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The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917, June 21, 1916, LAST EDITION, Image 19

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Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1916-06-21/ed-1/seq-19/

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THE DAY BOOK
N. R COCHRAN
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.
500 S. PEORIA ST. CHICAGO, ILL.
Tplpnhnne Editorial. Monroe 363
tswpnvnes circulation, Monroe 3S38
SUBSCRIPTION By Carrier in Chi
cago, 30 cents a Month. By Mail.
United States and Canada, S2.00 a
Year
Entered as second-class matter April
21, 1914, at the postoffice at Chicago.
111., under the Act of March 2. 1875.
ONE WAY TO A MIRACLE. The
state publication of school text books
has been undertaken by Kansas. The
legislature of that state has appro
priated a quarter of a million dollars
to establish a textbook plant This
is to be the extent of the taxpayers'
investment. Books will be distrib
uted at a profit sufficient to cover
depreciation, replacement and an in
terest of 4 per cent on the invest
ment. The cost of the publication of the
state school books is not expected to
be much less than that of publishing
houses. But Kansas intends to save
its citizens from paying the big prof
its made by the book concerns. It
does not have to create its market
Education is compulsory, the school
book market is created by law, and
thus there are no advertising ex
penses, no traveling men, no resi
dent agents in large cities, no lobbies
at tie state capital. Dealers are al
lowed 15 per cent profit, and the
dealers pay the freight charges.
For 40 years Kansas has done
other kinds of state printing by the
contract system under which the
state printer often made from $20,
000 to $30,000 annually. To do away
wit hthis abuse, Kansas finally un
dertook to do its own printing, with
so much success in reducing the cost
that the present experiment in the
publication of school books followed
as a matter of courss, ,
The Kansas enterprise deserves the
attention of all serious citizens. Com
pulsory education should mean the
best education at the lowest possible
price. It should not mean that tax
payers may be forced by law to sub
mit to exploitation by school book
combines.
By taking over the publication of
text books the state also eliminates
the political activity of private pub
lishers, and thus "takes the schools
out of politics" so far as such a
miracle is possible.
HALF A WORLD AT WAR. Fig
ures covering the cost of the war
have passed beyond the power of the
average memory, but an easy way to
make figures convey the idea of the
immensity of the present conflict is
to be found in the statistics of pop
ulation and areas.
Estimated so, the number of hu
man beings whose interests are in
volved in the war is to be found to be
ten times the population of the U. S.
and considerably more than half that
of the earth, while the territory
owned by all of the belligerents is
more than one-half of the land area
of the earth.
Whoever has a head for figures
will be interested In the following:
The land area of the earth is esti
mated at 55,500,000 square miles,
while the area of the fighting coun
tries is 32,000,000.
The population of the earth is
about 1,600,000,000; the population
of the U. S. is 100,000,000, while the
total population of all the countries
involved in the war is approximately
1,000,000,000.
It is no longer a guess but a fact
that half of the inhabitants of this
planet are now at war.
Such information should keep the
minority from getting into any kind
of trouble which would further de
populate and devastate this sphere.
o o
Each man-of-war is built on paper
before a single steel plate is forged.
Miiiiiiiilliili
A

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