The herald., 1894-08-31
BAD BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG.
Reform Neededin the Library
Circulation System.
Proper Safeguards Should Be Placed
Around Certain Books.
a Growing Conviction That . Change of
Management Should Be Made in
the Public Library-wnl
Mayor Rowan Act?

The greatest crying evil in the public
library is the placing in the power OF
children OF the right to select books
from the shelves which, il read at all,
should be restricted to persons OF mature
years.
The claim is made that certain books,
by reason OF possessing certain stand
ard or classic character-a certain grace
Of literary style-cannot be excluded
from public library. Poison slipped
from golden chalice is just as baneful
as that quaffed from pewter mug, and
the child that has free access to books Of
good literary style but of bad morals
may be improved in the gracss OF lite.
rary expression, but all the same be
damned morally.
The fathers and mothers of Los Ange.
les, who psy for the support OF tho pub
lilo library pretty tidy sum OF money
every year, have q right to exact that
such safeguards shall be placed around
such books ae would be exercised in
their own homes. But by placing this
embargo on the indiscriminats issuance
OF books the inflated circulation of the
library would be curtailed and the libra
ry management would not have the
effrontery to ask for $25, 900 per annum
to support lsrge staff of employees,
when $4,000 would be amply sufficient
to operate that institution.
1t should not bs in the power OF any
young girl OF IA years or more to go into
the library and secure copy Of Boccac-
clos Decameron, yet this ia possible
by calling for B 250l OF the new fiction
list. Since the crusade has been in
augurated by the HERALD and 80 effect
lively and earnestly by the cergymen OF
Los Angeles, one lady has had occasion
to take three books out Of the hands of
her young daughter by reason of their
questionable character. Alphonse Dau-
det's Sapph0, which will be found on
the shelves of the public library of Los
Angeles under the fiction list number
d 205, has for its heroine @ woman who
exploits the infamies of Sodom. This
work is printed in good plain English
text. BY reference to the fiction list,
De Foes Moll Flanders will be found
catalogued as d 755 P. Readers OF Reb-
inson Crusoe, q work pure and simple in
style and healthy in its morals, will
find here wsllowing place OF flthiness.
A clergyman who has not as yet made
any pulpit utterance on the library mis-
management told HERALD reporter
that he found serious objection to the
presence in the reference room, without
proper safeguards, OF medical works
with full-page illustrations that certainly
should not be within the reach of any
one who elected to examine them. There
will no doubt be specious defense made
OF the presence of improper books in the
library, but there can be no defense
made of the present circulation system
OF the library. There are other books in
the catalogue OF the library to which
attention will DO called from time to
time.
A public library, on the shelves of
which there are books of which the
Management processes to be ignorant, Ia
certainly illmanaged, and it is time
that the church-going people OF Los
Angeles, and for the matter OF that,
every father and mother who want to
protect their children from a per-
nicious and thoroughly demoral.
izing class OF literature, united
in demanding that this bad manage.
ment be changed and the library purged
OF all grossly improper books, and put
in a management that will suppress the
indiscriminate circulation of books
among children. Mayor Rowan, as
chief executive OF the city under the
charter, is required to exercise super
vision over the acts of all municipal
officers and employee and in the judg-
ment OF the Christian people OF Los An
geles, the time has come for him to act.