Evening star., 1899-03-14

MIR. Herbert Putnam.
sor may see al a glance the status of every
branch of the great institution. Mr.. Put
nam will find the record of every clerk
tabulated. will know the state of the
finances and be given comprehensive grasp
of the whole library. Mr.. Spofford, Mr.
Hutchinson and the chiefs of the various
departments have maintained the high
standard of efficiency which prevailed in
their branches during Mr.. Young's admin
istration, and when Mr.. Putnam takes
charge he will find a smoothly running ma
chine, which will need no immediate ad-
justment-
Mr. Putnam's Career.
The new librarian is known very slightly
in Washington. He has the acquaintance
of a few public men who have met him in
Boston and when he was here two years
ago testifying before the joint committee
library. A dispatch from Boston says
that Herbert Putnam was born in New
York in 1851 He is the son of George P
Putnam, founder of the publishing house
of George Putnam & Sons.
Mr.. Putnam was graduated from Har-
ward in 1855, and attended Columbia law
school for one year thereafter In the fall
of 1884 he went to Minneapolis, and year
later entered the Minnesota bar. In 1854.
however. he took the Guardianship of the
Minneapolis Atheneum. a stock corporation
library, with fund yielding $4,000 year
meager income for current expenses.
Mr.. Putnam organized the Minneapolis
Public Library. a free city institution, with
circulating department, branches and deliV-
cry stations under the control of library
board an independent department of the
city government with power to levy tax
within half-Tnile limit for the support of
the library.
BY the issue of bonds and private sub
scription. and from current taxes for sew
eral years, the library board bought a site
and erected a building costing nearly $780,
90. and known as one of three or four Of
the best equipped of. American library
buildings.
The old Atheneum came into the new Ii
brary, making its books free to the public.
the city paying expenses of administering
them. The aggregate income of the joint
libraries has been from soe0o9 to $4,000
per annum.
During the construction of the building
Mr.. Putnam was engaged in the purchase
of books. going abroad for the purpose. and
at the end of the first seven years of his
admi mis- tratiOn he had added some 5000
volumes to the 12,Ot1 originally possessed
by the Atheneum. AT the time he left the
library in 1891, II had grown to be the
fifth in the United States in point of circu-
lattOn and ranked about the same in point
Of income.
In December. 1891. Mr.. Putnam for per-
sOnal reasons resigned his position and
came to Boston, where he practiced law at
the Suffolk bar. In February, 1895. he was
chosen librarian of the Boston Public Lii
brary, in which position his reputation has
been enhanced
Does Not Entirely Favor Civil Service
When Mr.. Putnam was giving testimony
before the congressional committee he
made some interesting remarks upon the
library.
Asked by Representative Quigg If he pre-
ferred some sort of civil service system
nFS al F,r he bA
Il will say this: / prefer it in Boston
for there | think II operates to get good
service: but at no time in the past two
years has "a single one of my trustees ask
ed me To appoint a single person; so that
not a single appointment has been made
of a person named by the trustees. Now
If that could be the situation in thu Library
of Congress. believe so much in centering
responsibility, and L deem il of so much
advantage that the men that are finally
responsible should choose their subordi-
mates. that 1 would not altogether favor
d civil service in the selection of employees
in the Congressional Library
IF II is a fact that the positions in these
departments that are not under civil serv-
ice rules are considered public places. and
recommendations to them are necessary
/ don't say recommendations that carry a
corrupt Interpretation or meaning but rec
concentrations that are considered to be
the prerOgattyes of members of Congress
or Of the President, who has the appoint
ment of the librarian or of anybody else
l say that that very power to recommend
Just carrying personal weight. without any
threat attached to IL, that that power to
recommend is going to b. so embarrassing
10 the librarian that nine-tenths of his
time will be taken up in dealing with Just
such recommendations.
l am not a photographer. but as an ad-
mlHistrator | would lay stress on the prop
osiuOn laid down by business men general
ly. that there is no need of an examina ton
10 tell them what is the best man for a
particular place; and still less need of an
examination to tell them what men should
De promoted think the librarian himself
c1n tel! better than any other person.
Management of the Library.
Touching the library Itself and its man.
agement. Mr.. Putnam said:
This should be a library, the foremost
library in the United States-a nationa
hbrary-that is to say, the largest Hbrar,
in the United States and a library which
stands foremost as a model and exampl,
or assisting forward the work of scholar
ship in the United States. And you VIII
be spending for it a sum that must b,
nearly $JU,OO year to make IL wha
Sour committee seem to purpose that i
should be made 1 should suppose yol
would have TO have for the administration
or that library a force exceeding numer
1caiy 30 employees, perhaps go.
Il should suppose that The man who i
TO have the final administration of tha