Year: 1867

In his forth coming Report, the Super
intendent of Public Instruction urges the
necessity and propriety of providing for
School Libraries in every town of the State.
The suggestion is one which warmly com
mends itself to every friend Of popular edu-
cation, and we annex that portion of the
Report relating to the subject, in full:


by act of legislature, approved March 2l :,
1859, it was provided that ten per cent of the
school fund income subject to apportionment
in the year 1860, and annually thereafter, to-
gether with the proceeds Of special state tax
of one tenth of one mill on the dollar valuation,
shall be- and hereby set apart for the purpose
Of establishing and replenishing town school
libraries the books for which shall be pur-
chased by public authority, and distributed in
some just proportion among the towns and ci-
ties the state"


The legislature having made no provision in
the act raising the fund for its expenditure, it
was allowed to accumulate until it amounted
to S89, ,7S4 rs, of which S35, AIS OS was de-
rived from the income of the school fund, and
$50, 1866 70 from the tax of one-tenth of one
mill on the dollar valuation of the property Of
the state.


I'm the annual report from this department
in 1861, Hon. j L. Pickard, superintendent of
public instruction, says Il regret that no
provision has yet been made for the distribution
of the township library fund. | deem the
principle good one, and one well calculated
to advance the educational interests of the
state. Owing to the peculiar circumstances
into which we have been forced by the south
ern rebellion, and the consequent demands
upon our state for means to prosecute the war
| deem it my duty to advise the suspension Of
the operation Of the law creating this fund. for
a term of three or five years. L would also
recommend that so much of the fund as has
arisen from the diversion of the ten per cent
of the school fund income be restored to that
income for apportionment and would further
recommend that so much of the fund as has
been produced by the I-1Oth of mill, state
tax, be set aside as q permanent library fund,
and that for three or five years, the fund so set
aside, be invested i'll state bonds. By this
means the state will find Il slight temporary re-
lief, and the fund, so cheerfully paid for edu-
cational purposes, will be eventually devoted
to the purpose for which it was raised.j


The legislature, instead of indorsing by it's
action the recommendation of superintendent
Pickard. the wisdom of which, considering the
circumstances. under which it was made, will
not be questioned, repealed the law creating
the fund, and returned to the general fund of
the state the sum Of $50, 1866 TO- and to the in
come of the school fund the balance, which had
been pledged to establish township libraries.


1T seems to be proper to consider at the
present time, whether the interests Of tho state
would not be promoted by carrying out by ap-
propriate legislation, the project that was de-
teated by the repeal Of chapter two hundred
and ten Of the general laws OF 1859. 1t is be-
licved that an act, appropriating, from the gen.
eral fund the amount Of the 1-l0th mill tax,
for founding township Libraries, would be re-
garded by the people as a measure calculated
to promote the best interests Of the state. 1t
would not be desirable that the whole amount
should be used in a single year, and it might
be sound policy to use the fund in such q man
ner as to encourage that local effort that it is
always wise to secure.


''An act Of this kind should provide for the
appointment of state board Of library COM
missoners, to consist of men whose position
and character should furnish a guarantee that
the books selected would i'll all respects be
suitable and that the interests Of the people
would, in the purchase and distribution Of the
same be carefully regarded. 1t should also
provide for library committees in the towns
and cities of the state, who should have the
custody ana control Of the town libraries un-
der such regulations as would secure the pres
ervdtion of the books, end afford facilities for
their use to the people Of tho several school dis
tricts