Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-04-09
gNlEADE men CHOOSE
! BOOKS ON WAR Job
librarian Bowerman Com.
4ments on Reading Course Of
L nfloersand Subordinates.
aREcENr'TRANsFERs NOTED

oa1R,AmApH. Nd. Aprn s-That
BsAdSAs National Army soldiers In
{H11tnin0 here ere taking the war job"
!Dsrlsusiy and not fritteriuS away their
sSsisurs time IN idle reading. according
Re he monthly report Of Dr. George B.
Rewerman, librarian OF the District Of
Columbia, who has taken charge Of the
camp library for the months Of April
land May, at tho request OF the Amer1-
.Nan Library Association.
I'm March," DR.. Bowerman states, hf-
y.{lye per cent Of the books taken out
and read by the officers and men OF the
!; that SIS per cent more than half were
| directly concerned with the war job. The
1ora-6ction included books on the art Of
|, War, company administration. studies In
/ efd0ency management, auto repairing,
WIRELESS and drill manuals
Impression Incorrect.
when this camp library movement
( wns started" DIR. Bowerman says,
most librarians and probably the gen.
eral public as well thought that fiction
and detective stories would be about
all the men wanted to read, but we
(; were far from right in our Impressions.
As 9. matter OF fact the records of the
books read by both the officers and the
men show that the purely recreational
books are not as much in demand as
the ones which deal with the war job"
Several hundred additional volumes
i have been received by the camp library
/ during the past two weeks and have
been placed in circulation. The library
\ now has 10000 volumes. The collec-
! ton on military science has been large
~ increased by big shipment of
handbooks and manuals of drill.
4 In addition to the main library, the
Y NJ c. A. and the base hospital
branches, forty-two branches have been
] the hostess house and other centers.
r Admits He Is Envious.
TT makes me envious," said DR.. Bow
orman this morning in discussing the
work of the library, ito think of the
i 0ne financial backing which the camp
library has. The American Library
| Association. which is managing the
libraries at the thirty-two National
Guard and National Army castonments
and two Naval stations, asked for
1nillion-dollar fund to build and MAIN
the like The subscriptions amounted
to $1,700,000. We hope to raise much
more and additional campaigns for the
donation OF books will become neces-
Our library in Washington is so
poor that we could not afford to buy
moro than dozen copies of Employs
Over the Top At tho camp library
loook and sixty copies of the same au-
thorn First CALI a story which ran
eeriaIly in The Star.
TT u an interesting thing to note the
number of omcers who come Into the
library. They are constantly looking
UP questions Of general and profess
tsional interest. French conversation
books and guide books on France and
Belgium also are In great demand for
the =. N. C. A. and K. Of c. classes for
soldiers"
Eight Hundred Men Transferred.
Eight hundred Of Meade's soldiers have
been transferred within the past few days
% Camp Hancock. Ga. to Ill gaps in guard
divisions there. OF this number 135 were
Baltimpreans.
Maj Ezra b. Whitman, commander Of
ia utilities detachment here. made TWEEN
1y-tWo soldiers under his charge happy to-
day by giving them promotions. The men
tins promoted are engaged in engineering.
sewerage and water supply work about
camp. Some were made sergeant steam
engineers, sergeant and corporal plum
barN. corporal photographers and mimeog
yAphoER Nat. Whitman. who was former
~ waiter engineer In Baltimore and now
ikcSdD The rank Of major In the Army. has
= W5do da3d for his talents hera