The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-12-01

pressing monotony of daily routine will be through the avenue opened by the story. The library is the place where the readers are introduced to the friendship of authors and their books. There they are at home and there we too may he at home. ola and young. rich and poor. wise and simple. men. women and children. The library performs its high and mo- bie duty of helping men to live. mot by bread alone. but by every word of God" who. through good books. nas been speaking to the generations of | men. not only for their instruction but even more for their delight
 | we have been speaking of the if- prary's place In the community. but there is something else to consider. One thinks of the launching of ship | in connection with launching, a libra " In the current of a city's life. A vessel needs, coal in It's bunkers be- fore sailing. for there is no motive power in christening blow from a bottle of champagne. But at the launching of a library, I have heard some of the best people say: God bless you to the institution and then leave 1t tied to its moorings. Tt Is comparatively easy to launch
 
 of emotionalism for a library win sweep. over a community with fer vor not unlike that at a camp meet Ing revival. The rub comes when the revival fervor passes off. Then come the days when definite support must be had and when untiring zeal Is necessary.
 Indispensable to library's work is proper financial support. 1t Is sad to see an Institution of such possibil- Iies' pushed from pillar to post by some Finance committee imbued. with mistaken ideas of economy Ignor- ance IS always expensive, but too fre- quentIy the appropriation asked by the. library is shaved and pared and sIced by those who seem to prefer another paved street to the moral up- iift of people, or another row of electric lights to the mental enlight- ennrent of its citizens
 NO one will deny the advantages of material improvements, but the deveI- opment of city should not be along material lines alone. The more active town Is in putting in sewers and wa- ter plants, the more generous 1t should pc also to those institutions which mean mental moral and spiritual ad- vancement.
 A Suitable Library.
 when a suitable library appropria- tion Is asked. frequently the assessing powers are paralyzed with fear of out ragged taxpayers. Few tax payers ob- Ject to an increase of q fraction of a miiI In their assessment if good returns are coming from that investment. oc- casionaliy a protest will be heard, but usually 1t Is from some citizen who ob- Jects to anything that costs money. whether 1t be a library, school or street.
 such lone wall was raised recent " Tn town where splendid library results were being obtained. The H. brarian knew that the four children of the outraged citizen were constant bor- rowers of books, so she looked up the assessment rolls and discovered that the protesting individual was paying les sthan 12 cents annually towards the ibrarys support.
 Many towns, having Carnegie buiId- ings, make the necessary annual 10 per cent. appropriation for the library. the maximum instead of the minimum amount There is a widespread opin- ion that MT. Carnegie should require IF or 15 per cent. of his gift in annual support in order to obtain better Ii- brary results.
 "A year ago statements were made In a Northern town that many cities in that State were dissatisfied with their Carnegie libraries. Fifty-six let ters were sent out by library friends. half of which were addressed to trus- tees of Carnegie libraries, and the oth- CT half to the treasurers of the cities ip which the libraries were located. Such questions were asked as: Is your li- brary success; has It's work grown from the first year; are there com plaints of the library tax; if you were without your library would you again establish one7t eWaE {et
 All the library boards expressed un- bounded confidence in the success of their institutions, declaring they would as soon close their schools as their H. braries. Of the twenty-eight letters rom the city treasurers twenty wrote Of the. splendid work being done. Four stated they were not in a position to judge the results obtained and four bitterly opposed the libraries, stating they believed if their towns were free From them they would not again make the mistake of establishing libraries.
 TWO of these four treasurers lived in cities where the libraries were ex- ceptionally successful and inquiry re- vealed the fact that neither of the two objectors had ever been in the libra ries since their establishment.
 Not only is financial support neces- sary for success. but also library board which is content to decide what to do, but leaves the librarian free in determining how to do 1t.
 With confidence in such a board, cit- izens will leave the choice of librarian and assistants, and the selection of books for the library, to those best equipped for, such responsibilities.
 With an efficient librarian, proper financial support, and loyal public the library then will be what one of your own splendid men has character ized it, Not luxury, but a great. broad universal benefaction.'