Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-04


bearing on the work OF the departmen
which possesses them: that there ara onl
between twenty thousand and thirty thou
sand volumes suitable for a general Or
culating library. and these are confizes
mainly to three departments. The Interio
department. with 10000 volumes and II
War and Treasury departments. with so
voumes each. possess nearly all Ties
books. The clerks in the department.
which have no libraries need and deinan
them and the favored departments need =
wider range OF reading material than o,
small collection at the disposal Of eac
about twenty thousand persons residing .,
washington who draw salaries from Ii
government. Many of these represent fam
Hies. and the number of readers in Thu
government constituency can therefore b.
estimated only by the customary multiplica-
ton OF the number of government en-
ployes. In the name. also. Of this numerou
and book-loving element of the popul.stio:
the creation of the proposed local norar
Is demanded.
The Workingmen's Appeal.
Last. but not least. comes a powerful
appeal from the District workingmsn
Sometimes. in view Of the notable absence
from the capital of dirty. noisy factories
which would tend to reduce the citys al
Effectiveness as place Of residence. tn.
question is raised. rs there any such Indi-
vidual as the District workingman?" TIL
census of 1890 discloses the fact that, whil,
1t Is the policy of the capital to encourax
only light and clean manufacturing. lik,
that OF Paris over twenty-three thousan.
adults were engaged in the District In line.
OF work which are classed as manufac
lures. emitting from consideration entirely
all the other numerous forms Of labor
Nineteen thousand OF these are engaged n
purely local industries. Over four THOUSAND
are discovered to be in government employ
mainly In the government printing ofhcr
and the bureau of engraving and printing
1t appears from this report that there were
In 1880 In the District twenty-three hundred
manufacturing establishments, with a cap
1tal of s2S.S78,25 paying In wages $1i,33A.
80. using materials costing s17. 1877 1852, ano
with products of the value Of $50 296. 25e.
To the census figures must be added
the thousands of worklngmen engaged ,r
other lines of work not caassed as manufac-
lures. and then this number must be multi
Piled. since many are the heads OF families
to ascertain the number of readers, and, fr
behalf OF this great multitude Of people, 2
free lending library and night reading room
are now demanded.
While attention has been called to GER
tain elements of the population as standing
In special need of library facilities, 1t is &c
be remembered that only a small fraction
of all the people in Washington have the
leisure to utilize and enjoy a public library
during daylight hours, so that ractically e
whole city of 10000 inhabitants makes this
appeal
After showing who needed the Washing
ton public library. the report sketches the
the infinitesimal extent to which this
library need was then met, 1t said:
Unavailable Books.
According to the statistics there arc
much more than a million books in the
semi-public libraries of Washington "A Sout
a twentieth of all in the republic; and wher
these have been apportioned among the
citizens after the methods of statlstican
II appears that the District workIngmap
has fourteen times as many public books o.
the average American. And the only diff
Guilty is that he cannot possibly make any
use of them whatsoever.
1.-The resident in the more elevated sec
tons of Washington who could get nc
water on tho upper floors of his house. and
very little on any floor, saw countless gal
Ions wasted In the departments, in foun
tslns and otherwise. and learned from sta
tistfcs that he and the other citizens were.
in per capita average of gallons daily used
among the largest consumers of water In
the country. The population of the capital
credited with fourteen times their due pro-
portion of books. and without single
available lending library. with reading
rooms open at night, without even the CON-
mand of books enjoyed by the working peo-
pie OF little northern and western towns
detect a similar mockery in the library sta
tistics. No satisfactory substitute either
ed by complimentary statistics.
8 The department libraries at the Capital
contain nearly three hundred thousand vol
umes. accessible only to a few employees OF
the government. and closed to them early
in the afternoon. The vast wealth of read
ing matter In the Congressional Library Is
practically out Of reach of the workingmep
and school children. owing TO the hours 81
opening and closing and the conditions
placed upon the enjoyment Of its privileges
Not one Of the great government collections
Ia open in the evening. when alone the
great mass Of the people can use the books
There are hfty-two libraries in the District
each containing over one Thousand volumes
and not one of them is free lending
library. with a reading room open at nigh:
for the benefit of the general public. Suclr
an institution Is the most urgent need Of
the national capital Viewing this ocean OF
more than q million books, spread tantaliz-
ingly before them. the workingmen, the
school children. the government clerks, the
thirsty for the knowledge which comes
from reading. may well exclaim with the
Ancient Mariner: Water. water every
where nor any drop to drinkr'
Within the ten years since 1894 and as the
result of the library movement then started
what a wonderful Improvement In condi-
tons has been effected through the creation
Of the public library and the popularizing
Of the Library of Congress-!
The workingmen, the school children the
In general-then without a single
free lending library-have now the public
library, built upon the firm foundation Of
tax maintenance provided by law, a circu-
lating collection for the peoples use, with
Its magnificent building and its 70, 600 vol
umes-a number to be augmented steadily.
not only by appropriations and donations.
but by transfers from the departmental
libraries and that rich storehouse of literary
treasure, the great reference collection of
the Library Of Congress!
Then and Now.
Then there was not anywhere In the
District reading room open at night
Everything in the shape of library closed
tightly at o'clock. Now the people can
enjoy the reading rooms and reference
library of the public library on week days
until 10 o'clock at night. The Library of
Congress is open not only at night but on
Sunday and the public library may soon
be expected to so develop and to be SO
equipped with an adequate working force as
TO have Its reading rooms open on Sunda,
Also The new facilities supplied by the
public library have been acquired and
book resources of ten years
ago have been rendered more available fol
use by the public. The farce of maintaining
a reference library accessible only at times
when the mass of the people are unable to
enjoy II Is no longer performed.
'fhus the community which in 1894 was
SO eonspicuously and dscreditably lack ng
In both circulating library and reading ana
room facilities Is now tn. ouSb-