The Grenada sentinel., 1909-11-12
Text Books Again.
(Bv Prof. r. II. Hester)


THE successful bidder or contract
or shall establish and maintain one ar
more repositories in this state, To be
designated by the commission, where
a stock or supply of the books Suf.
ticienU to meet all the Immediate de
mands shall be kept. There shall also
be maintained ia each county in this
state two or more agencies for the dis
tribut!Un of the books Contracted for.
anc tsat they shall sell to all persons
desiring to purchase said books, to
the patrons of p lblic schools, and the
contractor may make arrangements
with book seller or merchant to
handle and distribute the books at
the places specified for said diStribu
ton, provided that one OF the diStIi. /
buting points shall be the county site
or sites, where there are two, Of The
ctTntv.
All books shall be sold to the Coz.
sumner at the retail contract price.
Annotated 1906. sec. 1896.
1t is expressly provided that should
any contractor fail to furnish the
books sufficient to meet the demand
and at the prices deignated, or other
wise comply with the contract, in adj
dition to the right Of the state to sue
on the bond as heretofore required,
the codnty superintendent of educa
tiOn IN any county OF the state where
such breach Of contract may be made.
may bring suit for damages i'm The
name of the state Of Mississippi in the
proper court Of the county wherein
he resides, for the use aud benent al
the school fund nf the county, and in
all cases arising hereunder service OF
places may be had and deemed Snf-
ficient on any agent OF the contractor
in the state. Sec. 1907.
Said commission may make any
necessary regulations u secure the
prompt distribution Of buuaS.-Sec.
460S
If any local agent. clerk, dealer. or
other person handling or selling the
books adopted under The provisions Of
this law shall demand or receive in
cash more than the contract price for
any of the books herein prOveded for,
he shall be guilty ola miSGemeaDOr,
and, upon conviction. shall. for each
OfftnSe. be punished by a fine Of not
less than fifty dollars nor more than
five hundred dOilars-Sec. 46i2.
From the above IL will be seen that
the law providing for tn distribution
of Schon books is ull and explicit. If
it has net been enforced 1T is because
OF the egligence Of our officials.
Now as to charges IN the present a.
dUptiun / there is, among The entire
series single book which shall have
proved itself i'll adapte" or unsuted TO
our school needs thai bpOk should be
eliminated by our next commission.
Ii had been taking one kind or chill
tonic for five years and still had the
chillS wUul t.. thr,W away the old bot
ties with their dregs and remnants
and try new tonic
in selecting text books for our
schools it should be remembered that
most Of the children attend ungraded
country schools Our present COM
mission is composed chiefly OF GraGed
>clnUi principals and uperintendentS
selected d three. book practical arith-
metic. copyrighted only the year be-
fore, and intended, as the authors
state specifically in their preface. for
graded schools.
If the time she Culd be given to these
books in country schools with six
month terms, which the authors ex-
pect to be given in graoed schools, af-
ter a boy had studied arithmetic six
years his first lesson the seventh year
would have the tenth question as fol.
lowS:- How many different figures
are used in expressing numbers by the
system we use? Much space is devoted
to the discovery of principles which
are never stated and the developement
of rules which are never given. AL
though the authors assure you that
they have steere6 clear OF the "deca.
dent spiral system, yet they jumble
the various processes and applications
together in such rapid succession and
with SO little system as to produce an
arithmeaical crazy-quilt.,
The arithmetic being used in Miss |
issippi is not adapted to ungraded
schools, nor is it the book that will
give best results in the hands of lady |
teachers Most of the children are in
country school under the instruction
Of lady teachers. For the sake Of the
children the book should be changed.