The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-10-15
GOVERNOR TALKS ON SCHOOL BOOKS Says 33 1-3 Per Cent Has Been Saved by New Law HAS FIGURES TO PROVE New System Is a Success In All Prin- clpal Cities and Counties and
 Will Take Care of
 Itself.
HAS FIGURES TO PROVE

Montgomery, Ala, october 14-tspe- cial)-It seems that there Is more or less of a. sensation brewing in official circles of the state relative to the school book uniformity bill There has been much discussion of this measure since it's pas sage by the legislature, and various com plaints have been registered against the measure for first "this and then that req son.
 The fact is patent, however, that su- perintendent Hill has published an in- terview to the effect that the saving on text books amounted to only fourteen per cent. Governor Jelks is inclined to chal- lenge this statement, and in an interview today he shows that the average saving on text books is at least S3 per cent. Su- perintendent Hill was an avowed oppo- nent of uniformity, while Governor Jeiks urged the passage of the bill. Discussing the matter today the governor said;
 Governor Jelks Talks.
 "The critics of the new school law agree that the selection of text books has been most excellent and that no touch of scandal has come from the commissions awards. The books now being used in the schools of this state are great im- provement over the old books. If the text book law resulted in nothing more than these improved books it would have abundant justiication The selections were found good enough for all cltles where the higher priced and, presumably more expert teachers are employed. On- der the law, these cities could have peti- fo ha rsIi fro of the statute but they did not do so. Every city took the books-a handsome compliment to the commissions s selec- tions.
 'As to the saving to the patrons of the schools 1 have made some careful fg- ures and furnish them to a public which has not been correctly informed. The book publishers have what they call Hist price," No books have ever been sold from q counter in this state at less than list price. l have carefully figured the reduction to the patrons from this list price,. The more popular books used-that is to say the books used in the lower grades in the schools-bear the largest reduction, and those little used called for by the higher grades-bear the smallest reduction. In order to arrive at the saving from the operation of the law, one must first determine what mon ey relation each subject bears to the whole.
 Percentage of Books.
 School publishers agree that readers compose twenty-five per cent of the whole; arithmetics. twenty per cent; ge- ographies. fifteen per cent; grammars, eight; spoilers, eight; histories, five; copy books, two per cent of the whole. These seven subjects amount to eighty-three per cent. All other subjects will amount to not more than seventeen per cent. The reduction under the law from list price' of the eighty-three per cent above IS twenty-two per cent bound in cloth, the usual binding. The reduction from 'lsu price in all other subjects amounting to something over ten per cent, the aggre- gate net saving from list price In cloth, the usual binding being something above 20 per cent These figures are almost absolutely correct, and represent the sav- ing on the books when the usual binding is purchased
 "The commission, in order to have what is considered a fairer price put on the books, arranged for special bindings which allowed the publishers to make lower price to us and not disturb the sale price of their publications in other states. The reduction to the patrons in this state from list price in this special binding will amount to 33 per cent and the figures have been made carefully. It will be said the special binding, common