Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-03

derstand the universal tongue Shaken
speare wrote.
TAKE the octagonal reading room,
= hub of the library. Once within
its portals, you stand on ground given
over to serious study. No more Is q
reading room place for leisurely read
ing or occasional thinking. People
come here to direct specialized effort in
certain fields. Here are nationally
known barristers preparing briefs for
the Supreme Court of the United
States; here ministers preparing the
weekly sermon; blue-blooded lady con-
sulting a work on genealogy which she
hopes will prove consanguintty with
Gov. Winthrop; an author gathering
material for detective novel, and next
to him a man seeking dope" for
history of the newspaper comic strip.
No struggling or sluggish effort. A
debate demands that the library deliver
a certain book on a certain minute In
order that he may be prepared to en-
force an idea or establish a claim. In
Is minutes the House will have adj
journed. The book is needed now.
For that purpose Congress connects it
self with the library by means Of
special tunnel running under the Capt.
tol Grounds. Books travel back and
forth on an endless belt. An employee
of the library serves both ends. Re
quests are filed at the reading room
desk via telephone. The attendant
knows them as CLOAK" room requests.
Representatives have a way of giving
orders-something like Louis XIV,
abrupt and often incomplete. When o
Representative asks for Dickinson's
Notes" he takes it for granted that
the librarian has read the book and
knows exactly what is wanted. You
know-the book written by charhe
Dickens after he visited America"
Ahh-hhhl His highness refers to
American Notes" by Charles Dickens.
And when the attendant is ordered to
produce 1.-The Tom HorSement Of the
Afolca Type" he forthwith lays hands
on THE Four HorSemen Of the Apo
calypso" and dispatches it posthaste.
Indeed, the octagonal table that so
modestly graces the middle of the read
ing room is like the round table presided
over by the city editor of metropoli-
tan newspaper. Attendants are his copy
readers; reporters are scattered far and
wide over the city. Demands, requests
come from the whole world.
How does he count the pulse beat
VI Jklc q UlS SIOIJ UICtth,
he feels demands on his
Let Congress start discus
sion of the Boulder Dam and so per-
sons apply for all the dam" material
published in the history of Christen-
dom.
Should man named SchynlSecxzscyl
die and leave fortune of four cows
and a pickle factory. all the genealo-
gies of the library are called forth to
find evidence Of heirs and heiresses.
No more insistent and persistent class
of librarygoerS than the optin1istS who
seek to establish blood relationship with
cold, dead men. They may arrive at
directly or indirectly, but
this matters not so long as they arrive.
In volume, diversity and urgency,
there is no institution that handles
such demands. A thousand Federal Of
ficers call freely on 1t. A cabinet mem
Der or Senator may ask for a pamphlet,
newspaper or a wagonload. A story Is
who, on first hearing tariff" mentioned
in the House, ordered everything on
that subject to be delivered to his office.
The gentleman discovered that all
though tariffs might be scarce In some
parts Of the country. they have grown
profusely on the soil of Washington.
After seeing several moving vans load
ed with tariffs, he decided that nothing
was to be gained by consulting the ma
terial, because the last word had already
been written.
\ n
A S the National Library, this institu-
ton takes cognizance of requests
in any place, to wit, inter-
library loans ordered by radiogram
from Honolulu, by cable from Berlin,
~ mail from Vancouver and by sampan
from China. The Library of Congress
Is the nearest source for particular ma
terial; realizing this, no effort Is spared
IN meeting the unusual need with the
unusual book" as DR.. Putnam frames 1t.
Among authors who have consulted
he library's collections In, recent years
are DR.. James Truslow Adams and DR..
Samuel Flagg Bemis, each Of whom has
won the Pulitzer prize for notable CON.
ributions In the field Of American his.
,ory
Prof. Charles Cheney Hyde. author
ty on international law, and Charles
Savant of constitutional law.
lsed 1t In their writings. Miss Ida M.
rarbell gathered much of her material
or the Lincoln biography here. Rep
'esentative Luce. author Of works on
he conduct Of legislative bodies. made
extensive use Of the library's collec-
IONS
Often it requires a Library of Con.
!ress expert to identify the particular
Continued on Sixth Pase3