1911 Sec. 2. All laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith be, and the same are hereby repealed. Sec. 3. This Act shall take effect upon its passage and approval. Approved June 3, 1911. Commuta tion of time duct. CHAPTER 6177-(No. 58). AN ACT to Amend Section 4140 of the General Statutes of the State of Florida, Relative to Gain Time to be Allowed to Convicts. Be it Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. That Section 4140 of the General Statutes of the State of Florida, relative to the keeping of prisoners' records and allowance of gain time to prisoners, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: 4140. Gain Time for Good Conduct. The Commisfor good con- sioner of Agriculture shall keep a record of the conduct of each prisoner. Commutation of time for good conduct shall be granted by the Board of Commissioners of State Institutions, and the following deductions shall be made from the term or terms or sentences when no charge of misconduct has been sustained against a prisoner, viz.: Two days per month off the first year of sentence; three days per month off the second year of sentence; four days per month off the third year of sentence; five days per month off the fourth year of sentence; six days per month off the sixth year of sentence; eight days per month off the seventh year of sentence; nine days per month off the eighth year of sentence; ten days per month off the ninth year of sentence; fifteen days per month off the tenth year, and all succeeding years of sentence. A prisoner under two or more cumulative sentences shall be allowed commutation as if they were all one sentence. For each sustained charge of misconduct in violation of any rule of the prison, in any year of the term, the commutation allowed for one month of such year may be forfeited; for any sustained charge of escape or attempt to escape, mutinous In case of cumulative sentences. 1911 feits time. conduct or other serious misconduct, all the commutation which shall have accrued in favor of the prisoner up to Escape or that day shall be forfeited, unless in case of escape, the attempt forprisoner voluntarily returns without expense to the State, such forfeiture may be set aside by the Board of Commissioners of State Institutions. For extra meritorious conduct on the part of any prisoner, he shall be recommended to the favorable consideration of the Board of Pardons for increased commutation or pardon. In the case of any prisoner who shall have escaped and been captured, part or all of his good time thereby forfeited may be restored by the Board of Commissioners of State Institutions, if in their judgment his subsequent conduct entitles him thereto. Prisoners sentenced for life imprisonment who Life have actually served fifteen years and have sustained no prisoners. charges of misconduct and have a good prison record, may be recommended by the Board of Commissioners of State Institutions to the Board of Pardons for a reasonable commutation of sentence, and if same be granted, commuting the life sentence to a term of years, then such convict shall have the benefit of the ordinary commutation, as if originally sentenced for a term of years, unless it shall be otherwise ordered by the Board of Commissioners of State Institutions. Approved June 3, 1911. CHAPTER 6178-(No. 59). AN ACT to Create a State School Book Commission, and to Procure for Use in the Public Schools of the State of Florida a Uniform Series of Text Books, and to Define the Duties and Powers of Said Commission, to Make Preparations for Carrying This Act Into Effect, and Providing Penalties for Violation of Same. Be it Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Commission. Section 1. That the Board of Commissioners of State Text Book Institutions be, and is hereby constituted a State Text Book Commission, whose duty it is to select and adopt a Uniform series or system of text books for use in the public schools in the State of Florida. 1911 To adopt uniform sys tem of text books. No other books to be used. Governor to appoint a sub-commission. Sec. 2. That said Commission is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to select and adopt a uniform system or series of text books for use in the public schools of the State, as above indicated, and when so selected and adopted, the text books shall be used for a period of five years, in all the public schools of this State, and it shall not be lawful for any school officer, director or teacher to use any other books upon the same branches, other than those adopted by said State Text Commission. Said uniform series shall include the following branches, to wit: Orthography, defining, reading, writing, drawing, arithmetic, geography, grammar, language lessons, history of Florida, containing the Constitution of the State; history of the United States, containing the Constitution of the United States; physiology, hygiene, nature and effect of alcoholic drinks and narcotics, elements of Civil Government, Elements of Agriculture, Theory and practice of teaching. Provided, That none of said Text books shall contain anything of a partisan or Sectarian Character. Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the Governor to appoint a sub-commission of not less than nine members to be composed of 4 county superintendents of known reputation and standing and five teachers of known reputation and standing, said teachers to hold not less than a first grade certificate; and none of said sub-commission shall be related in any way to any member of the Board of State Institutions, nor be in the employ of any member of said board. Provided, That not more than three of these shall be taken from one Congressional District, to whom shall be referred all books sent to the State Text-book Commission as specimen copies or samples, upon which bids are to be based, and it shall be the duty of said sub-commission, in Executive session, to examine and report upon the merits of the books, irrespective of the price, taken into consideration the subject matter of the books, their printing, their material, and their mechanical qualities, and their general suitability and desirability for the purposes for which they are desired and intended. The term of office of said sub-commissioners shall be for four years or until their successors are elected and qualified. It shall be a prerequisite qualification for appointment for each member of said sub-commission that before accepting such apCommission. pointment he shall file with the Secretary of State an affidavit substantially as follows: That he is not so far as he Sub-Commission shall be no relation to members of knows related in any way to any member of the Board of State Institutions nor has he for the five years next preceding his appointment been employed by any text book publishing company, and that he will not receive, during his term of service on said sub-commission any emolument from any text publishers or their agents intended to in any manner bias his judgment in the selection of text books to be adopted for use in this State. Sec. 4. That it shall further be the duty of said subcommission to report to the Commission at such times as said commission shall direct, arranging each book in its class, or division, and reporting them in the order of their merit, pointing out the merits and demerits of each book, and indicating what book they recommend for adoption first, what book is their second choice, and their third choice, and so on, pursuing this plan with the books submitted upon each branch of study, and if said sub-Commission shall consider different books upon the same subject, or of the same class or division of approximately even merit, all things considered, they shall so report, and if they consider that any of the books offered are of such a class as to make them inferior and not worthy of adoption, they shall, in their report, so designate such books, and in said report they shall make such recommendations and suggestions to the Commission as they shall deem advisable and proper to make. Said report shall be kept secret and sealed up, and delivered to the Secretary of the Commission, and said report shall not be opened by any member of the Commission until the Commission shall meet in Executive session to open and consider the bids, or proposals, of publishers, or others desiring to have books adopted by said Commission. 1911 Duties of mission. Sub-Com Commission ers. Sec. 5. That each member of said Sub-Commission, be- Oath of Subfore entering upon the discharge of his duties, shall take and subscribe an oath to act honestly, conscientiously and faithfully, and that he is not now, and never prior to his appointment has been, agent or attorney, or in the employment of, or interested in, any book, or publishing house, concern, or corporation, making, or proposing to make, bids for the sale of books, pursuant to the provisions of this act; and that he will examine all books submitted carefully and faithfully, and make true report thereon, as herein directed and prescribed. Said oath shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State. 1911 Commission to consider Sub-Com port, and adopt books. Sec. 6. That said Text-book Commission shall hear and consider said report in its selection and adoption of a uniform series of text books, and shall also, themselves, conmission's re- sider, the merits of the books, taking into consideration their subject matter, the printing, binding, material, and mechanical quality and their general suitability and desirability for the purposes intended, and the price of said books, and they shall give due consideration to the report and recommendation of said sub-commission. Said commission shall select and adopt such books as will, in their best judgment, accomplish the ends desired. And when said text-book commission shall have finished with the report of said sub-commission, the said report shall be filed and preserved in the office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and shall be open at all times for public inspection. Commission to advertise for bids for furnishing books. Sec. 7. That said Text-book Commission shall, immediately after the passage of this act, meet and organize the Governor being ex-officio President of the Commission, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction its Secre tary. As soon as practicable, not later than thirty days after its organization, the Commission shall advertise in such manner and for such length of time, and at such places as may be deemed advisable that at a time and place fixed definitely in said advertisement, sealed bids, or proposals, will be received from the publishers of school text-books for furnishing books to the public schools in the State of Florida, through agencies established by said publishers in the several counties, and places in counties in this State, as may be provided for in such regulations as said commission may adopt and prescribe. The bids, or proposals, to be for furnishing the books for a period of five years, and no longer, and that no bid for a longer period shall be considered. Said bid, or bids, shall state specifically and definitely the price at which book or books are to be furnished, and shall be accompanied by ten or more specimen copies of each and every book proposed to be furnished, and shall be required of each bidder to deposit with the Treasurer of the State a sum of money, such as the Commission may require, not less than $500, nor more than $2,500, according to the number of books each bidder may propose to supply, and notice shall further be given in said advertisement that such deposits shall be forfeited absolutely to the State if the bidder making the deposit |