NARD, Hon. A. J. CRAIG, and others, in conversation, several months ago, and repeatedly since, that, in my opinion, it would be unwise to confide this power and responsibility to the State Superintendent alone, however good a judge of books he might be, and however pure and above suspicion might be his reputation. It would be next to an impossibility, for any one man to have the selecting and contracting for from thirty-five to fifty thousand dollars worth of books in a single year, without exciting the ire and jealousy of those publishers whose books were not selected, or whose terms in competing for the contract were, in their estimation, either overlooked or overslaughed;" and hence would arise, as has frequently been the case, first inuendoes and finally grave charges, that bribery had been resorted to by the more successful book-mongers to circumvent their competitors, and accomplish their purpose. Such things, though they might not be generally believed, would nevertheless exert an unfavorable effect upon the Superintendent's influence, and often prove exceedingly annoying to him.

Let two persons be associated with the State Superintendent to determine the books to be purchased, the style of binding, and make the contract for them. These persons should be men of the highest intelligence, possessing a thorough knowledge of books, and such a reputation that the people of the whole State would feel that their dearest interests were confided to safe hands. Thus would the State Superintendent, whose duties are always numerous and onerous, be partially relieved from a heavy responsibility, and have the benefit of able advisers and assistants in carrying successfully into effect a measure fraught with untold blessings to our people. With three such Commissioners to manage the whole subject of School Libraries, including the selection of the books, their binding, contracting for them, directing their distribution, and providing rules and regulations for the management of the Libraries, I do not see any reason to distrust their successful administration of this important trust. But, I would repeat, the two persons thus associated with the State Superintendent, should be men thoroughly acquainted with books, and deeply imbued with a sense of the great responsibility of selecting only such books as would tend to benefit the heads and the hearts, the morals and intelligence, of their hundreds of thousands of readers; and, above all, men whose reputation for integrity would everywhere give the assurance, that no favoritism would be practiced by them in purchasing the books, and that the real interest of the State would be invariably consulted. Let it be said of them as was said by the venerable Chief Commissioner of Primary Instruction in Holland of

another class of educational officers: "They are men who ought to be sought for with lantern in hand." With good and suitable men for this posiion, everything that the friends of the measure and the friends of education hope for, will be secured; but with an unfortunate selection, suspicions may be excited, and this noblest measure ever enacted by the State, imperiled, if not destroyed.

2. How should these men be selected? Either designate the Governor of the State, and Chancellor of the State University, as ex officio the proper persons; or select two persons, as the Regents of the University are selected, by joint convention of the Legislature, to hold their offices, after the first election, for a term of six years-at the first election, the two chosen to draw lots, one serving three, and the other six years. If two were thus chosen, pay adequate to the actual services rendered, should necessarily be provided; but being paid, they would unquestionably feel the necessity of really doing the work confided to, and expected of them; while ex-officio members, with their already multiplied official cares and duties, might not be able to bestow upon the subject the additional labors and responsibilities necessary. Besides, there would be an important advantage in having two of the three Commissioners serving long terms, so when there should be a change in the office of State Superintendent, still the experience and settled policy of the Board would not be likely to be hastily or inconsiderately changed or ignored.

3. How should the books be purchased? In briefly discussing this question, I must necessarily speak of the mode of their distribution. During my personal visit last year to Superintendents of Public Instruction, and other prominent educationists, in the Western, Middle and Eastern States, and Canada West, I made this subject a matter of special inquiry. When the State supplies School Libraries, the more common mode of procuring the books, after they have been selected, is by contracting with some individual or firm to supply the whole, uniformly bound, at prices mutually agreed upon, or upon the lowest bid; or, as has recently, and I think wisely, been done by Ohio, upon the best bid, all things considered. The lowest bid is most generally the dearest in the end, as when a large contract is secured by a ruinous bid, the loss that would accrue by an honest fulfillment of the terms of the contract, is avoided by the tricks of the trade,' and profits, almost as if by magic, are realized instead of losses.

Indiana made her large purchases for her Town School Libraries by contracting on the lowest terms; then the proper number of volumes were assigned to each town. In Canada

West, under the direction of the learned and able Hon. EDGERTON RYERSON, the books are purchased in suitable quantities direct from the several publishers in Great Britain and America, and a large Depository constantly kept at Toronto, under the supervision of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Provincial Board of Education. A catalogue is made out and printed of all the books in the Depository, with their cost prices, and these catalogues sent out to the towns and districts, for the use of the local boards, from which to make their selection, to the amount in value to which they may be entitled. As all the books in the catalogue have been selected with great care, and been approved by the Superintendent and Board of Education, of course the local boards cannot well make a bad selection, unless perchance they should fail to secure the proper variety to suit the various tastes of the community for whose benefit they were designed.

In a country like ours, the people, the great source of power, like to be freely consulted. Hence I am persuaded, that we should strive, if possible, to adopt a system that will most directly come home to the people themselves. While I would give the School Library Commissioners large discretionary powers to make the best contract, and in the manner which to them might appear, all things considered, the best for the State, I would be strongly inclined to favor this mode of purchase and distribution :

Give the Commissioners optional authority to contract, on the best terms, for the books for each year, uniformly and substantially bound, or to purchase them in sheets of the respective publishers, and have them uniformly bound by contract on the best terms. Then let the Commissioners have a Depository, prepare a catalogue of the books properly arranged according to subject, with the wholesale cost price, including freight to Madison, together with a brief description, in connection with each book, of its character; and then let the proper officers of each town and city having the matter in charge, select the amount in books to which their town would be entitled, from the catalogue thus furnished them; and as new purchases would be made each successive year, let new catalogues be prepared and sent out to the several towns and cities.

This year the tenth of a mill Town Library tax, amounts in the aggregate on the $168,620,233 70 of the equalized property valuation of the State, to $16,862 02. It will be hardly reasonable to suppose, that the whole of this amount will be promptly collected. Add to this amount, one tenth of the School Fund Income, which will be likely to reach from $17,000 to $20,000, and we shall have altogether not to exceed $35,000

for the purchase of books for School Libraries next spring. To give the towns, or such of them as might wish to do so, the privilege of selecting from the catalogue their portion of the $35,000 worth of books to supply the whole State, would render it necessary to have a larger supply on hand than the $35,000 would purchase. To illustrate this point: Suppose a person had an order on a book-seller for one hundred dollars' worth of books, and that that book-seller had only one hundred dollars' worth on hand, then the person having the order would have no chance for selecting what he might wish, but must take the lot just as he finds them; but if the book-seller had onehundred and fifty dollars' worth of books on hand, and all were good and standard works, then there would be an opportunity for a choice. So if the State invests no more than the precise amount which may be on hand next Spring for books for School Libraries, then there can be no chance whatever for the towns and cities to exercise any choice in the selection. To meet this exigency, let the Commissioners in contracting for the books, whether from the several original publishers, or from a single individual or firm, purchase say one-third or one-half more in value, and consequently in variety, than the School Library funds would then pay for, and this excess be contracted to be paid for the following spring; and thus this plan of over-lapping each successive year could be kept up, as long as it might be deemed desirable, without necessarily incurring therefor any additional expense to the State whatever-for publishers generally will gladly make fair terms to secure so large and reliable patronage. As all the books purchased should be of a character calculated for permanent usefulness, what remained over, after the selections of the year had been made by the towns and cities, would go towards making up the collection for the ensuing year.

The School Library Commissioners should give bonds for the faithful performance of their duties, in such amount as the Legislature should deem proper; and all their acts, contracts and vouchers should undergo a rigid examination annually by the Joint Committee of the Legislature for the investigation of the several State Department.

With such Commissioners, such powers, and such a plan for selecting, purchasing and distributing the books, with authority to make the necessary rules and regulations for the management of the Libraries, I should confidently look for the triumphant success of our noble Town School Library system. Then make the Town Board of Supervisors, and City Boards of Education, the local boards for having charge of the Libraries for their several towns and cities, with power to divide

the Libraries into two or three sections, and alternate their localities, if the people could thus be better accommodated than by having the whole kept together in a single collection; and with power also, to appoint the Librarian or Librarians, and when necessary, to designate some small remuneration for keeping the Libraries open at least one half day in cach week, to be paid by the Town, or by a cent tax imposed for the use of each volume taken from the Library, or by penalties for over-keeping the books, or from all these sources together.

As to the "just proportion" in which the books should be distributed to the several towns and cities of the State, I do not believe that a better plan can be adopted, than to apportion pro rata the amount to which they would be entitled according to the number of children of school age, in the same manner, and upon the same statistical returns, as the annual apportionment is made of the School Fund Income. This, it seems to me, will be alike simple, just, and satisfactory to the people.

Provision should be made, authorizing such districts as see proper to do so, to vote their existing district libraries gratuitously to the town, to be added to the Town Library.

The remaining sections of the School Law relating to District Libraries, should be repealed; and should School Library Commissioners be appointed or elected, to them should be confided the duty of procuring the binding of the State Laws, Journals and Documents already provided by law for the Town Libraries.

Having briefly presented this subject in all its bearings—a subject, permit me to add, to which I have given more than common thought and attention, profoundly impressed with the vast influence it is calculated to exert on the future intellectual well-being of the State-I earnestly entreat for it that consideration from the Legislature which its nature and importance so imperatively demand.

TOWNSHIP SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.

I devoted several pages of my former Report to the subject of substituting the Township System of School Government for our present arbitrary, inefficient and troublesome district system. My convictions of the propriety of this change are so decided, that I beg once more to call the respectful attention of the Legislature to the subject. If the change was calculated to impose any additional expense upon the people, I should not, in times like these, deem it either wise or impolitic to urge