The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-05-12

Three Hundred and sixty-Five Thousand
Volumes In Cramped Quarters at Wash
Internationally OF Enlarged AccommO-
daffona
IWashinglon Sunday Post

transit OF the OOn9resslOnal IlDfarN expert
ence- a slight sense of sufocation. If his
mental lungs are sensitive he must. Books
TO the right of him, books to the le.t of him,
books IN front of him. Books pressing down
on him from the galleries, crowding out over
the balustrade, filing the aicoves to over
flowing. Ii IS not only the books that have
a local name and habitation on the shelves,
but it is the books for which there seems to
be no room that impress the sensitive visitor.
They are stacked up in the corners; they lie
on tables and impromptu shelves; they are
piled up on the floor thong ii they were to be
used for matchmaking some royal road TO
learning They remind one of Mrs. Liver
more's .'Superfuous Women" there are so
many of them. They have a transient look,
like a great primma donna who Is here for
night only" Whereas, the truth is, they
have come TO stay, and they have come,
moreover, by invitation. No doubt if the
Government had invited many of these
writing men and writing women TO Wash
ington, it would seem to it that they had
sufficient hotel accomm odations. But when
by the law Of copyright, they bring hither
a mans book which Is, rs a rule, the best of
him, it must take its chances for seat in
theater where there has been standing room
only" for a long time.
The library has long since Outgrown its
present quarters, and the Iarest adminlstra-
tive ability on the part of the librarian can
not overcome certain limitations to the COM
pressibility of matter.
This library of Congress is as old as the
century. On the oath of April, 1900, $1,000
were appropriated 'sf0r the purchase of such
books rs may be necessary for the use of Con-
gress at the said City of Washington" The
'.said City of Washington" was at that time
town OF 500 inhabitants, to which Congress,
after boarding round had finally come to
STAY. When, in 1901, Mr.. Bayard, of Della
ware, proposed an annual appropriation of
$1,000 for ten years, for the purchase of books,
there were, among the thirty-two Senators
and 14l Representatives, some who opposed
the appropriation on the ground of economy.
When the Capitol was burned in 1914 the
. library numbered 5000 volumes, and its loss
was replaced by the purchase of the library
y of Mr.. Jefferson This contained 1000 vol
umes, and was bought for $23, $50. For three
wears the Jefferson library remained in the
postoffice building When the north wing of
be Capitol was rebuilt, it was removed
- her, and until 1924 remained in the
rooms in the upper story now oc-
cupied by the Senate library. When
the central building was completed, it was
A second fire, in 1851, which broke out in
the library room, leaving only about 10000
of the 81, 900 volumes, caused the rebuilding
of the room in ire-proof material. The two
wings were added in 1865 and 1866; they
were absolutely necessary, from the over
crowded condition Of the library, and each
wing furnished space for 80 600 volumes. In
, 1866 the Smithsonian library was brought
: to the Capitol, and in 1861 the valuable his
torical library of Mr.. Peter Force was
bought by the Government for 100000. 1t
insisted Of about 10000 volumes. and con-
ned many valuable manuscripts. Mr..
)rce WAS a specialist whose speciality was
American history, and this addition to the
library Of Congress was the result of forty
five wears of enthusiastic and well-directed
labor.
These were the primary formations of this
geology. Ia 1870 the copyright law was en-
acted, which brought here the copyright rec
ordS OF the past and future and all publica-
ton, which are protected by copyright. From
that time on, therefore. the Library of Con-
gress will grow by natural law of increase,
independent of purchases or appropriations.
Everv book which the author considers worth
copvrighting every magazine story over
which he unfurls the magic legend fall rights
II sed," every drama and opera and song
an el6 " that he wants to preserve from lit
era ,ssates is copyrighted and comes to this
city refuge. Ifprinting is the art preserv-
alive, the Congressional Library Is the institu-
tion conservative. Everything comes here
and nothing goes away. From dignifed vol
umes, scientific heavy-weights, down to the
veriest waif of pamphlet that was ever set
adrift on the wild black tide of printer ink
they are all here. People copyright every
thing, down to printed labels for bottles and
cut paper patterns bv which the woman of
the period makes her own dresses. These
latter and similar devices have for a few
wears past been relegated to the limbo of the
Patent Office, where they properly belong.
The library is a picture gallery also, in which
the pictures are folded away out of sight.
There ARE large volumes sumptueusly illus
trated which never go out of the library;
there Is a steady inflow of engravings, photo
graphs, chrOmos, maps, charts and designs.
Each day and each mail brings its fresh de-
livery of literature. In 1879, $4,000 copy
righted publications came in; the annual re-
ceipts vary from $1,000 to $4,000 year. The
bulk of this matter comes from the three
great publishing cities, New York, Phiadel-
phia and Boston. Cincinnati and Chicago
are publishing points of growing Importance.
A steady and moderate supply comes from
St. Louis, consisting principally of law books
and the publications of the school of philo-
sophical thought which exists there. Import
ant contributions in the department of juris-
prudence come from California.
What the visitor to the library sees Is a
handsome room of digni6ed proportions.
There is a grateful warmth of color about
the walls, and he will pay the decoration of
the room the highest possible compliment by
not being able to remember its exact details
after he has gone away. The warmth Is due
to the buff tint of the walls, which is empha-
sized by gold leaf; and consoles, shields and
clusters of grapes are effectively used in
ornament. In each alcove clerk Is writ
ing; besides being library proper, the car
rying out Of the copyright law makes this a
large executive bureau. At the tables in the
ri2Toom and the wings sit the constituency
sr,lers-for any one may come to the
Theeld read, though members of Con-
festsiy have the right to draw books.
eWs7iS5ers and magazines all come here -