d vast sums of money in providing education, and yet
omit the small extra expenditure which would enable young men and women
to continue their education.

The experience of Library Commissions of various states has amply
demonstrated that libraries and literature are sought for and
appreciated quite as much by rural communities as by the larger towns,
and not infrequently the appreciation is apparently keener, because of
the absence of interests and amusements other than those provided by the
library. There is now no real reason why every part of this state may
not enjoy the advantages and pleasures of book distribution, for
concentration of effort in the small towns elsewhere has provided
efficient, attractive and economical libraries, and could as well do so
here.

F. A. HUTCHINS.

MISSION OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY

It is our business in this country to get at the best methods to govern
ourselves. How many of our best people have paused to reflect on what
that means, and on all it means? It means that now we have about
80,000,000 of sovereigns. It was all very well when we were a little
confederation of homogeneous stock stretching along the Atlantic
sea-board. We had our dissensions then, but our population was permeated
with the principles of our government. In one hundred years we have
swelled from a handful to 80,000,000, and a large part of them made up
of additions from the nations of the earth, and not the self-governing
nations. And the problem is to educate the children of these, as well as
our own children, in the principles of that government of which they are
an essential and vital part.

This is the first problem, and if it is not attended to, our government
will crumble away and decay from neglect. We do not want denizens in
this state and this nation, we want citizens. We do not want ward
politics, but we do want government as our forefathers understood it.
And it is the duty of every right-minded citizen to work unfalteringly
for this end. The question is one of expediency.

We want citizens. And the public school and the public library are the
places where citizens are made. Therefore we must labor for and support
these institutions first and foremost. To a very great extent, the
librarian is the custodian of public morals and the moulder of public
men.

The librarian must, and he usually does, feel his responsibility. The
word "responsibility" should be given equal weight with the word
"liber