The Topeka state journal., 1919-11-05
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HAGEIN. Diree4s&.
Washfngtan. p. @
EVERYBODY NEEDS BOOKS.
washings@. q. @

washington, d. c., Nov. "a coun-
try store keeper in a southern noun
tain section recently wrote to the
American Library association asking
for books for discharged soldiers and
others who lived in his neighborhood-
He said the people in his section had
no good books to read. He said that
one of his customers was a one-legged
discharged soldier who was support
ing himself by making candy with the
help of his mother and sister, and who
wanted a book on candy-making.
The books were sent in accordance
with 4 plan which the American Lii
brary association has for supplying
ex-soldiers, and ultimately other peo-
pie, with books by mail, when there is
no local library to supply them. The
store keeper wrote back that the one
legged candy-maker was delighted
with his book, but that the rest OF the
neighborhood had not risen to the OPP
portunity to read as eagerly as he had
hoped. He said that most of them
read nothing except mail order cata-
logs because that was the only KIND
of literature they had been accus-
toned to. He also reported that 1T
per cent of the people VINO come down
the pig road" had never learned to
read or write. He asked, therefore,
that copy books and spelling books be
sent, so that the people might learn to
read
If there were many country store
keepers like this one. the task which
the American Library association has
set itself would be greatly simplified-
That task is to make books available
to all the people in the United States.
The task is to be accomplished pri-
marily by stimulating interest in IL
braries. When an ex-soldier writes
and asks for a book on frog-farming,
or engineering. or for the works of
Charles Dickens. he is referred to his
local library, if there is one. If there
is no library, but the state has Ii
brary commission, he is referred to
the commission. If neither of these
agencies has the book, the library as
sociation furnishes the book thru a
local agency. In this way the man
not only gets his book, but he is i'm
pressed with the fact that he ought to
have a better local library.
During the war the American Lii
brary association bought and was
given about seven million books This
was one of the largest collections of
books ever gathered together. 1t was
about three times as large as the COL
lection in the Library of Congress The
association esta blished Libraries in the
camps and hospitals abroad, and in
the camps and hospitals in this coun-
try 1t may not have reached every
man in the army with books. but it
reached enough of them so that
couple of million books were literally
read to pieces.
And it gave to many Americans a
good library service for the first time.
That is the fact that the library asso-
citation is building upon. Many of the
men in the military and naval forces
came from sections where there were
no libraries, or none of any real value
They did not miss books and libraries
because they had never known what
it was to have them Now they do
know what it is to have them. They
realize that the community ought to
be able to furnish a man with book
on any subject he wants to study.
Whether he wants to stimulate his i'm
agination and put in his leisure by
reading fiction and poetry. or whether
he wants to improve himself In the
technique of his profession, or to learn
a new one, what he needs is in books,
and he ought to be able to get them
While he was in the service ne was
able to get them. And the association
believes that he is going to demand
that society do as well for him in
peace as it did in war.
The army has taken over the IL
braries established by the association
in camps and hospitals. wherever
those camps and hospitals are to be
maintained permanently. The navy
Thus the soldiers and sailors will have
a permanent library service. whereas
they had practically none before the
war The association has also ar
ranged to furnish books to the coast
guards. the light house service ana
the public health service hospitals.
But the men in these services rep
resent only a very small fraction of
the public The discharged soldier
who learned the use of books. whether
for pleasure or practical purposes,
while he was in the service. is the con-
vert whom they especially wish to
hold He is the man who will infiu-
ence public opinion in favor or more
and better libraries.
For this book service by mail, while
It may grow into large thing and
even a permanent thing, is not de-
signed to take the place Of community
lbraries Indeed. it cannot take the
place of them. 1t is designed to slim
ulate interest in libraries. The asso-
citation officials say that there must
and above all, an effective library
commission in every state to guide
and strengthen the local libraries.
Many OF the states have no library
commissions of any kind, and many
other have library commissions which
are only paper affairs, and accom-
plish little or nothing. Wisconsin is
cited as an example of a state which
has a good effective library commits
sion This library commission MAIN
tains. among other things. a travel
ing library" The travelling library
consists of sets of fifty books put in
boxes ready for shipment Some of
these sets of fifty books are assorted
collections, containing fiction, practi-
cal books, and books of various kinds.
Observation-Disclosures
SThe George M