The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-14

life and strongly advised him to take
a wife" "All right" said Lamb "who use
wife shall I take?" Whose books VIII
Kansas take? No books can be manu-
| featured until some are owned or coz
| trolled. All books that are worth print
| ing are copyrighted. The United States
grants to the author and his assignee
the sole right to print his book during
! Is years. Those now in existence can
not lawfully be taken. California sent
out invitations 10 the teachers of the
state to make books and authorized the
board to accept free gifts of manu-
| being revised, were prin.c1. The law
obliged the people to use them and they
were found to be worthless. This is
what the secretary of the state board
said about them. 1t is printed in the re-
port of the state superintendent of pub
lie instruction for 1906.
so far the texts had been compiled
by California writer's who, as authors
tiers employed for the work were doubt
less well qualified persons, since the
statute directed they should be so, but
evidently their high qualifications ex-
tended in other directions than in the
writing of text books adapted to Cali
fornia schools. The finished products of
their skill were not of the first order
of excellence, which standard the state
had established for its school books in
the act providing for their preparation.
Teachers demanded text books in keep
ing with the states progressive school
system. They found their work in the
class rooms hampered because of the
inferior texts they were compelled by
law to use. The effects of this condi-
ton in the schools, serious as they were,
would doubtless have been even more
disastrous had it not been for saving
provision in the law permitting the use
of other books to supplement the state
texts. Boards of education had authori-
ty to adopt lists of books for supple
mentary purposes. The names of the
best elementary text books published in
the United States soon appeared in
school manuals, associated with the pre- |
scribed state publications. 1t was per-
MISSILE under the law to purchase sup |
Elemental books with certain funds of
district or city. When purchased they |
belonged to the school library, to be |
used for class room purposes. Pupils |
were required to buy only the state I
book in any study, as the supplement |
tary books, enough for class use, were |
furnished at expense of a district. In !
measure this method of purchase meant /
free text books, since the supplement |
tary books furnished schools often out
numbered the state books owned by the
pupils.
THE use of supplemental books be- |
came general-because the fashion of
the schools. Enterprising agents of
eastern publishers gave the movement
additional stimulus until it grew to i
huge proportions. The library shelves
of many elementary schools bent un-
der the weight of supplementary text
books bearing the imprint of eastern |
publishers. The outlay for this being
a heavy burden on the taxpayers,
public investigations were made. /
School patrons who in their youth had
been taught a course based wholly
upon an elementary spelling book by
one Dr.. Noah Webster. could not un-
derstand or appreciate the necessity
for six or more readers, histories, etc, /
for every pupil in the grades, in adj
books, However, no restrictions were
placed on the practice, and the fash 1
ion increased in the schools. The ar
ray of supplemental books prescribed
the teaching of the regular texts was
startling and confusing. Bewildered |
pupils were unable to tell what stud
les they were pursuing, so indefinite
were their efforts when scattered
through a multitude of books. What |
at first was intended a proper
means to overcome the deficiencies of /
the state texts became. through excess
Sive use. itself an obstacle to progress
in the schools. Furthermore, 1t was
officially asserted that the law relat-
ing to use of school text books was be-
ing generally evaded, and in some in
stances openly violated
Mr. McNeal states that the state
superintendent of public instruction
"commends the system of state pub
ication." but he does not name the
used, or state where 1t is printed. Two
eminent superintendent have ex-
pressed opinions of the system. Hon. |
Ire G. Hoyt after four years spent in
the faithful endeavor to make the
system work, wrote on December 26,
1890:
''In the light of our experience af-
ter four years of trial, 1 am therefore
compelled. with personal reluctance,
to acknowledge to the comparative
want of success in our California ex-
pertinent in making and publishing
schoolbooks. Taking into considera-
ton the large appropriations made,
and the further and constant OUTLAWS
for reviSions, new plates, etc, the
same number of books can be pur-
chased in the open market at whole
sale prices for less than 1t costs the
state to manufacture them am
therefore constrained to admit that I
enter upon the publication of school
books
The next superintendent was Hon.
]. w. Anderson, and he wrote a let
ter to a legislator in another state.
who wished information regarding the
success of state publication:
whilst, as a state officer. it is my |
duty to see the law fully and faithful
ly carried out-the best way to make
an Objectionable law odiGus-honesty
demands, that in view of the vast ap-
preparations required. the interest on
the appropriations. the wear and tear
of the plant, the inferiority of the
better books could be bought for, I
should advise any state against en-
terine upon an experiment of this ma
ture"
The state printer of California in his
report for 1906 makes a showing of a
vtr,-~ . A q T. A