V>^ w< .^\1 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) > 1.0 I.I m 115 us £f 144 *" 2.0 u IL25 i 1.4 I •mil m 0% ■/f ^^> > ^J^ -" ^J> 7> Hiotographic Sdences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTBK N.Y. MS80 (716) 87^-4503 "iip CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiquos Tachnieal and Bibliographic Notaa/Notaa tachniquas at bibliographiquaa Tha Instituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia copy which may b« bibliographiealiy uniqua, which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction, or which may significantly changa tha usual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow. □ Coiourad covara/ Couvartura da coulaur [~~| Covara damagad/ Couvartura andommagAa □ Covars 'aatorad and/or laminatad/ Couvartura raataurAa at/ou pallicuMa nCovar titia miaaing/ La titra da couvartura manqua □ Coiourad mapa/ Cartaa gAographiquaa an coulaur D Coiourad ink (i.a. othar than blua or black)/ Encra da coulaur (i.a. autra qua blaua ou noira) r~1 Coiourad plataa and/or iliuatrationa/ D D D D Planchaa at/ou iliuatrationa un coulaur Bound with othar matarial/ Rali4 avac d'autraa documants Tight binding may eauaa shadovva or distortion along intarior margin/ Laraliura sarria paut cauaar da I'ombra ou da la diatorakMi la kNig da la marga intiriaura Blank laavas addad during rastoration may appaar within tha taxt. Whanavar possibia. thaaa hava baan omittad from filming/ II sa paut qua eartainaa pagaa bianchas ajoutias lors d'una rastauratlon apparaiaaant dana la taxta. maia, lorsqua cala 4tait poasibla. caa pagaa n'ont paa «t« filmias. Additional commanta:/ Commantairas supplAmantairaa; L'Inatitut a microfilm* la maillaur axamplaira qu'il lui a it* possibia da sa procurer. Las details da cat axamplaira qui sont paut-Atra uniquas du point da vua bibliographiqua, qui pauvant modifier una imaga raproduita. ou qui pauvant axigar una modification dana la mithoda nor mala da fiimaga sont indiquAs ci-dassous. □ Coiourad pagaa/ Pagaa da coulaur □ Pagaa damaged/ Pagaa andommag^as p~| Pagaa restored and/or laminated/ D Thia item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film* au taux da rMuction indiqu* ci-daasous. Pagaa rastauriaa at/ou pallicuiies Pagaa discoloured, stained or foxe« Pagan dAcoiorias, tacheties ou piquies Pagaa detached/ Pagaa ditachtas Showthroughy Tranaparence Quality of prin Qualit* inigala de I'impreasion Includaa supplementary materii Comprend du matirinl supplAmantaira Only edition available/ Seule Mition disponibie r*y| Pagaa discoloured, stained or foxed/ r~~| Pagaa detached/ rri Showthrough/ F~| Quality of print varies/ nn Includes supplementary material/ rn Only edition available/ T P o fi O b« thi a ot fir si or Pagaa wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc.. hava been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Lea pages totaiement ou partieilement obacurcias par un fauiilet d'errata, una pelure, etc.. ont it* film*es * nouveau da faqon A obtenir la meilleure imaga possible. Th sh Tl wl Ml dM en boi rig re< mc 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X XX y i 12X 16X 20X a4x nx 32X i Th« copy film«d h«r« has b««n r«produe«d thanks tc ths ganarosity of: Douglas Library Quaan's Univarsity L'axamplaira film4 fut raproduit grAoa k la gAnAroaltA da: Douglas Library Quaan's Univarsity Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha baat quality poaalbia considaring tha condition and laglbillty of tha original copy and In kaaping with tha filming contract spacificationa. Original copiaa in printad papar covara ara filmad baglnning with tha front covar and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illuatratad Impraa- sion, or tha back covar whan approprlata. All othar original copiaa ara filmad baglnning on tha first paga with a printad or illuatratad impraa- sion, and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illuatratad impraaaion. Tha last racordad frama on aach microflcha shall contain tha symbol ^»> (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol V (moaning "END"), whichavar appllas. Las Imagaa suh^antas ont 4t* raproduitas avac la plus grand soln, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattat* da I'axampiaira filmA, at an conformM avac las conditions du contrat da filmaga. Laa axamplairaa orlginaux dont la couvarture an papiar aat ImprimAa sont filmto an commandant par la pramlar plat at an tarminant soit par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraaalon ou d'iilustration. soit par la sacond plat, salon la caa. Tous laa autras axamplalras orlginaux sont filmte an commandant par la pramlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraaalon ou d'iilustration at an tarminant par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una taila amprainta. Un das symbolaa suivants apparaftra sur la darnldra imaga da chaqua microflcha, salon la cas: la symbols — ► signifia "A SUiVRE", la aymbola ▼ signifia "FIN". Maps, platas, charts, ate, may ba filmad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thoaa too larga to ba antiraiy includad in ona axposura ara filmad baglnning in tha uppar laft hand cornar, iaft to right and top to bottom, as many framaa as raquirad. Tha following diagrams iliuatrata tha mathod: Las cartas, planchas, tablaaux, ate, pauvant itra filmis A das taux da reduction diff6rants. Lorsqua la documant aat trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un aaul cllchA, 11 ast fllm6 A partir da I'angia supAriaur gaucha, da gaucha k droita, at da haut an baa, an pranant la nombra d'imagaa nAcassalra. Laa diagrammas suivants lllustrant la mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 Statement, supplementary and explanatory, in connection with the Petition of trade of the Superintendent of Education through his mode of working the that Establishment and of the Department, the details of the stock kept in it, it until the rise of the present agitation. I. Sales in the Map, Chart, Globe Apparatus, School, Text ( / ^ School books and text books. J • A III ftpcS •■•••••••••••••••• 1. Oeugraphies and History... S. Common school text books.. 4. Grammar school text books. . Classical text books of refer- ence, mathematics, Ao Works of Reference for teach ers, and text books authorized by the University of Toronto. Drawing books, materials and models 8. Writing books and requisites, 9. Vocal music 10. Maps Globes 11. Scripture illustrations, his- torical and chronological charts.. Maps of physical geograjihy, object lessons of ditto, i&c., &c., (head xv.) Geological maps, charts, and diagrams Astronomical ditto, (bo Chemisftry charts and appara tUB. Natural philosophy do do. . . School apparatus Tables and reading lessons. . . Text books on natural philu- Bophy Prue booksk 12. 13, I O 22,23.24,25. 25 and 26. 40. 41 to 44. 44 to 53. 64 to 56. 102 to 106. 14. 16. 100 and 101. 99. 9 to 16. 16 to 21. 20 to 2S. 29 to 81. 31 to S3. 33 to 40. 67 to 10. 71 to 88. 90 to 92. 96 to 99. Separate cata [logue Parties supplied. Teachers and Local Su- perintendents. a o •5 '3 ■3 o en « a « 4J a B s u o ■5 « a, 3 DC Common schools. ■3 c § A. X a Parties supplied. Grammar scliools. Universities. 5" U) a .2 cu 3 B •** bo a ■3 .a cu 9 Toronto, 7th June, 1858. 8 y fifty-one Booksellers of Canada West against the alleged interference with their Educational Depository, shewing in detail from the catalogues and documents of and the parties who are supplied by it at this time, or who have been supplied by ^ Book, itcc., Department. Public Library Scheme. '*! fe> (S £t3 aj "5 .2-3 § .§ y Educat itutions public m Colleges vale Sch Public Library scheme— Parties supplied. ^1^ Pi •-^ aj J! «j .*{ 1. Common schools With 100 per cent., gn&t catalogu aned in I lection wi nued for iray ia op« time that 2. Grammar schools.. free. do 3. Municipal libraries— Report 1862, 193.. . do -3 a a !« &• 4. Mechanics' Institutes— Special Ueport, 70 At catalogue price*. & a a .a ^ -e a «. "* "3 'rt «* 6. Any public institution aided by public money — Special Report, 73 d> ,2 (i> S*T3 i^^S 6. Sabbath schools— Report 1865, tabic U., • 3 5- Dace 184... d> e -a 1 n in force •with any ave also be s also is DO eis, howe r by the S • 5 litH^ s XI 2 as =1 ft • a " 'T'Tf ^ M » 5 .2 ■5. 60=3.3 E^-3 - & f* s a to s _ »— « w *>srme^ (a ly the foil ate school ces stated, stitution at it has b enced if i |i^-li ..... h^i^i . ^^«|-^cS ll^.iB-^^^ ■^aSM^'iU t^es>.-s^E ^ ti g ja J3 J V St 01 *■• aa A bonus of 100 per cent has been given to all purchasersof maps and apparatus for grammar ami cemmon schools since 1855. They are supplied to others at the catalogue prices. JOHN C. GEIKIE, Secretary Booksellers' Association of Canada* I ^'i298 4 Statement of the objections of the Petilioning Booksellers to the Educational De- positort/f as now carried on by the Superintendent of Education. Toronto, 5th June, 1858, It is admitted on both sides that the Depository lias a certain extent of direct legal authority for its operations, and no less so that it dues not confine itself to the letter of the statute. In vindication of departures from the Acts under which it exists at all, the Superintendent urges that the general permission of the Act of 1855, to provide " Maps, apparatus and Lil)rarics for the Common and Grammar Schools"* involves the principle that he is at liberty to supply Text and School i'ooks not only to Grammar Schools, but even to Universities and all f "Institutions aided by the public money," though they are not even mentioned in the Act, and though the law of 1850, (which is his only other authority,) allows him to provide only for the Schools then in existence — nanaely. Common Scliools. He urges further that it involves the principle that he is at liberty to supply Me- chanics' Institutes and other " bodies aided by public money " with Liljraries. In 1850 they authorized the establishment of " Kchool lihniries," which in 1835, in a snpplenionfary act, they defined as meaning " libraries iu conm.-ction with tlie CTrammtir anil Common Sehoola of Upper Canada." Yet lie supplies any and every library tluit wisln^s to buy from him — from those of Sabbath Schools to those of Mechanics' Institutes. As to •' maps aid appa;atus" hu is allowed by law to supp'y them, in the same way, to Grammar and Common Siihools, and no others, sind £2,500 are granted to get and keep up a stock. Report 1855, Table M. Law of 1855, quoted and referred to above. To this we answer that the words of the Act are express, and we claim from Government protection from the arbitrary encroachments of any one using the pub- lic purse where he has no authority for them. If one step he allowed there is no limit short of the proscription of our trade, if it })lea3e the Superintendent to go so far. That there is reason to fear such an aggravation of the evils of which we com- plain, is shewn by the flict that Dr. Ryerson has stated th:U he intended getting a bonus for Mechanics' Institutions, &c.,on all purchases made from him, as is now the case withSchool Libraries, which get a free gift of 100 per cent, on the amount they buy. This would give the last blow to onr supplying any such libraries. It is urged that these practices have been allowed to grow up unchecked, though made known through the official lleports, and that this is tantamount to their sanction. Precisely the same ground is taken by the Hudson's Bay Company : with what amount of general acceptance is well known. Proof that Text Books arc not designed by the Act to bo supplied by the De- pository is seen in the fact that there is no grant made for their purchase. They are bought with money deducted from tether Special Funds. Further proof that School and Text Books generally arc not provided for by law, is shewn in the fact that they are never accounted for in the yearly balances unless under the head of " Public Libraries, Maps and Apparatus.'' The sale of Libraries to general Public Bodies has not even such a quasi claim to legality, the fact that they arc supplied being noticed only obscurely in the end of Tables of the general Reports, so fur as I have seen. But, waiving this point of legality, which, yet, we think of vital importance to be regarded in all Depariments, if abuses of all kinds are to be avoided, 1 would notice the further statement by Dr. Ryeisjn of the principle on which he thinks V 1 * Act lR.i5, 18th Vic, cap. 182, Hrd and 1th special grant. \ Mr. H>> loins' statement. ;s \ \\ himself justified in soi"g beyond the letter of the law. It is thus expressed hy himself (Report, 1854, page 10,) — "If it be the duty of the Legislature to pro- mote the education of the people by the establishment of public Schools, it is equally its duty to provide all possible facilities and means for supplying these schools with the maps, apparatus and libraries, which render ihcm must instrumen- tal in educating and instructing the people." It is to be specially remarked that School and Text Books are not mentioned. No shadow of reason could have been shewn for supplying them, and yet they are supplied. It caiuiot for a moment be said that the Trade could not meet all the demand for this branch of the sales of the Depository. There are two errors in the argument — 1st. There is taken for granted what is the very thing to be proved, that a Government Depository is the best means of supplying the public with the things mentioned. This \vc sliall hereafter examine. 2nd. It is a f illacy to draw a general conclusion from a limited premise. Gov- ernment interferes with private enterprise in any case only so far as it cannot be avoided. It builds highways, but the people provide their own vehicles: it manages the Post Office, but the ordinary public conveyances arc employed so far as they are available. Government interferes with Education to meet claimant public wants which private enterf)rise is inadequate to satisfy. Necessity is the sole ground of such interference with any branch of private industry, or use of private capital : — the whole people in such a case combining (through Government, which is their acting committee,) to do what isolated effort fails to effect. The necessity which creates Government interference, limits it. The details of the School system are, therefore, only so far within the si)here of Government action as is necessary. It is not necessary that School Houses be built here by Government, though they are essential to Education — therefore they are not built. It is not necessary that School furniture be bought by Government — therefore Government does not meddle with it, though it is essential to education. And so on. In England the class provided with Education by the Privy Council Committee are such as need the State to provide both, and therefore they arc provided. The fact that it is not necessary here to provide such costly elements of edu- cation, or accessories to it, is, a furtkri^ a mighty |)roof that Government provision of School and Text Books, whicli arc a mucii less costly item, is unnecessary. We assume it as certain that if we can supply them as well as the Depository — that is so as to meet the demand, we have no right to be interfered with. That the saving on them effected by the Dejiository, does not bring them within the limits of things necessary to be ftirnishcd by the inability of the people to pay for them needs no proof. In any case ot' poverty, we think there ought to be a gift of books, &c., if necessary, not a sale of them at a trifling retUiction. That the State docs not need to provide School Houses or Furniture for the Schools we take as a proof that necessity cannot be urged on the ground of inability of the people to procure for themselves the maps, apparatus, and the other articles sold by the Depository, as enumerated in the table prefixed to this statement, for themselves. We believe that necessity can no more be urged on the ground of the inability of the Trade to supply the country with them. We are perfectly ready to acknowledge that the sale of such things has done good, but we m'ge that the Trade can, now, at least, if not in earlier days, supply all wants of the Schools without the intervention of the Depository. The details on which we rest our claims Lssummp, in the meanwhile that it is a mere verbal fallacv, which I believe it is, to say, that if beg igth 6 Guvcrnment ought to provide a system of Education because it is necessary it should, it therefore oucht to provide accessories to Education for which such provision is unnecessary, the general assent that monopolies arc wrong, toils with full force against the depository. As no one attempts to justify them, except on the ground of necessity, I hhall only quote a single authority in defence of the freedom of the Book trade especially, it may he seen by it how carefully even the officers of the Education Committee guard against any unnecessary encroachment on private trade in Britain. "It is essential," saysSir James Kay Shuttle worth, " that tht Govern- ment should avoid every form of interference which could discourage individual enterprise, the freedom of opinion, and the natural action of literature on the popu- lar intelligence and taste, or of the trade in books in their j)roduction and diffusion. The Government is not an author, a holder of copyrights, a publisher of books, nor a patron of methods ; much less is it to interfere in the formation of opinion by making Schools the organ of its own doctrines.'' ** I concur with the great publishing houses of London in their objections to any sales of the books of the Irish Commissioners in Great Britain, except through the ordinary channels of trade.*" I refer the Committee further to the spirit in which the communications of Messrs. Longman and Murray arc met by Lord John Russell, and others connected with the matter, as shewn in the minutes of the Irish National School Commissioners for 1861. There could be no more jealous care of private interests desired than they exhibit. The rights of citizenship and commerce arc frankly acknowledged to be inviolable, except where imperative public necessity demand their infringement. Dividing the general subject of the Depository into parts, the first to be con- sidered is the supply by it of School and Text Books. 1st. SCHOOL AND TEXT BOOKS. In vindication of the immense stock of School and Text Books in the Deposi- tory, all the authority that can be pleaded is hidden in a clause of the Act of 1850, which reads thus; — "That it shall be the duty of the Chief Superintendent to take the general superintendence of the Normal School, and to use his best endeavors to provide for and recommend the use of uniform and approved Text Books in the Schools generally."! ^^"^ authority extends, of course, only over the Schools then in being, which were simply the Common Schools mentioned in the Act, the present Grammar Schools not being then established. In the Act of 1853, by which the Grammar Schools were established, there is no hint of such an authority. Tho necessity for even this provision for Common School Books is now confessedly re- moved by their supply being left to the Trade, which publishes and sells them so cheap that the sale of them by the Depository has, to a large extent, been abandoned. May not this fact be accepted as an earnest of what would follow were the whole trade free ? 2nd. The kinds kept are very numerous, the mere list of their titles filling in all nearly 25 pages. There are no less than eight editions of Virgil, seven of Horace, seven of Homer, and a like profusion of the other classics, with French, Mathema- tical, and general Text Books in profusion. The trade keeps all that are in use of the same books, with others on which the Depository has not as yet seized. They are essentially the books for a liberal education, and such as, in every country, it is the province of the trade to supply. Here, however, it is sought to supersede its agency and to supply even the highest seminaries through the public purse. The Depository claims the right of selling the books they use to all institutions aided by the public money, which means to Grammar Schools, to the LJni- • Publio Ec!iicnii"n iu Knglanri, iv, '29S, 282, 20o. + Act ISfin. ix, 7, t> v It versity, to Colleges, and 1 know not to what estahlishmcnls besides Hitherto, even individual students, and others not in connection with any seminary whatever, have been allowed to buy from it, but this has at List, we are told, been discontinued. Even Private Schools arc invited in the preface of the catalogue to buy from the Depository, but, as it is now declared that this practice also is discontinued, we need only ask that a prohibition bo made against its re commencement at any future time, coupling with it that of selling to individual students or others. In passing, we would notice the exceptions still made. If is said, that if par- tics from Private Schools, and other seminaries, say that any particular thing is not in town, the Depository will continue to supply it to them. To guard against continual liability to abuse, we would ask that Booksellers be permitted to buy for cash from the Depository when they for a time run out, and that no such exceptional sales by it be allowed. I have, even in my own case, met with proof that parties get books from the Depository on the supposition that they are not in town, when they arc. It is to be remembered, moreover, that the Depository itself not unfrequcntly runs short in its supplies. 4th. The supply of Grammar Schools with Text Books on the ground that it keeps up a uniformity of books, is not necessary, because we are quite willing to supply the kinds prescribed. 5th. It is not necessary, on account of the quantity of the books to be supplied, as if it were very great. The display of titles in the Depository Catalogue may be curious, but the aggregate sales are by no means so wonderful. The fact that only 257 boys in all Canada, at the writing of the last Report, were as far on even as the Greek rudiments, settles the point. No one can maintain that the Booksellers of Canada could not or would not keep 257 boys in Greek rudiments. Altogether, only 3,400 boys attended all the Grammar Schools of the Province in 1856, in- cluding even the lowest branches taught in them. Will any one say we could not keep the satchels of such a limited squad of urchins replenished ? Only try us ! * 6. The benefits of the Depository sales are not received, at least in many cases, by the pupils, but by the Teacher, who charges full price for his purchases. I have myself offered a Teacher some Text Books at Depository prices if he would sell them at what they cost him, but he declined. On the 29lh March last I had a con- versation with another Teacher who op.;:!y condemned the whole scheme and readily acknowledged that he would never think of selling the books he bought from Dr. Ryerson for less than the Bookseller's price. The people were well enough able, he thought, to pay the trifle to which their full price amounted. 7th. Will any one say that those who use such Text Books can really require the trifling saving effected by buying from the Depository, supposing it reach them? If poor, the books are still much too high ; if well-to-do it is only right that they pay the fair market value for their children's books. 8th. The supply of such books by the De[)03itory is a great hindrance to the spread of the Book trade in the seats of the Grammar Schools, or other Seminaries, if in rural districts. As the nucleus of a trade the sales to such schools would be the beginning of a general business, or would strengthen it greatly if already be- gun. Any country Bookseller could testify how much it has hurt him. But there can be no need of proof, the fact stands self-evident as a necessary result. 9th. Even if the question of price be an element in the question the reduc- tion is only apparent, and it is a question whether the general cost of the Depository • Report, 1866. 8 tr.-.-Ijr- •- do not mure than make up fur it. 1 submit the fulluwing sample from my uwa bouks. Mr. McCabe, Whitby Grammar School. To John Geikie, Dr. 1858. Mav 4, To 3 Anthon's Caesar $-3 00 Depository price. $2 64 2 •' Latin Diclionnry 4 00 " " 3 80 1 Johnston's Classical Atlas 8 00 " " 2 60 Less 10 per cent. $10 00 1 00 Cash, Difference, $8 44 66 $9 00 Three months' credit, possibly 6 months.' $9 00 66c. off $10 is only a fraction over five per cent. If security be wanted that Booksellers will keep the books required, they will one and all give their testimony for it, and self-interest will add itself as a guarantee. As it is, they keep even now all that are sold to any extent. Is it worth whil eto maintain a costly establishment for five per cent, against retailers .' 10th. But we claim that price has nothing to do with the question, unless it be maintained that the people are so poor that it is necessary to give them the one article of books out of ail their purchases at a reduced price. We claim the right to free trade except where necessity comes in. To raise the wretched we are ready to give books as cheap as the Depository, and cheaper if needs be, but we maintain that. Dr. Ryerson has no right to undersell us to purchasers who are able to pay the trifling profit by which among other items we live. 11th. One case may serve as an example of the injustice of the whole. Ac- cording to the present rule, the Model Grammar School here will be supplied by the Depository. It cannot be pretended that we could not supply it as steadily and well as the Depository could, and surely the taxes we pay for it, in common with other citizens, are contribution enough, without forcing us to give in addition our profits on the books required. Let the poor children have their books free, if necessary, but why take a few pence on the purchase of each pupil attending, from our pockets when there is no necessity for it ? The case of Toronto in this instance is identical with that of all other towns where grammar scho:)l3 are established. Except in a rare and likely partial case, nearly all seem supplied from the Normal School. It is, in our view, a fatal objection to what has at best a quasi legality, — (we say it has not even thai), — that there is not the like in any other country in the world That it exists here can have risen only from the fact that though there is no grant made to him for them, Dr. Ryerson, of his own authority, bought these school and text books, and now keeps them. Britain knows no such system. In answer to an application from a school, not express'y for the poor, the Secretary of the Privy Council Committee on Education writes as follows: — (Minutes of Council, 1850, page 78.) — "Their lordsh'ps' administration of the Parliamentary grant (in whatever form of assist- ance it may be applied) is confined to those schools only in which the principal object of the promoters is to educate the children of the laboring and other poorer classes. The minute of the 18th of December, 1847, (instituting the system,) is therefore inapplicable to midJle or superior schools." To have quoted this would have saved Dr. Ryerson whob pages, shall I say, of mystifica- tion. It 8ettl«»8 the merit of the comparison of the two schemes. Britain aids poverty, and is right in doing so ; aids poverty, such as, thank God, is only, with U9, a terrible memory of our fath-^rlan-l and hi?? no (v/unterpart h^re. Dr. Ryer« ^ ? son aids compclencc and even wealth : takes from a sfrnggling tradesman to give to a rieli proprietor. Let there be grants for the poor and no one will object : but let there be no attempt at a parallel between supplying schools oi" every graJe, public and private alike, as Dr. Ryerson has hitherto done, and th<5 charitable bounty of England to the humble children of labor and sorrow.* In tlie face of these words of the Secretary himself, Dr. Ryerson tells us that the grants are made " without reference to the rank or condition of the pupils !'' f As overwhelming proof of the total difference between the system in England and thai of the Depository, I further refer to the Schedule of the Privy Council Committee, containing a list of all their books, maps, &c. &c. A sample copy of all the books on their lordships' lists amounts to £101 4s. sterling ($506), and they have no money sunk in Depositories : a sample of all the items in Dr. llyerson's Library Catalogue alone, on the average of 35 pages, from its two parts, amounts to ^5,807 ; and he is presumed to keep stock of the whole, not to speak of slock of the contents of a School Book, Map, and Appa- ratus Catalogue, of 98 pages, which he keeps in addition. In England books are supplied by Government only for "the elementary in- struction of children at school." What "the elementary instruction" of the children of the " laboring classes " of Britain is, and what the books it requires, we all know. None are to be found on their lordships' lists beyond this scope and character. Here, the Depository professes to keep no " elementary books " at all ; but it does keep those for all other branches except the elementary. It begins where England ends. There, an obscure corner is taken from the trade : here, the corner is left, and the whole of the field is taken instead. In England so thoroughly is the system an aid to the extreme poor only, that it is deemed necessary formally to recommend that " the scholars be encouraged to purchase the school books used in their school for themselves, and be allowed to take to their houses, under proper regulations, the books which belong to the school. In England, books, maps, and diagrams can be applied for only once a year. From Dr. Ryerson they can be had at any time. There, books are for the school : here, for the scholar. There, the scholar cannot afford them even at the reduced price, so that he has, as a rule, in the schools helped, only the use of a book. Here, there is no pretence to reduce the Common School books to any- thing like the English prices. The parent who can give his child only an elementary education Imys his books from the shops, while he who can give his son a Greek and Lntin education, and is therefore in almost every case compara- tively well to do, finds a great Depository provided to save him a few pence on Aristotle or Tacitus, if the pence in any case ever get beyond the teacher to ilie youth. In England even the reduced prices are not low enough, so that a free grant of 50 per cent, is given once ia three years on purchases whether of books or other things ; it being required that in such cases the reduced prices shall be still further reduced in the same proportion as the grant bears to the total cost. In Canada no grant for school books is ever made. Of Ireland, the same facts hold good. The idea there is the same, — to raise the poor and him that hath no helper. There needs no other proof be cited th;m * Sec also Sir .I.inica K. Slmttleworth's book, everywhere. \ Colonist, 22ud March, 1858. ■R 10 t he prices of a few books in their liNt. I shall quote some samples. National Educational Report, 1851, page 42 : — To National School. To Poor Scholar. Price of Book, (( tt It £0 3 1 3 11 6 8 would £0 6 1 1 1 6 10 4 Publishers' £0 12 3 2 3 5 Price, 6 6 U make only a leaf or two of Dr. Ryerson's The whole list, I may say, Catalogues.* Of the practice in reference to School and Text Books in the United Slates, Dr. Ryerson says {Globcy March 26, 1858): "In nearly every city and town in the neighboring States, (and some in Cauadii,) each board of education has its own school apparatus and book depository (furnished from abroad and at home at its pleasure,) from which it not only furnisshes its schools, but the individual pupils, who are not left to go to individual booksellers to purchase the books recommended by the public school authorities, but can procure them at reduced prices ut the Trustee Board's public depository. The same principle is acted upon in regard to the public school libraries." On seeing this I wrote to various cities and towns asking if this were really correct, as I saw no truces of it or of anything like it in the reports of the various superintendents. In reply I received the following communications. From Messrs. Phinney & Co., BuH'alo, the largest firm in that cily : " Parents ])urchase books for their children of regular booksellers or of their teachers, who sometimes keep them for sale (as here). The city pays for books used by indigent scholars, but the amount is small. We are not aware that school com- mittees keep books for sale at reduced prices. If they do, parents nmst pay with private means." The firm who write, sold, last year, 200,000 of one school book, and this is their testimony from a point from which th^ overlook the great State of New York. From Messrs. Gould & Lincoln, Boston, Massachusetts : " There is no pro- vision made by the authorities to furnish books to the schools, the people generally obtaining them at the stores as they may require. In some cases books are furnished by teachers, but not at a reduced rate. In our city (Boston) there is a provision made whereby books are furnished gratis to such as are unable to purchase. There is no Depository in the State, of the nature you mention." II. E. Sawyer, Esq., Education Office, Concord, New Hampshire : " There are no arrangements for the supply of books at the public expense. Text books are furnished by parents or guardians, save in cases of indigence." John Kingsburn, Esquire, Providence, R. I. : " In most, if not all, of the towns the sale is through regular booksellers, from whom parents buy as they have need. In case of indigence, in some of the towns, and more especially the cities, children are supplied gratuitously. There is no Depository, neither is there any public or private fund by which books can be provided for scholars." Messrs. D B. Cooke & Co., Chicago, Illinois : " Books are not furnished to scholars in our public schools by the State at all. It is sometimes customary for the Board of Education to give to such as cannot pay, their books for nothing." Connecticut, in like manner, disclaimed having any depository like our.s ; as also did Maine and others. In Brooklyn, alone, was the one solitary example found of what Dr. Ryer- town ( 3arly every cily ighboring \ * I 1)0;; lo refer thu CoinniitU!*', for the fullest further information, to the Twcnty-So(!ond Report of the Coumli^Biouc)r of Nalionul Kducatiou iu IrcIaiiJ, I'arly. Tiipers, 1800. Vol. 27. I'art I. Page 18. 11 Thns llio srliomo finds no snpi)ort from England, Ireland, or America., and exists in no country save Canada. Wlj.it is thus everyvvlicre prohibited, or felt unnecessary, or abstained from as unjust, cnnnot surely find a justification in our rich Province. The objections to iho sale of Grammar School Text-Books apply with equal nnd even greater force, in every particular, to the sale of University Text-Books, Classical Texts, and such like. There can be no necessity alleged for supplyinj^ them ; and yet, since they are kept, they must be so to supply those connected with such institutions, or following their studies. But is a public officer, confessedly without a word of a statute authorizing him to do so, to encroach on whatever department of our trade he likes, as if wc had not a sacred claim for protection in our capital and cnterprizc where imperative public necessities do not require interference ? I leave it to the justice of the Committee. That many lM)oks, &c., have been sold in ihc past to some of the Professors and students of difi'urent colleges in the Province, and even to others who are not con- nected with any such institutions admits of no doubt. Is the practice to be con- tinued i[i any measure ? If the books be kept they must be kept to sell, and if sold, they must be so to individuals, as collcp;es do not often purchase Text Bmiks in their corporate canacity. The only security against abuse is the prohibition of such stock being Kept ut all. The objections to Grammar School Books being sold by the Depository must be felt to weigh equally heavy on the supply of tne materials for drawing and writing, and the countless et ceteras of the catalogue. What amount of saving can be cfTeeted on such trifles ? In the gross they come to an item in our sales, but how much can be the saving of each well-to-do yeoman's son who uses them ? Let them be free to the poor, but let the rich pay the proper value for them. The list of them kept at the Depository fills seven pages, and includes copy books, steel pens, slates, drawing books and paper, pencils, methematical instru- ments, &c., &c. Why in a country like this should Government set up a business in steel pens ? PUBLIC LIBRARIES. We are free to admit, as free as Dr. Rycrson would have us, that good has been done by the sales of libraries by the Depository. There is no question of it — many thousand volumes could not nave been scattered without public benefit re- sulting. At the same time it is a legitimate enquiry whether the same good could not, at least now, be done without invading the province of private trade, and to the avoidance of various evils connected with the present system. England has no such .system of libraries. The meagre list supplied by the Privy Council Committee, made up of ele- mentary English school books, and some books of reference for " Masters and pupil Teachers " of the humble schools, which are there the objects of Government aid, is ample proof of the fact. It is all they furnish, and though a copy of some of the strictly educational volumes it contains is sometimes spoken of as a library, it is as a " specimen library," the use of which " is intended to be that of seeing what any particular work is, and not that of employing it in private study." (Minutes, 1852 ; page 64.) To turn to the States gives no ground for the plan that has been adopted among us. Let there be libraries in every school ; but why should there be an expensive depository permanently maintained to supply them when there is not such a thing in England or America besides. Where is there a Catalogue of [library Books like ours? Each state difl'ers from the oUicr, and in only tun, ?o far as I 12 have been alilo to discover, is there even an approximation to our plan. In the one of these the prices charcfrd for the books is said to be highe witnesses who would testify that the libraries sup- plied by the tkpositoi-y are not so aliiiictive as they might be, as I have no doubt Dr. Ryerson could in their favour. But if libraries as good and as full as could be desired can be supplied by the trade, why keep up a depository to provide them ? The value sold by Dr. Ryerson in 1856 was £1819. Could the trade not sell this iuuount or ten limes as much ? But Dr. Ryerson claims advantages for his library system, — 1st, in keeping out bad books, — 2n(l, in preventing imposition, — 3id, in putting; all parts of Canada on an equal footing except in freij^ht ; and 4th, ui getting a large variety of reading for all. The ^rd advantage is shared with 1/ 13 1/ less ize of rary. Page. 331 231 231 230 226 203 203 202 202 201 »» him by iho bookselleis, as the Express or other conveyances carry booksellers par- cels as cheap as they do his. Moreover, were the trade free, book? would be bought at all the chief towns, not as now, only in Toronto from Dr. Ryerson. The names of the booksellers of all parts of the Province appended to the peti- tions against the Depository, shows their expectation of a part of the business to be done. They all agree in stating that they could or do sell as cheap as Dr. Ryerson, and It would be the fault of any locality if it did not buy at the cheapest market. Let a good catalogue be drawn up, not by Dr. Ryerson alone, or, if possible, at all, but by a number of our best men — of books selected on the plan of the Grammar School text-books as being most " easily obtained," and let this be recommended as a guide for the choice of libraries. liCteach Municipality appoint a library committee from among the professional or educated men in the township, and let them choose what books they think best suited to their neighbour- hood, from this official list, or from others that may be furnished them by the trade. Let them buy where they like as cheaply as they can, and let the signature of their chairman entitle the seller to the bonus now kept by Dr. Ryerson in his own hands. Look at the admirable selection of Grammar School Trustees and County Boards of Instruction, and see if there be any difficulty in working this scheme wisely and well ; or look at the Library Committees or sub-committees chosen by Mechanics' Institutes to purchase books for them. This would prevent the intro- duction of any of the evils Dr. Ryerson deprecries — would let each district have free action and make it possible to e. The sum of the controversy is briefly this. We claim the Superintendent's entire and formal withdrawal from what we believe to be his unauthorized sales to Grammar and Private schools, and colleges, and the university, and from his equally unauthorised sales to individuals, whether connected with any such institutions or not. We claim this as a right even on the unbending ground of law, and no less so on every consideration alike of justice and expediency. On the same double grounds, and with equal force, we claim that he leave untouched the supply of the libraries of institutes and other general public societies. With the school book trade he has no right to interfere, as there is no need that he should. With any but the schools specified in the acts under whose authority be is, he has nothing whatever to do, and even with them the letter of the statute marks the legitimate bounds of his transactions. On the custom of the associa- tions I have mentioned his intrusion is equally unwarranted and unnecessary. We dispute his right to consider prices in either the one case or the other ; although *it is certain that we sell in quantities as cheaply as he, our charges have nothing to do with the matter. It is not for him, set as he is over public schools only, and even over them in a limited relation, to lay the details of the literary trade of the country on a bed of Procrustes of his own contriving, and force them to fit it. The profits of the retail trade are the livelihood of the Province. The rates of a larger traffic regulate themselves by competition. Over freedom to both it is the very province of the Government to watch, and it discharges the design of its institution then only aright when it shields the humblest of its citizens in the use and the fruit of his enterprize and industry. A pretty pass things would come to if every Head of a Department were to stretch his facilities to the utmost to attract to himself what he could of the commerce of the country! Buying and selling are sacred rights, and no St. Simonism, or dreams of Louis Blanc, which would make Government the general producer and trader, can make the world think otherwise. In the supply of maps, apparatus, and libraries for the Common and Gram- mar schools, the Depository has the law at its back. Fortified thus, we waive the question of right, and offer only that of expediency. If Dr. Ryerson's tables be correct, the value of these items supplied to such schools from his Establish- ment is hardly worth the cost of its maintenance, especially when we know that as good libraries could he furnished as cheaply, and the simple maps and iippa- ratus that are used, no less so, by the growth and competition of free trade, with- out its intervention. Were the Depository prices like those of the Privy Council in England, it would be different. But is it credible that a large demand could not secure an average deduction of twenty per cent., which is the outside of Dr. Ryerson's discount.-' In 1856 the expenses of the year, so lUr as given in the Library account, which allows £266 as salaries for the Dcponiiory — though $6,630 are charged in 1857 for those of the various assistants in the office — were \i\' 6 fi 17 V 6 £1,258*, tlie total value of sales and grants being apparently £5,82 Jf. The ex- penses were thus twenty-two p^r cent, at the least on the gross receipt?. Conld there bo any dilKculty in serving the Public Schools as cheaply by private enter- prise, when the deductions allowed would be so much clear gain.' Suppo-ing even only one half the per ccntage to be added to Dr. Ryerson's prices, it would make them only ten per cent, less than retail, which is exactly the discount allowed by Booksellers, even now, on the smallest purchase by Teachers. I have no disposi- tion to impute any thing dark or disgraceful, but 1 feel sure that we know only a part of the real cost of the Depository. Were it dispensed with, it is not unreasonable to believe that a large sum could be saved in salaries alone. Even on the lower ground of expediency, is it worth while to support an establishment which is an uaal loss to the country, while it is a great encroachment on trade ? But, even supposing, wliat I do not know to be the case, that these figures admit of some more favorable interpretation, other points rise to make the expe- diency of the system questionable. Dr. Ryerson repeatedly speaks of the saving effected by his Depository, and urges it as one of the great grounds on which he claims support for his plans. But, compared with the English prices (of the Privy Council Committee) his charges are very high. He tells us| that he buys at the same prices as they, and yet on forty-one maps there is an average difference of fifty per cent, against his catalogue, and on eleven school books (all I could find in the two lists) there is a difference agamst him of thirty-three per cent. Further, many of the school books are >°ry slightly reduced, and it is hard to understand how they can be said to be sold ' at cost," as is repeatedly stated by Dr. Ryerson. II In addition to the invoice quoted before I copy the following particulars from his catalogues : Page 53 (( (( Colenso's Arithmetic 4s. 6d. = Elements of Algebra for use of Schools Is. 6d. Key 2s. 6d. Euclid 6s. 6d. Geometrical Problems .... 3s. 6d. Page 41 — Arnold's Latin Prose Composition. .. 42 CoUot's, 5 different books, each Nor does the Library Catalogue seem any more Thus on Messrs. Carter's Books (172, 173, 177, and apparently only 20 per cent., which is always allowed wholesale by the Trade who deal in the books of that house. Routledge's Books (167-170, and passim) are in many cases sold much higher than the trade retails them, and generally at a merely nominal reduction. ?rice. $1.12^ Dep'y Price. .. $1.05. 0.37^ 0.62^ 1.62| 0.87i 1.00 0.56 0.35. 0.60. . 1.50. 0.85. 0.87. 0.60. intelligible passim) the as to prices, reduction is ♦ Report, 1866, p rf 2, Table T. f Text Books £1546 6 6 Libraries 1840 10 8 Maps, &c 2880 4 4 Sales to Normal School 106 6 9 £5823 1 3 —Report, 1856. t " Her Majesty's Government bad made arrangements to procure for the Schools, aided Ijr Parlia- mentary Grants in England, school maps and books at an average of forty-three per cent, below the ordi- nary Belling prices, and * « » 1 was enabled to render that arrangement available to Schools in Upper Cm&dii,"— -Report, 1852, 205. I " Every book in ■