Evening star., 1898-12-02

lie Library.
The proposition to provide the District
with new municipal building is to be ad-
Varced, not only on its own merit but be-
cause the structure when erected IS. under
the law. to serve as the public library's per-
manent home.
The promotion of suitable legislation to
accomplish all these ends is strongly urged
by the trustees.
The board of trustees. under the nuthor-
ity given by the law, has provided 'reguIa-
tons for it's own organization and govern
mfnt, which are printed as an appendix
to this report, and has also by the ssme
authority adopted library :ules regulating
the use of the books which will also be
found in the appendix.
Estimates for Next Year
The estimates submitted by the trustees
for the maintenance of the library for the
ensuing year are as follows: Librarian
$1,000; one assistant librarian, 5000; one
assistant librarian, s72O; two assistant IL
brarians, at $500 each, 81 200: zone messen-
ger, $500; *books and magazines So 600:
rent, fuel, light, fitting UP and care of
rooms and other contingent expenses 81
500; total, S162S0.
The items marked with a star are new
The others are the same as the appropria-
tions for the current year. The commits
Sioners' estimates for the current year were
$1,000, including $4,000 for books The
increase in the estimates for next year is
in the greater estimate $500 for books /.
The appropriations for the public IL
braries of Salem, Mass. and Newark, n, j.
Tor the first year of their existence show
that the proposed appropria ton for Ii
brary of the size of that of Washington is
in every respect modest and reasonable.
The Washington library has 1000 books:
in their first year the Salem and Newark
libraries had 14,o30 and 1860 volumes re-
spectvey.
THE salaried force of Washington at
present consists Of three persons QIbra rian
ana two aSSiStdntSb whom &c
increase to six persons librarian, four as
SlStants and meSsenger), against a total
force for the first year in the Salem library
OF seven persons and In the Newark IL
brary OF six permanent employees and four
temporary cata!oguers. An increase of the
library force is absolutely essential The
librarian and his two assistants are en-
gagged not only during the day, but until 10
O'Clock at night, and are thus doing double
duty, for which an extra force is in MANY
cases provided.
The present Washington nav roll ;s 60
22O. which it IS proposed to Increase to
$4, $50, as against st,52S.74 for the Salem
library staff in its first year, and 81 5.yp 90
for that of Newark during the same pc
riod.
THE proposed item of expenditure upon
books and periodicals is IS, 600 as against
sl2 2S2G' for books, and sG33.31 for the pc
riodicals in the first year of the Salem IL
brary, and of s14,572.33 for books and 81. :
451.71 for periodicals in the corresponding
period of the Newark library. Similar
comparisons of the other items show that
they are all in Washington's estimates re-
duced to minimum.
Educational Importance.
To-day there is general recognition of the
important educational position of the free
circulating library and reading room, ac-
cessible al 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
| free schools. In state after state, respond
| Ing to the popular demand for these edu-
eating and civilizing agencies, has iegisla-
| tion been enacted to supply each little mu-
nicipal subdivision at the taxpayers ex-
| pense So notable has been this move
| ment that it has been reasonably predicted
| that the last quarter of the nineteenth CEN
! tury will go down in history as the age of
electricity and free libraries. The progress
| sive community needs the public library
| as it does the telegraph and the telephone.
| 1t is on the same footing with the common
| school: it Is the free university of the peo-
| pie. In the public school liking for books
| desire and thirst for knowledge, may nat
| urally be acquired The library develops
| this liking and meets and gratiiies this de-
| sire. The school imparts the ability to ed
| Ccate ones self by the Intelligent use of
books. The library supplements this in
| struction by providing the means and op-
| portunity for such self-education.
| THE library is, then, true university,
| both for the graduates of the public schools
| and for the whole people, without regard
| to 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
| public library. 1t raises the whole COM
| munity to a higher intellectual plane. 1t is
| also not without Its beneficent influence as
| a moral agent. In some of the small New
| England towns the record shows that as
| many as one out of every five inhabitants,
| counting men, women and children is reg
istered as borrower Of library books More
| persons have there registered to read than
have registered to vote. The statistics also
| show that, at first, fiction was most largely
| drawn upon by such readers, but that, as
| the taste for reading was developed. strong
?, er food for the mind was demanded, and
| the ratio of serious reading steadily in
| creased. The reading room has proved and
| will prove a strong rival to all demoraliziug
| resorts in claims upon the evenings of
| many, especially the young, and has served
and will serve more and more as a satis-
| factory substitute for nightly idleness in
| dreary lodgings or on the streets.
Mindful of the hbrary's functions as "a
supplement of the public education system
| of said District, the trustees have endeav-
| ored to develop it along the lines of great
| est usefulness to the school children of
! Washington. They co-operated with the
school authorities in establishing the most
| effective system of thus utilizing the books
| in the purchase OF new books.
| "A duty and privilege presented to the
| citizens of Washington is that nf enlarging
the private subscriptions Of looks to the
/ library, the donations of money to purchase
books and the gifts of memorial and other
| funds for special library purposes, Public
| spirited Washington may reasonably be sx-