The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-13
A PEOPLES LIBRARY.
Continued from Tenth Page.

communication. which was, in part. as
follows. was referred to the Committee
of the Whole
Il beg to lay before you a proposition
to inaugurate in this city, as the best
possible antidote to the saloon, the gam
bling house and other vicious resorts in
our midst, a peoples library
THE sermons of Rev Sam Jones. the
efforts of the Law and Order League
and those of all the public-spirited, in
tellisent and religious people of Savannah
are all directed toward a common end,
the suppression of vice in our city, and
the elevation of the moral tone of our
community in every way possible. There
is at present no place in this city where
the unemployed, the disabled, the young
men and women of the city, the strangers
who frequent it, can spend few hours
innocently agreeably and probably. The
rooms of the Georgia Historical Society
are not open to the general public, except
as an act of courtesy on the part of the
trustees; the reading rooms of the Young
Mems Christian Association are reserved
for the members and proteges of the as
ISOLATION; the rooms of the Catholic Lii
brary Association are reserved for the use
of Catholics; the Seamen's Bethel is for
the use of our serfaring friends, and the
Sunday-school libraries of the various
churches reach only the children of the
community.
There is, therefore, very great need
of a free, public library for the people Of
Savannah, in which all classes and condi-
lions of men and women, decently dressed
and properly behaved, can improve their
time and their condition. The benches in
the parks are always filled with idle
loungers trying to while away few hours
there. There are hundreds of people in
this city who would be greatly benefited
by the establishment of a free pubic
library, and l commend this matter to
you as a body of public-spirited and in
telligent men. 1t is well worthy of your
consideration For the small sum of 500
per month the whole expense of such
library could be met. For the first ten
wears, say of its existence a suitable
room could be hired for from $l5 to $40
per month. in the heart of the city, and
for $50 per month a suitable person could
be employed to take charge of the
library; and in the course of time, have
no doubt whatever that the generosity or
private citizens, in sympathy with such n
movement, would add to it many and val
liable requests, and very likely. a liberal
endowment.
you have the nucleus of such library
in the collections already made by Mr.
Tarver and others here. l have personally
examined these collections in the interest
of one of the Northern Libraries, recently
and am sure that by spending some small
sum on the current literature of the day,
they could easily be made valuable and
practical foundation for the purpose; en-
bracing as they do history poetry. tic-
| ton and Belles-,ettres in various tongues;
some of the books are also old, rare, and
| valuable.
THE expense of running such library
| would be smaIl-it's value to the commun-
| ity inestimable.
1.-THE only way in the world, in my opin-
| ion, to suppress vicious institutions in any
city, is by the process of substitu-
| tion-the substitution of good read
ing rooms and other places of
innocent and pleasurable public resorts
for depraved and demoralizing ones. In
the course of FIVE years mission work in
| this city have come into constant daily
contact with the poorest people and neigh
| borhoods of the city. and l have often
| been impressed by the fact that there
is almost no provision made here for the
needs of the respectable poor. You will
| have gone a great way toward emptyng
your jails. your saloons and your gam
! bling houses when you provide the peo-
pie of this community with comfortable
Clearly and well-stocked public library"
Frances c. Barnum."