The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-12
CLAIMS CALIFORNIA . SCHOOL BOOK PLANT
 HAS BEEN ALLURE
Dudley COwles Writes in Re
 ply to Recent State ment by G. Ern- est Jones
By L. s. BETTY

Montgomery, September u.-(Special.) Replying to the statement which recently appea red in The Age-Herald by Senator G. Ernest Jones relative to the low cost of schoolbooks produced by the Califor- nia state printing office. Dudley Cowles of Atlanta, southern manager for D. c. Heath & Co.,, publishers of New York. declares "the statement is positively un- true and therefore very misleading" MT. Cowles first attacks Senator Jones' declaration that the senate placed itself on record against compelling Alabama children to pay from two to three times as much for schoolbooks as the children of California pay"
 Answering this statement MT. Cowles declares that the children of California since 1919 have been furnished free text books, but that prior to 1913 "the Califor- mia state printing plant sold books to the children of California at prices that were supposed to be self-sustaining, but | these prices were in all cases great or greater than the same or similar books could be bought in the open market. For example the introductory geogra- l phy, in 1913, sold in California for 56 cents. and the cost price at the factory was given as 45 cents. The publishers of this same book retailed it in Louis- | jana and Tennessee at 45 cents, which you will observe, was the cost price at
 the California state printing plant. The
 publishers sold this same book in In- diana at a net price of 30 cents, which
 was 15 cents less than the California price,
 l "BOtch Work" in Kansas
 l In reply to the statement of Senator 1 Jones that the Kansas books also printed by the state plant, are as good the
 Alabama books, MT. Cowles declares that
 the books printed at this office are pieces
 of ''botch work that reputable man. | ufacturer of schoolbooks would never dare I to turn out such poorly printed and poor | ly bound books are printed by the | California state printing plant. that 1 have so far been manufactured in Kan | sas''
 l Analyzing more closely the cost of l California textbooks as compared with l the Alabama books, MT. Cowles shows | that the estimated cost of 8 textbooks 1 and five copybooks in California is l S5.95 at the factory, while the price of l the same books for Alabama children | l s1.51 in favor of the California books,
 though the postage on the latter books | Is not included in the estimated price. 1 Regarding the cost of operating the l California state printing plant Mir. l Cowles declares that since 1885 that
 state has lost over a million and a half dollars counting the interest on the money invested, as shown by the official reports of the auditors who
 have examined Californias accounts,
 and the state has produced poorer
 books, and. until 1913. higher priced
 books than the publishers have pro-
 duced and would have sold in that state
 if they had had the opportunity
 Overhead Cost of Printing Plant Mir Cowles shows that while there
 Is a difference in the estimated price
 of set of California schoolbooks of $1.51 as compared with the price for
 the same books In Alabama, no over
 head cost has been added to these fig ures. This overhead cost he declares
 'must include deterioration of plant
 salaries of the superintendent and his , staff. insurance, freight. expressage
 postage. clerk hire. rent-in short all the items that a schoolbook manufac.
 turer has to include in the figures thai
 show the real cost of his output" 'Ts it fair, then,' he asks. flor Sen. ator Jones or anybody else to say thai the real cost to the state of the books furnished in California is only $5.9l , per set? If the overhead cost which tn, s taxpayers have to pay. were charged i in. the cost of the California bookI 3 would be larger than the cost of tn,
 Alabama books. the Georgia books. ol
 any other books furnished to a statt D under state adoption"
 F Tn conclusion Mir. Cowles says:
 Senator Jones sets s200.000 as
 minimum cost of this experiment. ir
 Alabama. Californa had state print
 ing plant and started with $170,0o0 thinking that amount would be all tha
 was necessary to put the plant on
 self f-sustaining basis. Since that tim' California has increased her approp priations to sSS7.s7s.57, and in addi f tion to this amount, which the tax f payers have had to bear, has furnishe,
 an inferior book to the children o
 California at prices higher than tn same hook could be purchased in tn l open market. The experiment has al f ready cost California more than fiv X times the original estimate. It Is saf : to assume the experiment In Alabama B | will be equally expensive"