brary is money
well invested by a community.

F. M. CRUNDEN.

PUBLIC LIBRARY, A PUBLIC NECESSITY

Any consideration of a public library project is complimentary to a
community, showing, as it does, a sense of civic responsibility and a
desire for future progress which are commendable. No town can hope to
live up to its greatest possibilities without a public library, and none
with a sincere desire need be denied the blessings which result from
such an institution.

There are few communities which would not provide for a public library,
if its advantages were appreciated, for it is a remedy for many ills and
is all-embracing in its scope. It vitalizes school work, and receiving
the pupil from the school, the library continues his education
throughout life. It is a home missionary, sending its messengers, the
books, into every shop and home. With true missionary zeal, it not only
sends help, but opens its doors to every man, woman and child. In most
towns, there are scores of young men and boys whose evenings are spent
in loafing about the streets, and to these the library offers an
attractive meeting place, where the time may be spent with jolly, wise
friends in the books. The library substitutes better for poorer reading,
and provides story hours for the children who are eager to hear before
they are able to read. It also increases the earning capacity of people,
by supplying information and advice on the work they are doing.

Increased taxation is one of the greatest hindrances to the opening of a
public library, but any institution which enriches and uplifts the lives
of the people, is the greatest economy. Any attempt to conduct civic
affairs without a reasonable expenditure of money for such influences is
the grossest extravagance. No economy results from ignorance and vice,
and the public library has long since established its claim as one of
the most potent remedies for such conditions.

It is no exaggeration to state that every dollar expended for library
purposes is returned to the community tenfold, not necessarily in
dollars and cents, but in the more permanent, more valuable assets of
greater happiness, comfort and progress of the people. A city is the
expression of every life within its borders, and every increase in
progress and efficiency in the individual citizen, is progress for the
whole.

The most valuable things usually are obtained at some sacrifice, and the
many advantages from a public l