El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-16

WASHINGTON. D C., Oct 16.-
AAJ one hundred years ago the
Library of ongress-which
ought properly to be called the Ma
tional Iibrary-was born. War
brought it into being. The great book
collection may be said TO have sprung
from the burning OF the capitol by
the British, in 1914
Congress had possessed a small col
lection Of 5000 volumes. for the use
OF its members, which the fire de
stroyed In October Of the following
year. 1918. it bought from Thomas
jefferson his private collection OF 1000
volumes. which was the nuleus Of the
present National Library, Later on It
published a catalog Of these booB@
prepared by jefferson himself.
BY 1881 the collection had Stow l
to $1,000 volumes but in that year
another fire. Of accidental origin,
wiped out all but 10000 Of them Al
the close Of the civil war the library
possessed only $4,000 printed BOOKS
whereas at the present time mere are
over 100000, without reasoning
multitude Of manuscripts
Is Now Third largest.
Eventually. it is believed, TINS I'd
tfonaI collection will be the greatest
in the world It now STANDS thlrQ IN
rank-the great library OF rance tine
BibliOtheQue Nationale) possessing .
100000 volumes, and the British Mu-
semi 2500.UUO- Fourth. in some re
spects. comes the library Of the Nau-
can. at Rome, but its library treas
T1res are in such confusion, for lack
of proper arrangement and cataloEing,
that the student who endeayors TO
10 Ike search among them IS like an
-.vrer who invades territory as yet
king OF maps, by far the great
topographic collection In the
World so far as America Is concerned,
is the property OF the Library Of Con-
gress L includes numerous curioslues,
among which are Old-time charts
showing the peninsula OF Lower CALI
fOrnia as an island From other mapd
one learns the reason why New York
ers Of the present day yal the huu-
son, where IL flows by the metropolis
the North river. It is because in form
er DAYS the Delaware vas known as
the South river, the Two streams pc
ing thus distinguished But IN the lal-
ter case the name has not stuck
Buys SO-eS0 Russian Books
As might be expected, our national
''Americana"-in books and other
documents relating to this continent
and especially to the United STATES
But is viii be a surprise TO most peo-
pie to learn that it owns more Htera-
ture relating TO Russia than can be
found anywhere else outside the car
domains Not very lonE ago il bought
a collection of 10000 volumes concern
ing the history of Russia from Sioer-
ian lumber merchant named Iudin. for
5O.0OO-the price being so small IN
proportion TO the value Of the acqul-
sitiOn that Mr.. Putnam. the librarian
of congress, spoke Of it as practical
" a gift" The most Importantly IN
teresting part Of this collection. from
an American viewpoint, comprises
works bearing upon Alaska in early
days. when that Arctic province OF
Uncle Sans was a AIuscOvite posses
sion
Has 6Oa,OOO Musical Volumes.
# a person wished to write an &C
count Of the development Of opera
from its earliest beginnings TO the
present day, there is no place in the
world where he could get hold Of such
valuable material for his purpose as /
in the library Of congress That estab-
lishment contains the third greatest
store Of musical compositions IN eX-
istence comprising 600. 600 volumes
and pices It also possesses 5000 bound
volumes Of newspapers, dating pack I
to the beginning of such publications /
In this country and its collection OF