Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-06-25

70 trc Editor s.
MA significant testimonial to supt
,.hlons loyalty that after having OPP
,osed The policy If the state textbook
..nvsntion in many Of It's important
uohres. he should permit himself TO
.ooear as its public defender. Mr. Ash
,nn ,s public spirited and high-mind-
"A official. Nobody has questioned mis-
natives or criticised his judgment He
,oosat long and tenaciously to Keep
re convention from perpetrating some
If rs blunders After there had been
carried through a pre-arrangcd slate
m Biographies, gramniars and arith-
u.tics. Mr. Ashton was one OF the
rsmbers who threw themselves Into
~. breach and smashed the allied for
nation by adopting series Of readers
fpblIshed by an independent house.
The Iamentable part of the whole af'
mh Is that the public has no authentic
means of knowing who acted with him.
The ballot was secret, and In a sense
me procee lings too, were secret
In like unenviable position are
,iaced such able and straigh
members as Prest Stewart Of the State
Normal school, Supt. Brown Of Titan
cmnty. and many others. They kept
rlaar OF changing alliances aud al
WAYS stood up for their own Judgment,
The list could be but is not extended
"a include others, who finally rallied
,be dlsorgsnlzed forces Of the opposi-
lion and brought the convention TO its
senses. Intelligent observers estimate
the number Of these at lS as on sew
,ra test occasions the maximum
strength OF the combination was IL
ont OF q votes. Many of the mem
hers are coming up for reelection.
Their constituents have O right TO ask
why all the books were changed and
bow their representatives. voted. When
that time comes, we shall find the par
.ies who we're really responsible for
these features Of the convention hiding
behind the secret ballot, while Mr.. Ash
Ton. who allows himself TO be made
their defender, will have TO share the
odium.
In my previous article showed that
chen changes are made gradually,
towns furnishing free textbooks can
cave money by making changes. The
unanswerable proof OF this is that in
localities where the free book system
has been long In vogue, companies are
seriously considering the discarding Of
exchange prices altogether, for the
sufficient reason that as fast as the old
books wear out, boards of education
will change TO another book Of about
equal merits In order to take advantage
Of the allowance made for old books.
Our friends persist In misunder-
ttandng how series OF Biographies
bound into five books and costing s215
can be cheaper for the city OF salt
lake than a series bound in two vol
umes and costing only sl,4s. Mr. Ash
ION asks Would the doctor admin
ster one Kind OF pill to the city child
and another for the country child ?"
The best kind of pills TO administer TO
qulbbler (be he rural or urban) is a
mathematical pill. Here Is a problem
N arithmetic: Suppose city TO have
tQ children In each OF the fourth, NTH
sixth seventh and eighth grades, max
ing IN all $500 children, Suppose the
CITY TO furnish free books Every
enid must have one book TO study from
and only one The Tarr- McMurry SER
PES Is divided into Ave parts costing as
follows according TO Supt. Nelson. Book
], &c. book 2. 34c; book 3 SIC: book &,
Sc' book >, &c; on this basis II would
COST to supply this city with the Tarr-
aeCurry books Just ,l,0i5 1t would
hke exactly as many OF the Natural
Biographies bound In two books for
.hls same city, for each child must
nave book TO study from. The
Email Natural costing 4sc would be
used In the fourth and fifth grades.
The large Natural costing 81 would be
used In the sixth. seventh and eigh h
grades: To supply this same city with
tlWo-book course Of the Natural geo.
raphy would cost $3.50. or nearly
twice as much. Where free text books
he furnished, each child does not 20
on accumulatlng books until ne has a
complete set. but he moves from grade
70 grade leaving the books whore h9
found them. In the country, where
thlldren buy their own books. each
tnlld would go on buylnk new geo
Eaphy every year until he had accu-
INFLATED all the Tarr- McMurry books
Total cost OF S2i5, but not so In
.he city. Mr. Ashton's article alludes
70 THIS as follows "Why did not the
gentleman meet the issue of geogra-
pines fairly? Why does he not quote
Erleesy' Has the issue been met fair
" gentlemen? Have failed to quote
prices2
IN Mr Ashton's concluding sentence
ne says III Or. Wilcox wishes 10
emulate the matter fairly. that gentle
nan should take each OF the alleged
textbooks misplaced and show
snere mistakes and gross extrava-
an.e nave occurred" Il do not know
snelhsr the word misplaced" Is ".
IohIdpnlral error mn t.At L.. A.. A.. -.