Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-07-01
PUBLIC LIBRARY.


4 PUBLIC LIBRARY.
What Good People should DO for Public
Morals and Tastes.
Memphis has a population of sixty
thousand, with all the institutions OF
government and society. We have a
good system Of public schools, news
papers, secular and religious, theaters,
musical societies and parks. But we
have no public library, an institution
second in importance and usefulness to
none other. 1t is q burning shame that
Memphis, boasting of an unusual decree
of cultivation and refinement, has = a
single monument to her literary and
artistic tastes. The stranger within
our gates coming from towns Of less
population and fewer pretensiOns, where
the library is deemed a public necessity,
is tempted TO doubt the validity Of cur
claim to be a cultivated and progressive
community. AT any rate the absence of
public libraries must be taken as a proof
of our singular inappreciative of the
very best means Of promoting intelli-
gence ond virtue. We fear that we are
apt to underrate the value of this as well
as other moral and Intellectual agencies
in the time of intense activity-an ac-
tivity which is being almost wholly eK-
pended in material progress to the eN-
clusiOn of social, literary and artistic
Observation-Disclosures which are more
vitality necessary to our happiness and
honor, than the most splendid
ACHIEVEMENTS OF LABOR AND CAPITOL.
We seem to forget thateven our mate
rial enterprises succeed only in the ratio
of the knowledge and skill by which
they are directed. Public spirit, general
intelligence were never more needed
than at the present time, and we must
acquire these elements of success if we
would accomplish a destiny for our city,
which seems all but manifest. We must
be taught by books, by lectures and by
discussion. We must study with pa
tience, perseverance and with every ap-
pliance all the forms and conditions of
industrial growth; we must know how
70 perfect the powers of production and
wemust make science, his
tory and philosophy the weapons with
which to subjugate nature and overcome
obstacles. But this knowledge does not
come by
INSPIRATION.
1t must be sought after and become
widely diffused, a common possession of
the masses. All institutions which de-
velOp thought and furnish ideas are forces
which change the aspects Of society and
determine the character and extent its
enterprise, its morality and its wealth
The school, the newspaper, the library
are such forces, and those who direct the
of the times should provide
ior their widest expansion aud influence.
We have said nothing about the "hl-
" nor the soft, bright influence,
lOr the genteness and purity which
'pring from the
CULTIVATION OF LITERATURE
md art, and which pervade every com
nunity under the beneficent sway Of
knowledge. We have addressed the
,pirit Of the times and spoken as
with view 10 n0si- Z
i've advantage and results. We wish
o impress this people with the truth |
hat there are certain results attending |
he diffusion Of knowledge, which Is |
power. The theme is endless. and we
will consider only one other argument
or a library, viz: that it is a potent |
of public morals. In Menu
)his, there are hundreds of young men |
whose tastes and training would make 4
be library a place of cOngenial resort. /
They have education, and an indefinite |
.apacity for improvement. They have |
Dure instincts mott yet corrupted by evil |
.ssOciations, and are Just now deprived /
4 the sweet and sacred protection of
lome.
YOUNG MEN OvER-wORKED
y exacting employers, with no means
4 gratifying their social instincts, and |
Exhausted in mind and body by the te-
ious rounds Of business. must have re-
reation of some sort. Their whole be-
ng cries aloud fOrit, and it IS not strange
hat they seek the readiest Ineansof oh
aiming a brief respite from the care and
ullness of their daily life, so that in the
bseDce Of pure sources Of endowment.
hey resort to the beer garden, the bill
ard room, and the varieties. where the
evil finds his opportunity. We blame
be young men less than we do that a,n-
itiOn Of society which provides no ra-
IOnal means OF entertainment. We
lust combat the seductions of unlawful
leasure, by the superior attractions of
ure and wholesome recreation.
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
nd reading room, with lectures and
ther literary exercises, would prove a
Iccessful rival to the various forms Of
issipatiOn and idleness to which oRr
Oung men are too generally addicted.
With its Inauguration we would be able
mark the improvement Of public
lOrals and intelligence, and to witness
le wholesome results which always at
nd mental cultivation and devotion to
le fine and useful arts. ~ I'll
MEMPHIS is YET A YOUNG CITY,
the very beginning of her career, and
would be well for her to commence at
ice the foundation of all those humans I.
which foster intelligence and
rtue, whereby she will most surely
lgment and receive material and moral
'Ogress.
We throw out these hints for. .consider-
ion with the hope that some public {
irited citizens or some of our enter I
Using young men will take the matter I
hand; in which event, the APPEAL, !
III give them its hearty support. We {
III advert to this subject agaiii-thel [
~ N4AA41 WIN sOLAI l4esSNAItA ntt8Et5- /
ms for a beginning. Meanwhile, our '
lumns are open to a discussion of this c
tai interest. r
The receipts Of the Mobile and Ohio :
ilroad for the year 1871 were two mill l
4 seven hundred and thiTty-nine thOQ-3 2
nd four hundred and fOrty-nine dol :
rs, the largest ever reported By the +
ad; the net earnings for the same pc t
ID were nine hundred and sixty-four =,
oGsand four hundred and eighty-threef 4
liars. During the year the company n
ct the interest on the second mortgage a
nds, making a full resumption of in r
rest payments on all securities. Cot 4
u transportation constitutes an i'm !,
rtant source Of revenue TO the Balti- 4
ore and Ohio railroad. In the year =
ding March 81, 1872, n total Of one :,
ndred and eighty-two thousand eight y
ndred and fifty -four bales were moved
ainst two hundred and tweutvs-ivel
ousand one hundred and sixty-iive :
les in the previous wear. q
-esl =
a committee from Boston to-day ex- u
lded TO Horace Greeley an invitation :,
I'm the international Jubilee Execu- 81
e Committee and the city Of Boston {
visit that city. Greeley accepted the Fl
and will this evening desig- Il
ie an early day next week for the t
,it. la