Evening star., 1922-12-10
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

4 ~
URING the nationwide cele
| bration OF Education week"
something occurred-prob-
| ably overlooked by most of
the residents of the capital, although
it directly touched most of them
which gives emphasis TO tie under
lying purpose of the education week
/ observance. It lays stress on the need
i for a general awakening to the inn
perative demand for Improvement of
all educational facilities and agencies.
! The federal budget, transmitted to
| Congress by President Harding,
leaves the Washington Public Library
| impoverished for the coming fiscal
year-ttat is. until July /. 1924-un-
less Congress comes of its own in
itIative to the relief.
! Part Of Educational System.
| 1t is quite generally recognized
! nowadays that 1.-THE Public Library is
| an integral part of public education"
| AS one enters the Washington library
| he reads carved in stone "a univer-
sity for the public The very char
| ter of the library. the act of Com
gress which created that institution.
| says that it shall be "a supplement
of the public education system Of the
| District
! Just as the National Education As
sociation is now working on what is
proper support for a municipal pub
lie school system" the American Lii
brary Association is endeavoring TO
show concreteiy what must properly
be done for public. library support.
| IN the last annual report of the board
| of trustees of til" Washington Public
| Library il was pointed out that this
national body. the American Library
| Association, composed of nearly e."oo
i members, including libraries as insti
| tutional members. librarians and Ii
1 brary trustees. by resolution declared
that Isl per capita of the popula ton
| of the community served is a reason
| able minimum annual revenue for the
| library in community desiring 10
maintain a good. modern public Ii
, brary system with trained librarians.
but that communities desiring their
| libraries To supply these needs eN-
| tensively and with tn. highest grade
| Of trained service will find it neccs-
| sary to provide support much
! larger than the minimum of 81 per
! capita.
! Smaller Cities spend More.
: This is by no means Etopian. for
! some Of the smaller cities spend 81 or
| more per capita their libraries
Brookline. Mass, s1.4S: Newton. Mass.
s1.e5; Gary. Ind, s1.13: Pasadena, Calf.
s1.16. and Mason City. Iowa. s1-just
! by way of example. Some of the larger
cities Of 100000 population or over are
j approximating this desirable mini
lmum-Cleveland. Ohio. s1.0s; Boston,
50 cents: Pittsburgh. 81 cents: Seattle.
! 81 cents; Portland, Ore, SO cents;
Providence 81 cents. and ST. Paul. SIS
cents. The average for all cities above
300 ono population WAS ~ cents. Wash
ington during the fiscal year 1922. spent
! g., cents per capita "n its Public Lii
brary. Of which 20 cents came from
thu. congressional appropriation.
The District Commissioners adopted
tn. reasoning Of III" Library Associa =
ton and the librar: trustees IN their
annual report just made public but
unfortunately did not carry out their
own expressed sentiments in making
their reconm- -ndati"ns I" the budget
bureau. After reviewing the r.com-
imeniationS and comparative statistics
given above. the Commissioners said:
Demand on Library Large.
| THE Nations Capital should have
the very best public library system in
the country. This it cannot have so
long as the basis of support here is
/; only one-thrd Of the recognized mini
mum. The Library of Congress is a
national reference library for the use
of Congress and research students. The
demands for books for home use and
for trained public library service from
the highly intelligent local population
of more than 100000 are probably
llarger than those of most American
cities of equal population. lnasmuch
as they are not and cannot properly
be met by the National Library they
must be met, if at all, by the local
Public Library Properly to meet these
Legitimate demands the Public Library
must have an increase in its appro-
priations for maintenance. The Public
4 Library ought speedily to be given the
| resources needed for furnishing the
National Capital community popular lit
erary service.
| The Librarians of the larger libraries
of the country are to meet in Chicago
during the Christmas holidays to con-
slider the big problem of library main