Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1889 — THE TEXT-BOOK QUESTION. [ARTICLE]

THE TEXT-BOOK QUESTION.

A FEW OPINIONS. Rensselaer Republican: Last Monday the State Board of Education met to receive bids for the second time under the new school boek law. The &nly bid from responsible and reputable parties, that complied with ihe law, was Bowen, Merrell <fc Cb, for a series of writing books. A ri* r t of Democratic politicians, the chief of whom is ex-marshal Hawkins and Warden Miudoek, submitted a : plan for an organic, and o retract;ed democratic under the guise of a bid. They Lave ob- . d from various second rate i dishing Louses, the copyrights of some old series of discarded text-books and propose to pu thorn in new covers and force them upon the schools of thesttue as fitiftis - thii.r n w and meritorious. The Be dors they offer, for instance ar the old Bancroft sexies, tb&i. issued in California in lbV4, and which the schools of that-state rejected after trying them fully and finding them worthless. The other books which they offer, it is fair to presume, are all if the .ame general character as the readers. This bid is, beyond a doubt, simp ! y a huge scheme to fasten a democratic school book ring on the people, with the expectation that the next Legislature will be anothjr Gerrymander band of brigands which will sustain and perpetuate their robbery.

In ©on for the above Brother Marshall should receive very favorable recognition at the hands of Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. But in exceeding strong contrast with the above is the following from the Evansville Journal, republican: There is no more important question bef ol e the people jof Indiana, so far as dollars end cents are concerned than that of the supply of school books. For a great many y ars there has bean in this business a heartless monopoly that has speculated on the necessities of the poor people of the state and made fortunes for the favored schoo -book c mbmation. The name of the monopoly has been Van Antwerp, .Bracg & Co., but its beneficiaries have been numerous . It has had in its pay superintendents of public instruction, county superintendents of schools, township trustees, county commissioners and even state elective officers. Money has been furnished to send out “missionaries” to torrupt officials, and even legislators have been manipulated through oyster suppers and other worse means of influence. State conventions have been honey-combed by coirupt influenues, the object of which was to nominate tools of the school book trust for superintendent of public instruction. In this way the ring gained an influence that could not fail to play into its hands. Is it any wonder, therefore, that the school book ectopus has everything its own way? Receot developments are alarming. Jhey indicate that the oc topus is moving heaven and earth to continue its power. That money is used, and plenty of it, is evident. And there is goed reason to Relieve that the tentacles of the octopus have been wound around the pre.=s.

Beside a lot of bids made by irresponsible and vagrant parties in the interest of the octopus, the) Indiana school beok company of-* fared a definite proposal that guaranteed a complete series of school* books at about half-price. The extra price that has he etofore gone into the pockets of Sundry parsons in the forms of bribes and corruption funds, is under this arrangement saved to the peoi le.— The new company is composed of eight solid men es hort Wayne, Terre Haute, Evansville and one or two other Indiana cities. They mean business and are amply able to give bond for their good faith.

We have before ns some of the specimen books that they propose to furnish under their bid if ac* cepted. They compare favorably with annytiling ever soli urder the old regime. The bxtks are of approved contents, print and binding. They are not printed from old plates, as the Indianapolis J ournal h«s charged, but are fresh and modern in their compilation tnd arrangement, uonsequently, all this talk about the books of the octopus being Detter than the older ones is fooliaim ss, inspired by money'and influence.

Next week the state board meets j again to consider the proposal of 1 the Indiana school book company 1 | There is no good reason wh) 1 sh ml J not be accepted. Tin. man • composing this compa rrai e highly responsible; they are bird ness men neons turned to do ss they agree and tv) cprry out their contracts; they vie intelligent men who know the of the obligations that they assume. The books that they submit as samples are fully up to the standard required in the public schools. The prices pi«s<- ibed i are far below those of the mouopI oly. Old books are taken in ex- ! change for new ones at definite prices that materially lessen the cost ©f the new ones supplied in tkeirjplaces. Altogether tue terms offered by the new company will save a large aggregate to the school patrons of the state, and hr.: state ©f school-book commissioners will be expected to give favorable consideration to its proposal. Again the republican Evansville Journal says: The Indianapolis Journal continues to characterize Messrs. Mackey, Heilman, Huston, Fleming, Bell, et al. as swindlers., altho’ it knows that they are amply able to carry out all their agreements. This is the bight of folly. The Indianapolis Journal hurts itself •by such charges more than it can possibly injure the above named gentlemen. That paper seems to have lest its head since John C. New went abroad Consider its fearful blunders in ihe case of '.he Brazil coal min rs. It misrepresented the situation —to use a mild term —and then had to take the back track. The report is that levelheaded John C. New cabled to the Journal’s manager to change the paper’s course. B« that as it may, the manager retracted—recanted as it were—and wrote himself down a blunderer. The, reporter that he sent to the Clay county mir-es interviewed only the bosses and ignored the miners. The manager of the Journal hadn’t political and business sense enough to ooaect the mistakes of the fool reporter, and the consequence ’g, the republican party lias to suffer Tie consequences. The whole state is amazed at this blunder of the rapul lican organ. Bat this is not the worst of its mistakes. Its defense of the thieving school-book monopoly that has been swindling the poor peopl a of the state for years is unpardonable. Its abuse 01 the responsible Fort Wayne, Terre Haute and Evansville gentlemen composing the Indiana school book company is either idiocy, insanity or worse. Can it be possible that the octopus 1 as fastened its tentacles on that paper, as it has on offieial&in high pi ace s ? Its extortionate exactions from the people have been used to corrupt the sources of influence. Of this there is no mo doubt, but it has been hoped that the press J was innooent. No wouder that Mr. Huston wands to resign the chairmanship of the republican state central committee. With an organ that antagonizes the labor of the state and is an unblushing defender of the school-book ring, what encouragement is there for a responsible and laborious orgtin zer like J. N. xJustou? The best thing that John C. New can do is to resign and come home and attend to his valuable news* paper interests. Here, then, by republican auth-

| ority, is set at rest the unfounded clamor ot the Repuf lican in relation to the financial standing of the gentlemen composing the company, and the excellence of the books submitted by them. The folio sing from the Evansville Courier squelches the puerile charge of the Republican tkat’the Indiana school-book company is “A ring of Democratic politicians ’ and its bid “a plan for an organized and protracted Democratic steal”:

As an inslane* of thu Indianapolis Joarual’s caliber as a newspaper and up prejudiced ."krouielor " current * "cuts, attention is called to its treatment, editorially, 01 ii* imiiann school book company, which has just been formed for the purpose oi furnishing school books to the state at the prici-s offered by the state board •f bduCvOtioji. The com pa Ay in composed equal y c.f democrats and 1 ©publicans; to be exact, there are four of eßck party in the organization . In a number of tonal paragraphs, the Journal refers to inis company as if there were none but democrats in it. Nowh-re are the names of Messrs. Mackey, Heilman, Huston and Collett mentionedjas members or the company, the intention of the Journal clearly being to make if appear that a lot of prominent democrats have banded themselves together with the deliberate purpose of swindling the state. Nevertheless Messrs. Mackey, Heilman, Huston and Collett are members of this eompany, and three of the four probably own three-fourths of stock. At all events their combined wealtli..wo’d probably be at least that proportion of ihe aggregate wealth of the entire company.

We v ould like to hear from Messrs. Mackey. Heilman, Huston and Collett on this subject. sit true, gentlemen, as the state org n of the party of which ybu are members says, that the Indiana school book company, of which you are members, was organized for the deli be; ate purpose of perpetrating a bare-faced swindle on the state? Of course the Journal’s charge is prompted by its disappointment at the overthrow of tne Van Ant - werp-Bragg school-book l ing that had been swindling the stute at pleasure for years, and of which tie Journal was the special champion. Nobody is surprised at its chagrin, because its-prescnt opposition to any legislation that wo’d check the Van Antweip-Bragg monopoly could only be accounted for on the theory tbat .it was shars ing in the spoils Even Gdvernor Hovey recommended tLe over** throw of the monopoly in his first message to the legislature, and the law wa* one of the few of importance that he did not veto.

It is hardly necessary to explain, who the republican membeis of the school book company are. Mr. Mackey is the president of the B. & T. H. system,andstardsamong the first railroad magnates of the country. Mr. Heilman is a large manufacturer of this city, and an ex*member of congress, and has frequently teen spoken of as the republican candidate tor governor and U. S. senator. Mr. Coilett is also a prominent railroad man’and capital’s!; Mr. Huston is a reputable eitizdn and business man of Evansville. The exposure of an utter lack of principle like this is not an uncommon thing on the part ©f the republican state organ. It has no scruples about slandering political ( pponents, or lying to shield political friends. But the foolhardiness of trying to make it appear that this school book company is purely a democratic swindling meeliine, on the very day on which every daily paper that circulates in the state published the fact* sent by telegraph from Indianapolis, that such a company had been organized andf giving a full list of its members —the f olhardiness of

such a display of petty dishonesty is so puerile as to be pitiable. We leave the Journal, and its party friends, Messrs. Mackey, Heilman, Huston and Collett, to settle among themselves the quesBe* as to whether these gentlemen are eommon swindlers or whether the Journal is a slanderer. Evidei tly the Republican took its fine from the Indianapolis Journal, and didn’t know what it was talking about.