THE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
ITS USES AND VALUE,

A PAPER

FREDERiCK

READ BY

M. CRUNDEN,

Librarian of St. Louis Public Library,

BEFORE THE

ST.

lOUiS
Saturday

(COMMERCIAL
Evening,

February

18th,

CLUB,

1893.

P R I N T E D BY ORDER O F T H E C L U B .

ST. LOUIS, MO.
i?. P. Studley cf Co., Printers, 221 North Main
1898.

Street,

THE FREEPUBLICLIBRARY.
Its Uses and Value-

In one of my classes at the University some eighteen years ago
was a boy to whom certain geometrical axioms were not at all
self-evident. It took weeks of patient explanation to develop in
his mind a full comprehension of the axiom that u t w o things
that are equal to the same thing are equal to each other." We
did not consider him a very bright boy ; yet he has been — not,
however, without certain adventitious aids — fairly successful
u
o n 'Change;" and I have no doubt he has a thorough understanding Of various facts and principles that are regarded as
axiomatic in the grain pit, butwhich could become so to me only
through years of dearly bought experience.
What is self-evident or simple depends somewhat on one's associations and training. With a little study the simpler theorems
of geometry assume the form of axioms; and to the advanced
mathematician more complex propositions doubtless appear in
the same light. The reading of music is a very simple process
to the youth who learned his notes with his letters; and the mysteries of woodcraft are of the nature of self-evident conclusions
to the American Indian. Just so my experience and observation
during the last sixteen years have made the value of a Free Public Library, its superiority over any form of a subscription or
class library, and its absolute necessity to a progressive community, appear to me as obvious facts.
That no city can lay claim to enlightenment, or, setting aside
all higher considerations, can hope to keep pace in material
progress without a good library, will be accepted without question. Every member of this Club has given evidence of his
assent to this statement by contributions to one or both of our

—4—

libraries. I t only remains, then, to show the greater efficiency
of a free library and the return it makes to a community lor the
cost of its maintenance. The difficulty of the task to me lies in
the simplicity of the proposition. I t seems to me almost like beginning an elaborate proof of the fact that the whole is equal to
the sum of its parts. But, as I have said, it is only my sixteen
years' study of the proposition that makes its statement appear
a demonstration. I t was not so at first. I was misled by the
plausible sophism that u people do not value what they do not
pay for." This is one ©f those dangerous half truths that have
been to mankind what the witches' prophecies were to Macbeth.
We do not pay for the air we breathe, yet nothing is of greater
value to us ; and pure water yields no additional benefits because
we pay a water license. The deleterious sweetmeat for which
the child parts with his " n i c k e l " or " c o p p e r " is, to be sure,
more eagerly desired by him than the wholesome meal at his
mother's t a b l e ; but there is no question upon which the unconscious nutrient powers of the child place greater value. The
clerk may prize a theater ticket that costs him a dollar and affords him an evening's amusement more than the library ticket,
which, without cost, will furnish him with entertainment for 365'
evenings; but which is of greater value to him? The mechanic
or laborer may estimate more highly his glass of beer or whisky
than the opportunities for improvement which a free library
offers to him and his family, yet his children will use the library
if he does n o t ; and, however little they may consciously value
it, can there be any'question of its enormous benefit to them,
and through them to the community of which they form part?
Before proceeding further let me submit the following postulates, which, I assume, meet with universal acceptance:
1. Increasing enlightenment is a prerequisite of progress.
2. Progress is essential to life and happiness, whether of nations or individuals.
3. The security of a Republic lies in the intelligence of its
citizens.
4. A policy pursued by the most enlightened,, progressive and
prosperous communities, and, after years of experience, approved by further extension and the most liberal support, has at
least a strong presumption in its favor.

—5—
The necessity of public libraries to the life and progress of
civilized communities is not a new idea. I t was recognized b y
the imperial race of the ancient world ; and it finds its fullest and
most perfect expression among the conquering and colonizing
race of modern times. We read t h a t . there were at one time
thirty-seven libraries of importance in Rome, and that " it was
one of the principal maxims of those who were most affected to
the publique good to enrich many of those libraries and to bequeath and destine them afterwards to the use of all the learned
m e n . " Evelyn writes, in 1680, lamenting that " this great and
august City of London, abounding with so many wits and lettered persons, has scarce one library furnished and endowed for
the public." To-day London contains thirty libraries that are
public in a broader sense than Evelyn dreamed of, being open
not only to gentlemen and scholars, but free to all people without cost, distinction or hindrance, and issuing over 3,000,000
volumes annually. The city of Manchester, with one-tenth the
population of London, has a jsystem of free libraries which last
year issued to the people of that city, young and old, high and
low, rich and poor, nearly 1,500,000 volumes—in round numbers,
1,000,000 to read in their homes and 500,000 for reading and
consultation within the library rooms. The Boston Public Library last year issued 1,812,632 volumes, while the Chicago
Public Library is but little behind with 1,654,568 volumes; and
if to this be added the issue of the Newberry Library, which is
as free.to the people as the Public Library, the total would exceed that of Boston.
The limits and purposes of this paper preclude even an outline
of bibliothecal history ; but I must take a few minutes to trace
briefly the growth of the Free Public Library. As we know it
to-day. it is one of the most modern of institutions. I t is to sociological development what electricity is to industrial progress.
The last quarter of the nineteenth century will go down in history as the age of electricity and free libraries.
Neither the ancient Roman nor the modern Englishman prior
to this century, had any conception of the free library as it exists in the principal cities of the United States and Great Britain.
Down to recent times libraries were usually collected by an individual and by him devoted to the limited use of the select few. One

—6—

of the earliest and most famous of modern libraries, the Bodleian,
was opened in 1602, with this restriction: " T o be observed as
a statute of irrevocable force; that for no regard, pretense or
cause, there shall at any time any volume, either of those that
are chained or of others unchained, be given or lent to any person or persons of whatsoever state or calling, upon any kind of
caution or offer of security for faithful restitution." This, it
must be noted, is in addition to the statute confining the use of
books within the library to ' ' graduates of the University and to
d o n o r s . " When Selden's collection of 8,000 volumes was presented to the Bodleian the gift was accompanied by this condition, among others : " That the said books may be within the
space of twelve months nex.t ensuing placed and chayned," etc.
" The custom of fastening books to their shelves by chains was
common at an early period throughout Europe. When a book
was given to a mediaeval library, it was necessary, in the first
place, to buy a chain and, if the book was of special value, a
pair of clasps ; secondly, to employ a smith to put them o n ; and,
lastly, a painter to write the name and class-mark across the
fore-edge. Large collections of chained books were for the use
of particular bodies of s t u d e n t s ; but when religious zeal made
many people feel the want of spiritual food it led to the chaining
of single volumes in churches, where any parishioner able to read
could satisfy his s o u l . "
A t the present day chained
the parish churches of Great
still be seen in the Laurentian
to add that here in. St. Louis
freed from chains.

books are to be found in some of
Britain, and chained books may
Library at Florence. I am sorry
books have not yet been wholly

And herein lies the difference between the ancient or mediaeval
public library, so-called, and the free public library of to-day.
Now bolts are drawn, bars are let down, chains are removed:
the library, whether supported by taxation or maintained by individual munificence, is for all, with no conditions or restrictions
except those designed to secure the greatest good to the greatest
n u m b e r ; or, as the motto of the American Library Association
has it, " T h e best reading for the largest number at the least
cost."

—7—

To Benjamin Franklin belongs the honor of founding what he
himself called " The mother of all the North American subscription libraries." In 1731, by considerable effort, he induced
about fifty young men, workmen and small tradesmen, to contribute 40s. apiece and agree to pay 10s. annually: with this
little fund, books were purchased and the library opened in the
chamber of Eobert Grace, one of Franklin's friends and associates. It was open an hour on Wednesday and two hours on Saturday. None but subscribers were privileged to take books
home ; but the librarian could permit any "civil gentleman to peruse the books of the library in the library room." To the
spread of these subscription libraries among the colonies and the
reading habits they promoted, 'Franklin attributes the greater intelligence of the people, observed by visitors from other countries. In direct descent from this little collection are the fine
Mercantile Libraries of New York and St. Louis.
An expansion of the principle of co-operation, on which the
subscription library is based, leads naturally to the free town library supported by taxation; but it was more than a hundred
years before the final step was taken. The first statute for the
establishment of free town libraries by special tax was enacted
by New Hampshire in 1849. The English Free Libraries Act
was passed in 1850, and Massachusetts followed in 1851. The
movement began in the two countries simultaneously, though with
no consultation among those initiating it.
The name of Sir John Potter, sixth Mayor of Manchester, will
be forever honored because of his lead in securing for Manchester
the first free town library of the modern type in the world. Before submitting the question of a tax to the voters, he collected
from his personal friends (including a liberal subscription of his
own) the sum of £4,300, which was afterwards increased at a public meeting to £13,000. This sum, with contributions of books,
assured the establishment of the library, and it was opened September 2, 1852. A fortnight before, its support was provided
for by a practically unanimous vote of the rate-payers, 4,002 voting affirmatively to 40 negatively on the question: "Shall a Library Rate be levied?" As it was the first, it is now one of the
greatest of free libraries, and there can be no question but that
it has been an important factor in the prosperity and progress of

—8—

the city. It is impossible that a million and a half good books
should be read annually without elevating the general intelligence
of the people, and promoting, in a very appreciable degree, order
and sobriety.
It was her observation of the great good accomplished by this
institution that led Mrs. Rylands, when seeking to perpetuate
her husband's memory, to purchase the historic Spencer Library
for £250,000 and present it to the city of Manchester.
There are now few cities of any importance in the northern
and middle sections of our country that are not provided with
free public libraries. The Free Public Library is almost universally recognized as a necessary adjunct to the free school and
an essential feature of a progressive community. A" circular
sent out by the Columbian Exposition General Committee on
"World's Fair Literary Congresses," gives the first place to
libraries. It says:
u

Concerning the subject matter of the first section it may be
remarked that in no other department of organized literary
activity during the last twenty-five years, has there been such a
marked development as in that of libraries, in number, in accession of books, in funds for their support, in methods of admin^
istration and the construction of library buildings. This interest
is represented by National organizations—the American Library
Association, the Library Association of the United Kingdoms of
Great Britain and Ireland, and by various French, German and
Italian societies.
The amount of money given by private beneficence within the
last few years for endowing libraries and erecting buildings, has
no parallel in the history of public charities."
Dr. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, counts
on the contribution of the American Library Association as the
most interesting feature of the National Educational Exhibit.
"Nothing," says Col. Thos. Wentworth Higginson, "comes so
near the great impulse which built within less than a century the
vast European cathedrals, as the impulse which is dotting our
land with public libraries.
The ancient cathedral and the
modern town library alike stand for the spirit of the age."

—9—
The late Stanley Jevons, the distinguished sociologist, in his
"Methods of Social Reform," s a y s : " A m o n g the methods of
social reform which are comparatively easy of accomplishment
and sure of action, may be placed the establishment of Free P u b lic Libraries. * * * There is probably no mode of expending
public money which gives a more extraordinary and immediate
return in utility and innocent enjoyment. Even if they were
expensive, free libraries wonld be less expensive than prisons,
poorhouses and other institutions maintained by public money,
or the ginpalaces, musichalls and theaters maintained by private
expenditure. * * * The whole annual cost of free libraries
is not only repaid many times over by multiplication of utility of
the books on which it is expended, but it is likely in the lapse
of years, to come ,back fully in the reduction of the poor rates
and government expenditure on crime. * * * I n omitting
that small expenditure in a universal system of libraries which
would enable young men or women to keep up the three R ' s
and continue their education, we spend the £97 and stingily
decline the £ 3 really needed to make the rest of the £100
effective."
Sir John Lubbock, a practical politician as well as a scientist,
believes that money expended for free libraries is more than
returned by the reduction in poor rates and police rate, and that
it is " m u c h more satisfactory to spend money on schools and
books than on the prison and the u n i o n . "
I n short, it is the almost universal opinion of those who give
thought to the subject, that a free library is " j u s t as indispensable to the mental health of a city as are its public parks, water
supply or sewers to its physical h e a l t h . "
I t is a significant fact that in those communities that are most
distinguished for intelligence, thrift and enterprise, are to be
found the greatest number of free public libraries. While preparing my last annual report, it occurred to me that, if my deductions were correct, I should find that Massachusetts, which I
knew to contain more than half of all the public libraries in the
United States, would also have more savings banks and depositors than any other state. Examination of the statistics corroborated my inference. I found that Massachusetts stands first
by a long way in the number of savings banks, and that except

— 10 —
New York (which it greatly exceeds pro rata), it has five times
as many depositors as any other state, and ten times the number
possessed by several states that exceed it in population. Can
anyone doubt that there is here the reciprocal action of cause
and effect ? Or can there be any doubt as to which is the more
certain and potent as a causative force ? Wealth may exist—it
has existed and does exist—without leading to the establishment
of free libraries; but free libraries cannot exist without leading
to the accumulation of wealth.
Not satisfied with the pre-eminence it had already attained,
this progressive state three years ago organized a State Commission to promote the establishment of free libraries. Through
this commission, state aid, both in money and counsel, is offered
to those towns that have hitherto been so poor or so unenterprising as not to establish public libraries under the general
statute. The first report notes 103 of the smaller towns unprovided with libraries; in the second, this number is reduced
to sixty-six, containing only 4^ per cent, of the population. According to a recent article in the Boston Herald the number is
still further reduced; and now only 3 per cent, of the inhabitants
of the state are without the advantages of a free public library.
I s it any wonder, then, that nearly 50 per cent, of the entire
population, men, women and children, have deposits in savings
banks ?
Mr. Tillinghast, the Chairman of the Commission, who a few
years ago was no great believer in free libraries, writes m e :
u

T h e question of the utility of a free library as compared with
one that charges a fee, no matter how small the fee may be, is
one that has interested me for many years. If you will turn, in
our first report, to the Springfield Library, you will see what a
wonderful transformation was wrought there by the abolition of
the fee. Similar results, in about the same proportion, have
followed in other cases where the change has been made. During the past year the Otis Library of Norwich, Conn, was opened
to the public with a similar increase of patronage. We hear
from the towns in which we have established new libraries one
universal expression of wonder that the people have allowed
themselves to remain so long without a free library.''

— 11 —
And in a later letter—
" I pray that you may succeed, and it seems to me that you
cannot fail to do so—in making your library free.
4
' I suppose that no one will be found to deny that the reading
of good books by the people generally is every way desirable.
And I speak from experience when I say that the way to cause
good books to be read by the largest number of people is to
provide them at the public expense. The day of the association
library, with a fee attachment, is past. They have done a good
work in New England, as elsewhere, and to them we owe a great
debt. But to-day the safety of the Republic lies in the intelligence of the whole people. We have fostered this by the public
school, and we now supplement the school by the public library.
I am far from being an enthusiast, save in so far as enthusiasm is based upon the results of experience; but I believe the
day is not far distant when any community will no more dispense
with its free libraries than with its free public schools. The one
is becoming speedily not only the necessary, but the indispensable adjunct of the other.
" O u r work has revealed to me the fact that all of our smaller
towns have long felt the want of a free library, and that they
were placed at a great disadvantage when compared with the larger communities, their neighbors, who had been able to secure
one.
' ' Word comes to me daily that the sparsely settled communities
not only make the most generous use of their libraries but take
great pride in them and vote money readily and generously for
them—often times many fold more than the law requires.
' c I believe St. Louis has raised a large sum of money and has
a general committee actively engaged in promoting its interests,
I t is a good thing for any live city to do. I t should be impressed
upon them that one of the most important things that can be
done for the future of the city is to establish a public library that
in its equipment and administration shall be worthy of a city of
its wealth, intelligence and progress.
" F r o m a mere material point of view no other investment would
add more to the value of property in the city, I am fully persuaded, than a first-class free public library. I t is of the first
importance that the library shall be absolutely free to all the

— 12 —

people, of high or low degree ; and T have never yet found a community, large or small, that would not fully use and appreciate
such a privilege."
The Springfield Library, to which Mr. Tillinghast refers, is a
notable illustration of the advantage of an entirely free library.
The fee was gradually reduced until it was only one dollar a
year, payable fifty cents at a time. Still the circulation was
behind that of free libraries in smaller towns. The first year
after the removal of this small fee the circulation was trebled. In
Fort Dodge, la., two years ago, a subscription library was
turned over to the city and made free, resulting the first year
in an increase of the issue from 3,640 volumes to 15,307. The
Massachusetts Commission mentions one library where the number of readers during the first year after it was made free rose
from 1,100 to 7,000, and the number of volumes issued from
41,000 to over 150,000.
At Chicopee, Mass., the abolition of a fee increased the circulation from 10,000 to 25,000 the first year and 35,000 the second
year. The Mercantile Library of Peoria, 111., turned over to
the city and made free, notes an increase in ten years of members from 275 to 4,500, and of issues from 15,000 to 90,000
volumes.
Further and, I think, conclusive evidence of the fact that a
subscription fee, however small, acts as a bar to thousands who
would use a free library, is found in the following table showing
the circulation of public libraries in fifteen cities in the United
States, England and Canada. They are arranged according to
the number of volumes issued for home reading, St. Louis appearing last, below Omaha and Indianapolis, of one-third its
size, below Worcester, of one-fifth and Springfield, of one-tenth
its size.
It should be noted that in the total issue St. Louis surpasses
all these, and would on that basis rank eleventh in the list instead of fifteenth. This, of course, is owing to the fact that our
library is already free for use of books within the rooms. But
the use of this department would be very greatly increased if the
library were made entirely free and provided with an adequate
fund for its maintenance.

— 13

Manchester (England) Free Library.
Ohicago Public Library
Boston Public Library
Birmingham (England) Free Library
Baltimore Pratt Library
Toronto Public Library
Cleveland Public Library
Detroit Public Library
Los Angeles Public Library
Cincinnati Public Library
Omaha Public Library
Indianapolis Public Library
Springfield (Mass.) Public Library...
Worcester (Mass.) Public Library....
St. Louis Public Library

ta

o

505,343 1851
1,098,576 1872
446,507 1852
429,171 1860
435,151 1886
181,220 1882
261,546 J 868
205,669 1865
50,400 1872
296,309 1856
140,452 1872
105,430 J 872
44,179 1857
84,655 1859
460,357 1865

lumes
for
ne Use.

unded.

O-P
PH

lumes.

pulaion.

The following table shows the effect of a subscription fee on.
the usefulness of a library. The libraries are err^nged according to the number of books issued for reading at home:

o

^ o
> W

>

177,178 1,014,331 1,414,469
225,864 761,500 1,654,568
556,283 702,598 1,812,432
169,230 480,004 855,096
106,663 444,028
70,796 401,220 "431,266
66,920 280,815
108,720 274,060 "355^480
29,000 233,000 353,190
173,605 211,356 383,942
32,795 162,702 189,477
51,694 142,953 195,208
79,575 137,731 166,680
85,502 129,760 188,480
80,000 121,867 201,570

To understand the full significance of the above table, these
points should be n o t e d :
1. The St. Louis Public Library is larger than six of the
libraries that surpass it in circulation; and it may be fairly
claimed that its books are as well selected and its management
as efficient.
2. If ranked by the total issue, our library would be four
places higher, the larger total issue being due to the fact that its
reference department is free.
3. According to population, St. Louis should stand third, instead of fifteenth, on the list.
4. The subscription fee is only $2 a year, and for persons under 18 years of age only $ 1 .
A volume of testimony might be presented to show that a subscription fee, however small, acts as a bar to thousands who
would use a free library. The case is strongly p u t in a letter r e ceived to-day from a well known citizen of St. Louis now sojourning in California. Under date of February 11, Mr. N . O.
Nelson writes:
" M y visit yesterday to the Los Angeles Public Library was a
surprise and a revelation. I was in the reference room and about
the issue department for about two hours, and in that time there

— 14 —

wei-c never less tnan fifty persons drawing books and from fifteen
to twenty in the reference room. There were, I should think r
fifteen assistants engaged in serving the crowd, which formed a
never-broken line. I have never, in either of the St. Louis libraries, seen any approach to the amount of activity I saw there, and
the library has only 29,000 books, which is less than one-half, I
believe, the number in yours or the Mercantile; but the library
is free to all comers, resident or non resident. Its issue of
books for home reading during 1892 was 233,000, and for the
month of December the total issues, including reading rooms and
reference room, was 35,500. The census population of Los Angeles was 50,400, not quite one-ninth part of St. Louis. I do not
know the combined issue of the two St. Louis libraries, but I feel
sure that it is nothing near nine times the foregoing figures. Los
Angeles does not draw its readers from the surrounding country, for
every Jittle town has its free library. I cannot help believing that
its extraordinary usefulness arises from its being entirely free, and
the excellent facilities afforded. The library is maintained by
the city appropriations, but it is managed by a board of directors
elected by the members, of which there are now 10,688. More
room is needed, and mention is made of a project to erect a building upon the city ground to contain the library, a public museum,
lecture rooms and possibly music rooms and an art gallery; in
brief, to concentrate the art and the literature of the city in one
building. Here in Pasadena, with five or six thousand people,
there is a free library o c c u r r i n g its own handsome building and
doing a counter business not much short of either one of ours.
Any of these cities and cities of the Eastern States would as soon
do without free schools as free libraries. The necessity for either
one is that a very large part of the people do not feel keenly
enough the need of learning to be willing to take money from
more material wants and spend it for schooling or books.
Some, of course, there are who can ill afford it. St. Louis needs
many reforms, but none, perhaps, more than a free public library. I trust most sincerely that the agitation you and your
directors have started will result in a free library.
4

'Sincerely yours,
N.

O.

NELSON."

— 15 —

I t is often urged that one who really desires the use of a
library will be able and willing to pay a small subscription fee,
such as is charged by our Public Library. As I said in the outset, this sounds plausible, but it will not bear scrutiny. I t is,
indeed, precisely because an individual does not greatly value a
library that he is in such urgent need of it, and that it should
therefore be made free, in order that he may have no excuse for
not using it. The man who is enlightened enough to understand
the benefit of reading will, through stint in other directions, find
the money to buy a ticket for his children at least, looking on it
as a profitable investment, like the other expenses incident to
their education. My plea is for those who do not know that
knowledge is power, and, again, not,so much for persons of mature age, in whom a desire for knowledge has never been
awakened, as for the coming generation, who look out on the
world with the eager, inquiring mind of childhood, and who can
easily be led from the free school to the free library at a very
early age and thus be taught the methods and means of selfeducation, that will make them better workers and in every way
more valuable citizens.
Every year thousands of children leave our public schools at
or before the age of thirteen. Every one must admit that they
have not sufficient information and mental training to develop
their powers and fit them for the best work of which they are
capable. And this, I take it, is the final end of education, to
give to the individual such training as will enable him to make
the most of himself. There can be no question, too, that the ideal
state of society can be reached only in this w a y ; and we should
welcome all agencies that aid and guide us towards the goal of
human aspiration. Leaving school at this early age, the great
majority of our children have but little intellectual or moral
training. Their days then are given to bread-winning and their
evenings to sport, seldom of an elevating character. The early
withdrawal is, in many cases, a matter of real, and in many
more of supposed, necessity. If, however, two more years are
added, the evil is only lessened unless some provision is made for
further self-culture.
Then let us compare the expense. The cost of educating a boy
from 13 to 15 years of age in our public schools is about $20 a

— 16 —
y e a r ; beyond that age it is more. This is the expense to the
State. Besides this his parents must feed and clothe him. By
teaching him while in school how to read—i. e., how to make use
of books—and giving him then and afterwards free and inviting
access to a good library, this expense to the State will not exceed
$1 or $2 a y e a r ; while he costs his parents nothing, and his industry yields a profit to his employers and repays to the State more
than the cost of his continued education. I believe that the education of all boys and girls up to the age of 18, by both free
school and free library, would be profitable to the State, their
increased productiveness and the decrease in police expense much
more than making up the cost. But- however men may differ in
opinion as to the proper limits of free school education—whether
it should stop with the grammar school or embrace the university—
we can all unite on the free library, because it takes up the education of the individual, whether child or adult, at any point
and carries it on indefinitely with an apparent cost scarcely appreciable and a real cost of less than nothing. Reason and experience have combined to convince all thoughtful educators that
the highest office of the common school is to teach a child to read
and implant in him a desire for knowledge ; the university can do
no more. The free library, therefore, is a necessary complement
of the free school. The education of our youth and the advance
of our nation in intelligence and morality cannot go on without
both. The full usefulness of the public library as a factor in
popular education has not }^et been felt and will not be felt until
teachers, parents and school directors realize that a liking for
books and a desire for knowledge are worth more than working
arithmetical puzzles and scoring per cents. As the Springfield
Republican puts it, " t h e liking for a good book is of vastly more
consequence to youth and manhood than a knowledge of the equation of payments or adverbial elements of the third form." In the
same line Sir John Lubbock says: u T h e important thing is not
so much that every child should be taught, as that every child
should wish to learn. A boy who leaves school knowing much, but
hating his lessons, will soon have forgotten all he ever learned;
while another who has acquired a thirst for knowledge, even if he
had learned little, would soon teach himself more than the first
ever k n e w . "

— 17 —

The relation of the public library to the public school and its
necessity as an adjunct of popular education would in itself require an hour's paper for proper treatment. The United States
Commissioner of Education, our own Dr. Harris, in a recent
pamphlet on " The Function of the Library and the School in
Education," says: " The school is set at the task of teaching the
pupil how to use the library in the best manner. That, I take it,
is the central object toward which our American school methods
have been unconsciously guided."
Commenting on a paper on " T h e Relations of the Public Library to the Public Schools," read before the National Educational Convention by Librarian Brett, of Cleveland, Superintendent Whitcomb, of Lowell, said:
1
'In my opinion this is the most important subject considered
by this department at this meeting. It is entirely practicable for
teachers to guide the bulk of the reading done by all their pupils;
and if they do this wisely it is of more importance, in my opinion,
than all the arithmetic, grammar and geography which they can
ever teach."
This, be it remembered, is from a man whose special business
it is to superintend the teaching of arithmetic, grammar and
geography.
I might rest my case here, for the education of the rising generation involves the whole problem of progressive civilization.
Let me, however, give a concrete example of the value of a public library to the material interests of a city. I quote the following from a report of the Cincinnati Library:
" I t is seldom that we can measure in dollars and cents the
usefulness of an institution whose benefits silently permeate the
whole community, but occasionally an illustration presents itself.
I am authorized by Judge M. W. Oliver and E. W. Kittredge,
Esq., to state that the information derived from three volumes in
the library, which could not have been obtained elsewhere at the
time, saved the people of Cincinnati, in the contract with the gas
company, at least $38,500 annually for the next ten years.
4
' This one item is alone more than one-half the annual cost of
the library, and is nearly equal to the amount paid by the Board
of Education from the general educational fund for library purposes."

— 18 —
Numerous testimonials to the practical value of the Worcester
Public Library have been published. I select the briefest. A
manufacturer says:
" H u n d r e d s of our employes make very free use of the library,
gaining therefrom much of good to themselves, and in some special cases obtaining from it information of great value to us in
our business."
Corroborative evidence of the practical utility of the Worcester
Public Library comes from Hartford, Conn. A member of one
of the largest building firms in the latter place stated publicly,
not long ago, that whatever work could be done away from the
buildings he was erecting, he had done in the city of Worcester,
Mass., because of the valuable library there in which his men
could 4 c find directions for doing any unaccustomed piece of
work."
I n places where the experiment has been fully tried, there is
no longer any question of the ample returns made by a free
public Library. The Massachusetts Commission s a y s :
" A free public library is a good business investment for any
town. Experience shows that the amount expended for it will
be returned many fold, not alone in the intellectual and moral
stimulus to the people, but also in material prosperity and the
increased value of p r o p e r t y . "
In that charming fragment, " A f t e r L o n d o n ; or, Wild Engl a n d , " the lamented Jeffries gives a graphic account of the
change that comes over the British Isles as the result of a
cataclysm of nature, that causes all who have sufficient means
and enterprise to sail away forever, leaving behind only the poor
and ignorant and apathetic, cut off from the rest of the world
and deprived of the energy, the higher intelligence and the garnered knowledge of the ages, that make modern civilization and
lead to its continued progress.
The harbors of London and Liverpool are blocked; and the
waters of the Thames and the Severn, with their tributaries, flow
back upon the land and make the central portion of England a
great lake. The country gradually returns to a state of nature.
Hedges meet in the center of fields ; footpaths soon disappear,
and roads are overgrown, though for years still traceable:

— 19 —

bridges and embankments are carried away by floods; and by
the thirtieth year this land of cultivated fields, well-kept parks
and great cities becomes once more the wilderness of the ancient
Britons. These physical changes the author's intimate knowledge of outdoor life enables him to describe naturally and vividly.
Scarcely less skillful, and more impressive, is his picture of
the lapse of society into barbarism and governmental chaos, and
the development from this of a semi-civilization, with a revival
of feudalism and its inevitable accompaniment of petty warring
powers and factions. The forces of evolution still assert themselves ; the fittest survive; strength and craft succeed and become the founders of a new nobility, with no conception of true
greatness, but enjoying to the full u t h e vulgar triumphs of
relativity."
To make the relapse seem plausible, the author necessarily presupposes the general destruction of books during the period of
natural upheaval and social chaos. The story opens two hundred
years after the fall of the old civilization. In his oaken chest,
bound by a leather thong (locks being so scarce that only his
father, the Baron, can have one), the young hero keeps three
small mutilated text-books, a History of England, a History of
Borne, and a primer of science—all intended for the instruction
of children—books that, even in good condition, would not have
brought sixpence apiece among the ancients from whom they came
down. These he regards as his most precious possessions ; for,
torn and fragmentary, brief and elementary as they are, they
have opened to him a new world—have shown him the way to
fame and fortune, and have aroused in him an ambition above
the gardening of his father or the fighting and place-hunting of
his brothers.
This a fancy sketch, but is it not true? Would not the possession of knowledge to be found in the elementary text-books
of to-day place a man on a plane above his fellows in a society
such as Jeffries has depicted? Would not the acquisition of a
small library of the present time enable a man of natural intelligence and strength of character to begin the regeneration of
society, doing in one lifetime the work of centuries ?
If England were to-day deserted by all but its most inefficient
and debased inhabitants, the results conceived by Jeffries would

— 20 —

undoubtedly follow; but if a collection of modern books should
by some fortunate chance be preserved here and there, the aspiring v forces of human nature would quickly reconstruct the
foundations of a new civilization. It does not require the novelist's imagination to teach us that the source and sustenancey
the growth and perpetuation of modern civilization lie in books.
Through books alone do we have the line of direction emerging
from the obscurities of prehistoric times and leading onward and
upward toward the goal of human destiny; through books do all
countries and all men profit by the ideas of each man in every
country; through books alone can each successive generation
start from the vantage ground gained by its predecessors ; only
through books can civilization make continuous progress.
Destroy all libraries and you put an end to the higher activities of life: you take from the clergyman, physician, lawyer,
teacher, writer, engineer and artisan the material and tools wherewith they work for the spiritual betterment and the physical comfort and security of mankind: you destroy the foundations of
civilization, and you annihilate all hope for the future by putting
a stop to the education of youth. As I utter these words there
sits—it may be in a cottage, or it may be in a mansion —
the boy who is to be the Lincoln or the Gladstone, the Darwin or
the Edison, the Stephenson, Morse or Whitney, the Dickens or
Hugo or, it may be, the Shakespeare of the twentieth century.
He may be conning an arithmetic, or reading " Plutarch's Lives,"
or "The Lady of the Lake," or nurturing his dawning imagination on u Aladdin" and "Jack, the Giant Killer;" for from such
beginnings come Washingtons and Jeffersons and Lincolns,
Gladstones and Brights and Shaftesburys, Stephensons, Morses
and Fultons, Tennysons, Lowells and Longfellows.
This is not mere rhetoric. It is my solemn conviction, based
on experience, observation and thought, that there is nothing
that would do so much good for this city as the establishment of
a well supported free library, and such reform in our educational
methods as would enable that library to realize its possibilities as
a factor in popular education. The first and main point is to secure the library. Its existence will lead to the desired reforms
in our public school system.

-21 —
But for the benefits of a free library we need not wait till the
next generation is grown. W e should feel them at once. A free
library with an ample fund would bring to the saving of life and
the relieving of pain here in St. Louis the laborious researches of
physicians in London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna. A free library
with a well equipped technological department would concentrate here the knowledge of the world in the application of
science and give us more efficient mechanics and artisans. A
single invention like the telegraph or telephone would pay for the
maintenance of all the public libraries in the United States. W e
must sow our seed broadcast. Some of it is sure to fall on
fertile soil and bring forth fruit sixty and a hundred fold. The
comforts of the many and the luxuries and vast fortunes of the
few depend on the application of science to some form of industry
—of steam to transportation, of electricity to intercommunication, of chemistry to the manufacture of fabrics, the extraction
of ores and the utilization of materials for every variety of production. All advances up to the present and all possibilities for
the future lie in the combination of brains and books—the fertilization of one mind by the recorded thought of others. I t was
the investigations and experiments of Franklin, Davy and Faraday, preserved and promulgated through books, that have made
electricity a house servant and a common carrier. But for books
we should still light our houses with tallow dips or torches and
travel in springless, wooden-wheeled wagons. All the comforts
of modern life and all hope of further advance we owe to books.
The music of the march of civilization had first to be written and
then printed in books before mankind could join in the chorus
and keep step with the processional of the destined progress of
the ages.
To attempt to keep pace with rival cities without a free library
is like doing business without the aid of telegraph, telephone
and typewriter. W e cannot achieve the highest success if we reject so potent a factor in the promotion of popular intelligence.
In the fierce competition of to-day we cannot afford to yield a
single point,
"For emulation hath a thousand sons.
That one by one pursue. If you give way
Or hedge aside from the direct forthright,
Like to an entered tide, they all rush by
And leave you hindmost."

— 22 —

If the facts that I have laid before you have any significance •
they show that in one respect St. Louis is behind her sister cities,
that she is burdened with a serious drawback to her rating among
the great cities of the Union and to the success of her efforts for
moral and material progress. And if I have rightly conceived
the spirit and purposes of this Club, that drawback once apparent, its removal is assured. I t will prove an easier task than the
paving of our streets and other achievements of the Club, for its
accomplishment will trench less on private interests and will appeal quite as much to popular approval; and there is no enterprise the Club can undertake that will secure such great and
beneficial results to the city of St. Louis.
It would be a doubtful compliment to the members of this Club
to say that they pay their legal debts. Their names are known
throughout the city, and in many cases throughout the country,
as synonyms of commercial integrity. But it is the highest compliment that can be proffered a man, to say that he pays all his
debts, debts that no court of law can take cognizance of—indebtedness to his fellow citizens, to humanity and to posterity, thus
acknowledging his indebtedness to the converging forces of ages,
which have borne him to a position of prosperity and^ power,
The nineteenth century is distinguished for something better
than mechanical invention. It is the cumulative growth of a
wholesome confession that we are our brothers' keepers, and that
we are bound to use our superior intellect and opportunity for
their betterment. Mechanical invention and accumulated wealth
are valuable only as a means to an end. Greater things could
be done for the cities of St. Louis and Chicago than to bring
them within two hours of each other. As Channing says:
" T h e glory and happiness of a community consists in vigorous
efforts, springing from love sustained by faith, for the diffusion
through all classes of intelligence, of self-respect, of self-control,
of thirst for knowledge and for moral and religious growth.
* * * I t is a plain truth, and yet how little understood, that
the greatest thing in a city is Man himself. He is its end. W e
admire its palaces ; but the mechanic who builds them is greater
than the palaces. * * * You talk of the prosperity of your
city. I know but one true prosperity. Does the human soul
grow and prosper here? "

— 23 —

I do not urge the Free Public Library as a social panacea ; but,
with the free school, it is the most powerful agent that exists for
social amelioration. I t is essential to the consummation of universal intelligence, which is the most effective palliative, if not a
cure, for all the ills of society. Fear of wider education or failure to promote it is a confession of weakness. Knowledge is the
support and bulwark of truth. In a great majority of the most
vital questions there is practical unanimity among educated men.
The foundations of social order lie in principles and lines of conduct that are endorsed by all. With greater and more widespread education will come a more general adoption of these and
a consequent advancement of societ}^.
The Free Public Library appeals to public appropriation and
private endowment with perfect confidence in its ability to make
the largest returns for both. Supported by public taxation, its
advantages are shared by all; founded b}^ private munificence, it
confers benefits on a larger number than can be reached in any
other way. I t helps people by teaching them how to help themselves, and is therefore the wisest and most effective form of
philanthropy. Andrew Carnegie, whose faith is proved by his
works, says: " The results of my own study of the question,
4
What is the best gift that can be given to a community?' is that
a free library occupies the first place. * * * No millionaire
will go far wrong in his search for one of the best forms for the
use of his surplus who chooses to establish a free library in any
community that is willing to maintain and develop it. John
Bright's words should ring in his e a r s — ' I t is impossible for any
man to bestow a greater benefit upon a young man than to give
him access to books in a free library.' "
A Boston clergyman, who began life as a bootblack, tells, in
an autobiographical sketch, how the Boston Public Library
changed the course of his life. He closes with these words:
u
The public school finds a eulogist in every candidate for
public favor. I, too, could speak well of the public school; b u t
when I am asked how I obtained my start in life, I shall always
answer, ' Through a public l i b r a r y . ' "