The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-21
SCHOOL BOARD OPENS
BIDS FOR TEXT BOOKS
Offers VIII Not Be Made Public
by Committee Until Tab.
ulated.

Bids for text book and school sup
plies to be used in the St. Paul public
schools were opened by the committee
on text books of the board of school in
spectors yesterday, and after the sec
rotary had been instructed to tabulate
the offers, it was decided not to per-
NIT the publication of the bids until
the tabulation has been completed.
After secret session of some min
utes it was decided by the members of.
the committee that the bids would be
opened in public, this being urged by
President Holman, who argued that the
business in hand should be transacted
publicly.
All that was done in the presence of
the newspaper representative and in
tereSted parties was to break the Seals
on the bids, note the names of 1.-THE
bidders and without reading the offers
refer them to the secretary.
1t was decided to hold another meet
ing of the committee Tuesday, May
81, at $3.50 p. m. at which time the
agents of the companies and St. Paul
people interested in the public schools
will be given a public hearing before
the committee. 1t was agreed that it
will be impossible to get ready to re-
port at the regular June meeting of the
board, which occurs on the first
Wednesday,
At the conclusion of the session T h e
G b requested permission to copy
the bids. and this was refused by a
vote of to l., President Holman voting
In favor of publicity. He said:
Bids Are Public Records.
he
such are subject to inspection. L cam
not conceive how it is possible to re-
fuse permission to make copies of
them"
Il do not feel that it would be right
to make the bids public before they
have been officially read. They are
not public property until the board has
considered them" said DR.. Fry, chair
man of the committee.
1T would not be proper to give out
the bids at this time" said Inspector
Egan.
Il would advise against making them
public before they are tabulated," con-
Cured Inspector Fisher.
But they are public records and are
subject to inspection" insisted Presf-
dent Holman.
posed to giving out the bids and I will
rule that it be not DONE" concluded Dr..
Fry. T-.FII
The course is perfectly proper, in
my judgment" said Supt Smith.
L do not believe in secret sessions
and would like to see them abolished"
persisted President Holman, ''and while
L concede that the other members of
the committee are entitled to their
opinion, I want it distinctly understood
that | favor making the bids public at.
this time"
Not Many Changes Expected.
The bids presented are for prac-
tically all the books and supplies used
IN the public schools. which are pur-
chased by the pupils. 1t is not expected
that there will be a great many
changes, as each change represents a
large expense. The books discarded
are practically valueless. The supplies
Did on are such as drawing materials.
pencils, paper, ETC., the board adopting
the articles that are selected
The principal bidders asking to- fur,
nish books are the American Book
Heath & Co, Henry Holt & Co. and
d. Appleton & Co., besides whom the
following firms in the list offer to fur
nIsh more or less of the articles de-
sired: Thomas Brown & Co, Silver
Burdett company, Maynard, Merrill &
Co., educational Publishing COMPANY
Prang Educational company, Scott,
Foresman & Co., Newsom & Co.,
Charles Scribner Sons, CHM & Co,
Longman, Green & Co, Allyn & Bacon.
Houghton, Miff1in & Co, Brown, Treacy
& Sperry, Hoosier Printing company,
K. M. Smith Composing Book company.
B. H. Sanborn & Co., Practical Text
Book company. Globe School Book
company, Wright, Barrett & StiIweil
company. c. Burchard & Co., E. s.
Ferry, J: M. Stadling & Co., St. Paul
Book and Stationery company, w. H.
Wheeler & Co.. Eaton & Co. and Uni
versity Publishing company
number of the bidders are sup
posed to make offers only on supplies.
but the refusal of the majority of the
members of the committee to give pub
licity to the bids makes it impossible to
give more than a general idea of the
offers. Unless the local houses are
agents for some of the large publishing
concerns, they would not be in a posi-
ton to bid on text books, and several
of the bidders have only one or two
books to offer.