The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-02-25
Second Campaign for Libraries In
Camp and over Seas VIII
Commence March ia and
keokuk VIII Heip.
SOLDIERS WANT THEM
Appeale Come From the Men Them
selves to Send Books That They
May Enjoy Thorn in
/ Rest Hours.

second campaign for books for
the soldiers will be launched in Iowa,
and by the Keokuk public library in
March. The date for the beginning
of the campaign is March Is, and
plans are being made similar to those
Of last fall In lining up people to con-
tribute money and books to the camp
libraries. Libraries are established
In the national army camps, In the
regular army camps and over in
France. too. The American Library
association is back of the campaign.
| In booklet describing the work OF
the war service in the A. L. A., ap-
pears this paragraph:
THE mere suggestion that libraries
should be provided Tor the camps
would have been derided during our
, civil war. j. S. Lockwood, civil war
veteran, says that he can recall no
incident Of books being available to
the soldiers of the Sos, with the ex-
ception of the few which were sent
| to the hospitals in or near Washing
ton. and in a few of the northern
cities. The men relied almost en-
tirely on Harper's and Frank Leslie's
Weekly, but in addition to these they
longed for books to read. Major
George Haven Putnam in recent
address in New York says that two
English grammars were eagerly read
and passed among the men shut up
in Libby prison"
Construction Must Come.
Today things have changed, and
war however brutal must not be of
destruction only. 1t must have con-
structive features and there must be
a net gain to humanity. That is why
the proper recreation and proper sur
roundings must be given our fighting
men during their periods of rest.
| From Pershings regulars in France
comes this call for books:
! Books, more books, and then more
books is the cry that has come
from the training camps. and the
public library Is preparing to help
answer the cry.
''Please send us some books. We
are in need of them. We are regu.
liars, and get just as lonesome as the
national guard"
This was the picture of the plight
OF the regular. painted by one book
hungry Sammy.
The Kind to Send.
The generous people from whom
the two million books will come are
not all book-wise. The judgment OF
MANY Of them as to the kinds OF
books needed will not be infallible,
lit should therefore be guided.
Experience in the camps indicates
that our soldiers and sailors want
books of great variety, but there are
lcertain limitations. The following
list of subjects is based on reports
and Recommendations from the camp
librarians:
FICTION.
Adventure.
Western stories.
Detective stories.
Love stories Of the best sort.
Stories of business.
NoN-FICTIoN.
Military science.
Aeroplanes.
Engineering.
Agriculture.
Business.
Automobiles.
Electricity.
Mechanics.
Horses.
| Drawing.
/ Books on the war, especially the
"tales from the trenches"
wireless telegraphy and telephony.
Arithmetic. algebra, geometry. etc.
Letter-writing personal and bust
ness); filing.
Poetry, old and new.
| Biography, especially autobios'
raphy.
Travel and history. especially OF
western Europe.
French conversation books.
Popular books In foreign languages.
They do not want out-of-date books
on science and technology, nor out
of-date text books.
They do not want worn out books
of any kind.
They do not want the kinds of
books that appeal especially to
women.
Oh. Was n Wonder