h 
 
 REFORM IN THE EDUCATION OFFICE. 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 HON. OLIVER MOWAT, Q. C, M. R P., 
 
 Aitorney-General, &c., &c., 
 
 ON THE 
 
 GOVERNMENT BOOK DEPOSITORY 
 
 IN CONNECTION WITH THE 
 
 EDUCATION DEPAR 
 
 TORONTO: 
 
 PuBLISHr,D FOR THF BoOK TrADE BY 
 
 ADAM, STEVENSON & CO. WHOLESALE BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 X874. 
 

 H(ij 250040 
 
 ^o| , THE EDUCATIONAL DEPOSITORY vs. THE BOOK TRADE. 
 
 ^ Extracts from the Chief Superintendent's Annual Report for 1872. 
 
 : 'MMARY OF Objections to the Educational Depository. 
 
 The principal objections urged by Booksellers against the Depository art — 
 
 ist. That it is an unjust interference with "the trade." 
 
 2nd. That it creates a "monopoly" injurious to them. 
 
 3rd. That if the Legislature supplies its schools with books and mr.ps, it 
 ought, on the same principle, to supply other articles. 
 
 4th. That, fven if the arrangement was a wise one in the infancy of the 
 school systeri, when Booksellers were few, and facilities of supply did not exist, 
 it is indefen' ible now, when these reasons for its establishment no longer exist. 
 I 5th. That if "the trade" can (as it does) supply text bo^jks, it can also 
 
 ^ equally well supply library and prize books. 
 
 6th. That the Depository is an expensive burthen to che Province. 
 
 Reply to these Objections. 
 
 Although it is difficult to condense replies to general objections like the fore- 
 going, yet we endeavour to do so, as follows : — 
 
 1st. That the alleged interference of the Depository with the book trade is the 
 reverse of truth, as the "Trade Returns " will show. It has, on the contrary, 
 largely developed this trade, by sending books into every corner of the land. 
 The value of books (not maps and apparatus) imported into the Prov' ice of 
 Ontario in 1850, was 8141,700, and now about ?4io,ooo, while the average import 
 of books by the Department has not been ten per cent, of this Litter sum. 
 
 2nd. That the Educational Depository exists solely for. and in the intere^its 
 of the schools alone, and that it has never supplied private pr.rties with books, or 
 interfered with private trade in any way; and tiiat to abandon the principle of the 
 Educational Depository would be either to confer a " monopoly'" of hitjh prices 
 upon a few indi\idual Booksellers, or to throw wide open the door to the intro- 
 duction of all kinds of literature, the bad and the pernicious as well as the good, 
 as can be demonstrated by incontrovertible testimony and examples.* 
 
 3rd. That the principle of the Depository is recognized and acted upon with- 
 out question by the Imperial, Dominion and Provincip.l Governments, in their 
 Stationery Offices, Queen's P'r-nters. Post-Offices, Army and Navy Supply, etc. 
 
 4th. That if the Government, under the authority of the l.e^jislature, has a 
 right to give money ;ind provide trained teachers for the schools, it has also a right 
 to give books and maps to them, and there is not a shadow of difference in the 
 principle of the one gift and the other. 
 
 5th. That the entire textbook trade is in the hands of the Booksellers, as the 
 books are all named and known, and no departure from the list can take place ; 
 but that with the large and constant influx of new Looks, no such super^ ision 
 could take place over the supply by Booksellers of prizes and library books. 
 
 6th. That the Depository has fully paid its own way, and has not cost the 
 Province one cent for its management for twenty years. 
 
 • NoTF. —/^ur Reanona why "the Trade" is incompetent In take tJie place of the Depository 
 xn Supplying our SchooU. 
 
 To the statement that private BooUsel'-rs can supply the library wants of the schools as well, 
 or nearly as well, as the Edu««tion Depart, .cnt, our reply is four-fold — 
 
 1st. Th»t a Dr^rtnent, specially charged with the care ana oversight of the schools, being a 
 disinterested party, must be much better qualified to minister to their wants in these respects than 
 interested parties, whn, as a riUe, have no other object in view than co i mfixial gain. 
 
 2nd. That the experience of Educationists on this subject is, that booksellers, through their 
 agents and travellers throufhout the rural parts, huve, with some good books, disposed of immense 
 quantities of perniciois and worthlc.s book.«. 
 
 3rd. That if the ripht of supply is thrown open to booksellers indiscriminately, the bad as well 
 ■s the good will take advantage of the facilities thus a. forded for flooding the country with their own 
 publication* without check or restraint. To restrict the right of supply to one or mo-e publishers 
 would be to perpetuate the so-called " monopoly " in its most opp essive md otfenFi\o form. If a 
 change be made at ail, it must 'le in the direction of throwing open tl = right of supply, and giving 
 all vendors alike full permissio:! to circulate such books as they please— bad «s well as good. 
 
 4th. No private publishing houae. even in the C'ties, co-ild, wthou; having the '•monopoly' 
 of supply secured to it. be able to ket-p more tnan one-half of the variety of books, maps, cherts 
 •nd apparatus, which would be necessary for circulation in our 5,000 scnools. Nor could it supply 
 tbem at the low^prices at which they are now furnished to the trustees. 
 
 • ' '""^ "Wlft.i'fcit^iilfctear 
 
-,L.i^.. .- — '.j3lils.',c.-,i^. nfir'fif^i'- 
 
 THE EDUCATIONAL 
 BOOK DEPOSITORY. 
 
 A LETTE R 
 
 TO THE 
 
 HONORABLE OLIVER MOWAT, Q.C., M.P.P., 
 Attorney-General, Sic. 
 
 Sib. 
 
 In addition to the points I had the honour of uro^ing upon 
 you at our late interview, I think it well that I should commit 
 to writing a statement of my objections to the maintenance, at 
 the public expense, of the Bookselling Department in the 
 Education Office. Though personally loth to renew the con- 
 troversy on this subject, I should be false to the interest I 
 profess to feel in the welfare of the native book trade, to the 
 development of which my best years have been devoted, if I 
 hesitated to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by 
 your promised legislation to state my views in some detail. 
 
 I shall be glad. Sir, if. in the discussion of the subject, I 
 succeed in removing existing misapprehensions regarding the 
 nature and practical working of the Book Bureau. A plain 
 statement of the facts of the ease, however, ungarnished by 
 the fallacious apologies of interested officials, will not only 
 relieve the legitimate trade of the imputations cast upon it, 
 but conclusively establish the truth of my objections upon the 
 broader ground of public convenience and utility. 
 
 Before entering upon the subject, I desire to state, onoe for Personal, 
 all, that in objecting to the continuance of the Depository, 
 which, for over twenty years, has been a standing menace to 
 the book trade of the country, I have no desire to speak other- 
 wise than with respect of the reverend gentleman at the head 
 of the Department. In common witl men of all parties, I 
 !ully appreciate the valuable services Dr. Ryerscii Las rendered 
 io the cause of popular education in the Province ; and 
 although the circumstances of a young country may have lent 
 »ome countenance to the original establishment of the institu- 
 
 .yn-)!» ♦•-!• -,;;.«»,■ I.. ,.■•;,.••;,., i f/l':'- ,ft!f.i (f*irj3»6i«*(l&«^-2!M.lft«*;#*IW*i- Ml 
 
The Fduca- 
 tion Drpart- 
 ment. 
 
 Its Accounts 
 Unaudited. 
 
 The Council 
 of' Public 
 Instruction. 
 
 Text Books. 
 
 tion to Viicli lialir oxcrption, ihr Cliitf Snporintcr.dorit need not 
 be lield aMs\vt'in!)le for its contiircance loii.^ iiftc^- it lias ceased 
 to be of public bviietit, much less for tlie tia^raiit abnscs-not to 
 say corriiptioi. — which l.avecKpt into its manafjjenicnt. For- 
 tunately, the Chief Supirintciidcnt, maiy years aoo, formally 
 assij;nt'd the (UfLiiCf of the buok-store to the men who have 
 immediate control of its affairs ; thoujih it is of course the 
 policy of those who protit, by t!ir maintenance of the monopoly 
 t ) hide thems.'lves behind th ,' head of the D.'partnient and the 
 Council of Public Instruction. 
 
 The particular suliji ct of this letter can hardly oe dis- 
 cussed to alvanta^e without !.:;lancin^' briefly at the anomalous 
 system adopted in the general conduct of the E lucation Ollice. 
 Here, of course, the Chief Supinnnteiub nt is rv'sponsible, to this 
 extent at bast — that he has not advised th • r -mo lellinj; t)f 
 the entire Department, in accordance with the p )licy of 
 Administrative reform which now prevails in all otlnn- de[)art- 
 ments of the State. The Education Ollice is the only bra icli 
 of the public s .rvice which enjioys immunity from Old ial or 
 Parliamentary inspection. Its accounts are submitte<l to no 
 prop r iiudit. As forwarded to the Treasurer's D.partnnnt, 
 they are so manipulated as to make it impossible for the Com- 
 mittee of Piiblic Accounts, the Proviricial Audit(n\ or any other 
 nnm or body of men, not in possession of th ■ secrets of the 
 Ollice, to Verify or dispute them. 
 
 The (council of P(d)iie Instruction, founded from the iirst on 
 a falsi' basis, is practically as extinct as the En.u;lish Privy 
 Council Comtuittee on Education. It is a convenimt screen for 
 Ofticials, and its members are rewarded at times r)r th nr com- 
 plaisance with sonui by no means valueless crumbs which fall 
 from the Olticial table; l)ut f )r any worthy purp )se it is worse 
 than useless. No record of its proceedinj^'s is i)ublished ; it 
 is even uncertain how otten a quorum is f;ot to;]fether : ami 
 nobody knows how far all, or indeed any, of its m mb^-rs can 
 be held responsible for the regulations promuUated in its 
 name. 
 
 In the maUer of Text B loks. that uniformity which is. no 
 doubr, d.'siialde, within ci rtain limits, is male th.i pretext for 
 maintaininsT a number ( f books, luisuitaMe, either because 
 better autl more recent works have been piiblisl)(>d, or because 
 thoy are mere compilations — the work of OHicials cf the 
 Department — and for the most part wort lib ss, exce'it us 
 a supplementory source of income to the writers them- 
 selvej. Such valuable series of E lucatioi;al Works as those 
 from the British publishin;; houses of Micniillan, Lon<^- 
 man, Uivinjrton, Cassell, Nelson and Collins, ar<' exchuled, so 
 that the inf -rior and untrustworthy producii )ns of Olli-ials may 
 be forced upon the Schools, ff a publislu'r, di'sirous of en- 
 couraging native ubilily, incurb the e.\pt.use and risk of X3ub- 
 
. . ,Miit,tn'lti 
 
 lishing a School Book which even, the Department approves, 
 the owner of the copyright, whether author or puhiislier, 
 must surrender it to the Department before he can hope 
 to insure its adoption.* One of the Chief Officials, enjoying 
 the special favour of the Council, actually sold his copy- 
 rights to a publisher for a good round sum, but when the 
 caprice or intrigues of those who move the wheels of this 
 machine originated the order for the unconditional sacrifice of 
 their educational property, the same publisher was made 
 to surrender the right he had acquired, virtually, to the 
 Official from whom he had made the purchase. Unwarrantable 
 and unseemly as are such regulations of the Council, I could 
 point to others equally arbitrary and questionable in their 
 character ; and in this connection I trust it will not ba con- 
 sidered unfair to recall to your attention the facts detailed in 
 the letter of the Hon. Edward Blake (,then Premier) to the 
 Chief Superintendent. + The truth seems to be that the selection 
 of the Text Books for the Province is in the hands of a " ring," 
 composed of Departmental Officials and such publishers as are 
 constrained to submit to the unjust demands of the Education 
 Office. 
 
 I have stated that it is impossible to obtain satisfactory 
 information regarding the accounts of the Department in 
 general, and the Book-shop in particular. There i^ one excep- 
 tion which ought not to be overlooked. I refer to the expendi- 
 ture under the head " Journal of Education." Here, at any 
 rate, we have some partial evidence of the reckless waste of 
 public money, characteristic of this irresponsible bureau. 
 
 The figures speak for themselves : 
 
 To sscure au. 
 thorization of 
 native tc . - 
 books, o./ i :r 
 of copyright 
 required to 
 cede his righ 
 absolutely to 
 Council of 
 Public In- 
 struction. 
 
 Journal of 
 Education. 
 
 Expenditure , 
 Receipts , 
 
 1870. 
 Si, 800 00 
 23 76 
 
 1871. 1872. 
 12,370 59 1 $2,508 72 
 180 56 ! 264 93 
 
 TOTAL. 
 $6,679 31 
 469 25 
 
 To state the matter shortly, the receipts for the last three 
 years amount to little more than one-fourteenth of tbe expendi- 
 ture. Of the latter, the largest item is, of course, for printing, 
 for which I presume full value is received ; but what justifica- Useless Ex- 
 tion is there for the charge of $400 per annum, paid as t-ditor to penditur* 
 an official who already receives a liberal salary as Deputy Head "^°" "' 
 of the Department, to say nothing of other excra pickings at 
 the public expense ? Of comrse, the apology is that the Journal 
 is not intended to be a paying enterprise; it is publiehed 
 
 ■■'"-"■ " ■ ■ ' ' ' "" ~ * - til » ■ 1 11 ^ 
 
 • The Copyright regulations here criticised may be found in the Annual f 
 Report of the Chief Superintendent of 1868, p. 10. i 
 
 tSee Sessional Papers for 1873. No. 72, quoted in the article on "School 
 AdministratioQ in Ontario," in the December number of Tht Canadian Monthly, 
 
 ttm tfva B^r. 
 
8 
 
 for the instruction of teachers and trustees, and cannot be 
 expected to be remunerative. This would certainly be a 
 plausible, if not a satisfactory, reason for tho expenditure, if 
 the Journal adequately fulfilled its purpose. You have only, 
 sir, to take up at random any number of it to satisfy your- 
 self that its publication, as at present conducted, involves a 
 wanton sacrifice of public money. "Where it is not a matter 
 of paste and scissors it is nothing but a periodical defence of 
 the Department, or a record of its arbitrary decisions. 
 
 Newspaper editors throw it under the table as worthless, 
 and members of the Legislature have frequently stated on the 
 floor of th ' House, the low estimation in which it is held by 
 teachers, i>nd how piles of it are to be found littering the Post 
 offices of the country. If instead of the " thing of shreds and 
 patches "which now usurps the name, the Journal of Educaiicn 
 What the were a fitting exponent of current thought on its great subject; if 
 Journal ought j^ contained the results of practical experience in tuition ; if it 
 gave space to the suggestions of Canadian teachers, without 
 regard to the views despotically enforced by the Department ; 
 if it detailed the proceedings of the Council, and threw some 
 light upon the dark places of Departmental finance, — if, in 
 short, it were anything but the work of a well-paid ofiicer, who 
 has so many profitable irons in the fire that he can do no 
 more than eke out its departmental ukases with stale clippings 
 from the last month's daily press, no objection would be made 
 for any reasonable difference between its receipts and expendi- 
 ture. As it is, it is a notable proof of what we shall have to 
 contend for, with less light to guide us, in the sequel — that 
 everything connected with the Department ought to be sub- 
 mitted immediately to searching scrutiny. 
 
 Another and equally serious source of leakage, in connec- 
 Ths Museum tion with the Department, presents itself in the "Museum," 
 which seems, from the painfully uniform expenditure upon it, 
 through a long series of years, to be an especial object of solici- 
 tude and interest to those in charge. "Withcut dissecting its 
 affairs in any detail, let me simply ask what value the public 
 receives for the annual expenditure of nearly $4,000 upon it '? 
 From the loud and widely expressed dissatisfaction of those who 
 have had transactions at the Depository, it would seem that the 
 whole establishment has deteriorated into an antiquated yet 
 costly museum — a sort of locker for the "condemned stores" of 
 the public service. Whatever its usefulness may be, or how- 
 ever its maintenance may contribute to the pastime of stray 
 sight-seers, with the light of the public accounts upon it, this 
 much maybe gleaned, that not one-half oi the annual appro- 
 priation can remain a permanent contribution to its treasures, 
 after the perennial tinkering is done by the versatile experts of 
 the Department. 
 
 ■■ r i i ffiy^ ' iH « H> -«* » ll ■|l ll.■ . ' « ^_l . ^^ » M ii / y »i j> ,y i iiWii'^i«f 
 
I have introduced these matters as bearing immediately 
 upon the particular branch of the Department, properly the 
 subject of this letter. They make (>ut a prima facie case against 
 the entire institution, on the charj:;es of extravagance and inca- 
 pacity. The defenders of the Depository claim that it is a 
 "pa^'ing cuucern"; if so, it is an exception to 'the general 
 system of management in the Department, and the burden of 
 proof rests upon them. The required evidence is not forth- 
 coming, for the simple reason, as I think I can prove, that it 
 has no existence. 
 
 Like other monopolists, the interested defenders of the 
 Depository are determined to die hard. They have issued — 
 it need hardly be said at the public expense — a pamphlet, of 
 over sixty pages, full of false assumptions and vain i :eration. 
 The main points are these : — 
 
 1. That the clerks of the Depository, being intellectually 
 and m^orally superior to booksellers, school trustees, teachers, 
 and the great bulk of the community, ought to bj the sole 
 judges of what books are suitable for liuraries and prizes. If 
 the moral censorship were once relaxed, and the book-shop 
 closed, the Province would " throw wide open the door to the 
 introduction of all kinds of literature — the bad and pernicious 
 as well as the good." To be worth anything, this paternal 
 system of administration ought to be extended so as to protect 
 the people at large from adulterated goo ^s by setting up bakeries, 
 groceries, and dairies of .its own ; it ought to protect them from 
 "pernicious literature" by establishing a government licensing 
 office, without whose stamp no book could be issued ; it ought 
 to educate their taste, as a writer of France — the great strong- 
 hold of centralization — suggjsts, by supplying good music and 
 excluding the bad ;* might it not with equal force claim a 
 
 The Depoii- 
 tory. 
 
 Pleas on 
 behalf. 
 
 Its 
 
 I. The Moral 
 
 Censorship 
 
 claimed. 
 
 Extension of 
 the Paternal 
 Principle. 
 
 * How far the present rulers of France are prepared to carry the system, 
 upon which alone the Depository can be justified, will be seen from the provisi- 
 sions of a Bill introduced by M. Depeyrc, President McMahon's Minister of 
 Justice. I quote from the Pali, Mall Gazette : — "This Bill will enact that no 
 one shall be allowed to keen a bookseller's shop without having obtained either a 
 patent, which is to be procured from the Minister of the Interior, ur an authoriza- 
 tion from the prefect of his department. The applicant must, in addition, state 
 the name of the place where he intends to 'exercise his calling, produce a register 
 of his birth to prove that he is more than twenty-one years of age, and furnish a 
 certificate to the effect that his moral conduct is beyond reproach, and that he is 
 able to read and write. Nor is this all. After he has satisfied the "authorities" 
 that he is not a returned convict, or worse, he will only be permitted to sell such 
 works as have received the official stamp, together with school books and the 
 periodicals which are allowed to circulate in the streets and kiosques. For selling 
 works not included in this category, he will be liable to a fine varying from a 
 hundred to a thousand francs, and to a term of imprisonment of not les'i than a 
 fortnight or more than a twelvemonth. It is scarcely possible to believe that 
 even in the present Assembly a majority will be found to support so Draconian a 
 measure; but if it should become law the friends of "moral order" will have 
 added yet another to the long list of blunders which it will be the first business of 
 the next Assembly to undo." The Due de Broglie and his Government are, at 
 least, consistent in the application of Legitimist traditions— which is more thai) 
 can be affirmed of the Ontario Department of Education, 
 
 maoinHHii. 
 
8 
 
 Intr^lectual 
 judgment of 
 the Deposi- 
 tory. 
 
 How it pub- 
 lishes lists of 
 the most 
 recent works. 
 
 Irrelevant 
 
 opinions 
 
 quoted. 
 
 moral censorship of the press ? Wlio knows what marvellous 
 chanp'es might come over our daily new>:papers if no article 
 could issue till it had passed this critical bureau of public 
 morals and Canadian letteis ! 
 
 If the principle be pound, there oupiht to be no limit to its 
 application. , If booksellers, whose morality is, at least, on a 
 level with that of their neighbours, and if school trustees and 
 teachers, who are presumably men cf hones' and pure inten- 
 tions and of ordinary mental capacity, imperil their reputations 
 by "corrupting the youth;" what must be the general tone of 
 Canadian society ? If whole classes have entered into a con 
 spiracy to injure their neighbours, is it not the obvious duty of 
 our rulers to treat the entire population as children, to be 
 protected in a fatherly manner '"om ignorance, folly and 
 vice ? 
 
 2. The Depository is, it appears, the sole means by which 
 "a sound and varied literature" can be disseminated. The 
 ofiicials — for it is absurd to speak of the Council as performing 
 the duty, — alone possess adequate knowledge united, of course, 
 with inflexible moral purpose, for the accomplishment of the 
 work. If the legitimate dealers in books were permitted to 
 share in the business, the clerks, already overwhelmed with 
 their proper work, to say nothing of highly remunerative occu- 
 pations they provide for themselves, would be burdened with 
 the duty of making out a new catalogue every two or three 
 months. This, of course, would be a hardship, from the 
 official point of view; because, being in the ordinary routine, 
 it could net figure in the contingencies. But they manage 
 matters more comfortably at present. The last catalogue of 
 library and prize books issued by the Department for the 
 guidance of trustees and others, bears the date of 18G8. So 
 that, for a period of over five years, in an age of unprecedented 
 mental activity, the Department has been fast asleep. 
 
 I have not the temerity. Sir, to contrast with this " masterly 
 inaction " the doings of the legitimate book-trade of the country 
 during this period, and in departments more varied and impor- 
 tant than are ever dreamt of in the Depository; but I may be 
 permitted to say that it is within the sphere of probability 
 that the 1868 list itself might not have made its appearance, but 
 for the secret auction sale at Montreal which cleared away the 
 rubbish that had encumbered the shelves of the Depository for 
 years. Of this furtive auction sale, and the loss to the public 
 resulting from bad business management and personal irres- 
 ponsibility, I do not think, Sir, you will find any record in the 
 Public Accounts. 
 
 3. A floiurish of trumpets is, of course, made over a mass of 
 letters from the United States and from the School Inspectors 
 of Oniario, the collection and publication of which, at the pub- 
 lic expense, with other like defensive matter, should make every 
 

 
 tax-payer in the country wince. Trom this ^)Ook of " Ilome 
 and Foi-cigii correspondence," if you have leisure to examine it, 
 you will karii little, Sir, t'aat bt-ars upon the quesLi m. So far as 
 the American letters go, they merely tend to support the view that 
 there oucjht to be some supervision exercised over the choice of 
 books — nei that the Government ouglit to maintain a book-shop. 
 The letters of the Inspectors relatj to the maintenance of the 
 100 per cent, grant, of which they unanimously approve. No 
 support is given to the bcok-shop at all — and two of them, more 
 outspoken than their colleagues, the Jlev. James Porter, of 
 Toronto, i -., o p. 53) and Dr. Comfort, of St. Catharines, (p. Gl,) 
 have had the moral courage to denounce the entire system. There Dea'.ings with 
 is a richness about the reply to the latter gentleman character- the insi '•-.- 
 istic of the Department ; 1 beg to call your attention specially to ^°"- 
 it. The fact is. Sir, that the circular sent to the Inspectors 
 was intended to operate like a "first warning" to the Jr'rench 
 journnis, to enforce obedience to bureaucratic demands, cither 
 by silence on vtxed questions, or by uiiouditioral support of 
 equivocal measures. To their honour be it siul, many of the 
 Inspectors preferred the form.er alternative. Two of them, in 
 . their i'mocence, frankly gave their opi'iious in fail, one of whom 
 the Department rebukes in the words of the reply above referred 
 to: — "The list was not sent to you for that purpose." Dr. 
 Comfort supposed that the circular was issued to obtain infor- 
 mation ; he was not so wise as some cf his brethren whom the 
 Department addressed again and iij:ain without effect — and who 
 only satisfied its importunhy by evading the irksome task set 
 before them. 
 
 Two additional pleos offered by the Department may be interference 
 taken together, because they are mutually destructive, the one with Trade, 
 of the other. In the first place we are informed that the 
 "alleged interference with the book trade is the reverse of the 
 truth, as the Trade Eeturns shoM." A few lines further on, the 
 writer admits the "interference " and attempts to justify it on 
 the grouiid, that were it not for the Bureau, the booksellers 
 would have a " monopoly of high prices " — in other words, that 
 the trade would gain some portion of the public money which 
 now goes into the pockets of official.^, or is otherwise wasted on 
 the Depository. The distinction attempted to be drawn between 
 " private " and public trade is untinable, A business con- 
 ducted with advantage to the public by individuals, is, in all its 
 branches ' private " to this extent — that Government inter- 
 ference, or competition with it, is a wanton and unjustifiable 
 violation of private rights. 
 
 Let me for the sake of argument admit the charge constantly The "self 
 reiterated agcinst booksellers of "selfish" aims and "interested" l^'"* 
 motives in tb-'ir attacks upon the Depository; and what does it 
 amount to after all ? If an injustice is done them by the 
 existence of this Departmental trading concern, have they not a 
 
 I fish' 
 
I'TT'Tll. ~T^^| — ^^^'^^^^^^^"^^T'^5^ 
 
 10 
 
 right to expect the sympathy of the public, when they protest 
 against its continuance '} Has any one of the large class of 
 legal, political, and economical grievances, redvcsied during the 
 present century, been exposed to public indignation otherwise 
 than by the representations of what are called "interested 
 parties "? Have not these parties been invariably accused of 
 *' selfishness," and has not the charge been successfully retorted 
 upon monopolists, official oi- otherwise ? 
 
 Nav further, has it not been clearlv demonstrated, after the 
 • , triumph of the injured class, that the people at large have 
 proved by far the greatest gainers from the removal of any 
 obstacle to freedom of thought or action "? The selfish men 
 . concerned are those who, contrary to the public interest, desire 
 , the continuance of an institution maintained at the public 
 expense — solely for their own advantage. 
 Imperial an 5, It is claimed that the Stationery Office, the Queen's Print- 
 
 precedents ^^^ Offices, the Army and Navy Supply, and the Telegraph 
 adduced. System in England, exist upon the same principle as that 
 
 which justifies the Depository. It seems scarcely necessary to 
 insist that, in every case, the analogy is defective. As the 
 argument, however, is a favourite one with the ofiicials of the 
 Depository, and one upon which much stress is laid, I shall 
 here reply to it at more length than I should otherwise have 
 deemed necessary, though in doing so, I cover giuund over 
 which I have already gone in a trade organ published by my 
 Firm. 
 Irrelevant in To begin with, the Stationery and Queen's Printing Offices 
 
 every case. .^^q supplied by Contract icith the trade, and are only under 
 Government for ther purpose of audit — in both of which respects 
 they differ from the Amateur Book-shop. The apologist for the 
 latter asserts that the maps, &c. are obtained by "tender " — a 
 statement which has no justification, except, bj" a disingenuous 
 application of the word. You have only to refer to the Public 
 Accounts, Sir, to satisfj* yourself that no advertisement for 
 tenders is ever issued, and that the parties who take upon 
 themselves the duties of constructing and reconstructing maps, 
 colouring and mounting them, are, not troubled by the fear of 
 successful competition. 
 V V The Post Office exists on gi'ounds of public convenience 
 
 and security, and does not interfere with any branch (jf trade. 
 The Army and Navy supply of clothing, arras, &c., is so 
 gigantic in its proportions, that nothing short of a huge cor- 
 poration could undertake the task satisfactorily. There are 
 many reasons why the Government should choose the less of 
 two evils, by taking the matter into its own hands. This step 
 is not an interference with the legitimate clothing trade at all ; 
 but merely a dernier resort forced upon the War Department by 
 the jobbery of large contractors. Where individual merchants 
 can perform the work as well or better, the Imperial Govern- 
 
 ^^^^^^^ii_ 
 
« T* »i H i TH > a irt fc4 i"'!. **!* I.. V- * U w -ipiifc I 'O Mi^iiiii^Wia^^i l U l Miia g i wlilarn - ii »< i l <i i« . i 
 
 11 . 
 
 ment acts uoon the sound principle of non-interference. It Non-interfer- 
 does not coripcl the officers to purchase nniforms from a possi'bk,*the 
 Government siop-shop which can '"undersell" the army tailor ruling princi- 
 only Ijy drawin;.; upjMi the Treasury; and although a large sum P^^- 
 is annually voted for library purposes in both branches of the 
 service, there is no Government book concern. Moreover, the 
 Under-Secretary for War does not make perquisites in the ■; 
 
 Supply Department by f-uttiug out coats ; nor do any of his 
 Ruborilinatt'b tic^are in the contingencies as enga.ged in the 
 s«^wing on of regim ii i! 'y ittons. The work, after all, is done 
 by tailors, and not by clerks. The clothing establishment is 
 avowedly an experiment and. to judge from the Army Estimates, 
 a very costly and unsatisf:ictory one, Whether it will ulti- 
 mately prove a failure or not is a matter of "selfish "' interest 
 to the British tax-payer: in either case it was not established on 
 the •'p'iueiple of the Depository." The Telegraph Purchase is * 
 
 justified upon the same general ground as the Post Office, with 
 the additional reason that in case of invasion or otuci' national 
 emergency, it is important that so powerful an agency should 
 be in the hands of the Government. Here again the parallel 
 fails ; and even if it were r^devant, the monopolists should not 
 cimeeal the fact that the tirst year of Departmental Tdograph 
 Management was rendered memorable chiefly by the misappro- 
 priation of funds to the amount of tvvo millions sterling ! 
 
 You will not fail to have observed, Sir, that although the 
 Imperial Government buys or contracts, or even manufactures, ^.^ 
 it does not sell, its stationery and printing are contracted for Government 
 ifitJi tlie trades for the use of those in their emplo\- and for no does not 
 others. Even the Clothing Establishment, althougli it provides ihe'Trad^'s" 
 a prescribed style and quality of dress, under proper super- 
 vision, only furnishes the uniform to those in its pay — those, 
 in fact, who receive their clothing as part payment of wages. \ 
 
 In short, tlie English system wants entirely the essential 
 characteristics of the Depository system, which comprise, 
 amongst other things, an entire absence of supervision, an 
 entire impunity for official peculation, and entire ignorance of 
 the trade in which they are professedly engaged. 
 
 If the Depository conlimcl its operation to the supply of The Deposi- 
 purely professional works for the information of teachers, tliere tory 'iocs not 
 would still ])e f^round for complaint, because of the limited in- confit itself 
 formation regardin',' books which is a marked feature of the 
 Department. Teachwrs themselves prefer to deal with th(! 
 bookseller in tleir iiLighbourhood, without any fear that he 
 would prefer "commercial gain " to an honest recommendation 
 of th(! best books on scholastic work ; because they know 
 that the bookseller's business is in a great degree «lepen- 
 dent upon the extent of his knowledge of books, and upon 
 his honesty in recommending the best and most suitable to the 
 wants of his customer. The analogies suggested by the De« 
 
12 
 
 A better 
 parallel sug- 
 gested. 
 
 Objections to 
 t'.ie Deposi- 
 tory. 
 
 I. Its antag- 
 onism to the 
 maxims of 
 Political 
 Economy, 
 
 partment fail from every point of view. They profess, by 
 dipping their hands into the public funds, not only to supply 
 their employees proper with the necessary equipment for the 
 duty the State pays them to perform, but to provide also, in 
 addition to School Libraries, for " Free Public Lending 
 Libraries," for " a library for any Public Institution, for the 
 use of the inmates ; or in the Countv Jail, for the use of the 
 prisoners." To which may be 'added Sunday School and 
 Church Lihraries, for the supply of which they also put forth a 
 deceptive bid. Perhaps they will reconcile the statement that 
 they only supply the schools for which they provide teachers, 
 with the fact that they endeavour to intrude with a bribe upon 
 institutions unconnected with Public or High Schools. 
 
 It is easy to furnish the parallel they have vainly sought in 
 Provincial and Imperial cstablishmejits. Let us suppose that 
 the Law Society, the Medical Board or the Medical Schools 
 were to take up the ground that, havinjif trained those who 
 fill the ranks of their respective professions, they ought to 
 supply every lawyer and every doctor with the soundest and 
 most recent learning on technical subjects ; and further to ofi'er 
 them inducements — from the public funds — to make purchases 
 from a law or medical book depository — what would the prof.-s- 
 sions and the public say to it ? We must cover the ground by 
 the further supposition that, not content wit!i asserting this 
 claim, these Institutions desired to monopolire likewise the 
 book-purchases of the clients and patients of those they had 
 licensed to practice in law and medicine. This is, of course, a 
 reditctio ad absurd Kin ; but if you consider that the Depository 
 does not confine its trading to its own otlicials, even iucludiug 
 the teachers, but stretches it so far as to embrace all the 
 ratepayers and their children, whenever they are united for a 
 general municipal purpose, I think you will admit that the 
 parallel is complete. 
 
 From a consideration of the pleas offered in defence of the 
 Depository, I proceed to the positive side of the argument. 
 The objections I propose to urge upon your attention will 
 naturally arrange themselves under two heads— the economieal, 
 strictly so called, and the commercial aspects of the subject. 
 
 It seems scarcely necessary to insist at any leni^'th upon the 
 fact that "the principle of the Depository" is diametrically 
 opposed to the maxims of Political Ficonomy. The one favours 
 the obsolete paternal system ; the other reprobiites and has 
 well nigh destroyed it. The one defends (ithcial " meddling and 
 muddling"; the other plants itself upo' the sound principle of 
 non-interference. The one would cri})pie individual enterprise 
 by trading with pu])]ic money ; the other woidd h ave it to the 
 free play of demand and supply. The one preaches nnMiopoly, 
 the other open competitioji. At all points ther<' is uncom- 
 promising antagonism. From Adam Smith to John Stuart 
 
1 
 
 13 
 
 Mill, tie economists are unanimously in favour of the vie-w ^or Avthonticson 
 which I am contending. A few quotations on the subject will q^J-o^'j!'^^'^* 
 therefore suffice. _j 
 
 (a.) The general principle of non-interference : — McCulloch. 
 
 "It cannot, however, be too strongly or too often iniprersed upon those 
 " in authority, that non-interference ought to be the leading principle of 
 " their policy, and interference the exception only ; that, in jiil ordinary 
 "cases, individuals should be left to shape their conduct according to their 
 " own jadginent and dis^cretion ; and that no interference sliould ever be 
 " made on any speculative or doulitful grounds, luit only when its necessity 
 " is apparent, or whttn it can be clearly made out that it will be productive of 
 •' public advantigo. The maxim p, s trap guuvci-ner should never be absent 
 " from the recollection of legislators or ministers. Whenever they set to 
 " regnlatini', they are treading a path encompassed with difficulties ; arid Darj^ers of 
 *' while they advance with extreiMe caution, they should be ready to stop the Government 
 " moment they do nut see tiie way clearly before thern and are not urjjently reg-.lation or 
 *' impelled, by a sense of public duty, to go forward." — R. G. McCulloch. " interi'erence. 
 
 (&.) The folly of Government production and trading : — j p ^ay. 
 
 " A Government must act by deputy, by the inUrmediate agency of a set of 
 
 " people, whose interest is in di.-ect opposition to its ovvn ; and tliey will, of The public 
 
 "course, attend to their own in preference. If it be so circumstanced a.s to always theat- 
 
 " be invariably cheated in its bargains, there is no need to niultiiily the ^d when 
 
 " opportunities of fraud by engaging itself in production and adventure ; Government 
 
 "that is to say, eiubarkuig in concerns that must infinitely mnltiply the ^"•^^^•^^ '" 
 " occiisions of bargaining with individuals.'" — jean Baptiste Say. ' ^ '"^" 
 
 f (c.) General Economical objections: — j.s. Mill. 
 
 " The uri'at majority of things are worse done by the ii:tervention of , 
 " (Toverniufut, ih:iii the individuals most interested in the matter would do 
 
 " them, or cause them to be done, if left to themselves. The grounds of this ^^^ people 
 
 " truth are expressed with ttderable exactness in the popidar dictum, that '"^^'■'^'^'cd arc 
 
 " people understand their own business and their own interest.s better, and ^udce'^^'f 
 
 " care for ih-ni more, than the Government does, or can be expected to do. {hejj. ^ ° 
 
 " This nuixim holds good tliroii^hout the greatest part of the bn>iiiiss of life, business 
 " and wherever it is true we ought to condemn every kind of Government ' 
 
 " interventii n that conflicts with it. The inferioiity of Government agencv. . 
 
 " for exTMiplo. in any nf the common operations of industry or commerce, "i.s Government 
 
 " proved by th<' fact, that it is hardly ever able to maintain itself in equal com- cannot com* 
 
 ''petition u'itJi indiiidual 'Agency, where the individuals possess the requisite pete on equal 
 
 " degree of industrial enterprise and can command the necessary assemblage of }^^^^. ^^'''^ 
 
 "means. It is evident that Government, by excluding or even supeistding '"'I'^'dual 
 
 " individual agency, either Rukstitutes a less qualified instrumentality for one ^S^ncy. 
 " better rjualitied, or at any rate substitutes its own mode of accomplishing 
 
 " the wnrU, for all the va iety of modes whii h would be tried by a mimber of Reason. 
 
 " equally (pialilied persons aiming at the same end ; a competition by many Competition 
 
 "degrees more propitious to improvement than any uniformity of system." better than 
 — jf. S. Mill. " niiormity. 
 
 Ptissing from the economists let me mention the names of TheBishopof 
 the Lord Bisliop of of Manchestfr,* Air. Goldwiu Smith, and Manchcst. r, 
 
 — _ Mr. Gcldwin 
 
 * With their usual p*fnrAanr for wriggling out of a difficulty, the officials attempt Smith, 
 to break the furce u( ihc Rev. Mr. Porter's reference tr) Bishop Eraser's denuncia- 
 tion of the Depository* by arguing that " Dr P'rascr was entirely mistaken in sup- 
 
 • See page 5+ of " Opinions of Experient-cd Educationists," issued by the Department. 
 
 ; 
 
 
Mr. Herbert 
 Spencer. 
 
 Fallncy re- 
 garding the 
 power and 
 functions of 
 Government. 
 
 The Depo^i- 
 tory an em- 
 bodiment of 
 the fallacy. 
 
 The Book- 
 trade 
 
 " protected " 
 against. 
 
 2. The busi- 
 ness view of 
 the subject. 
 
 How not to 
 do it. 
 
 14 
 
 Mr. Herbert Spencer — all of whom have spoken with equal 
 emphasis on the subject. I cannot resist the temptation to 
 quote Mr. Spencer's words : — 
 
 " Tn tliose modes of thought we have been contemplating, tliere is a lacit 
 " supposition that a Government moulded by themselves, Ims some efficiency 
 "beyond that naturally possessed by a certain group of citizens. Tiiie. if 
 " yon ask them, they may not deliberately assert thnt a legi-slativo and adiuiii- 
 " istrative apparatus can exert power, either mentid or material, be/ond the 
 " piiwer proceeding from the nation itself. They are compelled to admit, 
 " when cross examined, that the energies moving a governmental machine 
 " are energies which svorjd cease were ciMzens to cease working and furni.sh- 
 " ing the suppli-s. But nevertheless, their projects imply an nnex])res.sed 
 " belief in some store of force tliat is not meastired by taxes. Wlien there 
 " arists the question — Why does not Government do this for us? there is not 
 " the accompanying thouuLt — Why does not Government put its hands ir 
 '• nur jiockets, and. with the proceeds, pay 'ifficials to do this, instead of leavinir 
 " us to do it ourselves ? Vjut the accompanying thought is — Why does not 
 " Government, out of its inexhanstable resources, yield us this benefit?" 
 — The study of Sociology, c. I. 
 
 The Depository is an attempt to carry the fallacy which Mr. 
 Spencer exposes into active operation ; for it gives a favourable 
 answer to the requests of the ignorant or unreflectino. One 
 more point, Sir, and i ier^ve this branch of the sul)ject. What- 
 ever may be thought of the demand for protection to native 
 industry, there is one principle wliicli no one will dispute — that 
 Government ought not to discriminate against any native enter- 
 prise. Yet that is exactly what it does, so long as the Deposi- 
 tory is maintained, so that at present the Canadian Book-trade 
 enjoys the expensive luxury of being the only branch of busi- 
 ue.is which the people are " protected against." Here only is 
 individual energy directly discouraged by the expenditure of 
 pubhc money. Do you think. Sir, we have no cause of com- 
 plaint ? 
 
 I pass now to the facts connected with the business aspect of 
 the question. If any one acquainted with public institutions, 
 were asked iov the best Canadian illustration of that great prin- 
 ciple of the Circumlocution Oftice — *'How nut to do it," he would 
 single out the Depository without a moment's hesitation. If a 
 young man about to enter upon a mercantile life desires to know 
 how business ought ijof to be conducted, he should be referred 
 to the same Institution. To use the words of Juiiius, it may be 
 ottered as a " negative instruction" to the commercial \v'orld — 
 *' not a pattern to imitate, but an example to deter." The 
 Depository is, in short, a notable illustration of the truth 
 
 posing that the Canadian system was that which had been adopted by the English 
 Privy Council Committee." If so, the mistake was a fortunate one for the 
 Department ; for had he known ihe real character of the Depository, His Lord- 
 ship would have used much stronger language. It is sufficient lor the purpose 
 that the Imper'al Government having abandoned a vicious system, has not re- 
 turned to it in the aggravated form which prevails here. It is the principle and 
 not the form which has been condemned. 
 
 ,Ml^jimmliljmimiu^^ 
 
 miii 
 

 u 
 
 insisted on by the economists — that when government depart- The Deposi- 
 ments transcend their proper functions, and undertake work for ^'^^' ^'^'^'^ ^^ , 
 which they are untitted, the inevitable resul+s are — inefiieiency, standard, 
 extravagance, and puhlic loss. There are, o. course, exceptions 
 to most general rules, and the officials rlaim that the bo<jk- 
 bureau is one of these. They even protest their Avillingnesn to 
 be judged by ordinaiy business tests. Be it so; let them be 
 examined upon the ground they have chosen for themselves. 
 
 By a confus-ion in thought, natural under the circumstances, ignorance in 
 these gentlemen ajtpear to imagine that a respectable education trajematters. 
 and a general ac'|Uiiintance with books are the solo rt quisites 
 for a succes4"ul i)rosecutiou of the book trade. They tail to dis- 
 tinguish between the educational value of books and their treat- 
 ment as a commercial commoditv — much as a man would do, 
 whd, l-aving drunk tea for many years, should imagine himself 
 fully I .] nipped with a knowledge of the grocery trade. It is 
 quite true that the better a man is educated, and the more 
 extensive his range of reading, the more likely he is to succeed 
 in a trade like ours : but the highest intellect, polished by the 
 linest culture, would bo of little avail if it were not united with 
 what I may l»e permitted to call — business intelligence. Ifow 
 far the authoritits of the book-shop possess this qualilication, 
 1 shall proceed to show. 
 
 During the pvM fifteen vears the book-trade has been passing The progress 
 into a new phase of existence. Slowly and silently, amidst trade*^ 
 manv discouragements, it has extended its ramifications into 
 every part of the Dominion. The Canadian market, which 
 English publishers used t > despise, is regularly visited b}' many 
 of \ho Britisii publishers, while representatives of the native 
 importing houses are annually to be found in the London mar- 
 kets, lienco the relations subsisting between English and 
 Canadian houses are as intimate as those between London or 
 Edinburgh and an} provincial town. The result has been the 
 introduction and circulation here of the best and latest products 
 of English thought— the cultivation of a literarv taste — and the 
 birth of something like a national literature. The part which 
 the bookseller has taken in this intellectual revolution has • 
 
 scarcely been less important tnan that of the professional 
 instructor. The duty of studying the progress both of intel- 
 lectual work abroad and of literary needs at home, as well as 
 the task of drawing upon the one and stimulating the other, 
 has been mainly performed by members of the book-trade. In 
 the selection of private and publi.; libraries, in the recommen- 
 dation of the best works, in the preparation of periodic lists 
 and catalogues of such, and frequently in the re-publication, at 
 great cost and often without the hope of any adequate return, 
 of the higher literature of Britain, the work of the bookseller , 
 
 has bi'tn, in every way, a public advantage. Yet, as if to show 
 their utter ignorance of the extent of the trade and the amount 
 
 »%«Bi.>...-.-J,Y.»l»».^.^ , 
 
16 
 
 of entorprize and labour expended upon it, the Depository 
 officials teil us that thoy themselveB " havt- iar'jjtiy developed 
 it "! . ^ 
 
 How the !)e- j^,-,|; ^^<, j^q^. nivestifirate the Depository svstom of cArrviivj en 
 chpses.' ' ^^^^ business, tirst in the matter of purcLas.', then that of sale. 
 The otHoiab have but little divect doaliii,_^3 nith the great pub- 
 lishers of England ; they are by no means c:u-rently en rapport 
 with them ; and they have scarcely any pjrsoiual busine..3 con- 
 tact with their houses. They purchase mainiy through what 
 -M. Say deprecates under the name of •' an intcrui 'dif.te agency" 
 — a commission merchant in fact, who knows little of the 
 books purchased or of the wants of the country to which he 
 sends them. He ships them otf as so much merchandise, with 
 a view to the percentage, just as he does th.3 plate-glass, frames, 
 and stationery he provides for the Department. In rhis manner 
 the shelves of the Depository are furnished with '' a sound and 
 varied " supply of books. 
 Depository '^^^^ book-sliop caunot, of course, sell wha.t it has not got. 
 
 sell . Consequently, if a large portion of its stock consists of what is 
 
 mainly purchased at second-hand, and by an inexperienced 
 buyer, the corporations purchasing here must suffer, and must 
 necessarily often be dissatisticd. Complaints, loud, frequent, 
 and from many quarters, are often heard of the rubbish sent in 
 response to orders. The *' selection," where the purchasers are 
 not wise enough to insist upon a choice, seems to be " the near- 
 est to hand," and no doubt taken from tlic biggest pile. It is 
 within my knowledge that school authoi-ities have, in some 
 cases, brought the worthless stock to local booksellers that it 
 might, if possible, be exchanged for something better. It is 
 true that, in the first instance, municipalities may order such 
 books as are in the 1868 catalogue by name ; but if they are 
 "not in stock," the clerks " select;" if these are returned, they 
 again " select," and so on to the end of the chapter. Money 
 once remitted, however, is never returned. In t]us nuinner jhe 
 Depository circulates " a sound and varied" supply of books 
 Does the It is asserted that the Depository is " a paying concern .. — 
 
 Depository ^ statement hardly credible in the face of facts detailed in ^he 
 how ? ^°' Public accounts ; though were the statement true, it would be 
 nothing to boast of, considering that the institution has alwa ya 
 been permitted to draw, without check or audit, on the public 
 purse. The system of departmental book-keeping is so elastic 
 that, for aught I know their assertion may be susceptible of 
 quasi-proof. It may be that the result of my calculations may 
 not agree with the balancing-feats of officials, to whom such 
 items as rent, taxes, interest on and depreciation of stock, mar- 
 gin for bad debts, losses on publication account, &.G kc are 
 visionary charges which never distm'b the serenity of th( amateur 
 shop-keeping. However, having ventured, as an exponent of 
 the grievances of which the trade complains, to investigate the 
 
 «56>^»*M'^*»^*^"^™'-^- 
 
17 
 
 subject, I mast be permitted to do it in my own way. It is pos- 
 sible that I do not fully appreciate the mental strain which re- 
 sults from the overwhelming burdens duty and conscience impose 
 upon our zealous officials, yet T cannot help thinking that the 
 Depositoi'y would be all the better for a little less of pretension, 
 and a little more of thrift. In the public interest, at all events, 
 it is obviously expedient that a Departm nt wh5ch, in all its 
 branches, annuiillv disposes of nearly half a million of pubhc 
 money, should be subject to a more searching supervision than 
 that of its administrative chief.* 
 
 Let me now call your attention. Sir, to the figures which re- g^'^^'^^^g ^^-^ 
 prts'nt the respective earnings and expenses of the Depository the Deposi- 
 for tlie past few years — not to go back to the " good old times" — torj . 
 the halcyon days, when no Local Government existed to disturb 
 the tranquillity of official repose I take the earnings first. 
 The ii,eeipts from sales v:)f Library and Prize Books, Maps, Appa- 
 ratus etc, were as follows : — 
 
 1870 '..... $22,275 54 
 
 1871 24,770 70 
 
 1872 33,824 28 
 
 Tho expenses, covering Salaries and Contingencies for the 
 same vears, were : — 
 
 1870.... ....•..." $4,483 27 
 
 1872 4,975 00 
 
 1872 5,955 95 
 
 It is proper to state that the sums under the first of these 
 heads do not represent the entire business of the Depository, 
 because they do not represent the aniual outlay by the Province 
 for the purchases of the Bureau. 
 
 The difference, which does not affect the calculation I desire 
 to make of the relative cost and earnings of the Depository, is 
 accounted for by the loss incurred in the 100 per cent, grant to 
 purchasers. The figures are the proper gross earnings, and 
 agaiusu them we nmst set the gross expenses of management, 
 &c., which, as they stand above, are evidently 20 per cent, of 
 the receipts. The sums in the several years are made up (1; 
 of the salaries of a clerk of libraries, and nine other clerks and 
 messengers to handle a business of say $25,000 ; together with 
 (2) the contingencies. Yet, astounding as such an expenditure 
 
 * Edmund Burke, in his speech on Economic; 1 Reform, exactly touc'ies such Edmund 
 financial management as that of the Depository: — "All subordinate treasuries, Burke. 
 as the nurseries of mismanai^ement, and as naturally drawing to themselves as 
 much money as tliuy can, keeping it as long as they can, and accounting for it as 
 late as they can, ought to be dissolved." He also virtually sanctions the attitude 
 of the book-trade, in urging upon Government the duty of " engaging with persons 
 of skill in the subject matter, and with those who shall have an ircmediate and 
 direct interest in the proper execution of the business." 
 
I » ii.i>i r 
 
 It 
 
 Expenses dis- 
 pro;iortiorate 
 to the returns 
 
 How the 
 
 " private in- 
 terests" of the 
 ofhcials are 
 cared for. 
 
 Supplemen- 
 tary income 
 of the Deputy 
 Superintend- 
 ent. 
 
 appear?, there are other items which ught to be added : — 
 llent or interest on the capital sunk in t. lo premises occupied, 
 lighting, interest on capital invested, Iv^ ses by uepreeiation of 
 stock, taxes and insurance, besides a proportion of the sahiries 
 of the D.'puty Superintendent for supervision !ind management, 
 of the Departmental accountant "or S'lvic.^s e::acted from him, 
 and of the Clerks of Records and Corrcsponden ■ who are also 
 pressed into the service. These various items rt'ould absorb 
 fully $2000 additional every year, properly chi.,-geuDle to the 
 Depository as expences — making a total of twtnty-fire per cent 
 of the gross earnings ! The Province is to be congratulated on 
 the fact that, in return for an expenditure so disproportionate 
 to the receipts that it would overwhelm any business man in 
 hopeless bankruptcy, we have that pricclcoS boon — a moral and 
 literary censorship. 
 
 Permit me now. Sir, to show you how cari^fully the Deposi- 
 tory caters for " private interests" and how favourably " the 
 martyrs for a cause " contrast with the "few booksellers 
 whose only object is gain" in assailing the Bureau. In the 
 Departmental Report for 1869 the Chief Superintendent naively 
 informs us that "in the preparation of maps, there was no one 
 connected with the Department who could either engrave or 
 print or frame them, I therefore got most of them coloured by 
 skilful persons in the families of gentlemen connected with the 
 Department." This singularly fortunate, perhaps 1 ought to say 
 fortuitous, eliscovery of native talent was certainly worthy of 
 " Happy Thought Hall." Speaking of the Clerk of Libraries, 
 the Chief Superintendent says: — "His talents are highly versa- 
 tile and of a peculiar kind." It is satisfactory to find from the 
 Public Accounts that this hanely ollicial has not concealed his 
 light under a bushel. During the last ten years or more he has 
 received, in addition to his salary, of $1,200 per annum, an 
 average of $600 for colouring maps, etc., on the basis of an 
 estimate by Messrs. Maclear & Co., so far back as 1863. The 
 estimate has never been revised since, nor has the map colour- 
 ing been submitted to public tender for ten years. Whilst upon 
 this subject I may mention that, during the same period the 
 map mounting and engraving, on which thousands of dollars 
 are annually expended, have never been subject to public com- 
 petition. 
 
 Ascending higher in the scale of this comfortable branch of 
 the Civil Service, the Deputy Superintendent has managed, 
 during the past three years to supplement his two salaries — as 
 Deputy and Editor of the Journal — by an animal sum of $600 
 for reconstructing maps and colouring done by himself or mem- 
 bers of his family — making altogether the handsome total of 
 $3,200 per annum. 
 
 Full play is not given to the versatility of the Deputy in 
 these degenerate times ; let me attempt, therefore, to do him 
 
 fc^^iiii fir t ■^^jlgUKJ^UMb 
 
 -m 
 
I 
 
 19 
 
 t : 
 
 justice by cataloguing a few of the flowers ''that bloomed for 
 him in happier daj's." In 1864 '•.,4% as back pay for seven 
 years " management and making pn jhusc; for ihc Depository 
 at the rate of $200 per year;"' §400 annually for editing and 
 
 couductin^ the Journal of Efhwation ; $100 per year as liecord- | 
 
 ing Clerk to the Council of I'ublic Instruction ; $100 per year 
 as Lecturer on School Law ; besides intermittent charges of a 
 respectable amount for such services as the folic ving: — Con- 
 struction and Revision of Maps, for Colouring the same, for 
 Editing Grammar and Common School Manuals, for Eevising 
 Tablet Sheet Lessons for the Printer, for preparing Merit Cards 
 for the Lithographer, &c., cVc. Indeed, so numerous and mis- 
 cellaneous are tlu- services for which the Deputy Superintendent 
 has drawn upon the Depository, that his salary seems to have 
 constituted an inferior source of income. The "retainer," it is 
 true, was large ; Init the periodical "refreshers" have been the 
 main stay of this disinterested public oflietr. The long list of 
 perquisite s above noted has been unmercifully dealt with, and 
 as no publisher is likeh*, in future, to purchase the copyright of 
 an official's text-books with the jirospectof lindingthem afterwards 
 claimed as an asset of the Department, tJird spring of revenue has 
 also been dried up. Perhaps it would be unjust to assume that 
 the abandonment of some of the salaries received by the plural- 
 ist has been occasioned by outside pressure. It may, after all, 
 have been due to the inward promptings of a sensitive nature — so 
 that, like the teacher, whose act of restitution was announced ■ 
 
 through the daily press a few weeks since, the Deputy has sur- 
 rendered some of his good things for conscience' sake. 
 
 Another remarkable feature in the management of the The Patron- 
 Depository is the manner in which its patronage is bestowed — I age of the 
 cannot say distributed. Having the public purse at their com- ^^'partment. 
 mand and no fear of audit before their eyes, the officials, here as 
 elsewhere, distribute their favours to the most friendly and 
 accommodating of thiir acquaintances. We are not surprised 
 to find a family comjiact without, as well as within, the walls of Another 
 the Institution. Passing over the verv considerable item of l^amilycom- 
 $11,000 paid during the last three years to a protege of the 
 Department for Map-mounting without previous advertisement 
 for tenders, we come to a choice illustration of the Depository 
 system of doing business. As there are families "of gentlemen 
 connected with the Department" who can construct and colour 
 maps, so, by a very fortunate coincidence, there are several 
 branches of a family outside, in which the Department has 
 happily discovered a similar combination of "versatile" ability. 
 l">uring the li'st three years, according to the Public Accounts, 
 some $16,000 found their way into the pockets of this family. 
 One of them, though only a printer in the British metropolis, • 
 could select and purchase Books, Stationery, Frames r.iid Plate 
 Glass; he ia Commission Agent and Forwarder-General to the 
 
 ■^:s3r;;.i^ 
 
Ilitoii I"* 
 
 20 
 
 Expense and 
 inefficiency of 
 the "interme- 
 diiic igency" 
 in London. 
 
 Extravagance 
 in printing. 
 
 The loo per 
 cent, fjrant 
 and the proper 
 control over 
 book-selec- 
 tion can be 
 provided 
 without the 
 existence of 
 the Deposi- 
 tory. 
 
 Depository. Then there is another employed iu famishing the 
 Museum and Library with their commodities ; and a third whose 
 peculiar ,1,'ifts lie in supplying all manr.L^r of Instnnaents, Mathe- 
 matical or otherwise, Brass-rods, Brackets, &^., upon which two 
 or more commissions musi necessarily ha .0 be :n paid. It should 
 be noted hero that the favourite of this h*. ppy trio w'.o is engaged 
 as English Commissiont;;r, judging from tiie character of his ship- 
 ments and the prices at which the goods are bought, must lack 
 qualification for his resjjonsible duties, yet he. doubtless, is paid 
 his ma '•gin on them, and his appointment places the Bureau 
 at a direct disadvantage as compared with the trade. I may add 
 that this agent is also permitted to export stationery for the special 
 uses of the Depository and Education Office, contrary. I believe, 
 to the rule of the Treasury Department which requires that all 
 Stationery in Government Offices shall ■>: obtained from the 
 Office of the Queen's Printer.* There eve other disbursements 
 of this irresponsible Bureau, showing undue preference iu the 
 disposal of patronage, which are very frequently to be met 
 with in the Departmental charges of the Pu.tlic x\ccounts. I 
 refer to the items under Painting, Glazing. Plastering, Plumb- 
 ing, to in extravagant and apparently needless extent — to say 
 nothing of Printing, &c., beyond all bounds of reason. In the 
 last of these, especially, the abuse of official privilege is 
 notorious. Not content with the publication of an Annual 
 Report of over 300 pages, and of wluch, I believe, some 7000 
 copies are printed — in itself a piece of useless extravagance — , 
 the Department has felt itself entitled to send to press anything 
 that comes in its head — correspondence, apologies and defences = 
 innumerable. No sooner does the fit seize the officials, than 
 they immediately rush into print without regard to cost. They 
 do not pay for it, of course ; it is only an expensive amusement 
 provided for out of the pockets of the people. So far as the 
 Depository is concerned, a first step in its reformation — if it be 
 not idle to talk of reforming an Institution whose very existence 
 is indefensible — is the abolition of contingencies to officials, the 
 abolition of nepotism, the establishment of public competition 
 by sealed tender for all important works or extensive purchases 
 under its control, and some direct Governmental supervision 
 over all its expenditures. 
 
 Having thus briefly surveyed the business aspect of the 
 Depository, without by any means exhausting the theme, I desire 
 to impress upon your mind two considerations which may pos- 
 sibly be lost sight of. The one is that the one hundred per 
 cent, grant may be continued though the Depository should be 
 abolished ; the other — that the existence of the Depository has 
 nothing to do with the Council's supervision over the selection of 
 
 • Stationery to the amount of ¥1,158.11 was exported in 1872 by this agent fo»- 
 the use of the Education Office and Depository, See Putlic Accounts for that 
 year, pages 36-97. 
 
11 
 
 B">aks and ^laps — Th'ch couM h<y rmintainod equally well, if 
 not better, without it. It is th" i):)licv of officials to confuse 
 the pu')lic mind hy i:;noriiig the disdnctiDU between Government 
 ail and sapf-rvision on the one hand, and amat^'ur b!)ok-selling 
 on the other. I hjre is, in fact, no ULCes.sary connection between 
 them. 
 
 It may be well. Sir, to sura up here the pround I have trav- Nummary, 
 ersed in tliis letter. Inth'' hrst plac I (^ndenvoured to meet and 
 controvert tlic pleas ur-^ed in behalf of the Dep;)sitory — a task, 
 I call to mind, my predecessor in business, so l(m,<:^ aj;;o as 1S59, 
 was able to accomplish. The claims put forth, of moral and 
 intellectual sup 'riority— absurd as th y are in themselves — - 
 were s^>ow-n to have no bearincc on the question. I<znorant 
 selection, as well as the supp )s m1 danojer to piblic morality are 
 both fjuarded af:;ainst by r quiri'd sanction of all books by the 
 C(umcil. The opinions of the lospectors. so far us they approved 
 of the system, were confined to an earnest plea in favour '^f the 
 100 per cent, gr.mt. On the other hand, the American opinions, 
 based upon a state of society of which we have no experience, 
 were testimonials in favour of Gov.'rnment supervision, not of 
 Govcrnm3iit booksi'llin<]f. I then proceeded to s^iow that the 
 D -pository is a monopoly, and that if, as they allcj^e, they have 
 not seviously injured the Book-tra le, it has b.en fr.)m want of 
 power and not from want of will. The elaini to provide Prize 
 and Library Books on the plea that the Depariment had trained 
 the teachers, was nut by an examination of the precedents 
 adduced by th-' offi'-ials — all of which were obviously irrelevant. 
 Takin.: up the positive side of the argument, I demonstrated the 
 fact tliat "the principle of the D p )sitory " is untenable on 
 economical or philoso])hic grounds. Having thus proved that 
 it was theoretically indefensible, I proceeded to show its 
 failure in practiee. The busin -ss view included a brief survey 
 of the purchasing agency — incapable, careless and extravagant ; 
 the system of sale, inefficient and unsatisfactory ; the dispro- 
 jiorti >nate amount of expenditure ; the exorbitant remuneration 
 of officials, not so much by actual salary, as by a system of 
 picking at the public exp.'use ; and iinally, the disbursement of 
 immense sums oj' mon y to favourites for work done and pur- 
 chase s made which ought, on every principle of sound business 
 management, to be submitted to public competition. 
 
 I trust. Sir, that after the earnest consideration which I am Recommend- 
 sure you will devote to the subject, j'ou will agree with me that atioi.s. 
 the Book Depository ought to be at once abolished. It has out- 
 lived its usefulness, and, like all elfete Institutions, has become The Deposi- 
 an incubus upon the Department ; inefficient in itself, it causes tory should be 
 inefficiency in the whole system ; carelessness and jobbing here ^ o '^ -^ • 
 are spreading by contag"/.! throughout the Department. It is 
 at once a burden on the public, a hindrance to the trade, and a 
 reproach to the admirable system of Government established iu 
 
tftrntiMtitii 
 
 the Province. All this yoa will probably admit, and yet you 
 may not feel justified in taking so radical a step at once. In 
 that case, I respectfully offer the following sus^gestions : — 
 Suegesiions 1. That the fupply of b?')ks and maps shall be thrown open 
 
 offered. j^ ^j^g trade on e terms ut present enjoyed and monopolized by 
 
 the Depository. 
 
 2. That it be made the duty of the Department to publish 
 yrnrhi a cutalogiie of all books JUKi maps banctioned by the 
 Council, with supplementary lists monthly or qun/terly, during 
 the year, — and with such prices affixed as will not prevent 
 the trade competing with the Depository. 
 
 3. That the Council of Public Instruction bo entirely re- 
 nodelled and its proceedings published, including the yeas and 
 nays on any controverted question. 
 
 4. That during the provisional maintenanceof the Depository, 
 the entire system of engraving, b)!)k-purchasing, book-selling, 
 map-colouring, mounting, &c., together with all important 
 matters of work or purchase siiall be exchanged for that of 
 public competition by sealed tender. 
 
 .*». That, with a view to a better supervision of the entire 
 Department, the Education Office, the present state of the stock 
 in the Depository, and all other matters connected with the 
 Bureau, be immediately made the subject of a searching Govern- 
 mental inquiry, and be submitted hereafter to periodical Govern- 
 ment inspection. 
 
 In conclusion. Sir, I beg to thank you for the oprirtunity 
 afforded me of expressing the views of ihe trade. Relying upon 
 your aid in reforming a great abuse, and redressing a great 
 wrong, and apologizing for the extreme length of this communi- 
 cation. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 With much respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 , ;i G. MERCER ADAM, 
 
 ' (Firm of Adam, Steventon (t Co.) 
 
 ToBONTO, Slst January, 1874. 
 
 *sif»?j'»iir-jK ^.ini*~<iiKSfs.i;' 
 
Reply of the Ret. James Porter, Inspector, Ctty of Toronto, to the Educa- 
 tion Office Circular m reference to the Book Depository. See p. 13 of 
 this letter 
 
 " I receiver! a copy of a circular, signed by Dr. Hodgins, Deputy Superin- 
 tendent t.i Education, respecting the policy of supplying the Public and High 
 Schools of the Province with library aud prize books, maps, apparatus from 
 the Depository of that Department, accompanied with a statement of the 
 principles on which tlioso articles are supplied by the iJ apartment to the 
 Schools rer»';"ing Legislative aid, and with other information on the subject ; 
 and inv' .ig such advice regarding it aa, in the interest of tho Schools, I may 
 be able to otfer. I have carefully re.id the statement of principles and the 
 information referred to, and have been in the habit for many years of reading 
 whatever I have met with that has related to the questions which they involve. 
 The priiiciplt'3 which sr«m to nin appropriate to that ((uestion, and the con- 
 cliTsion to wliich they have conducted me, are the following: — The proper 
 province of civil g')vernment is the protection of the persons and property of 
 ihose for whose benefit it exists Such protection cannot be adequately 
 afforded, unless children and youth be rightly educated and restrained. 
 The education and restniint of youth devolve, in the first instance on their 
 ■ parents or guardians : but when these private persons neglect to discharge 
 
 their duty, the public welfare, which is the highest social law, reriuires that 
 the State shall prelect it.self by means of public education and dicipliiie. By 
 common consent, through representative institutions, a I'ublic School system 
 '^ involving instructidu. training, and in some cases restraint, industrial teaching, 
 
 «- and even penal and reformatory treatment, may come into existence and be 
 
 permanently maintained. All that is necessary to the attainment of these 
 objects will, of cour.se, be conceded ; but, as human nature is C(>nstituted, 
 there will always be presented to those whose duty it is to organize and 
 i administer such a system, a temptation to imdertake more than it really 
 
 1 dema i>l3. What r-iay be, under certain circumstances, temporarily useful 
 
 \ may thus come I0 be considered as generally and forever expedient, even if 
 
 not regarded as absolutely indispensable. Another important y>riiiciple is 
 i thus suggested, namely: That the power of civil government siiould not be 
 
 I exerted beyond the boimdaries of its proper province. One tendency of 
 
 ' governments ia to over govern. The good of tlie people is so admirable and 
 
 ' amiable an object that its pursuit may often be engaged in to the oblivion of 
 
 the people''} rights. Everything ap{iarently desirable and importaiit in this 
 world at least may become the subject of legislative provision, on the ground 
 that it h for the good of the people ; and food and clothing, education and 
 medical treatment, as well as trade, commerce, and trarisit, and all the ordi- 
 nary accidents of human life, may be dealt with according to law^ It may 
 be well to legislate for uniformity of text-books in Schools partly supported 
 ; and therefore inspected by the State, and it may have been well to make pro- 
 
 vision, as was done first in tlio State of New York in 1835, and in Massa- 
 chusetts in 1837. for Common School Libraries, but the best methoil of 
 procuring such libraries may be and still remains a question. Intelligent 
 practical educators may be glad to inspect any description of books and plans 
 and models which relate to their business, but may at the same time desire to 
 be free to purchase such materials iis they require, in an open market unaffect- 
 J ed by either bounties nr restrictions. It is well known that Dr. Eraser (now 
 
 Bishop of Manchester) when he visited this Province a few years ago, both 
 privately and publicly argued against the perpetuation in Canada of a provin- 
 cial book and apparatus Depository, which he uniformly represented aa un« 
 
"■pump 
 
 Bound in principle and injurious in practice,* Dr. Fraser candidly admitted 
 that a British precedent for such institutions had been set by the Committee 
 of Privy Council on Education, whicii, however he affirmed had seen and 
 acknowledged its error, and had freed itself from the incumbrance and oppro- 
 brium which that error involved. My own conclusions from the principles 
 above stated are that as the earlier portion of the Hritis.h precedent has been 
 adopted in this Province on the not dishonourable fjround of temporary 
 expediency and assumed popular advantage ; so the latter portion of this 
 precedent should now be follv)wed, on the yrounds of simplicity, broad and 
 permanent expediency, and even on those of commercial freedom and equity. 
 The imputation <>f unworthy motives to th se who take either view o( this 
 subject may be very earnestly deprecated. Human motives, at least, are 
 mingled, and men can scarcely be expected to fairly judge their own. Pecuni- 
 ary greed is a very powerful motive, but not the only powerful motive to 
 human action. A conciousnessof social power and special influence, involving 
 dignity and patronage, is not unpleasant to an ambitious or a generous mind. 
 But they who desire the abatement of what seems to them an injurious mono- 
 poly need not be charged with the former, and they who desire the mainten- 
 ance of, in their view, a public benefit, need not be char;4ed with the latter." 
 
 * Note by the Chief Superintendent. — Dr. Fraser was entirely mistaken 
 in supposing that the Canadian system was that which had been adopted by the 
 English Privy Council Committee on Education ; whereas the systems are essenti- 
 ally different. The Privy Council gave its sanction to text-books in the hands of 
 private parties, who had the monopoly of the sale between them, charged high 
 prices, and realized enormous profits at the expense of the public ; but the Council 
 of Public Instruction sanctions no text-book for use in the schools without careful 
 examination of it, and without having the printing and sale of it open to public 
 competition — thus permitting no monopoly, and promoting both the improved 
 quality and cheapness of each text-book published. 
 
 In England the Privy Council Committee supplied books and apparatus at 
 certain prices, but through the agency of a publishing house, which realized large 
 profits. In Canada the library and prize books are procured at the lowest prices ; 
 the maps, globes and apparatus are obtained by tender, and furnished to school 
 authorities only (not to private individuals) at half cost prices. Mr. Lingen, for 
 many years Secretary of the Privy Council Committee of Education, was convinced 
 of the defects of the English system, and warned me against it. I was, therefore, 
 cateful to avoid them in devising a system for Upper Canada, of which Dr. Fraser 
 was not aware. 
 
 W. O. OIBSON, PRINTER, TORONTO. 
 
 V 
 
 IMWtllTf lIlTTllllBiMI