Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-05
LIBRARY BOARD
STILL IN DOUBT
MONEY FOR BUILDING PROVES
A PUZZLER
Commercial Bodies and Social oraan-
lzatIons Asked to Give Ideas
for Raising the Neces-
sary Funds

Although q recent decision of the SUI
preme court of California permits the
board OF directors Of the Los Angeles
public library to place the new library
building in Central park, the govern
ing board is as much a sea as ever. The
question of raising money for the new
building Is now bothering the board
and the members find it impossible to
decide upon any one method. The ways
suggested for raising the money are
three: First, by bond issue; second,
by public subscription: and third, by
an appeal to Andrew Carnegie TO
help decide which method shall be
pursued, the board has addressed COM
munications to tho Los Angeles cham
Der of commerce, the Merchants and
Manufacturers association, the board
of trade. the Ebell club, the Friday
Morning club, the Ruslkin Art club,
the Municipal league, the Civic league,
the Los Angeles Bar association, and
the Sunset club, asking for assistance
in deciding the question.
Opponents of the first plan urge that
If the city votes a bond issue for a
library 1t will be harder to sell Owens
river bonds when that project Is finally
decided upon. Then, too, the two
bond issues will make the taxes high.
Immediate Action Imperative
Those who favor public subscription
are opposed by others who say that the
library, which should be a monument
to the progress and advancement of the
city, should be built by the municipal
ity and not by individuals. They urge
that Chicago has built a magnificent
structure at cost of $2,000,000, the
money for which has been raised by
general taxes, and they profess to be-
lieve that this city will not humble
it's pride to the extent of asking in
dividuals to erect public building.
Much the same objections attach to
the third plan. In, the meanwhile the
board is becoming anxious and to set
tie the difficulty has appealed to the
different organizations for advice. The
bodies addressed are requested to re-
ply within thirty days.
The need for immediate action is i'm
perative. At the present rate OF
growth the quarters now occupied will
be inadequate by the end of three
years. At present the library is cirou-
lating six times as many books per
capita, and each volume twice as many
times as the Chicago public library.
1t will take considerable time to finance
the affair, and a great deal more time
will be consumed in selecting plans
and details. All this preliminary worl'
will have to be done before work car
be commenced on the building proper
Tt is estimated that this part of tho
work will itself take almost three
years for completion.
VIII NOT Disturb Trees
! The structure to be placed in Cen
| trail park will be an ornament to tina
popular little rest spot. The plans vii
be drawn so that as far as possibl
the trees and shrubs now growing will
be untouched. The new building will
be SO arranged that if later on 1t Il
desired to add to the library space, i
can be done so without spelling thu
contour or architectural beauty Of th'
| building.
| The cost of the structure will depend
largely on the method by which thu
money is secured; but the lowest pos
sible estimate places the cost at $780,
| 900. Three years ago, six prominent
architects of the city declared that the
minimum expenditure should not be
less than $500,000. The board urges
thai Providence, r. l., smaller city
and With less than one-sixth the circu-
lation of Los Angeles, has library
costing 100000, which was donated
by one citizen; Washington, d. c..
with half Los Angeles population, 30,-
coo fewer books, and half this city's in
come, has a Carnegie library costing
$3.50, 900; Newark, N. j., city of about
the same size as Los Angeles, but with
10000 fewer volumes and one-half the
circulation, has a building which cost
$400, 900 and which was paid for by tax
The need of a new building is agreed
upon by all who are in any way con-
nected with the work, and it is only
on the method of raising the necessary
funds that disagreement results. BY
the circular letter the library board
hopes to be able to come to some de,
cision on this point, that work may be
begun at once.