Evening star., 1926-08-22
Capital Sidelights


United States, and one of the great
est of our educational institutions. al
ready ranking third among the great
libraries of the world, Is coming into
a larger future through cooperation
of individual benefactors with the
Federal Government by endowments
for collections Of important and rare
books and by endowments for hlgnlE
specialized service, placing the heads
Of the various departments In rank
with the faculty of university.
During the Summer two members
of Congress, Representatives Meyer
Jacobstein. Rochester. \. y. and
Emanuel Celler. Brooklyn. \. Y, are
conducting an intensive campaign for
an endowment of $3.50, 900 by enlight-
ened Jews, to be presented to the
Library Trust Fund Board, created
by Congress last year. to augment
the present number of Hebraica and
Judaica possessed by the Library, and
to acquire rare items of Sem
tica, and to endow chair for
Semitics. SO as to insure permanently
d scholarly conduct of this division.
This endowment will be in line with
several others made for specified pur-
poses through the Trust Fund Board,
which is headed by the Secretary of
the Treasury, and which is quasi
corporation with perpetual succession
and all the usual powers of Il trustee.
y recent endowment was made by
Mrs. Frederic =. Coolidge for the Divi-
sion of Music. involving principal
of over 100000 A similar endOW-
ment of preferred stock of Il par value
of do IAxy 10
Wilbur, part of the income of which
is to be used for the collection of ma
terial for the study of American his
tory. Another, by Il. Il. Bowker. is
for the photographic Service of the
Library, as the Librarian may deter
mine to he useful. The recent beQuest
by Joseph Pennell will he applicable
to the development of the collection
of prints and its service.
The Department of Semitic and
Oriental Literature contains books in
Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic and cog
nate languages. as we'll as Yiddish
and Judaica. The Semitic Division
contains the most notable collection
of these books in America. 1t was
established in 1913, when Jacob H.
Schiff made his first contribution of
more than 10000 books of Hebraica.
Under Dr.. Israel Schapiro. chief of
the division since it's inception, 1t has
been considerably extended so that it
now contains more than 25, 900 volumes
In the Hebrew language alone, cover
ing ancient and modern Hebrew liter
ature.
Representatives JacobStein and Gel
Ter emphasize that by a duplicate
method Of indeXing every library of
consequence will eventually be fur
niShed with data concerning every
Semitic book in the Library of Con
greSS. In this way a student any
where can secure photostat copies of
any number of pages of any rare Jew
ish volume possessed by the Library
of Congress. Furthermore, by it's in
ter-library loan system rare volumes
are lent to the higher institutions of
learning in the United States. This
is a service extraordinarily enlighten-
ed. reaching out to the scholar, how
ever remote.
\ =
mo part OF America has produced
more eminent men instinct with love
OF freedom than the narrow neck Of
Virginia. between the Rappahannoc
and the Potomac Rivers" Repre-
sentative s. q. Bland reminds us
thought great thoughts and done
great deeds. Here the past is an In
spira ton and an example. Here de-
votiOn to duty, love of country and
heroic service and sacrifice have
found their finest expression. Here
names high on Honor's rolls are
household words. Here tradition
and fact charm and lure with COM
pelling force and vet with winsome
grace Wherever else political time
servers may exist, here public men
must strive to become statesmen in
the highest sense of that term. or he
recreant to the high ideals and
noble sentiments that have made this
section immortal. Here Wakefield
and Stratford. the Washingtons and
the Lees, are constant reminders
that
Freedoms battle once begun,
Bequeathed by bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft, is ever won.'
Here had been born the Father
Of His Country. Here had been
reared he who. $50 years ago, in
obedience to his native State, boldly
submitted, In convention assembled,
that these Colonies were. and of
right ought to be. free and indie
pendent. Here had been nurtured the
brilliant diplomat who in 1873 ne
gotiated the treaty with France
which assured our Independence.
Not far away there had been born
and lived another great Virginian
who, $50 years ago. had first collected
i'm a great charter the fundamentals
of a free people. Here had been born
the greatest soldier of the English
speaking race who. by heroic service,
splendid sacrifice and glorious life.
added new luster to the name of
Lee Of Virginia and of your own
Northern Neck"