The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-12-29
State Printer Has Something
to Say About School Books.
Denies That State Publication
Is Failure i'm California.
SAYS HE HAS FACTS.
Knows What Would Be Cost of
Making Books.
Denies Government Printing
Is More Expensive

To the Editor of the State Journal:
1 have read with considerable in
terest the article on the first page
of the State Journal of last evening.
purporting to be a statement on the
subject of state publication by
prominent educator who is in the city
| for the purpose of attending the State
/ Teachers association
1t occurs to me that on matter OF
! this Importance this prominent educa-
| tor" might have disclosed his name and
| address. that would have been the
| courageous and honorable thing for
| him to do when he is making an in
| sinuating attack upon either the judg-
ment or integrity of the state printer.
! for his quoted language assumes
either that 1 did not know what 1 was
! talking about when L made my report.
or that I had deliberately attempted
to deceive the people of Kansas in re-
gard to the cost of publishing school
books.
A careful reading of this article
convinces me that the prominent
educator" has gotten his information
second hand. 1t has been prepared
for him either by some book publish
ing house or by some person financial
ly interested in seeing that the state
does not engage in the publication of
its school books. He is not the only
prominent educator in the state
who has been supplied with this sort
of information. There are numbers
of prominent educators who have re-
ceived substantially the same in
formation prepared in Substan-
TALLY the same language and am ex-'
pecting them to come to the front
from time to time under various nom
de plumes. L am expecting at any
time to hear from my old friend PRO
bono publico," followed, perhaps by
a loot
and each one furnished by the prom
inent educator"
No one, may say, has been
kind enough to furnish me with the
purported estimate furnished by the
state printer of California in 1883.
Assuming that such an estimate was
made, / would, of course, be entirely
unable to say whether it was a correct
estimate or not without being per-
Initted to examine the books on which
the state printer of California made
such estimate. 1 will say this, how
ever, that there was no excuse for his
making any great mistake in estimat-
ing the cost of printing the school
books at that time. There is no
more doubt about tlre cost of publish
ing a book of a given size in a given
quantity than there is about the cost
of manufacturing a sewing machine.
Any publishing house can estimate
to within a very few cents what it
will cost in the way of labor and ma
it's shop.
How the state printer of California
made his estimate. do not know. nor
do 1 care l know how / made mine.
/ took up each book. / ascertained
the amount of material, paper. cloth.
binders board, ink, glue, paste, thread
and waste. / also estimated the cost
of composition. presswOrk folding,
binding, electrotyping and embossing.
These estimates were not made from
any guess work. They were made
from what / know the cost Of labor
is in this shop in it's every day busi-
ness. I did not take into consfdera-
tion even the reduced cost of labor
that would necessarily follow from
the Introduction of the latest and
most improved machinery in all of the
departments do know that the ac-
tual labor cost would be less than I
estimated.
prominent educator says that the
state printer of California wanted the
job of printing the books and got it. The
inference from this being, l suppose.
that L want the job of printing the
state school books. L have been once
elected to my present position by tho
legislature of the state of Kansas and
twice elected by the people of the state
of Kansas, for which favors 1 am deep
ly grateful. l desire to say however,
that 1 have no intention of being a can
didate for reelection, so that the
question of adoption of state publi-
cation or failure to adopt cannot af-
L
concludes to engage in the publication
of school books, it will throw a vast
additional burden of responsibility on
the shoulders OF the state printer ana
that probably without any Increase In
his salary. AS mere selfish propo-
sition should not be in favor of the
state engaging in the publication OF
school books but apprehend that the
source from which. this interview ema-
mated is utterly unable to conceive Of
a public official doing anything, except
from mercenary and selfish motives.
Now a little further in regard to the
California. method. The state of Cali
fornia has been publishing it's own
school books for nearly twenty-five
it is a confessed failure His state
ment does not tally with the statement
made by the superintendent of schools
of California who commends the sys-
tenn of state publication. Furthermore,
if it were a confessed failure, II seems
strange that the people of California
should not have amended their consti-
tuition. Why should they permit this
incubus as he calls it, to rest upon
them. when they have The LcPser to. get f
rid of it. The fact is that while the
peole of California are paying more for
their school books than they should do,
more than there is any practical neces-
sity in their paying. yet they are pay
ing less than they were paying under
the old system. They recognize that
fact and that is the reason why they
stick to the system of state publication
in spite of all the haudfcaps that have
been put upon them.
1 want to call your attention to some
of the elements of cost in the Cali
fornia books To begin with: They
add to what they call the cost-prics