The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-19
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| Copyrighted, 1897, by Frank Gs Carpenter.)
T. WASHINGTON, D. C.1Sept l6.-I had
an hours chat with MR. john Russell
| Young as to his new plans for the new
| national library. He had just returned
to his home after going over the vari-
GUS rooms with Mr. Spofford and the
chiefs of the different divisions, and
had before him aAet Of plans, show
ingsthe floors sAa3us Il how each part
offhfs greatab ok palace is to- be ar
ranged. Mr.. ' .Y6ung home is now on
New Jersey aHHngk. within a few
| blocks of the library. In going to see
him l walked by the front Of the ma
tional capitol. aioMH the central stairs
of which a woepeno trough or chute has
been built to carry the boxes of books
from the old .Hbraty down into the
wagons in which they are to be carried
| to the new. [ saw scores Of Workmen
bringing these boxes on their Shout
ders out of thfs capitol and putting
| them into the chute, Men stood at the
| bottom to catch The boxes as they
came flying down, and as soon as one
wagon was loaded I noticed that there
was another there to take it's place. AL
ready several hundred thousand books
nave been moved, and it is expected
that long before congress meets this
| vast collectienIof volumes and pam
phlets will be stored away in its new
home.
NEW LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS.
Before I give my interview with Mr..
Young, let me tell-you something about
the man. Some of the papers seem to
look upon him as politician rather
than as a literary man.: This is a mis-
take. Mr.. Young is almost a born lit
erateur He began to write for the
newspapers long before he was out Of
MS teens. He has been "a student all
MS life, and today he has one of the
largest private libraries in the United
states. His collection fof Americana at
Philadelphia numbers several thousand
volumes, and he has rare editions of
nearly all the greater authors. His liter
airy work has been carried on all over
the world. For years he was at the head
| OF the New York Herald bureau in
LONDON, and as such spent much time
IN the British museum library. He has
| also worked for months in the National
library OF France. He has had access
| 10 the collections of Spain at Madrid.
ana tnere is hardly a great library of
| the world Which he does not know. AS
a writer he is noted for the purity of
MS English, and When he talks his Ian
guage IS the purest Anglo Saxon. SO
Worded that it could be published with
out revision. He has always received
high salaries. I am told he got $40, 900
a year from Mr.. Bennett. of the Her
| HOY
when he was vice president of tbe
headlng railroad. and I imagine his
| work today is done more for the love
OF 1t than for the $1,000 salary which
ne gets from the government.
HOW M'KINLEY APPOINTED
- YOUNG.
1t has been stated that Mr.. Young,s
! appointment was sa=Ylsevere blow to
! Aa1nsWorth r. Spofford, the old libra
pan OF congress. This is a mistake
/ Mr.. Spofford himself wrote the presi-
dent that he did not wish to be contin-
sued as chief, and in his letter he him
/ sell suggested that Mr. Young be cho-
/ sen as%llbrarian. When President Nc
k1nley offered John Russell Young the
] position, Mr.. Young said he could not
I accept 1t on account Of his friendship
Flor Mr.. Spofford Said The:
Mr.. PresidentSFsM Mr.. ESpofford and T
I have been friends for over thirty wears,
We like each. other; and I Would4not for
the worldsdo anything that would af-
feet our relations.Y
Upon this President Mckinley show
/ ed Mr.. Young Mr.. Spofford's letter, and
some weeks after that Mr. Young ac-
cepted the appointment. The relations
OF the two men are Of the best nature.
They are working together Spofford
/ acting as literary assistant and Young
as administration head, executive man
ager and in short as ibrarian-in-chief.
UNCLE SANS BOOKS.
asked Mr. Young to tell me some
thing of the size ofsUncle Sans book
collection. He replied:
TT is hard to sayaas yet just what it
is. For years thousands of pamphlets
/ and volumes have been stored away in
boxes, packed up in bundles and piled
up in all sorts of shapes in the base
ment of the capitol. We know that we
have altogether about 100000 books
and 250,00 pamphlets, making a million
in all. We have, I judge, something
like 100000 unbound periodicals, 200 900
pieces of music and at least 10000 maps.
In addition to these there are manu-
scripts, pictures and vast amount of
material, the value of which can only
be known when it is properly arranged
and classified" @
But there must be a great deal Of
trash in such stuff, Mr.. Young" said L.
mo, I think not" was the reply. CAL
most every bit of of it is valuable In
one sense or another. You know the
trash of one century becomes the
classics of the next. Old pamphlets
which are thought worthless often be-
come very valuable The American
ones are especially so. The library is
the copyright record Of what the great
American brain is ddfag.s It is the great
brain reservoir oEthe United States,
lished" ~
Eyes, I think SO farrTgas the United
that two copies Of each book copy
righted must be deposite in-the Ma
tional library. WE alsosgets every for
eign book registefad under the inter
national copyright SaaaN,s and our addi-
tions to the library from copyrights
alone amount to tens OF thousands a
year. Last year H1ereHWere over 10000
books. pictures and other things copy
righted. and the Increase of copyrights
seems to be steady from year to year"
ENOUGH ROOM FOR A CENTURY.
.rWin not the library soon become
full at this rate of increase?" 1 asked.
mo. I think not" replied the libra
rian. 1--WE can put all the books in one
wing or stack of the new building. We
have shelving for years to come. The
library covers about three acres. There
are three stories, which gives nine
acres for books, machinery, offices and
reading rooms. Nine acres is great
deal of space. There are already miles
/ of shelving, and, if necessary, room
could be made for more than 4,000, 000
| books. 1 doubt whether we will fill