The 2 arithmetics of the California series sell for 75 cents, while the 2 books of the Texas series sell for 64 cents regular and 32 cents exchange in board, and 80 cents regular and 40 cents exchange in cloth.

The 2 books in language and English grammar of the California series sell for 80 cents, while the 3 books in the Texas series sell at regular prices for $1.05 and at exchange prices 54 cents.

The 2 geographies of the California series sell for $1.80, while the 2 books for the Texas series sell at retail for $1.23 and at exchange for 63 cents.

The 1 speller of the California series sells for 31 cents, while the 2 spellers of the Texas series sell at retail for 30 cents and at exchange for 15 cents, and when bound together for 20 cents retail and 10 cents exchange.

The United States history of the California series sells for 82 cents, while the one in the Texas series sells at retail for 80 cents and at exchange for 40 cents.

The 1 physiology in the California series sells for 58 cents, while the 2 physiologies of the Texas series sell for $1.20 retail price and 72 cents exchange price.

The 13 books in the California series sell for $6.70, while the 17 books on the same subjects in Texas series sell for $6.20 at regular retail prices and for $3.31 at exchange prices.

It is generally admitted that the books of the California series are inferior to the books that could have been purchased in the open market. When the State pays for compiling, printing, and binding of a book it has no choice. The book must be used without regard to whether it is a good, fair, or bad book. The California books have not come up to the standard of excellence reached by the publishers of text-books.

A prominent California teacher says: "It goes without saying that I am not satisfied with the books of the State series. Indeed, I have never yet met a teacher of experience and good judgment—no matter how friendly he was to the plan of State publication-who would say that the books were free from serious fault. I believe that there is not a single book in the series that is even nearly as good as could be bought in the open market at the same if not less cost. All of the series need revision, or, better, need throwing out entirely and others instituted." These statements are followed by quite a lengthy criticism of the books in question. In our judgment, the books adopted for use in the public schools of Texas are superior in every respect to those used in California. Having so recently adopted a series of books for use in the public schools of this State, having obtained such favorable terms from the publishers, we deem it unwise to recommend any change for the present. To purchase a plant, to secure and publish text-books by the State, would require large appropriations which, in our judgment, are not now demanded. We believe it better in every way to continue the present system until the experiment of State uniformity is thoroughly tested. From the information accessible we are of the opinion that we have better and cheaper books than could likely be obtained through State publication.

J. W. MADDEN, Secretary of State and Chairman Pro Tempore. J. M. CARLISLE,

State Superintendent of Public Instruction and Secretary.

I know of the facts stated above.

R. W. FINLEY,

Comptroller.

H. C. PRITCHETT,

Principal Sam Houston Normal.

My other duties have rendered it impossible for

me to thoroughly investigate the subject, but I concur in the recommendation made that State publication be not attempted at this time.

M. M. CRANE, Attorney-General.

Since this report was made a bill has been introduced in the legislature to amend the text-book law by extending its provisions so as to apply alike to all cities in the State, and in a recent message to the legislature Governor Sayers strongly favors the proposition, and adds:

After a careful study into the operation of the law now in force I am led to believe that it has fully met the expectations of those who originally favored it, resulting in a saving to the people of fully 40 per cent, if not more, on the retail cost of the books used in our public free schools, and preventing a constant and unnecessary change in their use. In addition to this, the opinion is almost universal that the selection already made of text-books has been wise. It is evident from practical experience that the policy that has been inaugurated can be justified not only from an economic standpoint, but also from that of an honest and efficient administration of our educational system.

SCHOOL FUNDS AND STATE SCHOOLS.

In his retiring message, January 12, 1899, Governor Culberson thus favorably presents the condition of the school fund and status of the several State educational institutions:

It is a source of sincere gratification that the general diffusion of knowledge, which the Constitution declares is essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, has received that attention and made that advancement which its commanding importance deserves. When the present administration took office the number of children attending the public free schools was 693,752, the annual per capita apportionment was $3.50, and the school term only four months. Besides this there was a deficit in the available school fund amounting to $574,690.50, and school warrants were at a discount. This deficit has been discharged, the schools are on a cash basis, and for the fiscal year ending August 31, 1898, the cash balance to the credit of this fund was $228,080.95. Notwithstanding the payment of this heavy deficiency and the fact that the scholastic population increased from 693,752 in 1894 to 776,000 in 1897-98, the per capita apportionment is now $4.50, and the school term should reach six months. Suits instituted by me as attorney-general, in 1894, against the Houston and Texas Central Railroad Company and the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad Company for $1,200,000 due to the school fund on loans made under the act of 1856, have been ably and successfully prosecuted through all the courts of the State by the present attorney-general, and are now pending in the Supreme Court of the United States. The State, it is believed, should finally gain the suits, and if so, this large sum will be added to the school fund. Important laws were passed by the last legislature to confine the expenditures of the school fund more strictly to school purposes and to prevent the padding of the scholastic census. Under the first it is estimated that there is a saving of $50,000 per annum, and under the second the scholastic census for the year ending August 31, 1899, has been purged of much fraud and reduced 67,000.

The State has provided a munificent and princely free-school fund, which now aggregates approximately $45,000,000, consisting of cash, land notes, bonds, and unsold land. Annually it expends exceeding $3,000,000, more than all other expenditures combined, to support and maintain the schools. It is not only entitled to an efficient system, but in the interest of the children, in the interest of enlightenment and growth, it should imperatively demand and exact it. Now good, it should be steadily and certainly improved, and the grade and tone of the schools advanced and elevated. Manifestly the school term should be lengthened, particularly in the rural

districts, where they are shorter, for want of local taxes, than in towns and cities. It is presumed the law under which 1 per cent of the permanent fund is carried annually to the available fund will be repealed, and thus the annual apportionment reduced about $168,000. If so, and if local taxes are impracticable in these communities, no question of greater public utility will claim your attention than the expediency, in my judgment clear, of increasing the general school tax to 20 cents; for after all else is done, after all other energies are spent, the strength and grandeur of the State must rest upon education and intelligence.

Turning from the common schools, it will be seen that the higher educational institutions have also made gratifying progress. The attendance of students at the Prairie View Normal School, as compared with the preceding four years, has been maintained, with substantial increase in appropriations and benefits. For the past two years an increased appropriation of $25,000 was made, and the number of students rose from 350 to 525 at the Sam Houston Normal Institute. Between 1894 and 1898 the scholarship students increased from 345 to 373. The number of students at the Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1894 was 313, and in 1898 it was 381. Valuable permanent improvements were made at this college the past year, consisting of residences for professors and a mess hall, at a cost of $28,000.

The governor alluded only in general but quite complimentary terms to the university. His statement that "the school fund now aggregates approximately $45,000,000," appears correct if the unsold school land be estimated at $1 instead of $2 as presented in the writer's summary of educational endowments. However, as $1 an acre is the State's prevailing price for such lands, it is perhaps the proper basis for an estimate at this time, unless the fact be taken into consideration that they are constantly appreciating in value with the development of the State, and will in the aggregate command much better prices for the greater portion of them before much of the land is sold.

Governor Sayers, in his first general message to the legislature, January, 1899, makes several important recommendations as to the free-school fund. Referring to the fact that "the comptroller in his last annual report gives information that there was in the treasury December 1, 1898, the sum of $1,134,247 to the credit of the permanent school fund which could not be invested because of the inability of the board of education to purchase at par county bonds which bear not less than 5 per cent interest, and that private capital had acquired all such bonds as were desirable, either at a less rate of interest or by paying premiums for them," the governor recommends that the board be authorized to exercise their discretion in the purchase of such character of securities. "I am led to the conclusion," he adds, "that next to the bonds of the United States, and those of our own State and counties, those of many of the other States of the American Union come in point of safety and desirability." He is opposed to investing the fund in railroad securities on account of their fluctuating and uncertain values. As a salient example, the governor could have cited the great loss annually of about $100,000 from the holdings of the Johns Hopkins University in the stock of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Such

securities, however, are generally favorably regarded for such investments. Commodore Vanderbilt, in his endowment of the university founded in his name at Nashville, stated:

The form of investment which I prefer, and in which I reserve the privilege to give the money for the endowment fund, is in 7 per cent first mortgage bonds of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company.

The fact that he and Mr. Hopkins and other great millionaires kept vast amounts of their funds invested in railroad securities seems to indicate the desirability of such investments, where proper business foresight is exercised in selecting the securities.

Referring to Land Commissioner Baker's report, and the opinion of the supreme court in the Hogue case, already noted in this chapter, Governor Sayers recommends, in accordance with the commissioner's suggestion, that the legislature

appropriate all of the unappropriated public domain in payment of the State's obligation to the school fund, and that if there be not a sufficient amount of unappropriated public lands to discharge said obligation that the State assume the balance of the debt and issue its obligations therefor. In this way the duty imposed by the constitution on the legislative and executive authorities to carefully and zealously guard the school fund as a sacred trust can be performed, and all questions relating to the validity of land titles, so far as the State is concerned, will be forever settled.

According to Land Commissioner Baker's figures, as cited by Governor Sayers, there were in 1876, when the present constitution was adopted, "75,961,277 acres of public domain." This included islands and bay lands, and Greer County, which county (some 1,678,000 acres) has since passed to the National Government as part of Oklahoma. As the State constitution made half of the public domain a part of the perpetual public-school fund, it follows, if the commissioner's figures are correct, that the fund was, in 1876, entitled to 37,980,638 acres. Whatever the amount, there remains, as has been shown, about 20,500,000 acres unsold. Much of what was sold was disposed of under the "50-cents an acre act," which was in operation two or three years during Governor Roberts's administration, and was the source of great land speculations.

STATE SCHOOL APPORTIONMENTS.

Superintendent Carlisle's report furnishes the following comparative table of school population and apportionment taken from the census returns for twenty-seven years:

NOTE.

b Not reported.

The statistics of the schools of the State during the earlier years of their history were in many respects inaccurate and incomplete, as the above table shows. For the years from 1872 to 1880, and for 1883-84, the reports of the scholastic census do not show the respective numbers of white and colored children. The late reports show the number of each race, as well as the number of males and females of each race, but it is not deemed necessary to show in this connection the number of males and females.

By an act of the twenty-fifth legislature to prevent "padding" of the census the scholastic population was reduced to such an extent as enabled the board of education to increase the per capita distribution from $4 to $4.50 for 1899.

According to Superintendent Carlisle's report there are 13,323 public-school teachers employed in 10,589 public schools in Texas.

The rate of the school tax since 1893 is 18 cents on the $100 valuation of all taxable property in the State. The State has now on hand $2,000,000 free-school fund for investment for the benefit of the fund in county bonds.

ACTION OF THE LEGISLATURE.

The present (twenty-sixth) legislature appropriated to the permanent school fund all lands recovered by the State from railroad companies or other sources, amounting to about 2,000,000 acres, and repealed the act putting into operation the Jester amendment to the constitution, by which 1 per cent annually was diverted from the permanent school fund to the available school fund. Bills passed establishing a State normal school at Denton and another at San Marcos.