The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-16

commission. Then we have in the
state twenty-five county high schools,
at the heads of which are some of the
leading school men of Kansas, and yet
none of these were honored by being
named on this commission. Finally
we have three great normal schools,
all of which are in close touch with
the active public school life of the
state, and not a single member of the
commission is a member of the facul-
ty of any of these three schools.
The present commission as appoint
ed by Governor Stubbs is not then
made up of representative school men.
Instead the governor. in his superior
wisdom, has appointed a Catholic
priest. a Protestant minister, the
president of a denominational college,
two lawyers, a lumberman-s senator,
and a university professor. These
men may be good men and true. as
they doubtless are, but it does not
necessarily follow that they are the
ones best fitted to choose the school
books for the Kansas teachers and
pupils. The ones best qualified to
choose the text books of the public
schools are the ones who use them,
and understand the needs of the
schools, namely, the teachers them
selves. On such commission as this,
a majority should be made up from
active and leading school men who
such as the county superintendents,
who have the best interests of the
country schools at heart, and who
know the needs of the district schools
from the ground up. the city superin
tendents who daily face the problems
that come only in city school system,
and the high school principals who
know of the needs and problems of
should be allowed to choose his tools.
Surely no farmer would like to have
a committee of bankers say what
make Of pillow he must use.t Surely
n r1UGiRfa0
medical reference chosen for him by
his grocer. And here we have a COM
mission composed largely of repre-
SentatiVeS of the church and the law.
Could anything be more incongruous?
Imagine Rev. DR.. Sheldon, great and
worthy man though he is, deciding
which is the proper arithmetic. He
will find his task far different from
editing an ideal daily newspaper. So
with Bishop Lillis and Dr. Mur1in-
And does anyone think for moment
that the legal training of Mr.. Bishop
and Mr.. Taylor has fitted them to de-
eide which is the best text in algebra
or physiology? Indeed, the situation
is so absurd that one school man re-
marked after reading the list of ap-
pointees: ''I wonder why he didn't
name the ruler of Xanadu as mem
ber."
The governors statement, as he
handed out the list of appointees last
whose honesty and integrity no one
need doubt, coupled with hiss studied
Indifference toward public school men
in this matter, is a deliberate affront
to the school men of the state. and
they will regard it as such. And this
statement is also a veiled insinuatiOn
that all former members of this COM
mission were grafters, as was claimed
by Mrs. Burton for campaign pur-
poses last fall. 1t has come to be a
popular thing in Kansas of late years
to suspect 1.-The other fellow of being
dishonest. and Governor Stubbs en-
joys popularity.
1t may be a wise thing to do to re-
ward all the Square Dealers" but it
is hardly the right thing to do when
it is at the expense of the public
schools of the state.
Sincerely yours,
F. L. PINET,
Superintendent Erie Schools.