the hands of local boards, and how the scandals in the adoptions by these boards precipitated the resolution of the Republican state convention of 1882 favoring state publication. "In the usual order of things," says Principal Faulkner, “the resolution would have been forgotten with other ante-election promises, but that the State Printer and the politicians saw that the publication by the state would increase the patronage of the State Printing-Office; besides, the legislature chosen contained some members who thought they saw an opportunity to 'cinch' the publishers who had so long 'cinched' the people of the state."

In this connection, the remarkable report which State Printer James J. Ayers submitted to the legislature of 1883 is thoroly analyzed. Its fallacies are laid bare and its far-reaching influence pointed out.

The provisions of the first Act passed by the legislature under the amendment, as well as of subsequent Acts, in so far as they relate to the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of State Printing, are given, with the exception of formal directions.

The selections given below present some of the author's views upon several phases of the system; but no selections can give an adequate conception of the entire article, involving, as it does, so much of the educational history of the state for twenty-five years.

THE AUTHORS OF THE STATE SERIES.

No one was employed to supervise the compilation of these books, nor any others previously or subsequently directed to be compiled or revised, who was not a resident of the state. In fact, in so far as is known, no attempt was made on the part of the State Board of Education nor any of its members to employ any one outside of the state to compile or revise any of the books. While this limitation of authorship was bad, it was made worse by the lack of competition. It would seem that friendship was a greater factor in the employment of compilers than fitness. None of the compilers possessed any experience or training in the preparation of school text-books, except Editor in Chief Raymond and Mrs. Mary W. George. Some were successful and experienced teachers of sound scholarship; but as a whole they did not possess the training or scholarship that fitted them to produce a series of text-books for use in the public schools of the state that publishers would publish or people buy unless compelled to do so by law. An examination of the publications compiled by them justify this conclusion.

AN EXPENSIVE CONTRACT.

Before it could be determined whether the editor in chief and assistant editors could compile better books than had been compiled under the contract system, the Board, on April 11, 1894. set aside four thousand dollars for the revision of the History of the United States and the compilation of a primary history, and further requested Mr. C. H. Keyes, at that time principal of the Throop Polytechnic Institute at Pasadena, "to prepare, and present to the Board at its next meeting, a scheme" for the proposed revision and compilation, the request being made "with a view to his employment upon the work," and finally it was resolved to allow him "the sum of five hundred dollars on the acceptance of his scheme, and thereafter such sums, at each meeting of the Board as may be determined at the time, in accord

ance with the progress of the work, until the sum of four thousand dollars shall have been paid."

In compliance with the first resolution of the Board, Principal Keyes submitted a "scheme" for the proposed revision and compilation, and upon its acceptance received, in accordance with the terms of the second resolution, five hundred dollars on account. The manuscript of the Primary History was received by the Board early in 1896, but it was not accepted until the following year, being returned to the author for revision, upon the report of Mr. A. B. Coffee, who was appointed to examine it. When the manuscript of the revised history was submitted in 1898, it was referred to Dr. K. C. Babcock of the University of California, and Mrs. R. V. Winterburn of Stockton. In the opinion of these experts, it was not worthy of acceptance. Thereupon it was returned with their criticisms to the author. A new manuscript has recently been submitted by the author. It has not yet

been accepted.

Principal Keyes has received three thousand dollars in addition to the five hundred dollars paid him on the acceptance of his "scheme" of revision and compilation. The experts have been paid three hundred dollars. That is, three thousand eight hundred dollars has been paid for the manuscript of a primary history which, tho accepted, has not been published, and for the manuscript of the revised history, which, tho submitted, has not been accepted.

RÉSUMÉ OF THE BOOKS PUBLISHED.

It is seen that the state has provided texts upon eight subjects taught in its elementary schools, and published, including revisions, eighteen books. Tho none of them are of "the first order of excellence," some possessed sufficient merit at the time of their publication to give fair satisfaction, tho others were so inferior that their introduction was a step backward. It is now seven years since the legislature directed the revision of the history and advanced arithmetic, and the compilation and publication of a primary history of the United States. While the primary history has been compiled, it has not been published. The manuscript for the revised history of the United States has not been accepted. No revision of the advanced arithmetic has been made nor can be made without legislative action, as but a trifling balance of the appropriation of 1893 remains unexpended. In a word, the books that were originally inferior are now obsolete, and those that gave fair satisfaction in the beginning need revision.

THE DUTY OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

The publication of a uniform series of text-books for use in the common schools is the fixed and settled policy of the state. The section of the Constitution which provides for state publication is as supreme as the section which says, "The state of California is an inseparable part of the American Union, and the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land." The people, however, should know the truth in regard to the state text-books. They should have everything appertaining to state publication

placed before them in an authoritative manner by the State Board of Education.

The Board should state distinctly their opinion of the various books of the series. They should indicate those that do not need immediate revision; those that should be revised, but which are not so poor as to be incapable of use pending revision; and finally, those so thoroly obsolete that their use should be abridged by the adoption of such courses of study as would, with sound methods of instruction, overcome their narrowing influences until they could be displaced by entirely new books.

If it should appear to the Board, after an exhaustive inquiry into the cost of compilation and publication and a critical examination of the books of the state series now in use, that state publication has so far failed that it should be discontinued, they should not hesitate to say so, and recommend its abolition to the legislature, giving reasons therefor. On the other hand, if they should conclude that it is practicable, they should not only say so, but present a definite and comprehensive plan for its future continuance, indicating in detail the best method of obtaining acceptable manuscripts, with an estimate of their cost, the best method of keeping the books revised, in fine, such a report for or against state publication as would be followed by the legislature and accepted by the people of the state as final.

THE COST OF STATE PUBLICATION.

Instead of a small appropriation for the purchase of a "mammoth edition bindery" at a cost of ten thousand dollars, "two or more stop-cylinder presses or one of the latest improved Hoe perfection presses," and enough type to sort up" the cases "to meet the exigencies of special matter in the arithmetic," the legislature has appropriated for machinery and printing, including ten thousand dollars for a warehouse and eleven thousand dollars for enlarging the State Printing-Office, since the beginning of state publication to the first day of January of the present year, four hundred and sixty-six thousand dollars. The appropriations for compilations have been exclusive of the twenty-five thousand dollars appropriated from the "school book fund, during the same time, forty thousand dollars. The receipts from the sale of text-books have been, to the same date, $1.043, 123.83. It will be seen that the total of the appropriations and receipts from sales is $1,549, 123.83. Of this vast sum the State Printer has expended for machinery, supplies, and labor in the publication of the series, during the same period, $1,375,251.80. In other words, $173,872.03, in the "school book fund," or represented by stock and books on hand, a worn-out printing plant, and a series of text-books either obsolete or needing revision, is all that the state has to show for its investment of over a million and a half dollars, for none of the investment has . been returned to the people in the shape of a reduction in prices on the books, as their cost has been at all times substantially the same as similar books published by private enterprise. The people have thus paid for the books twice, once by taxation and once by purchase.

TO AN INDIAN CANOE.

Thou slender ark beside the brink

Of waiting waters idly lying,

Where languid lilies the sunshine drink,

And loitering waves are softly dying,

What canst thou teach me? say, what word of strength Or wisdom lies in thy three fathoms' length.

No clumsy-builded skiff art thou,

No short-lived shell of birch bark fragile, But, stanch and strong from stern to prow, Lifelong thou 'lt bear thy master agile Safe o'er the boiling rapids, tumbling seas, Or placid lake unruffled by the breeze.

No Arab steed on desert sand,

With all his master's fond devotion,

Is more responsive to the hand

Than thou art to the slightest motion, As thy bold master dips his glittering oar On either side, along the reedy shore.

As lightly as the water-fowl,

The gently heaving wave thou ridest; As noiselessly as flight of owl,

Or otter, from the bank thou glidest; Thou and thy master one, thy ripply wake Scarcely discerned a furlong on the lake.

How many moons stoodst thou a king,
A noble cedar tree, uprearing

Thy plumed head o'er everything

Around thee, naught of evil fearing,
Until that doleful night when tempests flung
Thee crashing down the humbler folk among?

How long the prostrate monarch lay,

A log, bereft of pride and glory,

Until thy sculptor passed that way,

There's none to tell the piteous story;

But from that prison what joy his must have been
To free thy graceful form immured therein!

Ambition reared thy head on high,

Then swiftly came thy dread disaster;

Thou scarce couldst brook the o'ershadowing sky,
Yet now thou servest as thy master

Him thou hadst scorned but that his hand set free
Thy nobler self, and thus thou teachest me.

WILL J. MEREDITH.

Problems of City School Administration.

BY CECIL W. MARK, PRESIDENT SAN FRANCISCO BOARD OF EDUCATION. [President Mark, in outlining the policy of the Board of Education of San Francisco, touches upon almost every vital educational problem now before the American people. The introduction of these seventeen changes will lift the administration of the schools of the city into great publicity. The students of administrative questions will certainly watch with keen interest the reorganization of the department. The Board has the confidence of the public, excepting Father York. There is no city in the United States that offers a greater opportunity for administrative improvement. The introduction of these changes does not mean any decrease of thoroness on the part of the teaching force. Superintendent Webster is particularly an earnest advocate of definite teaching of the common branches. There is no disposition to neglect the regular work, and to make necessary a post-graduate school for the teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic.-EDITOR.]

For half a century our school department has been struggling slowly towards the highest ideals in education. The struggle has been long and the improvement has been slow, for the laws under which we were governed made it impossible for our city to keep pace with the needed improvement in our public school system.

The Consolidation Act provided that twelve school directors should be elected every two years. They were nominated by political conventions, and secured their election by making either direct or indirect promises to reward certain persons who were instrumental in securing their election. No attention was paid to a man's fitness for the position, but men usually sought the place as a stepping-stone in their political career, or to advertise their particular business or profession, or for the purpose of placing their friends and relatives in the school department, or, we regret to say, for the sole object of increasing their yearly income. With the foregoing objects in view, is it any wonder that our school department does not take rank with the leading city school systems of our Union? For twenty-five years boards of education have come and gone, leaving very little impress upon the improvement of our school buildings, and still less impress upon the highest and best ideals in education. This is easily accounted for, when we consider the system which has been in use up to January 8th of the present year. As we are isolated from other large cities that are successfully solving many educational problems and are perfecting the administration of their school affairs, we are unable to profit by their experiences to any large degree. Never in the history of our country has so much thought been given to the problems of city school administration. The great mass of humanity are at last beginning to realize that the hope of our republic lies in our public school system, and that the vast majority of children now attending the public schools are residents of cities, and must receive their education and equipment in life thru the city school system.

While our new charter is not all that it ought to be educationally, at the same time it is an improvement over the Consolidation Act. The public school section which the Committee of One Hundred discussed and partially adopted was more satisfactory than the one finally submitted by the Freeholders. After investigation and careful consideration it was found that our city school system could not be considered independently from the state, and