CHAPTER XIV.

THE LIBRARY SYSTEM.

The first constitution of the State made it the duty of the Legislature, “as soon as the circumstances of the State will permit" to provide for the establishment of libraries, one at least in each township; and directed that money paid for exemption from military duty, and the proceeds of fines assessed for any breach of the penal laws, should be applied exclusively to the support of such libraries. The constitution of 1850 contained a provision essentially the same. A subsequent amendment allowed the proceeds from fines to be used for other school purposes if the township board or the school board of a city should so direct. Superintendent Pierce recommended the establishment of a library in each district rather than a single central township library. "No means," he said, "next to the establishment of schools, can be more admirably adapted to the intellectual and moral culture, the improvement and progress of the people in knowledge, than the founding of well-selected libraries." The original school law permitted school districts to impose a tax for the purchase of a library case, and an annual tax of ten dollars for the purchase of books. The books might be selected by vote of a district or by the district board. No provisions were made for township libraries.

The establishment of libraries went on very slowly. Superintendent Sawyer stated, in his report for 1841, that only $170.80 had been raised for library purposes during that

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year, and that nothing had been received from fines or for exemptions from military duty. He insisted upon the vast importance of judiciously selected libraries as a means of advancing common school education, and called attention to some valuable works recently published with special reference to school libraries. In obedience to the requirements of the statute, Mr. Sawyer published, in the report of 1842, rules and regulations for the management of district libraries. Superintendent Comstock, who succeeded Mr. Sawyer in 1843, published an extended list of books for use in the schools, and also for the libraries. The number of volumes in the libraries in 1850 was reported to be 84,823.

Some minor changes were made from time to time in the law relating to libraries. Township libraries were authorized, and practically, in most townships, only one library was maintained until 1859, the books of which were to be distributed, once in three months, to the various districts in the township. Some district libraries existed in addition to the central library. The funds for the support of the libraries in 1850 were the proceeds of fines and of exemption from military duty, and twenty-five dollars of the mill tax in each township.

The township plan had thus far proved so unsatisfactory and of so little real value generally that in 1859 an act was passed authorizing the voters of a township, at the annual meeting, to determine whether the township library should be continued or district libraries should be allowed in its place. If the vote was in favor of district libraries, the township inspectors were to divide the books in the township library among the several districts in the township in proportion to the number of children of school ages. The

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district board was to provide for the care of the library, and library moneys belonging to the township were to be apportioned to the districts and used for the purchase of books. A majority of the township decided in favor of district libraries and the books were divided. In most townships the districts received a mere handful of books, which, in not a few cases, were soon scattered and lost. For the support of libraries the electors of the township, at the annual meeting, could vote such part of the mill tax as they pleased. In townships having district libraries, the amount so voted was apportioned to the several districts, the districts themselves having no authority at that time to vote a tax for library purposes. Generally very little money was appropriated for the purchase of books, and the district system shared the fate of the township system. State Superintendent John M. Gregory, who was himself a strong advocate of district rather than township libraries, said, in his report of 1860: "It is evident that our library system must soon go to decay and final extinguishment if left to so uncertain and precarious a support." Only 133 townships had made any appropriation from the mill tax for libraries; and in many cases, when something was voted, the amount was so small as to be "farcical." Township libraries were reported in 178 townships with an average of 323 volumes in each library. The number of district libraries reported was 2,287, with an average of 48 volumes in each. The whole number of volumes reported, in all the libraries, was 154,514, and the total resources from fines, taxes, etc., for the support of libraries was only $6,375.77. Mr. Gregory recommended that at least one-tenth of the income of the mill tax be set apart, by Legislative enactment, for the libraries, and that each dis

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trict be allowed to vote an additional sum, after providing for at least three months of free school. These recommendations did not produce any immediate effect.

Complaints in relation to the character of many of the books purchased for the libraries induced the Legislature of 1859 to enact that the State board of education should make a list of books, unsectarian in character, suitable for district and township libraries, and contract with the lowest responsible bidder to furnish these books, at a stipulated price, to the townships and districts ordering them. The district boards, or township boards of inspectors, were required to purchase books from this list, unless the voters of the districts or townships ordered otherwise. No penalty, however, was provided for failure to comply with this law on the part of districts or townships. For several years the board of education revised and published, annually or biennially, such a list; but so few books were purchased from it that, after a little time, no responsible bookseller would enter into a contract to furnish the books at reduced prices, and consequently the plan was abandoned.

Superintendent Gregory labored very zealously and persistently to secure the establishment of libraries, and to induce the Legislature to make adequate provision for their support, but his efforts were only partially successful at best. In 1861 he wrote, in his report: "It cannot be concealed that no very general popular interest is felt in these libraries." Out of 658 townships making reports, only 85 voted any appropriation from the mill tax, and the aggregate voted was only $3,058.04. In the report for that year he presented brief but most cogent reasons for urging the support of district libraries. He insisted that the school with

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out the library was incomplete. "The school teaches to read; the library furnishes the books for reading. The school teaches to think; the library furnishes the food for thought. The school awakens the mind to an active desire. for knowledge; the library is the open store-house of knowledge. The school aims to awaken a taste for literary pleasure; the library is the only means by which this taste can be gratified."

In 1870 Superintendent Hosford, with characteristic caution wrote: "On the whole, the library statistics afford ground for some encouragement." The amount voted for libraries, at the township meetings that year, was $2,383.83, and the total amount paid for books, was $16,770.88. There were reported 1,366 district and 201 township libraries, with an aggregate of 150,826 volumes. In that year the school law was amended so as to allow districts to vote a tax for the support of libraries. It required continued effort for ten years to secure this amendment. While it was not the most desirable improvement, it was the best then attainable.

A decade later, 1880, Superintendent Gower wrote: "The district libraries are in a large majority of cases practically abandoned. I am convinced that it is almost impossible to maintain district libraries in any other than graded districts. The country library, to be of any value, must be a township library." "Of the 1,035 townships of the State, 334 report township libraries, while the remainder, 701, attempt to maintain district libraries. But there are only 1,268 district libraries in these 701 townships, on an average less than two district libraries to each township * * * * So far as I know all the townships that have a township library maintain it with a fair degree of success, while less than one-third