The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-03-27
THE S HAC kELFORD BILL
VETOED. s53i

THE S HiAgC kELFORD BILL
VETOED.
In yesterdays paper we printed q com JON
t1unicntion from Senator shaokelforo, OF
Orange, In reply to our criticism OF SEN 'eFi-
nte bill $40. OF which no Is the patron on
Tho Bill provides that mo division su-
ncrintendent Of schools shall be seieot-
ed and associated as q member OF the
State Board OF Education who 10 the
author or editor OF any text book or text
books now Ia use. or which belong 70 q
class which may hereafter be eligible
for selection for use in the schools OF
the Stnte, or who IL Interested IN the
publication or sale of such text BOOK BOOK
or text books, or who Is interested IN me !''
invention. manufacture or sole OF schoooi
appliances for such use. or who is IN
any way Interested In such text books Dol
or school appliances"
Our information was that this bill was
adversely reported by the House Com
mittee, and that It was taken out OF the
hands OF the committee OF the Senate
and passed. Mr.. shnckcford says that
while the House Committee did report
the bill adversely. only five members were
present when It was considered; three
being against It. and two In favor Of IT.
He further states that the bill was taken
out Of the hands OF the Senate COM
mittee because as the chairman was sick
no meeting Of the committee had been
held for some time therefore after speak
ing to the members of the committee and
showing them the bill, he gained their
consent to have the committee dis
charged. 5sl
It appears from tfhs that our informa-
ton was correct, although the aualiflca-
lions stated by Senator shackelford make
a difference. or course. we had no dis
position to 5mis)end. and we are very
glad to make this explanation.
However, that does not touch the main
point. Wc did not say that this bill
was absurd, we said that II appeared to
us to be absurd, and It still appears 50
in spite Of the explanation which Sen
ator shackelford had made. His con-
tentlon Is that no man should be select
ed to choose text books who As pecuni-
arily Interested In the same. "or who
has that prejudice which must lean to-
ward the work or his own mind" That
may be good rule, but the trouble is
that In this case 1t does not apply to the
three members OF the board created by
tho Constitution, and does not apply to
the three members Of the board elected
by the Senate, but only to the two d.
vision school superlntendents to be se-
lected by the board, and even In that
case, II seems to gus that the restrictions
arc entirely too severe, First Of all, the
selection Of school books Is only g part
Of the duties Of member OF the State
Board Of Education. and we do not be-
lleve that 1t is good policy to exclude q
man who is thoroughly competent to serve
and entirely worthy and honorable simply
because he is author Of some text book
which may possibly be selected as aftext
book. "a
n. We cannot see any occasion, certainly
at this time, for any such restriction.
We feel that tho rule would do far&more
harm than good, There are very few
superintendent, who arc authors. or In
ventors OF school appliances. We do not
believe that any OF these. II he was q
member Of tho State Board OF; Educa-
ton, would use his position to have any
OF his own books or appliances adopted.
There is among the friends of popular ed
ucatIon in Virginia a general desire, 80
far as we can ascertain. that superintend-
cnt q. c. Glass, OF Lynchburg. be elected
a member OF the Board OF Education Yet
under this law Mr.. Glass would be ex-
cluded. simply because he is author Of 9
spelling book. which he has sold to a
publisher and In. which he has no pc
cuniary interest.
we repeat that q law which excludes
such desirable man from membership
| for the r,.son stated, seems to us to be
| absurd. H
Tho Governor has vetoed the BILL anG
we hope that the veto will DO sustained
We can see no good end to be aerved by
such n law. and we think that It won(
be hurtful to the cause Of popular edu.
cation.
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