The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1918-11-03
WHAT BECAME OF
THE MILLIONS Of
DONATED B00KS2
(By Eloise Robinson.)

i ans, wv - N'H
hooks and still more books Is the
demand OF the American fighting
man, and his Unsuitable appetite Tor
good reading matter is being Sat's-
fled by the seven united war WORK
agencies. Our men when not Ell
Gagged in military affairs are read
ing as many of them never read be-
fore. the best OF thousands OF libra
res being placed at their disposal
through the efforts OF the y. NJ. I,
A.. the Y. w. c. y. the National
Catholic War Council and knights
OF Columbus, the War Camp Com
munitv Service the Jewish Welfare
Board. the American Library Asso-
citation and the Salvation Army
Trifling with Mr.. Kipling's descrip-
ton, it is safe to say that our hight
ers will return from their victories
as a "well-read line OF heroes. !
know, for have seen.
When the American Library As
sociation issued its call Tor books
last March everyone ransacked ms
library and sent out books. We
heard funny stories OF absurd contri-
buttons. such as an eighteenth CEN
turv Manual OF Conduct for Per"
fect Lady" Many wondered ii their
books would reach the boys IN
France. Then most oi us forgot our
efforts.
/ did. Then one morning in Paris
I found that our efforts had been
worth while
had wandered into the Library
Bureau" OF the Y. NJ. c. A. and
there. in little wooden case, with
a shelf through the center among
other books saw a beautifully
bound set OF books on engineering.
l suppose the man in charge thought
was crazy when | hugged those
books. but | knew them well. For "A
long time they had stood in one par
ticrlar corner Of the den III our
home back in Ohio. They had been
the particular pets OF my 1ather, a
LAWYER with leanings toward me
chanical information. He had parted
with them when the call came tor
solid reading for our soldiers--and
here they were marked for 4 station
near the front,
Then learned that more than
100000 volumes had been handed IN
at American libraries Tor distrlbu-
ton. About half were used III can
tonments in the United States, while
100000 have already found their
wav to France where they have
reached the soldiers through the Y.
NJ. c. A., the X. of c., the Saliva
ton Army and in some cases at y.
l.. A. libraries. In America these
organizations and the Jewish Wei
fare Board and War Camp Commun-
itv Service assure the books reach
ing the men.
The Preliminary Work.
The work of clearing the available
books contributed was handled Ell
ficiently. In Libraries all over the
United States there existed an eX-
pert system for caring for the books
as thev arrived, sorting those which
would be OF use for the men from
those to be sold for what they would
bring. cataloging them and pasting
into them the bookplates and pock-
cts which distinguished them as il
brarv books. There were not many
books to be sold, for In spite OF the
funny stories we heard. most OF the
books were OF the sort the soldiers
desired,-recent novels, books OF rel
erence, history. autobiographies,
plays. dictionaries and books of
travel.
To transport these books the gov
eminent allows the y. NJ. {. A.
cargo space Of fifty tons a month,
about 100000 volumes. This was
not enough. Sammy is a bookworm
and needs 100000. So Y. NJ. c. A.
and Knights of Columbus secre-
taries on board transports bring
over, in addition, as many packages
as the captains will permit. Also
they bring the magazines on which
YOU placed one-cent stamps. These
are sorted and bundled in New York
for distribution to front line trench
es where there IS no time for con-
secutive reading OF books. While
speaking OF ships-250,OOO volumes
are placed on board our war ships
for our sailors reading.
The book cargoes, upon arriving
in France are placed in storehouses
long enough to be divided for dis
tribution in plain sectional book
cases. Two cases packed with fic-
lion and one with aliases; year
books, dictionaries and similar rel
erence works made the unit which
goes to every camp as the basis of a
library. More are added as rapidly
as they can be obtained.
Pershing's Bookplate.
On each volume IS a bookplate
which General Pershing has signed,
reading as follows: These books
come overseas from home. To read
them is privilege; to restore them
promptly, unabused. duty" In
side the cover of each volume is the
regulation library pocket for card,
for the name OF the man who bor-
rows it, and the usual fly-leaf rec
ord. There is the usual rule that
books may not be kept out longer
than four or five days. but the army