The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-01-24

I representatives in Washington of sore:g.
/ | governments, the solicitor general and at
! attorney general, the solicitor of tn,
treasury, the secretary and regents O.
the Smithsonian Institution. the mem
bcrs and secretary of the Interstate
| Commerce Commission and the chief en-.
gineer of the army Neither Admiral
Dewey nor ChieI Justice Fuller can carry
| book away with them.
Within the library, any hour between
a. m and 10 p. M, at,y citizen can ge.
any book he wants to read In the pub
! lie reading roorn-in the magnificent and
artistic rotundo-there is desk seating
room for 246 persons Not a whisper is
! heard there. The scene would be ap-
pa.ling on account of its silence were it
not for the shower of soft light that fills
the building. Everybody walks on rub
Der. In a whisper you ask for book.
Immediately a cord is put into one Of
the tubes and in an instant one of the
twenty-four trays attached TO a po,seless
endless chain returns dumps your book
into a cushioned basket. and like the
brook. goes on and on and on.
There is no catalogue and the card in
dex system is entirely In use. Strangely
enough although the library operates its
own printing Office 1t cannot afford to
have a catalogue of its books. / am in
formed that the printers work on cata-
logue alone would cost more than quar-
ter of million of dollars TO say nothing
of the enormous cost of compiling it.
The books are so arranged in the
stacks that ladder is not necessary.
They are also arranged that air at a
proper temperature is always circulating
among them as well for the preservation
of the paper as for the binding. The win
dows are SO arranged that equalized light
falls on each and every one of them. All
the windows are air-tight and the hot air
which heats the stacks is sifted through
cotton for the purpose of keeping out ev-
cry particle of dust.
Cleanliness is a noticeable feature of
the building. Every morning before the
reading room opens forty charwomen
have scrubbed the floors OF the entire
building.
Eighteen policemen. in three shifts.
keep graveyard quiet in the library and
elevators are ever ready for the accom-
mediation of visitors. Last but by no
means the least feature of the public ac-
commodations of the building is the place
for rest. Chairs. settees ard sofas are
located in every nook and corner. II you
are tired you can sit down ard feast on
the gems of art that greet the eye wher-
ever it turns.
OF the pictures. portraits, prints, etch- |
ings, paintings, mosaics. statues, has re- |
liefs heraldic devices. sculpture, pillars. |
columns, screens, arches. domes. foun- |
tains, spandrels. and other architectural /
and decorative features l will inform you
at some other time; perhaps / may have /
some time to write about them next
that now 1 cannot borrow the time from
Victor Murdoch
One Of the most interesting halls is that
containing the orientalia and Washing
toniana. 1t is full of manuscriptural and
printed curios. In the erientalia alone
there are more than 5000 pieces and fully
500 in the Washingtoniana. The orientali;i
includes sets of the Vinaya. the Sutra,
the Anidarma and the writings OF .Confu-
cius, as we'll also as many works ef
Buddhist literature. The most interest
ing thing 4 have seen. knowing a little
about printing and binding. is therecaatly
acquired collection of Tibetan books 4
religion and philosophy. Besidrs their
as specimens of ornat es ,rin.i:ii:
and binding. they have an intr1nsicrvalte
not to be lightly estimated. 10 80
y jealous daughter of the American
revolution could spend a month en- tho
second floor in the north hall. It seems
o me that every document wrii;rn dur
ng continental history and the rcvolu-
fonary war are there. Sss ss
Instead or going into details rs to
he literary treasures of the library, |
will give You only an idea of the cosmo-
,olitan character of the collection There
ire in stock 1900 volumes of American
history, 600 volumes and 40 pamphlets 7
# Confederate history: 1000 books and |
600 pamphlets on American biography; |
200 volumes on American geneology; COO |
oluires on Canada. co on Mexico i54 on |
CENTRAL America, rs on the West Indies. |
.7s6 on South America more than 10.O00
n England, GU on Scotland ISL on Ire
and. 26S on Austria, 300 on Hungaria.
'yrol and Bohemia. - on Denmark, II Y
n Iceland. S.5s2 on France. 100 on China, s
% on Turkey. 1897 on Germany. soi on 4
'reece. 1907 on Italy. o57 on Spain, 81 G
n Portugal. 952 on the Netherlands 81
II Scandinavia $50 on Russia $50 on
frica. 5.249 on Asia, outside OF China. and
z on Australia :,
There are over 60.Oo0 books devoted To a
Official and economic science 400 to :,
olitics. several thousand 10 statistics. pa :.
, elections. 297 to free trade IL to the n,
ublic debt. 7ese TO phlloiogy. t79l 20 ora =,
ny, 2,2SS TO proverbs. 1923 to poetry N
--->'-'--"-'-@>'--~ al