Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-08-08
Washington. D. C.. Aug Son.

washington -. W, aug. o.-OnF
legacy which the American navy
bluejackets have inherited from the
war is the w~ell-stocked ships library.
Before the war the various battleships
carried collections of greasy, dog
cared, and ancient tones which went
by the name of ships libraries. But
the work of the American Library
association in the LAY during the
war, aided by the American public's
donations Of cash and books, gave a
new indication of what these floating
how drastically congress may econo-
nize in appropriations Of money to
buy guns and m plate, it is giving
with fair libarality for the mainte-
nance Of the libraries, as the appro-
priation of 100000 for books this
year bears witness. 4
Excepting the patients in the mills
tary. and naval hospitals. who man
age to read about one library book q
week apiece there was never a more
appreciative group of readers than
these enlisted men in <the United
States navy. Whether the ships are
In port or out cutting the blue water.
the chances are that when Jack is
of duty he is curled up in some quiet
corner of the ship reading a book.
The experience OF the past four years
shows that the average sailor draws
from the ship library and readsr Is
books q year-a book and a half a
month. Accordine to the records, the
average city dweiler in the United
States ~patronizes his public library to
the extent of less than four books a
year.
Like, everythine-else in: the navy.
the supply Of books to the ships and
the shore stations ia completely and
thoroughly orxanized.~ The bureau OF
navigation has charge Of maintaining
the libraries. There is a chief Nbra-
.rian in Washington. and he, is assist
Of officers who serve voluntarily as
readers Of new books. Guided by
their judgment, the chief librarian
keeps adding titles TO the stock lists,
once a year issuing a new catalogue
from which the ships librarians order
their books. Stocks of all, books so
c~atalosued are kept on hand In a
depot in New York from which the
ships are supplied. A b%attleship' is al
cruiser of the second class may have
725, smaller ships 515, a destroyer
$50, and unclassified vessels accord
ing to the number Of men on board.
Equally important with the pur-
chase of new books is the wedding
out OF the old and the unread; for,
after all. the test Of a book in the
present-dsy ships library is whether
the men read it. The chief librarian
and his assistants are men of excel
lent literary taste, but they do not at
tempt to foist upon the sailors their
own Judgment. Of what is good. Pri-
vately, they may recoil from Harold
Bell Wright and Ethel M. Dell, but
they do not write their novels down
upon, any index expuygitorious. In
the list OF nearly 1.50b novels listed
IN theScurrentS navy catalogue. there
are five titles credited to Harold Bell
Wright and four to Ethel M. Dell.
Gene Stratton Porter also has five.
Sex Stories Taboo. vi e
Once a year each ships librarian
is Tpermitted to survey" one-th!rd OF
tho hooks nvhis charge and replace
fthenn with, ns1stf aaIscessary, BY this
means dead sbeokSa an the unrs1d
ones are called, sre welded Out.
Therefore the gensfai books catalogue
accurately reflects. the reading taste
OF the men aboard our ships Of, war.
Bearing IN mind, that the nearly H.
500 titles IA the fiction list 81 the 1922
catAlosds. represent what the men
IKE to read ard not what their eu-
perior officers think they ought to
re1d. same Interesting sideIights on
the characters OF the enlisted men
may be, noted. In the first place.
there is almost an entire absence OF
the so-callsd, sex stories in the III
have besn csnsored out. The chief
librartsn has tried them and the men
do nSEsYsadt taen. th1fssts all Love
stories are sesGily the most Numerous
class ef fiction works IN publtshsySs'
|4lSts: but love stories, with 1e8 4ttles,