pendence and
self-respect in the library's patrons.

3 Taxation is the easiest and fairest way to raise the needed money.
Five hundred dollars raised by entertainments, subscriptions, sales,
etc., means a great burden of labor, care and expense to a few, and
usually to net that sum a very much larger sum must be expended, while
$500 spread on the tax rolls would hardly be felt even by the largest
taxpayer.

4 It adds dignity to the library and increases the respect in which it
is held. To be made each year an object of charity for which private
subscriptions are solicited and rummage sales held tends to bring it
into contempt and greatly lowers its influence in the community.

5 A stated tax, yielding a known and fixed income, enables the trustees
to pursue a consistent and stable plan for library development, such as
is impossible where the income is dependent on fluctuating impulse or
effort.

6 There is no village tax levied from which the people can get so large
a return for so little money. A $500 tax in a village of 3,000 people is
equivalent to about 16 cents for each resident. For this insignificant
sum each person in the village is offered a pleasant reading room, as
good as that supplied by many a club, a dozen or more of the best
periodicals, a collection of books such as only a very few of the more
wealthy can possess as individuals, and about $200 worth of new books to
read every year.

NEW YORK LIBRARIES.

SOME ADVANTAGES OF MUNICIPAL CONTROL

First--A free public library under municipal control has a regular,
known income, which increases with the growth of the municipality.

Second--It is not dependent solely upon subscriptions, contributions
and the proceeds of entertainments arranged for its benefit.

Third--With an income that is certain, the trustees are able to make
plans for the future, and more economically administer the affairs of
the library.

Fourth--A municipally-controlled library is owned by the people, and
experience has demonstrated that they take a much greater interest in an
institution belonging to them.

Fifth--Public libraries supplement the work of the public schools.
"Reading maketh a full man," wrote Lord Bacon; and Thomas Carlyle thus
expressed the same idea: "The true university of these days is a
collection of books." Libraries, like the schools, should be supported
by the people.

Sixth--The library is not a charity; neither should it be regarded as a
luxury