The San Francisco call., 1903-01-25

TANFORD UNIVERSITY. Jan. "a.
President Jordan, when inter
viewed this afternoon in regard to
- the question Of free textbooks for
public school children, which IS
the aim Of the bill recently introduced in
the State Senate by Senator Emmons of
Kern County. said that there was con-
siderable to be said on both sides of the
question ard that in certain conditions
such legislation would be a valuable aid
TO education
However" continued DR.. Jordan, II
sec no reason for favoring it in California
at the present time, with the present
grade of textbooks and the present meth
DDS OF producing them. A movement in
the direction of better teachers, better
paid and better selected, would be consid-
erably more important. There is some
danger, at present, of the State doing so
much that men and children will come
70 look upon il not as a means Of acting
together. but as a dispenser Of aims"
President Jordan declined to discuss the
matter further except to say that he con-
sidered the passage of such a bill as that
Introduced by Senator Emmons to be ex-
tremely inadvisable at the present time
O o
questionably Of Importance that children
should be taught to respect the book they
use, TO feel an attachment for it.
Il am one Of those who believe most Wig
crously in the public school system and
I would have no possible barrier or excuse
raised to keep the children of the poorest
homes from enjoying all the benefits Of
the public schools. But far more i'm
portant than any question OF free text
books. to-day, is the question of good
textbooks AS a whole the State text
books Of California are antiQuated and
unworthy of the fine equipment in teach
ing force and school buildings which the
public school system of the State pos
sesses. Something must be done without
further delay. There has been too much
haggling. too much petty legality, too
much consideration of this interest or that
interest and too little consideration of the
supreme interest Of our children in the
schools.
Il presume there is no risk in saying
that we have the poorest set of textbooks
IN the country, and all because of an un-
fortunate law conceived in what was at
that time undoubtedly a righteous dis
trust of the book firms and indignation at
the methods these firms had used in
forcing their textbooks into use.
IF the State Board of Education were
given full power to purchase plates of
books these could be printed at the State
printing Office and unless the cost of
printing them exceeded double the cost of
printing on private presses, the cost of
textbooks could be brought well within
the established publishers prices. / think
in this way we might soon acquire as
good a system Of textbooks any State
has.
''The Legislature ought to have conf
dence enough in the State Board Of Ed
ucation to give 1t unrestricted power to
proceed in wiping out the old books and
the vicious and impossible methods which
produced them and supplant them with
good books.
There is no question before the State
Legislature more important to the veal
Of the State than that Of good textbooks.
I hope the action Of the Legislature will
be outright and thoroughgoing. Until we
get good textbooks / am not much in
favor Of talking free textbooks"