The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-02-19
Prominent Mem to
the Rescue
OF the Association.

i" HE council of the Mercantile L.
-. brary has been very busy in the
past week forming a committee OF
one hundred members to raise 800 600.
:: It will require that much to pay or
: the debt of the library and put 1t
on It's feet once more.
J 1.-The committee is formed" said George
=. a Newhall, president of the Mercantile
Library Association, when asked about
the expectations of the gentlemen VINO
have the matter in hand: THE action
will shortly be taken which will prove 10
the world that the citizens of San FRAN
cisco are proud of their reference library
and will not allow 1t to become park-
rupt."
,swbat will YOU do to raise 500, 0O0?"
'eWeII. one hundred men have agreed
each to raise $1,000. We will not ask any
questions as to where or how or When they
get the money. They have only to get 1t
and hand it in. We have made out q nst
j.: Of the men we think can and Will give
:. from $500 to $1,000, and each OF the COM
. 1n1ttee of one hundred will call upon
those assigned to him What we cannot
raise in that way we are going TO make
=: up ourselves"
.. The Mercantile Library is dear to every
old San Franciscan. 1t was started away
back in the times which save birth to the
= Committee of Vigilantes. On December
those who attended that first meeting not
=. many are with us now, but Irving NJ.
:Scott was one of the prime movers.
=. There were a great many young mer'
Santi!e men here" said he, who had
come from every country and under very
unusual circumstances. We were COM
munity alone. cut off from our homes IN
the East by the mountains and the death
Strewn trail over the plains. There was
nj influence
temptations to vice. There were no places
+of legitimate amusement where we could
spend our evenings-no. theater, no read
. {hg-roon-only saloons"
=. When the first meeting was called 1t
was very stormy, but the meeting in the
chamber of the Board of Aldermen was
packed. Capital stock was fixed at $4,000
and share at $25 each. Two thousand dol
lars was raised tb at night and within a
fortnight was Incl easec TO $4,000. In the
= following March the formal opening of
the library occurred Rooms in the Cali
.:fornia Exchange building at the corner
of Clay and Kearny streets were fitted up.
:. There was a reading and a smoking room
and it became at once the headquarters
OF the better class. The few ladies here
then helped in every way to further the
good cause, but it was not till the library
. moved into it's own home that a room
was furnished exclusively for them.
1t was in 1866 that the lot where the
Mills building now stands was purchased
for $50, 900. They only had on hand so 900,
but they paid that, and after many coun-
ellis borrowed 500 900 on the lot and the
building to be. The cornerstone was laid
by the Masons. General Barnes, who was
a newcomer then, made the Grafton. 1t
was a great event. Exclusive of the
mortgage there was still $4,000 which had
" TO be raised, and nobody seemed anxious
IN hIlv the bonds which the association
had to sell.
They held a fair, but 1t was not sue
cess except socially. Next they tried lee
lures. But it cost the library more to
bring the speakers out from the East
than the audiences returned at the doors.