Evening star., 1914-10-11
less than the Commissioners had rec.
commended to be appropriated.
What L. Needed for 1916.

What L. Needed for 1916.
Last year the trustees contended that
the suggestion Of inadequate compensa-
ton was given here and there through
out the entire force. from charwomen
to librarian. and especial emphasis was
laid upon the conditions Of overwork
and underpay which prevailed among
the small professional library force,
, which. while practically at a standstill
required to handle steadily increasing
number of books and to serve con-
stantly enlarging army of readers.
In response to these representations
calls for radical increases in salaries
paid in the library and they recon-
mended certain substantial increases in
the salaries of the professional staff of
were made for 1915. and all Of which
remain as a main objective of the Ii
orary campaign Of 1916.
The wise development of 1915 in
building and library equipment and In
building and library new positions and
In building staff salary increases is to
be extended for 1916 to library staff
salary increases. which, remaining un-
touched in the 1s15 appropriation. con-
stitute today the nbrary's most urgent
appropriative need.
Average Increase Small.
Between 1904 and 1914 Gas shown by
the table printed in the librarian's g
report) the average compensation of
all employees in the library increased
only $51.72; from $550.S5 to $602.57.
The average compensation in the same
period of the professional library
STAFF. excluding building employees.
1856. from s6S3.S0 in 1904 to $729.76
in 1914. an increase of less than Z
per cent in ten years, during which Pc
riod the cost of living has enlarged by
leaps and boands. The average of the
pay of these professional librarians,
many of whom receive only $3.50 or
$40 per year. is thus after ten years
of development, $729.76.
The minimum pay for merely cler-
ical work elsewhere in the government
service Is $720, nearly as much as the
average compensation in 1914 of the
entire library staff. including the
THE appropriations last year for the
fiscal year 1915 improve conditions
somewhat, but the averages are still
subject to the criticisms already noted.
regular library employees for 1915 Is
$621.5S, an increase of $71 in eleven
years. The average salary of the pro-
fessional staff for 1915 is $744.6S, an
increase of $61 in eleven years.
THE trustees are heartily apprecia-
tive of what was done last year In
library development. but they repre-
sent that more remains to be done as
speedily as the Commissioners will
recommend and as Congress will
decree.
THE most urgent present need Of the
library is thus of a larger and better
paid force. There is the same need this
year as last year for the new positions
and the increases of salaries in old
positions which the trustees recon-
mended, and for which the Commis-
sioners estimated. and which the trus-
tees again propose in their estimates
this year.
Bowerman's Pay Small.
"In urging the necessity for radical
increases in the salaries of the profess
sional staff of the library, foremost
place should be given to our recon-
for the payment of an ade-
quate salary to our highly efficient
chief librarian. DR.. Bowerman has just
completed ten years Of service here,
during which time he has literally
transformed the library. He has In
creased the quantity and quality of its
handicap of meager salaries paid to
his professional staff. he has inspired
his assistants with his own earnest
ness, zeal and spirit of high and disin-
terested endeavor.
Through DIR. Bowerman's efforts our
local library has been made to rank in
the quality Of its service with the fore
most public libraries Of the country.
DR.. Putnam, librarian of Congress,
whose opinion is recognized as that of
an expert. in writing in 1911 to the