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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. / errata id to It ie pelure, Qon d n 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 ■>uXII "^ I ["". \( i ! 1^' } Toronto's Free Library, FACTS FOR THE CITIZENS. E are all anxious for the future welfare and good govcrnincnt of our city, and a very important agency '-y which this result may be attained is intelligence. Ignorance, if not the parent ol crime, is a very near relation, and any movement that will hold in check the degrading tendencies of the limes must merit the attention and support of all good citizens. This scheme of a free library has sjiecial claims upon the public on account of its non-sectarian character. Within its walls the Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Protestant, may fraternize, and on its shelves their various views will have a place. With this necessity before us I refer you to what has been done elsewhere. The city of lioston has perliaps illK I.ARr.KST I'REK LIBRARY IN TIIK WORLD, and it is to the general use of it that her citizens attribute her superiority in city government and general intelligence over New York. Such a hold has this idea of free reading on the Americans that in January, 1880, there were 3,776 publ'c libraries in the United Slates, containing over 300 volumes each — the total being 14,500,000 volumes. Even in Texas — that semi-civilized State — they have availed themselves of a recent enactment whereby they can tax for library purposes at the will of the Council. Down in the Southern States, where one would naturally look for a limited reading public, they are provided with civic machinery for establishing libraries, and many cities have well chosen and increasing collections of books for the free use of every ratepayer. In Mexico, even, this civilizing agency is an institution, and every publisher is by law compelled to supply the national library with two copies oi every book published free. In Great Britain five libraries retain this privilege, and it has become a custom with the leading publishers to give acopy of each new book to the leading libraries. IN THE UNITF.I) STATES they have ceased arguing the question. They accept the necessity of a free library, as they do gas works, in evijry town (for the fact is accomplished before it becomes a city), and assess and '.>uild accordingly. Here are a few cities taken at random, showing how maintained, &c. : Place. Source of Revenue. Amount. Cincinnati, . . . Chicago, .... Watertown, N.Y, Lawrence, Mass. Cleveland, . . . Taunton, Mass., Vv'orcester, Mass. Newton, Mass., I Board of Educat'n, City Library fund, j City Library fund, | City appropriation,' Dog tax, ' City appropriation,' Dog tax, i City appropriation, City appropriation. Dog tax, City appropriation. Dog tax, I City appropriation, i $34,572 18,996 33.763 2,500 294 7,000 1,320 17.672 3,200 1,127 S,ooo 2,810 7.500 No. of Volumes 132,807 67,722 24,270 40,062 29.15s 16,878 47,521 17,013 Circu- lation. 769,3^7 374,866 27,233 134,052 130,443 61,347 156,398 83.393 City's Popul'tn. 280,000 503,000 10,600 40,000 170,000 21,000 59.000 17,000 We cannot, of course, compare Toronto with such cities as Boston and Chicago, but surely we should not be outdone by every small manufacturing town in New England in the matter of intelligence. And while on this question of intelligence, it must not be taken for granted that reading for amusement is the sole aim of a rate-supported library. Out of a classified report of the Birmingham library of 1874, we learn that no less than 4,523 volumes were issued to engineers and machinists, and 5,458 volumes to jewellers and gold and silversmiths — works of a practical and technical character in their respective trades. This was in addition to the thousands of readers who daily made use of the " Reference Library," in which is comprised the more costly works on mechanics, &c. On this point, a writer says, '* The advantages of a library are no longer of a purely literary character, and are becoming less and less so, that the art and mysteries of manufacturing are no longer taught by word of mouth alone to indentured apprentices, but that the master workman of the nineteenth century speaks through books to all, and then ii\ proportion as our workmen become intelligent and skilled does their labour increase in value to themselves and to the State." Across th(.' Unes each State passes its own Act, EMPOWERING MUNICIPALITIES TO TAX FOR LIBRARY PURPOSES. The following illustrates the variety with which the public pulse and purse is felt and bled: — In Maine the Act provides for assessing $1 per head for founding the library and 25c. per head for maintenance thereafter; Vermont, $1 per head and 50c. for maintenance ; Connecticut, the same; Ohio, half a mill in the $; Wisconsin, one mill in the $; Iowa, half a mill in the $; Illinois, from 1-5 to 2 mills in the $. We will now cross the Atlantic and see HOW THE FREE LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT WAS RECEIVED IN GREAT BRITAIN. Figures are more convincing than words, and the following list of towns and cities wherein the question of library or no library was discussed shows how it was settled : — Cities. How Decided. Population. Birkenhead, .... Only one against, 90,000 Blackburn, .... Only two against, 77,000 Bridgewater, .... Unanimous, Burslem, .... Unanimous, 30,000 .Chester, No poll demanded 51,000 f /l^ * * I ♦ 1 » »• »* # t /i^ * * 4- »■ ,* # Dundee, . P^xeter, Hawick, . Leeds, Manchester, . Middleboro, Newcastle, Northampton, Nottingham, I'lymouth, Preston, Roachdale, Southport, . South Shields, Swansea, Tyneniouth, Walsail, Westminster, (Parish,) Wigan, . Wolverhampton, Worcester, . Unanimous, 122,000 No poll demanded, 34,ooo Unanimous, 15,000 Adopted at public meeting, .... 311,000 Only 40 against, 400,000 Only one against, 47, 000 Adopted at public meeting, .... 129,000 Adopted at public meeting, .... 50,000 Only one against, 170,000 No poll demanded, 7S.OOO No poll demanded, 88,000 Adopted at public meeting, .... 75,000 Adopted at public meeting, .... 35,000 .Adopted at public meetintr, .... 65,000 Decided by a show of hands, . . . 7o>ooo Unanimous, 43,000 Adopted at public meeting, .... 50,000 Only three against. Adopted at public meeting, Only 6 against. Unanimous, .... 68,000 45,000 70,000 40,000 The foregoing fairly indicates the tide of popular feeling wherever it has been tested in England and Scotland. Free libraries are certaintly not so numerous in Great Britain as in the United States. Class distinction is much more clearly marked in the Old World than on this side the Atlantic, and that same wave of democracy that has done so much to merge classes and creeds among our neighbours will no doubt in time reach the Dominion without necessarily weak- ening the loyalty of the people. What possible arguments against the establishment of A FREE LIBRARY IN TORONTO there may be I cannot say. No Canadian who has been beyond the limits of his own country can oppose it without insult to his own intelligence. Every year hundreds of youths graduate at the Public Schools and go out upon the world, drifting about like a rudderless ship upon a treacherous sea — without any link between giddy youth and sober manhood. That missing link is the public library. It is the Caliban of the nineteenth century, and the only practical adult school with which the State can supply us. In this respect FRANCE IS A SHINING EXAMPI E. Her Provincial libraries have been her salvation, and the wonderful progress made by the lower classes in the Third Republic can be ascribed to no other cause. A free library in every town, with sub-depositiories at convenient inter- vals, would elevate the standard of popular education more rapidly and surely than any other method. It would be for the interests of the State if, as in France, inducements should be offered for the formation, growth and maintenance of public libraries. So much for their advantages. Now as to THE EXPENSE OF THIS EDUCATOR. Last year the sum of ;^i65,ooo was voted for a new library building in Sydney, New South Wales, and ;^6,40o for maintenance for the year. The income of the Boston establishment for 1878 was $124,200, of which $14,400 was spent in books. Our country is too young, and the struggle for bread and butter too general, for the princely bequests that grace the records of other lands. To estab- lish free libraries in Haltimore, (Jcorgc I'ealioiiy donated ^1,400,000: the Astors gave $700,000 for New York, and Walter N. Newiierry left ^2,000,000 for a similar pnrposein Chicago. I'hiladclpiiia received from Dr. James Kiisli '&i,ooo,- 000 to maintain a library, and Asa I'acker left, by will, ^500,000 to the library of Lehigh University. These are large sums from large-hearted and long-pursed men. Let our men of means