The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1893-01-19
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.
THE NEW BUILDING The FIN
EST IN THE WORLD.
Now Approaching Compietion-ho" DoohS
VIII Be Handled by Machinery-koom
for 5000. 900 volumes-Great Libraries
of Ancient and Modern Times.
rncle sam,s Sew LIbrary.

| Uncle Sans New Library.
An underground cable road will con
meet the new Library OF Congress with
the Capitol 1t will be on q Lilliputian
scale. and the little cars run upon 1t VIII
| carry only books as passengers. 80
| rapid and effective will this method OF
communication be that congressman
will be able TO procure at the briefest
notice volumes that are needed on mana
for reference or for use in debate. FROM
station situated midway between the
House and Senate orders viii be tele-
graphed or otherwise swiftly sent, ana
the books on arrival distributed by mes
sengers. This will be very different
affair from the famous hole IN the
ground which was made seventeen
years ago to connect the Capitol with
the Government Printing Office by gil
gantic pneumatic tube, big enough for
man to be whisked through. 1t was in
tended for conveying public documents,
but the SIS, coo spent on it was wasted,
inasmuch as it never worked, and 1t Is
now used merely as conduit Tor tele-
phone wires.
There is no library building in the
world that at all compares with the one
low being erected by Uncle Sam. Novel
/ mechanical devices will constitute one
Of its most interesting features. Inn
provemcnts Of the kind have never been
thought Of abroad, where the great book
collections are usually SO managed that
their treasures are TO great extent I'M
available. In the Library Of Congress
the volumes will be handled almost en-
tirely by machine. Orders will be sent
to the bookstacks and books brought
from them to the desk for distribution by
trays suspended from endless chains,
the latter being made to travel by
means OF an engine in the basement.
The mechanism will be noiseless and
Invisible also, the carriers going beneath
the floor of the great central reading
room to and fro between the Librarian
desk and the book -stacks. Every arriv-
ing tray will dump itself automatically
at the desk. Likewise, in taking vol
umes back, each tray will spill its con-
tents of its own accord at certain time.
For example, if a book belongs on tier
7, the desk attendant waits until the
carrier marked comes along and puts
the volume on it as it passes. When it
gets to tier the book spills out by the
action of a peg and catch, and the per-
son in charge of that tier puts it away
on its proper shelf.
A Great Collection.
When one learns that there are $780,,
coo bound volumes in the library of
Congress, mind does not grasp the fact
with very clear comprehension. 1t is
easier to absorb the idea when it is ex-
planned that this number of books,
placed side by side ON a shelf, would
stretch eleven miles. But the new
building was not planned to accommo-
date only 50 many, the obvious expecta
ton being that the great collection will
grow enormously through centuries to
come. Adjoining the central rotunda
are two structures which might be COM
pared to gigantic honeyeombs, made
wholly Of iron instead OF wax, and de-
signed to hold not nectar, but knowl
edge. These are called book stacks,
and each OF the pair will contain s01,-
600 volumes. Each of them is 65 feet
high, ll2 feet long, As feet wide, and
has nine stories. On the iron shelves,
made gridiron fashion, the books will be
placed back to back, with just enough
room between the book cases to afford
narrow passageways. Thus they will
have plenty OF fresh air, which is as
necessary to books as it is to human
beings. Books must have ventilation,
else they will rot, and they have to be
kept cool. Heat makes them decay and
bad air causes mould Books stored by
this stack system, which Is q compare
lively new invention, can not possibly
be burned. II set afre, nothing else
m Inn hni OF a.,
smolder.
However, 100000 volumes do not by
any means represent the capacity of the
building 1t is anticipated that the
library Of Congress will be the biggest
in the world some day, and provision
has been made in the construction of
the editice for accommodating $500 0J
coks. All binding will be done on the
premises, an item which costs S., 900 an
nually. There will be plenty OF room
also for the copyright division, which
requires great space for the filing away
of all publications, etc, on which copy
rights are granted. Copyrights are
issued for good many things besides
books, periodicals, and pamphlets. They
are given for new pieces Of music, en-
cravings, chromos, and even puzzles
and games. The games and puzzles
are not themselves subject to copyright,
but the directions for them are so, be-
ing printed matter. Very commonly the
manufacturers, though there is no need
that they should do so, send in the play
things together with the directions
building blocks, ohopped-up animals.
parlor billiard tables, or what not-and
they are duly stored. Uncle Sam has
enough Of such articles in the Capitol at
present TO stock several toy shops for
next Christmas.
Not little of the printed matter sub
mitted for copyrighting is immoral and
so unfit for publication as to render il
liable TO seizure under the laws. But,
oddly enough, the Librarian of Congress
has no discretion in this regard, and he
Is compelled TO grant the copyright in
every instance, so long as the material
is original. A common fraud attempted
is the request for copyright on an old
book published under new title. In
order to guard against this the assist
ants in charge of the copyright bust
ness must be familiar with everything
that has been issued from the press.