Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-27
The workingmcn and the Free
Library,

The local federation of labor last night
gave effective aid to the public library
project by indorsing 1t and appointing a
committee to cooperate with the library
committee of the board OF trade. The work
ingmen Of the city have always shown an
. Intelligent appreciation OF the benefits of
free library and of the needs Of Washington
In this particular. Years ago some of the
workingmen, among whom Mr. F. w Oyster
. was conspicuous, made a vigorous effort to
establish such library exclusively on the
private subscription basis. When, later, The
Star proposed municipality
library the local labor organizations by reso-
luton heartily Endorsed the proposition.
The same wise interest in the public library
idea was recently displayed in the estab-
lishment of reading rooms supplied with
books and magazines in connection with the
labor bureau created by the local working
men. They now carry out consistently their
Teil-established policy on this subject by
frdorsinS the broad project of a munich
pally-sustained library. supplied with books
largely by private subscriptions. the true
public library in the modern sense of the
term. in creating and sustaining which the
private citizen. the municipality and the
nation unite.
Next to thlrty-three thousand children In
the District over twelve years of age, who
need modern public circulating library,
with reading rooms open in the evening, as
an adjunct to the public schools, there Is
no portion Of the Districts population from
whom comes a more powerful appeal for a
free library than from the local working
men. who are cut off from the wealth of
books In Washington's government libraries
by the early hours of closing and by the
absence In han nP =
The census of 1890 disclosed that over
twenty-three thousand adults were then
engaged in the District in lines of work
which are classed as manufactures. To the
census figures must be added the thou
sands OF workingmen engaged In forms Of
labor not classed as manufactures, and
then this number must be multiplied since
many are the heads of families. to ascer-
tain the number of readers, and In behalf
OF this great multitude of people a free
lending library and night reading room are
now demanded
The reading rooms and collections of
books easily accessible to the workingmen
In their hours of leisure cannot be too
many In number Or too extensive In size or
too broad in scope. The Federation last
night recognized that the modern public
library is the peoples university, the sup
PIGMENT of the public schools, an integral
part of the municipalities educational sys-
tom, and inasmuch the local working
men have always labored to broaden and
perfect the public schools system, as in the
Introduction of free text books and in other
ways. they are now enlisted earnestly and
enthusiastically in the campaign for a pub
lie library an essential part of the cap
ftaPs educational system.
As Commissioner W. T. Harris of the
Bureau of Education has aptly stated:
1.-THE school teaches how to read--how to
use the printed page to get out of 1t all
that 1t contains. The library furnishes
what to read; 1t opens the storehouse of all
human learning. These two are compile
mentary functions i'll the grea: work of
education"