"Pupils supplied with text-books at the time of the passage of this act shall not be supplied with similar books by the committee until needed." * * * Books Regarding this law State Superintendent J. W. Patterson says: "This, I have no doubt, is the best system for supplying text-hooks to our public schools. can be furnished under the free text-book law at one-sixth less than when bought at retail by parents." 2 Change of text-book.-Any text-book or series of text-books in use in any school shall be continued in use for a period of five years from the date of its introduction; no more than one book or series of books may be changed annually. NEW JERSEY. School district boards of trustees are directed, in connection with the county superintendent, to prescribe a uniforn series of text-books to be used in the school or schools under their charge. They must require all children to be furnished with suitable books, as a condition of membership in the school.1 Text-books are furnished free in 179 out of 1,379 country districts, and in 20 out of 30 cities; 1,258 country districts have uniform text-books, and 121 no uniformity." NEW YORK. Text-books, how designated.-The school authorities of cities, villages, and union freeschool districts are required to adóp. and designate text-books to be used in the schools under their charge. În other districts text-books are designated by a two-thirds vote of the voters at a school meeting." Change of text-books.-No change of any book so adopted shall be made for five years, except by a vote of three-fourths of the local board of education, or of the district meeting." Several of the cities of the State have adopted the free text-book system. State Superintendent A. S. Draper says that "so far as this system has been tried, the expression of sentiment seems to be strongly in its favor." Superintendent Charles W. Cole, of Albany, in recommending free text-books for that city, calls attention to the following special advantages offered by them: "The purchase of all books by the local authorities would tend to the use of the very best books only. Under the present system members of boards of control very naturally hesitate to order any change in text-books which would involve a considerable expense to the parents, and very often an inferior book is kept in use almost entirely from the reluctance of boards to create this additional tax upon those who must purchase the books. If the books were free, purchases could be made without direct tax upon anybody, and as a result the latest and most approved books and editions would be always in use. "The plan of furnishing all needed books would also enable the board to enlarge the scope of the text-book work, by furnishing different series of readers and similar books for use in all the grades. The importance of this plan has been felt for many years, but has not been carried into execution because the board did not feel it could ask the parents to buy so many different books, and it would have been difficult to convince the local authorities of the necessity of providing these books at public expense."'" NORTH CAROLINA. The law."The State board of education shall recommend a series of text-books to be used in the public schools for a term of three years, and until otherwise ordered: Provided, The county board of education shall take care that changes from books now in use to those recommended do not work great inconvenience or expense to parents, guardians, or pupils: Provided further, No sectarian or political books shall be used in the public schools: Provided also, The prices of the books recommended be fixed by the State board of education for the whole term for which they shall be used."'10 "The books recommended by the State board of education, in accordance with section 2539, shall be used in all public schools of the State, and the State board of education Nashua (N. H) Sch. Rep., 1889, pp. 14-15. 27th Bi. Tex. Sch. Rep., XXXVI. N. H. Sch. Law, ed. 1886, Chap. V, secs. 12, 13, p. 67. 4N. J. Sch. Law, ed. 1887, pp. 17, 18. N. J. Sch. Rep., 1888-89, pp. 73, 75. "N. Y. Sch. Law, Ed. 1889, p. 146. Ibid., p. 147. 87th Bien. Tex. Sch. Rep. p. XXXVII. N.Y. Sch. Rep., 1891, p. 412. 10 N. C. Sch. Law, 1889, sec. 2539. shall have discretion to recommend more than one series on such subjects as they may deem it desirable." The contract prices of the books now (1889) prescribed for use are as follows: 2 Holmes' First Reader, new edition. Second Reader, new edition..... Fourth Reader, new edition ....... New History of the United States. Maury's Elementary Geography Revised Manual of Geography, North Carolina edition Sanford's Primary Analytical Arithmetic Intermediate Analytical Arithmetic Common School Analytical Arithmetic Worcester's Primary Dictionary New School Dictionary Com rehensive Dictionary Webster's Primary Dictionary Common School Dictionary Counting-house Dictionary McGuffey's Revised Eclectic Primer Harvey's Revised Elementary Grammar and Composition Harvey's Revised English Grammar. Eclectic (Elementary) Copy Books... Harrington's Spelling Book Harper's New Graded Copy Books: Primary, seven numbers Grammar School, eight numbers. Page's Theory and Practice of Teaching.. Steele's Abridged Physiology James' Southern Selections. North Carolina Speaker (40 cents, paper) per doz... 1.00 State Superintendent S. M. Finger discusses the question as follows:3 "The books recommended by the State board of education, which are required by statute to be used in all the public schools of the State, are now largely used in the country schools. The histories, geographies, and arithmetics are almost exclusively used, and the others are rapidly going in, so that the State is almost uniformed, and much money is saved the children by the use of these books. "More than one-half of our list in value is published by the University Publishing Company, and about one-fourth (the arithmetics) by the J. B. Lippincott Company. These books are all of Southern authorship, as are also our North Carolina histories, published by A. Williams & Co., and our United States histories. These are all good books, and free from anything objectionable to our people. "One of the most serious questions that confronts the South is the character of schoolbooks. The book houses are making a great fight over the introduction of books, some of them going so far as to make combinations, or syndicates, or trusts, and to offer to swap even for all old books, and, indirectly, if not directly, to use money to control the judgment and action of school boards and teachers. If our Southern people are wise they will look carefully after the books that are put into the hands of their children. "So far as the distribution of the books is concerned, our law contemplates that each child shall own his books. I believe this is better than any other plan that can be adopted. The possession of a book canses the child to take better care of it, and really to take more interest in studying it than he would if it were lent to him by the school committee for the term, or distributed daily in the school room from a common stock. Besides, there are other objections to the promiscuous use of books by different children, connected with their health and cleanliness. "It might be well for the statute to allow committees to donate books in the elementary branches to a few children that, in their judgment, are not able to purchase them, but I would go no further." N. C. Sch. Law, 1889, p. 48 (act of 1889). & Ibid., pp. 58-9. N. C. Sch. Rep., 1889-90, pp. xxv-vi. NORTH DAKOTA. The Territorial law authorized district boards, "if they deem it advisable, to purchase class and text-books and stationery and other necessary articles required by pupils in their school work, and sell and rent them to the pupils in the schools under their control and management." This provision was omitted from the new State law, so that it is doubtful whether it is in force. State Superintendent W. J. Clapp recommends that it be reenacted and discretion given to school boards to furnish free text-books. A bill is before the legislature (1891) providing for a State contract with publishers for a uniform series of text-books, to be furnished free to pupils by districts. оно. Views of the State school commissioner.-Hon. John Hancock, State school commissioner, under date of March 24, 1890, and previous to the enactment of the law given below, wrote as follows to State Superintendent Cooper, of Texas: "We have never had but one system of school text-books in Ohio. The question of what text-books shall be used in the schools of the State is left exclusively to the school boards of the several districts. The pupils obtain these books from book dealers, or from the boards, which are authorized to purchase from the publishers direct and sell to the pupils at cost. Until quite recently this plan seems to have met the wishes of the people, barring a chronic grumbling as to price. Within a few years many bills have been introduced into our legislature to involve the State to a greater or less degree in publishing text-books or purchasing and selling them, or both. But such bills have not as yet succeeded in getting themselves made into laws. Our whole school system is based on the autonomy of the district, and any scheme that undertakes to take from the district board the choice of text-books to be used in the schools of that board will be sure to meet with decided opposition. "I do not know that there is any better system than our own in our country. If that were to be abandoned I suspect that free books, to be selected by the local school boards and distributed under their direction, would come nearer meeting the views of the people than any other, though I do not think they are ready for such a step yet. "There are now four different bills involving State control, to a degree at least, over this text-book matter in the legislature. What will be the outcome of it no one can say. As you may infer, I now believe in leaving the whole question to the school boards; but I am studying the question of free books. I have as yet a theory of social science that stands very stubbornly against my yielding to this plan. I believe the State should do nothing for the citizen that he can do for himself. The opposite theory, as I look at the matter, tends toward the patriarchal system of government and socialism, to which I am opposed." 2 The new Ohio law. -The following is a synopsis of the Ohio law, passed April 28, 1890: The governor of Ohio, State school commissioner, supervisor of public printing, and two other persons to be appointed by the governor, are constituted the "Schoolbook Board." This board is to fix a maximum price at which each of the text-books now in use and each new text-book may be sold to district boards of education by publishers, said price not to "exceed 80 per cent. of the present lowest price thereof, at which such book is now sold by the publishers thereof to dealers." Publishers are to be invited to submit proposals for furnishing these text-books for periods of five years, the prices not to exceed those so fixed by the board. If these offers are found by the board to be satisfactory they are to accept them and enter into contract with the proposers accordingly. The State commissioner is then to furnish each board of education throughout the State with a list containing the name of each text-book contracted for, publisher, price, etc. Each district board is to determine what text-books from the list it shall adopt, such books not to be changed for five years without a three-fourths vote of all the members. All branches are to be taught in the English language. Boards of education are to order books direct from publishers, and make arrangements for their distribution to pupils, the expense of such distribution not to exceed 10 per cent. of the cost price; and the books are to be sold to pupils at the price paid the publisher and not exceeding 7th Bi. Tex. Sch. Rep., p. XXXVIII. 1st Bi. N. Dak. Sch. Rep., p. 31. 10 per cent. thereof added. It is the duty of boards to secure books below the maximum price if possible. They may contract with local retail dealers to furnish books at prices specified, such dealers becoming responsible to the publishers for all books purchased by them. In case no satisfactory proposals are submitted by publishers on the basis designated the board is to advertise for proposals to be received not later than six months after the passage of the act as follows: First. From publishers of school books for furnishing books for five years under the same price limitations as before. Each bid was to be accompanied by a bond in the sum of $10,000 to secure the bidder's entering into a contract if his bid should be successful. Second. From authors of schoolbooks for their manuscripts and copyright. Third. From persons who are willing to undertake the compilation of a book or books, or series of books, giving prices for the same with details. The board is then to report to the adjourned session of the general assembly their bids, together with a statement of number and kinds of books necessary to supply the schools of the State, itemized cost of printing them, etc. Report of the Ohio Schoolbook board to the general assembly. From a report of the schoolbook board, made January 20, 1891, it appears that in. compliance with the foregoing law the "State commissioner of common schools sent out, May 1, 1890, a request to schoolbook publishers for copies of all the books published by them used in the public schools of the State, and that these copies be accompanied by a statement of the lowest wholesale price of the same. Thirty-seven publishing firms complied with this request. All these firms expressed a willingness to bid under the provisions of the law on the condition that the maximum limitation of price fixed by the law was to be understood as meaning 80 per cent. of the lowest wholesale list price." After consulting with the attorney-general and members of the legislative committees on common schools, the board came to the decision that it was "authorized by the act to contract for schoolbooks at 80 per cent. of the lowest price at which the book is sold to dealers by the publishers, and not 80 per cent. of the lowest price at which the book is listed to the dealers by the publishers." "As it was not possible to ascertain the lowest price for which a book may sometimes be sold to a particular dealer in the State, the board agreed that a deduction of 16 per cent. from the publishers' wholesale list prices would fairly represent the net prices to dealers, thus requiring an aggregate reduction of 33 per cent. from publishers wholesale prices. This, of course, fixed the maximum limitation at which the board could receive bids at 663 per cent. of the publishers' list prices. The publishers who had submitted books were immediately notified of this action, and, with a single exception, they respectfully declined to bid, on the ground, as stated by themselves, that with such a reduction in price they could not maintain the quality and excellence of their several publications and afford themselves a reasonable profit in their business." Such proposals as were received were not accepted by the board. It accordingly became incumbent on them, under the terms of the law, to advertise for proposals under the same restrictions as to price as before. But it was apparent to the board that the matter was now in that respect “in precisely the same condition it was in when bids were called for the first time, and as publishers would be required, in addition to their bidding under the old price limitation, to give bonds to accompany their bids under most uncertain conditions, it was concluded by the board that it would be useless, and an unnecessary expense, to advertise, asking bids from them a second time. And in view of the fact that a report was to be made to the general assembly the board did not consider it advisable to invite proposals from authors in regard to manuscripts or copyrights for the reason that such propositions could only be tentative and could not, before the meeting of the legislature, secure any practical results." After narrating the results of State publication in California the report goes on to say: "In the adoption of school books two things should be considered-cheapness and excellence. All will agree that the latter should never be sacrificed to the former, for it is greatly more important that a book should be good than that it should be cheap. Of course the two qualities should be combined as far as practicable. But the question remains whether State authorship and State publication is the best way of securing such a union. A good text-book is a thing of growth. The wisest of men have again and again made serious mistakes in their efforts to make text-books, even in their own specialties, and their productions have fallen stillborn from the press. The final test of a text-book is its use in the schoolroom. To purchase the manuscript of a book with the unavoidable uncertainty as to what its practical merits may prove to be, adopt ED 89-36 it as the text-book for the whole State, and compel school authorities to use it in their schools exclusively for a series of years, whether they like it or not, or whether it proves a success or not, seems neither in conformity with the spirit of our institutions nor with the best interests of popular education. Local self government is the underlying principle of all the school legislation of our State. Great and varied powers are placed in the hands of our local boards of education and with entire safety from abuse, as such boards are directly responsible to the people who elect them. We are confident, therefore, that no law will be acceptable to these boards that takes from them all voice in the selection of the text-books to be used in their respective schools; and this for the reason that books well adapted to the wants of one community may be far from the best for a community differently situated." The board estimates in detail the cost of a new and complete outfit of books in the common branches on the basis of furnishing them to pupils at 20 per cent. discount from publishers' wholesale list prices with 10 per cent. added for expense of carriage and distribution. The total foots up to $1,023,330. "The whole number of pupils enrolled in the schools last year was 797,439. Of these, 36,492 were enrolled in the high schools, leaving the enrollment in the elementary schools 760,947. It will be seen, therefore, that the average cost per pupil in these elementary schools for a new and complete outfit of books would be $1.35. "If we add to the books mentioned those used in the high schools, we may assume that we will be within the mark in saying that the school books in the hands of the youth of the State have cost, at the retail prices paid for them, $1,250,000. Any law or plan, therefore, which would necessitate a complete change of schoolbooks throughout the State and would displace satisfactory books to the above amount would require about a million dollars' worth of books to replace them, thus entailing an aggregate expense upon the people of over $2,000,000 in a single year. In the advocacy of a law involving such a change legislators will of course take into consideration whether, in supplying schoolbooks under its provisions, even for a long term of years, the saving would counterbalance the direct and immediate loss. "Of course when a complete outfit of books is once in the hands of pupils these books are not all renewed each year-probably on the average not one-third of them. According to the statement of the supply agent for the St. Louis public schools the cost of books purchased by the pupils enrolled in the elementary schools of that city for the year ending July 1, 1890, was a trifle over 37 cents per pupil. From this statement of facts we think we shall be warranted in saying that upon the price standard taken for our estimates (80 per cent. of the publishers' wholesale list prices) the average cost a year per pupil in the elementary schools will come within 40 cents, or a little over $300,000 a year for all the pupils in that class of schools." "The time for carrying the law into execution.-So ra lical were the changes contemplated by the law as to the adoption, purchase, and distribution of schoolbooks, that the time given in which to make these changes was totally ina lequate for the purpose. If satisfactory bids had been received by the board, it would not have been possible to have had the adopted books placed in the hands of pupils at the opening of the schools in September. And as it would work disastrously to the interests of the schools to introduce new text-books at any other time than the beginning of the school year, another year should have been given for carrying out the objects of the law. "The limitation for bidding.—The experience of the board indicates that the maximum limitation of price for schoolbooks as fixed by the law was too low. If that limitation had been 80 per cent. of the lowest wholesale list price, the board had assurance every schoolbook firm in the country was prepared to bid. But, as has already been stated, when this limit was brought down to 33 per cent. below the wholesale list price, these firms, with the one exception, declined to bid. "Suggestions.-No other State than ours has included high school text-books within its plan for securing cheap schoolbooks. Such a high order of talent is es-ential to the production of this class of books, and comparatively so few of them are used, that it has heretofore been deemed wise to leave their adoption to the unrestricted choice of boards of education. But if Ohio should deem it well to depart from this universal precedentand it is the opinion of this board that some limitation of price is desirable-it might be well to consider whether, in fixing this limitation of price on high-school books, it should not be somewhat higher than on the text-books in the common branches. "And if the general assembly should determine to continue the plan sought to be carried into effect by the law of last winter's session, it is further suggested, whether, for the sake of definiteness, it would not be better that the bids by publishers should be based on their wholesale list prices, which can always be readily known by the public. "It is also suggested whether, if the school book board should tail to obtain satisfactory bids on a full series of books, the board should not be empowered to submit partial lists to boards of education for adoption, |