The Schoolbook Bribery Scandal
The State Supreme Court reinstates an indictment against four men accused of attempting to bribe a member of the State Board of Education to influence textbook contracts.
The State of Washington appealed a decision by the Thurston County Superior Court, which had sustained a demurrer to an indictment against J. W. Womack, R. L. Edwards, M. O. Sullivan, and C. O. Eames. The defendants were accused of attempting to bribe L. H. Leach, a member of the State Board of Education, in June 1890. The board was tasked with adopting a uniform series of textbooks for the state's common schools. The indictment alleged that the defendants conspired to offer Leach $5,000 to reconsider a vote that had already adopted Wentworth’s arithmetics and Franklyn readers, and instead vote for Barnes’ readers and White’s or Robinson’s arithmetics. The Supreme Court reversed the lower court's decision, ruling that the indictment was sufficient to maintain the charge of attempted bribery and that the law should be viewed through the lens of common sense rather than archaic technicalities.
“From the statutory provisions, we gather that our courts, and defendants in the courts, are to view indictments through the simple atmosphere of common sense, and not through the line-multiplying spectroscope of the common law.”
The influence of textbook publishers on state education policy remains a persistent civic concern. This 1892 case highlights the early, aggressive efforts by private interests to capture public education contracts through corruption.
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