The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-06
THE RUSH BEQUEST AND THE PHI
LADELPHIA LIBRARY.

The proceedings of the meeting of the Phi
ladelphia Library Company held yesterday TO
consider the proper course of action in regard
to the Rush bequest, indicate that consider
able diversity of opinion still exists. One
member of the committee chosen to consider
the subject made minority report, recon-
mending an immediate acceptance of the pre-
liminary conditions of the will, and post
poning further action until ''the proper time
for it under the provisions of the will, which
was in the Judgment of one of the stock
holders present, ''when the building is COM
pleted, and the liabilities which will be as
sumed can be ascertained and measured with
the means of performing them" Another
stockhoder was opposed to the division of
the Library; and still another, Mr.. Phillips
thought it doubtful whether the Library
Company would be sustained by court of
equity in the division of its books as pro-
posed" He proposed an amendment which
makes the acceptance of the bequest clearly
contingent upon the proposed divi-
sion of the Library. This is substantially
the idea suggested in the majority
report of the committee, but it Is more en-
phatically and unequivocally expressed. After
q protracted discussion the meeting finally
decided to have stockholders vote, on the
10Th inst, on each of the resolutions offered
by the committee, and the amendment, sepa-
rately. Both propositions favor the accept
ance of the bequest, and both favor the divi-
sion of the library, and they substantially
agree in every respect except that the amend
ment accepts prOUided the library is divided,
while the original report accepts absolutely, and
after such an acceptance there is possibility
that the Library Company may be compelled
by the courts to transfer the whole library to
the proposed new building on Broad street.
The amendment is therefore apparently neces-
sary to give unquestionable validity to the
suggestions of the committee, and to prevent,
under all contingencies, the whole library
organization from being swallowed up by the
Ridgway branch. Those who are inclined to
accept the bequest, but who are at the same
time decidedly opposed to the transfer of all
the books of the present institution to the
new location, will therefore vote for the
amendment and the last two resolutions
proposed by the committee; while
those who favor a division of the
Library, but who are Wiling TO accept the be-
quest with a chance that all its books may be
transferred to Broad and Christian, will vote
for all the resolutions presented in the report
of the committee. We have little doubt that
the interests of the public, the stockholders,
and of Philadelphia will be promoted by an
acceptance of the bequest provided the
library can be divided in the manner pro-
posed. The Ridgway branch can receive all
the standard books which the testator especi-
ally priced, and meanwhile current literature
and ephemeral publications can be literally
supplied from the stockholders branch. In
this manner the difficulties arising out of the
prejudices of Dr. Rush. as well as those Gre
ated by the location he selected, will be
avoided; and at the same time Philadelphia
will speedily be endowed with one of the
finest libraries in the world