Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1920-03-02
LETTER TO EDITOR
bTary!" QleStion asked Aud An
SWeTed In the Interest of Progress.


To the Editor 81 inc EUensag Capital:
Does Annapolis need a public IL
brary? This question is uppeTmost in
the minds Of certain citizens We
might answer by asking If Annapolis
wished TO be up TO date. il IL wished
TO be. Thought progressive, ii il wish
ed TO provide for It's citizens. old and
young. the same opportunities for edu
cation and intellectual recreation that
other cities offer 10 their citizens. You
can hardly find a city or village OF
respectable size in the Northern OF
Middle Western States that does not
support public library | have IL
mind two such small villages, one Of
about 500 inhabitants, the other OF
about 1900 each OF which has a Ii
brary. one a very fine one. | have
also in mind u city. the counterpart Of
Annapolis in size. which has Two pub
tic Libraries. one supported by il mill
.ng corporation. the other by the mu
nicipality. SO il is almost whercye3
you 20 in the North or the Middle
West Progressive communities sup
port public libraries because they look
on them as public necessities We, An
napolis. the capital city OF Maryland
the oldest city in the State and Ger
talnly one Of the most important. q
city 10 which thousands OF visitor
come every year. has 40 sugch thing
To be sure, the State maintains mis-
cellaneous collection OF books in the
Caurt of Appeals Building which peo
pie may came and look al II they wish
but not one Of these books can be
taken out. and library that does not
circulate is not public: it fails to per
form any very good service
II Annapolis wishes to be up to date
then. it needs a public library Doe.
Annapolis wish to be progressive? l.
I is progressive in many respects. As :
city il has q great many advantages
and attractive features, SO many in
deed, that visitors come here from al
over the country every season. Bui
when one OF them asks casually to be
shown the public library he is blandl.
told that the city has none What!
No public library? That's funny" i;
- funny. II is more than funny. il Is
a disgrace 4 city that might support
circulating library such as so many
ether lesser places suppart, but does
not do so. is simply failing 10 show
progress in one very important re
spect. Shall Annapolis thus continue t,
be minus where il could be positive?
II Annapolis has not yet founded /;
public librery for the sake OF being III
TO date and progressive. ii should dr.
so for the sake of providing the oppor
tunities for education and intellectual
recreation that other cities provd,
their citizens Such a library need no
be large one. 4 small library viii
20 10 start with. but a library open Il
al citizens. a library that will circu
late into every home in the city
should be established and maintained
hy the municipality. If good books are
an asset to home then circulating
library should be a tremendous help C
any city. One of the means of keepinl
cur soldiers in war camps mentally
clean aud wholesome was to provide
them with good reading matter. Ger
tainly il might be argued with force
that very good way II keeping on
citizens mentally and morally whole
some IS TO provide it with good books
One is known by the company hc
Keeps Tell me what you read it Nigh
he said and | viii tell You what 20,
are What ID the citizens OF Annapo
lis read? More particularly. what d,
the boys and girls read who are TIN
hope OF tomorrow? The answer is
they read what they can get II the
can get trash they read trash. il the.
can get better books they will read bel
ter books Would not a public library
then OH . distinct want in the city.
Would not 3 library OF wholesome lit
Cgatut u which all citizens colld re
SORT for mental recreation. and whicl
all school children could SO adyanta
geously use in Connection with thei.
work be distinct asset? It Nigh,
cost little. but would il not be
sound corner stone OF progress?
IL. J. FENTON.