may be books far superior offered at one-half the price of those adopted. We entertain serious objection to submitting the matter of changing text-books to a Board, one of the present members of which, we are informed, is the accredited author of a series of readers, for the adoption of which his vote was cast two years ago, in violation of section one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six of the Political Code. It is a notorious fact, well understood throughout the State, that the publishers of this particular series of readers and their agents distributed through the State, are the only parties who are demanding a change of books at this inauspicious time, and who show a disposition to secure such a change AT ONCE, notwithstanding the many emphatic protests from taxpayers and patrons of the public schools, which protests should, in our judgment, have paramount consideration when placed in comparison with the empty and reasonless pleas for a change of books made by interested publishers and their agents among the teachers, nine-tenths of whom do not pay taxes and purchase no text-books. We believe that the exercise of the authority to select school books for the one hundred and fifty thousand children of this State should be kept as closely and completely under the control of the people interested as possible. We are persuaded that a centralization of this power in the hands of a small State Board of Education, even if entirely composed of the most exalted citizens of our State, will fail to secure to our people the advantages of that full and free competition by publishers, so essential to the establishment of lower prices of text-books which must constitute the basis for the instruction of the youth of this State. The action of the State Board of Education on January sixth, eighteen hundred and seventy-five, had it been legally taken, would have cost the taxpayers of this State at least one-half million of dollars. The timely interference of the Courts and of the Legislature at that time prevented that outrage upon the people. In our opinion this substitute for Assembly Bill No. 289 renders a repetition of such action more easily effected, by reducing the time of advertising from six months to three months. Further, it will be observed that there is no provision in this substitute for any reduction in price for the term of six years, notwithstanding that the price of books is constantly declining in other States. Under the operation of the authority vested by the Political Code in the State Board of Education, it is provided that at least six months' notice shall be given to the people and to the publishers before a change can be effected, in which time parents and retailers may fortify themselves against loss, and publishers desiring to compete may have full opportunity to present their best terms, while this substitute to Assembly Bill No. 289 reduces the time to a notice of three months, apparently with the one view of protecting a home house against Eastern competition, at the expense of the taxpayers, retailers, and book buyers. In conclusion, we submit the question whether the people of this State shall again be impaled in a rigid pillory created by the arbitrary will of a Board of Education, which can only serve to remind the taxpayers that they have unwisely relinquished their right to be MR. SPEAKER: The minority of the Committee on Education ask leave to make the following report on Senate Bill No. 309-An Act to add a new section to the Political Code, approved March twelfth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two: In the expressive language of the Constitution, section three of Article IX "The Legislature shall provide for a system of common schools, by which a school shall be kept up and supported in each district at least three months in every year; and any school district neglecting to keep up and support such a school may be deprived of its proportion of the interest of the public fund during such neglect"—would seem to imply that none but “ common schools were contemplated by the framers of the fundamental law. The term common school' does not mean a school where music, drawing, and the modern languages are taught, but a school in which the language of the country is taught, and not the language of some other country. In pursuance of the provision of the Constitution above quoted, your committee feel it a duty incumbent upon them not to let the majority report pass unchallenged, and our reasons are as follows: First We recognize the principle embodied in the fundamental law, that common schools should be maintained where primary and elementary instruction alone should be taught. Second-The conditions of existence forbid instruction in the higher and classical studies to but a limited number, and that the pursuit of such studies by the masses results in educating a great number out of usefulness, instead of for honest labor. Third-We are an English speaking people. Our mother tongue is the language of commerce. More than three-fourths of the commerce of the world is transacted in it. It is also the language which has carried civilization, arts, and science to all parts of the world. 'Tis the language of Milton, Shakespeare, Locke, and Bacon; of Pitt, Chatham, and all the great statesmen and poets of the mother country; 'tis the language of our Revolutionary fathers; the language of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; 'tis the language of Washington, Jefferson, Webster, Clay, Jackson, and Calhoun; of Irving, Longfellow, Everett, Hawthorne, and Bryant. In fine, 'tis the language in which is written all that is bright and glorious, as well as all that is sad in our country's history. Tis the language that makes men self-reliant and energetic; 'tis the language alone which will make us a homogeneous, liberty-loving people. We believe, therefore, that any other should be by law excluded from the common schools, and that the course of study in them should be confined to it exclusively. When we consider how small a percentage of the pupils ever reach the high schools; when we consider how little is really acquired that is serviceable; and, also, when we consider how useless is the smattering of German, French, and Spanish acquired in them, it would seem to us that the bill meets an absolute necessity. We are also of opinion that the larger portion of our foreign-born population would prefer that the only language taught in the common schools should be the common language of the country. In conclusion, therefore, we desire to say that, judging from the experience of other States, as well as our own, and of the results attained, we are receiving a poor article, purchased at a very high price; that we are producing too few farmers, mechanics, and laborers, and too many clerks, merchants, and professional men; that this result is brought about, to a great extent, by our system of education, there can be but little doubt; and, as a step in the right direction, we believe that the bill known as the McCoppin Bill should become a law. Signed: ABBOTT, TUTTLE. MINORITY REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MINING DEBRIS. ASSEMBLY-TWENTY-SECOND SESSION. Mr. SPEAKER: Your committee, appointed by you to investigate the damage which has been done by the debris from hydraulic mines to farming land, and to the navigable waters of the State, beg leave to submit the following report: Your committee held sessions, for the purpose of hearing evidence in regard to the various matters under inquiry, at the Cities of San Francisco, Marysville, and Sacramento, where a large number of witnesses were examined, whose testimony in printed form is attached to this report. Our investigations were confined to the great valley of California, and especially to the Sacramento Valley, where hydraulic mining is carried on to its greatest extent. Owing to their remoteness, we made no examinations as to the effect of this mining in the valleys of Trinity, Klamath, and other northern streams. The facts established by the evidence submitted to us can be summarized as follows: SHOALING OF THE BAYS. Since the year eighteen hundred and forty-nine, a large amount of earthy material has been deposited in Suisun Bay, most of which has settled around its margin, while its main channel has not thus far been injured for purposes of navigation. There has also been a considerable shoaling in the depth of water in certain portions of San Pablo Bay. The deposit of sediment has not been as extensive in San Francisco Bay as in either of the upper bays, but sufficient in extent to be noticeable. There was a diversity of opinion among the witnesses examined as to what proportion of the sediment thus deposited in these bays since eighteen hundred and forty-nine came from mining, and what from natural, agricultural, and other causes. The natural washing away of the hills, operating during a long period of time, has doubtless resulted in producing or building up all the alluvial lands bordering the bays, and in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. The hand of man in washing into the streams the earth and gravel, from which the great bulk of the gold thus far obtained in California has been extracted, in breaking and disturbing the soil for agricultural purposes, in building roads, in stripping the hill-sides of timber, has added greatly to the speed with which nature was in time past bringing the hills down into the valleys. It is, however, safe to say that a very considerable portion of this increase is due to the operations of the miner; what that portion is can only be determined by careful and scientific observation. |