which has, upon the whole,
resulted in failure.

The State of New York has the honor of having started this plan, which
was first publicly advocated by Governor De Witt Clinton, in his message
for 1826. In 1838 General John A. Dix, then secretary of state, was
"charged with the execution of the law giving to the school districts
$55,000 a year to buy books for their libraries, and requiring them to
raise by taxation an equal amount for same purpose." The system was
received throughout the state with enthusiastic favor. In 1841 the
school libraries of the state reported the possession of 422,459
volumes; in the following year, 200,000 volumes more; and in 1853 they
had reached the enormous number of 1,604,210 volumes.

The plan as advocated in New York soon passed over into Massachusetts,
where it was taken up and advocated by Horace Mann, that noble-minded
and eloquent champion of popular enlightenment. Through his influence
the necessary law was passed in 1837, but the operation of the plan was
never very successful in that state, and after twelve years had resulted
in the accumulation of only 42,707 volumes.

Michigan appears to have been abreast of Massachusetts in the adoption
of the plan of district school libraries, incorporating it into its
school law of 1837.

After New York, Massachusetts, and Michigan, the several other states
which adopted this plan did so in the following order: Connecticut in
1839; Rhode Island and Iowa in 1840; Indiana in 1841; Maine in 1844;
Ohio in 1847; Wisconsin in 1848; Missouri in 1853; California and Oregon
in 1854; Illinois in 1855; Kansas and Virginia in 1870; New Jersey in
1871; Kentucky and Minnesota in 1873; and Colorado in 1876.

These data will give you some idea of the wide extension of this fourth
stage in library evolution. Its merits are very great. Perhaps its
greatest merit is that it recognizes the true function of the public
library as a part of the system of public education, and therefore as
entitled to a share in public taxation. Moreover, it has undoubtedly
done a vast amount of good in placing the means of intellectual
improvement within the reach of millions of people of all ages; it has
stimulated the love of books and diffused knowledge and happiness. And
yet with all these merits, it has been a failure; and this is largely
due to just three defects in administration:

1. Lack of care and wisdom in the selection of the books, resulting in
the acquisiti