The Ontario Scrapbook Hansard

Ontario Scrapbook Hansard, 19 Mar 1890, p. 2

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This extract was read amid loud applause front the Government benches, which in- creased as Mr. Harcourt proceeded to ask the member for North Grey whether he was willing to accept the responsibility tor this paragraph. to which, however, Mr. Creighton made no reply. Mr. Harcourt said that in a measure this statement quot- ed item the paper managed by Mr. Creigh- ton was really a reply to all the argu- ments that gentleman had advanced. He would, howover, continue for a few minutes to discuss these arguments. What object. he asked. would the Government have in authorising text-books of it useless character. At the head of the Government . was the Attorney-General, who for seven- l teen years had ruled the Province with the approval of the electorate. All his public measures were actuated by a desire to give to the Province an administration of public affairs conducive to the general interests. Mr. Harcourt then gave the liuuse the corn _ clusions which he himself had arrived at, regarding the merits of the text-hooks new i in use in the Public Schools. After com~ ! paring them with those in use in the United ( States, he had come to the conclusion that I they were iutinitel, superior to any in use in the States of tho Union. The text-books were indorsed by the Inspectors and Truss :ees of the Public Schools. The Trustees l ab, an intelligent interest in these ques~ :ions new, and their judgment in approval l sf the policy adopted by the Education Department regarding the publication oil oboe! books ought to carry a I good deal of weight. Then Mr. Harcourt broceeded to discuss the charge of disloyalty nl-i..L 1].. n___:_;-,.. ' , . - _ - - V -re- -"8T" v- "Y"""'"" vhich Mr. Creighton had preferred against he Minister ot Education and those who greed with him, because a certain extract 1e had tend did not appear in . certain Acnt in the price of school books is the latest cause ot excitcmcm in tho Undo. It is stated that the cut has reached 20 nor coul.. which practically wipes out all broth on this class oi goods. A deputnlion has Waited upon the W,':',)',?,,'?, Maura. Pp,', d Co., The Copp- Clnr Cu. and tho Canada 'ublishinx Co., but these firm. arc powerless in tho multcr. Tim only hope is that an retail dealers will them. whoa shortly roguin a condition of normal common sense. ", TEXT-BOOKS AGAIN. Mr. Creighton then resumed the deha to 'on Mr. Preston's motion regarding text- books. He again referred to the Third Reader, and was met by a chorus of voices demanding the particular extract to which he took objection. He, then, in his own, dramatic style, read the account given of the Battle of Queenstown Heights in the old grader, and which he maintained should beincorporated in the present text-book. The object of Mr. Creighton, as he himself said. was to demonstrate that the Minister of Education did not provide articles which inculcated patriotism. The member for North Grey then produced _ halt a dozen drawing books, and tragically laid them on his desk. Theso he picked P. p one after another, and solemnly declared he had purchased them at such-and-such a place for the sum of ton cents,with which remark he examined book after book on his neigh- borU desk, with a manner expressive ot the utmost indignation and contempt. His .. ten cent " argument was speedily caught up by ,the Government benches, who con- tributed alusty chorus to Mr. Creighton's refraining " ten cents " as he dashed down the last two or three of the books over which he had been so extravagant. Mr. Harcourt followed Mr. Creighton, and delivered one of the most brilliant speeches of the session. Every argument urged by Mr. Creighton was taken up and dissected mercilessly, and not only that,but a torrent of the ridicule to which he had I laid himself so piilpably open was poured relentlessly upon his drooping hood. Mr. l Harcourt started out by remarking that if a ' monopoly did exist in Canada in school" books or anything else, the responsibility for the same rested entirely with hon. I gentlemen opposite and their friends elso- , where. They had planted the upss tree, and watered it, and were responsible for, any evils it might cause. They were hard. ly the men to speak in condemnation of u ,! monopoly. Mr. Harcourt then proceeded ' to score one of his nest points. Mr. 5 Creighton, he said, had the other day pro- , fessed himself proudly responsible for everything that appeared in the paper which he edited. Now, in that one he was responsible for the following paragraph which appeared on the eighth page oi The Empire of August 51st. 1889, under the head. ing of " A Cut in School Books. " '.--. TO' incorponto the Ayl-or 45 Port Bun")! Runny qornrunrchir. Dance. To incorponto the Town of Gore Bar-- Mr. Lyon. Respecting the Town of West Toronto , Juynion--irr. Gilmour. 1uiiu!tiiiir"ti"ris"ii'ii. 00.. Company... Mr. 'l'l'11e'ed nod patriotism. The :rrth Grey than producod ring books, nod tragically dock. These he picked up ', and solemnly declared he so drummtwnlly declared he had paid. ten cents lor, and, holding it up so that both sides of the House could see the front page, he showed that plainly printed act-one the few of it. large enough to be read ten yards away, Were the Words "price six cents." Tho speaker had a good deal of fun here. " Mr. Creightou's expense, and picrurod him toiling trom shop to shop in search of these tau-cent copy books, which any little boy could have bought for six cents. Mr. Creighton was not in his seat at this point, and Mr. Harcourt expressed his regret for his absence while he was showing how he had been taken in to tho ex tent of four cents on euchof these copybcoks he had bought. The truth was, Mr. Harcourt went on. that Ontario is particularly fortunate in respect to the text-hock: ot the Public Schools. There in noagitation in the Province ngainst the present system. but there is a very marked approval of all that has been done in chenponing school books, and furnishing teachers and schools with the most on- lightened methods of impartinOud acquir- ing knowledge. He again referred to tho document giving the history of text-books, and argued that the charge made against the experts. regarding tho subject of u. ing oilicials oi tho Department, did not de. minisli their opinions in the eyes of the country. Mr. Clancy said that he also boughta drawing text-book for which he paid ten cents. He maintained that the people of the country ware getting discontented with the policy of the Education Department regarding textbooks. and he predicted the: - - -.v-.-_-- v- 'uv " VI "a-""."" flag would have upon it the maple leaf, the emblem plu- excellence ot,Uaua-. dian life, and yet the hon. gentleman had not seen or lnd not _tuentioued the article on that subject oithcr, but simply had stated that the book contained nothing to develop Canadian sentiment. A few minutes later Mr. Harcourt. took up one of Mr, Urcighton'n copy books, which he had l V __ FrTdyiarr else had to '__. embargo trtWt1orts1ir against a whole spot". Much less right had he or anybody on; to bring such a charge against the Reform party. The only instance, so far as he could recall to his mind, whore the representatives of a party had burned the Parliament buildings and assaulted the Parliament buildings, was one in which the party had boasted loudly of their loyalty, and he was happy to recollect that those super-loyal people had no representatives on his aide of the. house. (Applause.) A learned essayist in one of the reviews [recently had described loyalty as a sub. f religion. It it was not actually as sacaed as a religion itself with Mr. Creighton, it was at least a sub-religion with him. What did he mean by loyalty? Loyalty to Ontario? {If so, speaking with all fairness and all ' charity to the hon. gentleman, he would t say that he could not credit him with loy- f alty to his Province. (Applause.) He , would go further, and say that he believed, I if time would allow he could show, that he , had been in several instances disloynl to the l Province of Ontario. He admitted that l Mr. Creighton was loyal to Toryism, but i that was not loyalty to his country. i Now, regarding his allegations that the Third or Fourth Readers were desficient in articles that would in- spire a national sentiment. Ha armed that ordinary prominence should be given to such a subject and he insisted that it ' Was not wanting in the school text-books. b There was a time when there was a great want of a Canadian history, one that would place Canadian history in a true light be- ' tore the children of the country. and then I there was indeed great need for such erli- I cies in the readers as Mr. Creighton had i suggested. lint they had a history new f which placed all these things before the children in a proper light and there was no i need to place them in the readers. This history had never been compulsory untili 1885. Then Mr. Harcourt held up the 3 reader, the Third, which Mr. Creighton had I condemned as containing nothing Canadian. l First of all he referred to Tom Mooie's Can- adian bout song. Did he know of anything more inspiring in the literature of Canada than that simple lyric, which dealt with the gtnsndesrtchtuutnesrisstit, of ourProviuce- its great Water stretches and grand lakes and rivers? The Third Reader contained this choicest oi lyrics, and it was hardly lnmuihlo that Mr. Creighton could have avoided seeing it, though he had not re- ferred to it. Mr. Harcourt mentioned other articles, such as on: on the beaver, another on the maple, both of them typical of Canadian life and sentiment. This flag that Mr. Creighton wants unfurled over 1'ulrlictschoolts on curtain days in the year--. and he Was with him in that wish, for he wanted the youth of Canada to understand that they Were shsrers in all tho glories of the groatest_ nation of the world-tiiis

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