Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-02-12

/ 1t is authoritatively stated that An
| drew Carnegie. the great steel king,
calculates to spend sl,O00000 a month
for public libraries and organs. The
| city of Wheeling should therefore ex-
perience no difficulty in inducing the
| multi-millionaire to appropriate mod
est sum for library building here,
now that the Board of Education has
j received from the State Legislature the
right to purchase site for the propos-
ed new building.
A New York paper has figured Mr..
Carnegie's income at $4,000 600 year,
from the following sources: present
bonds, $1,000 600; from bonds issued to
pay for his stock, s7,5o0,000; from
other investments, $500, 600.
Mr.. Carnegie has promised TO devote
four-ffths of his annual income to
public benefactions If the above fig
ures are correct, he win therefore ex-
pend S12,000,000 a year upon libraries
| and organs, reserving 100000 a year
to keep the wolf from his own door
| 1t will be seen that Mr.. Carnegie, if he
lives ten or twenty years, will have
done a great deal to perpetuate his
name all over the United States.
Mr.. Carnegie's friends are quoted
as saying that to whatever cause he
| may contribute, he certainly will not
| contribute to churches, as he is a pro-
| nounced foe of sectarianism The or
gans. to be bought with his money will
| not be church organs.
Judge G. l.. Cranmer. one of the
| prime promoters of the project, stated
| last evening in an interview with a
/ Register reporter that there would be
no further developments of a definite
| nature in the matter until he has re-
! celved copy of the new library bill,
| which recently passed the Legislature
and became a law This bill contem-
plated originally" said Judge Cranmer,
that the committee appointed to petit
| ton Mr.. Carnegie for a contribution
| should be composed of five members
of the Board of Education and four
representative citizens of Wheeling.
| The board vigorously opposed the
| clause with reference to the citizens
! and wanted to be entirely in control of
the committee, and for this reason it
is uncertain as to whether or not Mr..
Carnegie will contribute in aid of the
movement. A committee of the board
members and representative citizens
of Wheeling would of course be very
materially helpful in behalf of such a
project. Perhaps we can obviate this,
however for we have a right under the
| provisions of the bill to issue bonds
to the amount of $4,000 for the new
building, providing three-fifths of the
citizens vote for it.
There is some talk of securing a
new hlen school building, and if steps
are taken in this direction [ would
favor the idea of erecting a large new
building in which the High school, the
liorary and also a museum might be
combined to advantage
THE need of large and more suit
able quarters for our library is more
and more plainly demonstrated every
day. There are frequent occasions
| when the present building is uncom-
fortably crowded by visitors. A mu-
scum in the same building would also
be considerable credit to Wheeling
for the reason that there are numerous
rare and valuable relics in possession
Oh some of the citizens which could be
preserved and displayed here for
years"