will take some action on the sub
ject. The prices of school books
in the State are notoriously high,
and it would be great benefit to
the people to pass law that would
result in cheapening them without
at the same time making any sac
rifice in quality or in the text. l
believe such law should be pass
ed.
j say now, there is no question
but that such law can be passed,
one that will give to every parent
in the state the opportunity of buy
ing school books for his children
at greatly reduced prices without
at the same time making any sac
rifice in the quality or in the text,
and | am ready and anxious to aid
you, by executive approval, in pla-
cling such law upon the statute
book. 1t is just, it is wise and the
arguments for it can not be sue
cessfully answered. The poor man
with half a dozen children to edu-
cate can not afford to employ a
powerful lobby to advocate his
cause in this matter, but in your
hands, | am sure that his interests
will be watched, and that the plea
of those who seek to exact from
him exorbitant prices for all the
books he buys, shall not prevail.
1t is a question of substantial re-
lief to every poor childin the state.
1t means the priceless privilege of
education to many whoare now de-
MED that privilege by poverty, by
their inability to pay the present
eXtortionate rates charged for
school books.
Such an opportunity (and it can
not come again for two years. to
send a ray of light to darkened
home, to lift the veil of ignorance
from the faces of many hopeless
children, to give to the whole peo-
pie measure of undeniable relief,
and to show them that a platform
promise is not an idle delusion,
such an opportunity, l say, is in
your hands, and no cavil or delay,
shouldcause you to lose it. is this
law an experiment. No. Look
TO the states where it has been
tried, and see whether or not they
are dissatisfied. Such a law was
passed in Tennessee four years ago.
Inquire of the people there if they
wish to give it up and if it has not
been most satisfactory in its re-
suits. The Governor of that state
in his last message to the General
Assembly, after the law had been
in operation nearly three years,
strongly commended it, and said
"The last Legislature passed an
act for a uniform system of text
books to be used in our public
schools. 1t authorized the APP
pointment of a subcommittee to
examine text books for adoption,
and commission to compare the
books offered, the prices proposed,
and adopt the books to be used for
five years
"After many weeks of work the
adoptions have been made. 1t is
safe to say that Tennessee never
had better system of text books
nor books so cheap.
ga careful computation shows
that the saving in first cost, under
this law is 333 per cent, or one
Al:-l oslo. x-1.<1- l,.Ie