The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-01-05
mo INFLUENCE UPON
MEMBERS OF TEXT
BOOK COMMISSION
Superintendent WilIingham
Would Do Away With
PUSSY Foot" Influence.
Aided by Governor

Montgomery, January 4.-fspeeial.>-
No pussy foot influence will be brought
to bear upon members Of the text book
| commission If a resolution which Saper-
inteDdent of Education Henry J. Willing
ham has prepared is adopted by the conn
mission.
The text book commission will be APP
pointed by Governor ONeal on March
l, and the duty of this commission Will
be to adopt books for use in the public
schools of the state for a period of five
years. The commission will meet shortly
after its appointment by the governor,
and at this meeting the commission will
be asked to adopt resolution to the
effect that all publishers offering text
books shall file under oath statement
naming all the accredited representa-
tives which each company has employed,
or will employ, for the purpose of this
book adoption.
O'Neal to Cooperate
The resolution which Superintendent
Willingham has prepared has the en-
dorsement of Governor O'Neal who in
tends to cooperate with the superinten-
dent of education in preventing all un-
necessary influence from being brought
to bear upon any member of the corn
mission.
In discussing the resolution which he
intended urging the text book commiA-
sion to adopt, Superintendent Willin
ham said:
According 70 the details of this reso-
luton, full, free and open opportunity
will be afforded any accredited represen-
tative of a text book company to come
before the commission to discuss the
merits of his books and to point out
any demerits in books offered by others
1t is, of course, presumed that any com
pany will need the services of expert
men in presenting its books to the COM
mission, and also the services of attor-
neys for handling any legal matters in
volved; but the purpose of the resolution
will be to prevent the secret employment
Of people who have. or may be supposed
to have, influence with the commission.
Governor O'Neal and Z are determined to
prevent IL possible the bringing to bear
of any pussy foot" influence upon men-
bers of the commission and If any COM
pany should attempt to violate the let
ter or the spirit of this resolution such
company will not be allowed to share in
the business of furnishing text books
for use in the public schools of Ala
bama.
IF any text book now in use should
appear unsatisfactory, any such old
books displaced will be accepted as half
payment for the new book adopted In
it's stead, provided such exchange is
made within one year after the new
adoption"
Personnel of Commission
The text book commission will consist
of Governor oNeal and Superintendent
Willingham, eXofficio. and one member
from each congressional district appoint
ed by the governor. The two exofficio
members serve without pay. while the
appointed members receive 81 per day for
the time actually used in the perform
ance of their duties. Since a consider
able part of the work of the commits
sion will probably be performed while
In session in Montgomery, the compensa-
ton will not be much more than sufh-
cient to cover the expenses of the men,
bers. Except for the honor of serving
on so important a commission, member
ship on 1t is not considered very at
tractive.
The resolution whose adoption Super
intendent Willingham will urge is con-
sidered one of the most important and
necessary that could be adopted by the
book commission. Heretofore publishing
companies have made great efforts TO Sc
cure the adoption of their books, in some
Instances employing men for the purpose
of influencing certain members of the
commission.
The purpose OF the resolution will be
to prevent all such influence from being
brought to bear upon any member of
the commission, in order that each COM
pany may have fair and impartial reo-
resentation, and that merit shall be the
deciding factor in the selection of all
school books