Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-05-04

for the first copy ana ndl d CShI al
each additional copy. The average
hook requires five cards to appropri-
ately classify and cross reference IL.
There are now more than thousand
libraries subscribing for the printed
cards of the library of congress, ana
the number of subscribers is 1ncreas-
ing at the rate of about 1t per cent
wear. There are several grades OIL
cards. ~and the lowest grade full ser
To date NAV be had for about 5000.
They are of manila paper, and because
they take up so much less space-re-
o11iring only about three-htths the
snace of the best cards-they are
often preferred to the others.
1t is estimated that there are some
GO. OO0. 900 books in the public libraries
of the United States. OF course the
,,ast majority of these represent du-
nIicates. but taken together they con-
stitute as complete an array Of pub
Iications as is to be found in any
country. once the library has become
fullv nationalized the American inVes-
tigator will have the finest nprary
service in the world at his disposal NO
other nation has yet evolved sucn
comprehensive plan of support 10 re-
search or aid to investigation.
Some idea of the magnitude OF the
indexing and classification work the IL
brary is doing may be CLEANED lfo%~-
fine statement that if book index OF
the material in its shelves were 10 pc
printed it would take fifteen years 10
complete the job and would COST
quarter of a million dollars. some
time in the future this may be undor-
taken, but the ever growing list OF
material received makes such pub
LEGATION almost If not entirely lmprac-
ticable.
With more than million and half
of books and other things in proportion
in the library, and the list growing AZ
the rate of 100000 books year, the
available space was all taken up and
a Macedonian cry for more shelf room
was sent up. This appeal was an
sWered by congress with an approprla-
ton of $4,000 for a new book stack.
1t will be completed in about year,
and will have ten stories OF book
shelves, with total capacity of about
/ 900, 0e0 volumes. Heretofore 1t has
been necessary to store many of the
important newspapers in the basement
and when the investigator spent a few
hours looking through some of them he
came to look more like a coal HEAVIER
than a literary light
Congress does not give much consid-
Grafton to the question of education in
fixing salaries in the government SER
vice. A man or woman who is an
average typewritist can work up to
$1,000 in almost any branch of the SER
vice. Only a good English education is
needed. In the library a successful and
qualified employee must be on rather in
innate terms with French and German,
and he must be thoroughly posted in
everything pertaining to books. Yet
the salaries are much lower than in
other branches of the government SER
vice, as well as lower than those of out
side libraries.
The library is engaged in reclassify-
ing the contents of the stacks in ac-
cordance with modern classification
rules. This work is materially retarded
by the inability to retain a capable
force. AS soon as a new employee gets
the essential experience there is a better
paying job awaiting him elsewhere.
The result is that the library is always
losing its most efficient employees. Low
pay is particularly true in the case OF
the assistants in the reading room.
These attendants must have the cduca-
ton of a college professor, yet the
highest salary paid is only $500. They
are the people who may always be
relied on to pull the reader out of a hole
when hunting for something he cannot
find.
LhC dHVlu4n6Sb VI lilC AOlcA may NC
illustrated in a thousand ways. For
instance, in the sixties $4,000 head of
cattle were driven off a Texas ranch.
Eye witnesses swore they were driven
fifty miles to the left of Twin mountain.
Twin mountain was not located on any
map available to the court of claims.
If the cattle were driven to the one side,
1t was done by the friendly Apaches
and the government would have to pay
for ~ hn 1fla cid 4hnaF
were driven off by the hostile Com
anches and the government was under
no obligation to reimburse the owners.
A map of 1867 on file in the library of
congress was resurrected and it laid the
offense at the door OF the Comanche
tribe. The venerable and lamented
Spofrord, to whose memory the library
will always be monument, once said
that there should never be a censor in
the republic of books, asserting that no
man could tell what portion of the
trash OF today would be the treasure
of tomorrow The Twin mountain incl
dent substantiates Characterization. A
set of the Charleston Courier, bought
for considerable sum- has been widely
used to determine the question Of 10y
atty of those who made claims for re-
endorsement for property destroyed by
federal troops during the Civil War.
1t is estimated that 1t has saved the
government at least a hundred times
its cost.
The librarian Of congress holds a most
peculiar relation to the government.
In reality an official of congress itself
he is appointed by the president, and
makes his report to the vice president
and the speaker of the house. Mr..
Putnam has held the place since 1899.
The institutions greatest era of use
fulness has been developed under his
administration. -
Copyright, 1909, by Frederic ]. Haskln)
TomOrrow-The Tide of Tourists.