Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-11-04

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EVERYBODY NEEDS BUNS.
nv FREDKRIC j. HAsKIN.
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Washington, D. G., Nov. IA country store
keeper In . southern mountain sectlon recently
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asking Tor books for discharged soldiers ana
others who lived in his neighborhood. He
said the peopla IN his section had NO good
hooks 10 read. He said that one OF his Gus
TONER'S was a one-lewred discharged soldier
who was supporting himself by making candy
With the helm OF l,is mother and sister. and
Who wanted q book on candy making.
The hooks vere cent IN sccordance With n
Man which the American rihrarv association
has for supplying eY-soldiers. and ultimately
Other neonie' with hooks bv mail. when there
IL NO incal library to supniy chem. The store
keeper wrote hack that the one-Iessed CANDY
maker was delirhted With his book. but that
the rest of the neiehborhood had mot risen to
the onnortunitv to read a earerlv a. he had
hoped. He said that most Of them read moth
ing except mail order catalogues because that
was tho oniv lind Of 1itaratnra thew had heen
accustomed 10. He Also reported that "16 uer
cent of the people who come down the big
road" had never learned to read or write He
asked therefore, that COPY books and spelling
BOOKS be sent, so t08t the Doodle might learn
to read
II there vera MANY countrv store keeuers
like this one. tina faak which tha American IL
hrarv association has act itself would he ereat-
/ " simplffed. That task ia to make books
available to all the people In the United States.
The task IA to be ACCOMMODATED primarily by
stimnlatins- interest IN lihraries When an az
soldier writes and asks for 4 book on frog
farming or engineering. or for the works OF
Charles Dickens. he il referred to his local
library. II there is one. II there h no library,
hut the state has a library commission, he is
REFERRED To the commission n neither or these
agencies has the hook the Library association
In this way the man not only gets his book
hut he is impressed with the fact that he ought
| to have better local library.
During the war the American Library as
sor;ation houeft and WA rfyen about seven
million books. This was one OF the largest
COLLECTIONS of hooks ever gathered together
| n VAS shout three }imes as Jarra AZ Tho coI.
| lection in the library of CONGRESS. The asso-
citation established libraries in the camns ana
hosnitals abroad and IN the camns and hos
! pitals in this country. It NAV not have reached
! eyery man in the army with books. but ii
| reached enough of them so that a counle of
million hooks were literally read In nieces
And it gave to many Americans a good IL
h+.rv sorvico for the arct time THAI 10 tha
fact that the Library association ia building
mon. 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 II was to have
them. Now they do know what It is to have
them. They realize that the community ongh.
| to he able to furnish A man with hoo,- On
any subject, he wants to study whether he
wants to stimulate His IMAGINATION and mt In
his leisure bv reading fiction ana noetrv ar
whether he wants to imnrove himself IN the
technioue Of his profession. or to learn a
new one. what he needs ia in hooks. and ne
ought to be able to get them. While he was
| in the service he was able to get them And
/ be association believes that he Ia goino IN
demand that oociot1 do &C we'll 1cr hi,n a.
neaca "a n did in war
The army ha. taken over the libraries es.
| tablished nv the association in camns and
Hospitals. wherever those Gamma and hosnifaIs
1are to be maintained nermanentiv TIA nsvv
Fwi,l maize some similar arrangomanf Thrs
fine soIdiers and sailors viii have : nermanert
Ilihrarv service whereas thew had r-actic.IIr
none before the war Tho associat,on has sIso
arranged to furnish hooks to the coa.t ~na ,s
the lipbt houss sarvica and tho nuh1ic Sa.itt
service hoanitals f-
Rut the men in these service. renre..n1