Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1912-10-15


States.
Now that the children have all
started to school again, and new set
OF books have been provided for each
OF them, the head of the family begins
to wonder why 1t is that the same old
books, which were good enough for
him and for his wife and for the older
children, are not good enough for the
younger ones and why the changes in
books come with such frequency and
with such expense. He probably con-
tinues to wonder without knowing the
answer, for it is not every one who
understands the ways of a Republican
tions
The fact of the matter is the school
book publishers are constantly en-.
deavoring to have their books adopted
and can afford to pay the men In their
employ literally to have the books
which they publish selected for gen.
eral use. At the session of the legis-
lature in 1909, the Republicans being
in control Of both branches of the leg
islature and a Republican governor
being in Office, law was passed pro-
yiding for the appointment by the gov
ernor of school book board and pro-
viding that the books selected by this
board should be in use in the schools
of West Virginia for period OF five
years commencing July 1. 1912. The
board selected practically an entire
new set of books for all the schools
a. ] made contracts with the publish
ers for these books to furnish them to
the pupils Of the state at certain
prices.
Change Costs Million Dollars.
The census returns for 1910 would
indicate that there are in West Vir-
ginia at the present time at least $50.
900 families. A conservative estimate
of the cost CT the new school books Sc
lected by this board is at least four
dollars a family and most teachers be-
lieve this estimate too low. Assum-
ing, however, that four dollars a fam
lily is fair average of the cost OF the
new books, and that there are 250,000
families in the state, the total cost
to the pupils of the schools of the
change OF school books will aggregate
one million dollars.
Believing that it was unjust to i'm
pose an unnecessary cost of this pro-
portion upon the heads of the families
in West Virginia, the Democratic
OF 1911 passed bill deferring until
1914 tie time when the new school
book law should go into effect, hoping
that in the meantime conditions
might arise which would enable them
to repeal the law making the change
in the ooks This bill deferring TIE
~.e har tho books should be
changed, was defeated in the senate
.up- 5.lcal senators after the
house had passed it by large ma
ior ty
Persons well versed in school mat
tiers did rot hesitate to disclose the
fact that some OF the members ap-
pointed on this school book board to
select the books were in the employ
of certain school book companies. 1t
is also stated that prominent poll
tician. whose influence was brought
to bear in the selection Of the books.
openly stated that one of the COM
panies whose books were selected had
been large contributor to the cam
paign fund and should be rewarded.
Prices RAISED In West Virginia.
Whatever the influence may have
been, however, resulting in the selec-
ton of an entirely different set Of
books from those already in use, one
fact is ccrtain-that in many in
stances, at least, the contract price
agreed upon for the books in West
Virginia is larger than the price at
which the same books are sold by the
same companies in other states.
For example. one of the books
adopted for use in West Virginia is
Montgomery's Leading Facts in Amer
lean history. For Is years the con-
traet price OF this book in Indiana has
been Go cents, covering three different
contract periods of five years each.
From 1896 to 1901 the same book was
in use in West Virginia and the con-
tract price was 90 cents. Under the
new law of West Virginia this book
was adopted for use beginning July |,
1912, and tie contract price as agreed
to by the board is SIC cents. This
means that every West Virginia
school child who studies American
history during the next five years will
have to pay 20 cents more for the his
tory than Eup.ls in other states pay
to tie same company for the sane
book
Another instance of the difference
in prices is fou. in the case of the
readers. Tie Jones Readers were
ldo~t,d fer use in West Virginia, the
co. tract for book number one being
q ee.ts. while the price in Indiana
for the sane book is 10 cents. The
price tf the Second Reader is 81 cents
In West Virginia. and Is cents in In
.,i.ra tie Thi. Reader Al cents in
Vast Virginia and 25 cents in lndi-