Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-28
THE USE OF BOOKS
The Free Circulating Library Plan
for This City Endorsed.
ACTION OF THE BOARD OF TRADE
Practical Suggestions Made to Ac-
complish This Great End.
DETAILS FULLY EXPLAINED

The report of the committee on libraries
was read at the meeting last evening of
the board Of trade by the chairman, Mr..
Theodore w. Noyes, and signed by the fol-
lowing members: James T. Du Bots, Dan
Tel Murray, John g. Ames and Frederick
b. Mcclure. In connection with the re-
port, a draft OF a proposed bill. incorporat-
ing the suggestions of the committee. was
read. The report was adopted and 1900
copies were ordered to be printed Cor gem
ersll distribution. The report IS as follows:
why is there not a majcsty's library in
every county town? There is a majesty's
Jail and gallOws in every one" The re-
proach of Carly les question OF more than
half century ago has been in large meas
ure removed in England through the series
OF public libraries acts; and in New Eng
land also, and in many states of other sec
tions of the republic, mai asty's libraries
libraries Of the American majesty, the peo-
ple-are far more numerous and conspicu-
Gus than the jails. The school and the Ii
brary, twin. agencies of education, lessen
the need for the prison, and push t into
the background.
Today there is general recognition of the
important educational position Of the free
circulating library and reading room, &C
ceSSible at hours when their treasures can
be utilized by students, both from schools
and colleges, and from among the working
people. whose daylight hours are largely
occupied in bread winning. Especially are
such libraries appreciated in this land of
Tree schools. In state alter state, respond
ing to the popular demand for these educat-
ing and ciVilizing agencies, has legislation
been enacted to supply each little munich
pal subdivision at the Taxpayers expense
So notable has been this movement that il
has been reasonably predicted that the last
quarter or the nineteenth century will 20
down In history as the age Of electricity
and Tree libraries. The progressive COM
munity needs the public library as IL does
the telegraph and telephone. it is on the
same footing with the common school: 1t
u tne Tree university OF the people. In the
pubic school a liking for books, a desire
and thirst for knowledge may naturally be
acquired The library develops this liking
and meets and gratiiies this lesIre. The
school lmpdrts the ability TO educate ones
self by the intelligent use of books The
library supplements this instruction by pro-
WONG the means and opportunity for such
seH-education. As Commissioner W. T.
harris or the bureau Of education has aptly
stated: The school teaches how TO read
how to use the printed page to get out Of
II all that II contains. The library fur
nishes what to read; it opens the store
mouse or all human learning. These two
are complementdr functions in the great
work OF education"
BENEFITS of the Library.
The library is. then, a true university,
both for the graduates of the public schools
and for the whole people, without regard
10 class, or Sex, or age or wealth. or pre-
Vious condition of servitude to ignorance.
The people eagerly avail themselves of the
educational opportunities offered by the
pubic library. 1t raises the whole COM
munity to a higher intellectual plane. 1t
- han a..
as d moral agent. In some of the small
New England towns the record Shows that
as many as one out of every i've inhab-
llantS, counting men, women and children
Is registered as "A borrower OF library books
more persons have there registered 10 read
imam nave registered to vote The statis-
lcs also SHOW that at first fiction was most
largely drawn upon by such readers bur
tnat, as the taste for reading was .ieysloD-
ed' stronger food for the mind was de-
manded, and the ratio of serious reading
steddlIy increased. The reading room has
proved and will prove a strong rival TO al
oemoraIlzlng resorts in claims upon the
evenings OF many, especially the young
and mas served and will serve more and
more as satisfactory substitute for night
streets. e
What Carlyle sought for each English
county town, and what many English and
Ainerlcah villages now enjoy, the national
capital lacks and seeks to obtain. 1t is fast
becoming the republics educational center
Universities are founded in rapid success
sion within its limits. But the great, freq
library university for those whom Lincoln
lovingly called the common people is VET
70 De created. According to the statistics
there are much more than a million books
In the semi-public libraries of Washington.
ABOUT a twentieth of all in the republic: and
when these have been apportioned among the
citizens after the methods of statisticians II
appears that the District Workingman has
fourteen times as many public books as the
average American. and the only difficulty
Is that he cannot possibly make any use
OF them wha tsOever
Want Amidst Plenty
The resident in the more elevated sac
lions OF Washington who could get no water
on the upper floors of his house. and very
little on any floor. saw countless gallons
wasted in the departments in fountains and
otherwise, and learned from statistics that
he and the other citizens were in per capita
average of gallons daily used among the
largest consumers of water in the country
me population of the capital, credited with
fourteen times their due proportion of
DOCKS, and without a single available lend
ing library, with reading rooms open at
hlSnt, without even the command of books
enjoyed by the working people of little
northern and western towns detect a SINH
lar mockery in the library statistics No
satisfactory substitute either for actual
water or actual books is furnished by com
The departmental libraries at the capitaI
contain nearly three hundred thousand vol
umes, accessible only to a few employees of
the government, and closed to them early in
the afternoon. The vast wealth of reading
matter in the Congressional Library is
practically out of the reach of working men
and school children, owing to the hours of
opening and closing and the conditions
placed upon the enjoyment of it's privileges
Not one of the great government collec-
tons is open in the evening. when alone the
great mass of the people can use the books
There are hfty-two libraries in the District
each containing over one thousand volumes
and not one of them is a free lending
library, with reading room open at night
for the benefit of the general public Such
an institution is the most urgent need of
the national capital. Viewing this ocean Of
more than million books. spread tantaliz-
ingly before them, the workingmen the
school children, the government clerks. the
great mass of the citizens of Washington.
thirsty for the knowledge which comes from
reading, may well exclain with the Ancient
Mariner: Water. water everywhere nor
any drop to drink
The Popular Need.
great national reference library for the
worlds scholars does not prevent in other
capitals the existence of numerous popular
libraries and should NOT in WaSbipotoo