Supt. Hathaway On The Text-book Bill

[Snpt. Hathaway . amoDg others, appeiired before the coramittee on edncation for a bear Ing on the text-book blll. THe followlng ia a Brief smnmary of liis very able argument, -E.] "The proposed commission to select text-books for the enüre .state is made up of the state board of education, four members in all. The duties of the Commission are four-fold : - First, to select a uniform set of text books. Secoud, to select unpublished manuscripts. Third, tliey may reject any or all textbooks offered, also auy or all inanuscripts offered, and iu case tliere is then no text-book on any subject, Ihey may employ authors to compile mr.nuscripts. Fourth, they may let contracts for publishing such manuscripts as they may select. "A selection once having been made slnill stand as the standard text for five years. A set of books at tlie price specifled in the bill costs $6.!2. This set of books is supposed to last eight years lience the value per pupil of an adoption of any set of texts would be 5-8 of $6.12, or $3.82. By the report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction there are froin 425,000 to 450,000 chüdren who study these texts. The total value of the texts tlius selected would therefore be about $1,750,000. Membere of the State Board of Education are cliosen at the close of the state convention, when thing is an uproar. Care is not taken to select men who are special ly adapted to cboose the text-books for an entire state. MoreoVer dislionest men may easily seek and obtain such a nornination. The constitutional term of office of members of tliis board is six years ; consequently every memoer, no matter how disbonest, would have at least one opportunity to vote on the question of the selection of textbooks. It is not sound public policy to put the' selection of nearly $2,000,000 worth of public property into the hands of such a small number of men thus selected ; there is too great an opportunity for bribery. Metnbership on this board might thus become the most lucrative public office in Michigan. It would then be a prize whicb the most designing and unscrupulous would seek. The board of education has other duties to perforin relative to the school system of Michigan. It must not be put into the hands of scheming boodlers, who might at some time in the future thus have an opportunity to wreek the public school system of the state. The Board of tion must remain as it is now, and lias been in the past, above reproach, if the foundation of Michigan's educational system remained secure. The proposed law is copied, with the exception of a single section, from the Indiana law. Tliis omitted section is the only safeguard which the measure could possibly have. In Indiana the Commission is composed of the governor, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, president of the ' ity, president of the Agricultural 1 lege, president of the State Normal, j and superintendente of the three 1 est city schools in the state. Such a j commission holds its position witliout regard to political trickery or the ! influence of book trusts. Such a safeauard is omitted entirely from the visious of this bill and the gates are thrown wide open to men wlio would prostitute the public schools of , igan for private gain. "Tlie supreuie court of Indiana has held that onder the law no board of education shall purchase and supplementary text-books to be used in any school in the state: i. e., the standard reader, and the standard reader alone, i shall be used in teaching the subject of reading. Every supplemeiitar reader used in an Indiana school is used in open violation of the lai interpreted by the supreme court of that state. Do Michigan educators wish thua to be tied down ? ''1 have purposely refrained f rom discussing the financial and pedegogïcal aspect of this question, and confined niyself exclusively to the features of the bill is viewed from the staiulpoint of public policy."