LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Gl FT OF 
 
 Class 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 1.C 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CARNEOIE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 BELOIT COLLEGE 
 
 VOL. 111. NO 2 
 
 *Beloit College ^Bulletin 
 
 December 16th, 1902, at the Pottofllce in 
 Wisconsin, as Second Class Matter, 
 Act of Congress of July 16, 1894. 
 
OF - 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
ORDER OF EXERCISES 
 
 AND 
 
 ADDRESSES 
 
 AT THE 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CARNEGIE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 BELO1T COLLEGE 
 
 BKLOIT. WISCONSIN 
 
 JANUARY 5, 19O5 
 

.T>ee.o-iD n_<DOQ PLAN 
 
 _oiT OOULCGC LIDRAQ-" 
 
OF 
 
 UN/VEP 
 
 
REPORT OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE 
 
 BY E. B. KILBOURN. 
 
 The report of the Library Construction Committee can 
 be made very brief as several causes have conspired to 
 lighten the task usually falling to such a Committee. 
 
 First and greatest of these, no long and depressing 
 solicitation of funds. The generous and ample gift of the 
 donor lifted that portion of the burden before its weight 
 could be felt. 
 
 Again, the fact that this library, being the sixtieth libra- 
 ry building planned by your architects, Messrs. Patton & 
 Miller of Chicago, and representing in its completeness of 
 detail and equipment the accumulated experience of the 
 fifty-nine other libraries which have preceded it in their 
 brains, has demanded on our part but little of suggestion 
 and labor since construction began. Previously, however, 
 in evolving the plans for a building adapted to our particu- 
 lar use, I think the architects will give a large measure of 
 credit to President Eaton and Professor Blaisdell who 
 assisted them by suggestions gained from their experience 
 in our library work at home, and by travel far and near, 
 inspecting other library buildings and noting their points 
 of excellence and defects. 
 
 Another factor in lightening our task was that the work 
 of construction fell to our old and tried contractors, Messrs. 
 Schneiberg Bros. & Stevens, whose numerous lesser achieve- 
 ments have for the decade past adorned our campus. 
 Known and trusted as they are, we have had small occasion 
 to expend time and energy in superintendeng the con- 
 
6 
 
 struction. The beauty of the completed building speaks 
 their praise. It is their monument as well as ours. 
 
 One difficult problem, however, has presented itself; 
 the desire and attempt to build a $75,000 building with 
 $50,000, combining beauty, dignity and utility so that 
 neither one should suffer. How well we have succeeded, 
 you must judge. The Committee feel that a measure of 
 success has crowned their effort and trust that the student 
 body will find it complete and commodious as their succeed- 
 ing generations come and go, enjoying its usefulness and 
 beauty. 
 
 A word as to the figures involved may interest. In round 
 figures the cost has been as follows : 
 
 General Construction, including Architects' Fees, Ma- 
 sonry and Carpentry, Tile Roof, Plumbing, Electric 
 wiring and fixtures, Ornamental glass and decoration. .$43,253 
 
 Heating, both radiation in the building and its connection 
 
 with the Central Heating Plant by which it is heated.. 2,783 
 
 Building complete with heat and light $46,036 
 
 Equipment, including book stacks, delivery counter, 
 tables, chairs, and shades, all complete for immediate 
 use 3,961 
 
 Grand Total $49,987 
 
 Ground was broken in December, 1903, and the excava- 
 tion largely done during that month, but the extremely 
 severe and long winter precluded further operations until 
 about the first of April, 1904. Since that time work has 
 been carried steadily forward and today we rejoice to 
 turn over to the coming student generations so beautiful 
 a companion to the New Gymnasium, our New Carnegie 
 Library, the gem of the campus. 
 
OF THE 
 
 ( UNIVERSITY ) 
 
 OF 
 
 i4L'FORN\A 
 
 ADDRESS OF THE LIBRARIAN, 
 
 BY PROFESSOR BLAISDELL. 
 
 Friends and Fellow-students: Mr. Kilbourn has stated 
 to you certain facts. Those who come after me will doubt- 
 less lead us to think of the deeper interpretation of those 
 facts. It is mine merely to speak the word of transition 
 which paves the way from the fact to the interpretation. 
 For this hour of our rejoicing I have therefore only one 
 message, a message which I am sure has already been in 
 your hearts and on your lips. Let me say over to you again 
 one thing that every great building gets its real meaning 
 and importance from the fact that it is an expression of 
 the human soul. 
 
 It is true I suppose that no form of architecture has 
 ever come by chance. Behind every uplifted Gothic arch 
 or stately Roman column there has been some race seeking 
 in them to tell its deepest experiences. Out of the wars 
 of the soul have been fashioned all the forms of dwelling- 
 house, forum and cathedral. And yet of none of these 
 structures is this great fact so true as it is of such a build- 
 ing as this which we dedicate today. For libraries are 
 pre-eminently Humanity's historians. What befalls them 
 befalls them because it has first befallen the race. In the 
 world's great libraries, Nineveh, Alexandria, the Vatican, 
 and the libraries of modern times, is recorded the growing 
 horizon and citizenship of man's intellect and consciousness. 
 
 And this has been the deeper fact behind the steady evo- 
 lution of the library of Beloit College. What was the real 
 meaning of that first accumulation of a thousand books in 
 
8 
 
 the earliest library quarters in Middle College, the room 
 which was subsequently divided into the two now occupied 
 by Professor Calland and Richardson? Was it not that 
 the souls of men had been pondering over the meaning of 
 the universe and had written their answers in books? 
 Was it not also that there had been great experience passing 
 in the soul of a young graduate of Yale College? The 
 soul of the new West was waking with its questions and 
 within this young man arose the command to gather the 
 literature which would supply the answer. 
 
 This was the genesis of Beloit's first library and that 
 library was worthy of its birth. One who knew this li- 
 brary well and who still abides with us (May God spare 
 him long to us, ) has spoken to me of the rotundity of that 
 first collection of books. Within it was a soul of wide com- 
 pass, of broad sympathies and of generous outlook. 
 
 But the time came when the library burst its limitations 
 of space and must have an ampler abiding-place. And 
 again this expansion was possible because there had been 
 a great soul-experience in the race. The nation itself had 
 been divided and men had laid their lives on the altar of 
 Liberty. There were broken homes and bruised affections. 
 The College and City had each given of its dearest ; and it 
 was out of these experiences that Memorial Hall was 
 built. This touch of sacredness has sanctified this building 
 to us through all the years and especially to those who 
 had shared in the struggle which lay behind it. It became 
 a shrine because upon it was the touch of an experience. I 
 remember how dear the building was to President Chap in 
 to whom with special clearness it expressed this meaning. 
 On one occasion when he was referring to some injury done 
 it his voice failed him and he could not command himself. 
 Inwrought with the stones and tiles of Memorial Hall 
 were such associations and affections. 
 
 Thus the library grew. Gifts came from many sources. 
 One of the most generous and constant friends is with us 
 
today to share our gladness. At length there came the 
 time when Professor Emerson transferred his trust to 
 another. In what travail of soul this new ministry was 
 formed. To many of us some of the most sacred experiences 
 of college days gather about a wheel chair in which 
 was a racked body. If ever a "Suffering Servant" was 
 given to a college that gift was made to us. And how 
 much was accomplished. In a new sense the library was 
 brought into the actual service of the College. Yet all 
 enlarged capacity and increased usefulness was wrought 
 out by a wrestling soul. 
 
 And now again the soul has grown. It has again burst 
 its limitations and this new and still more splendid body 
 is the result. Let us be worthy of it. Accepting the riches 
 which it brings to us from bygone days let us be loyal also 
 to its command for spiritual increase. Let me call you 
 to witness that this new building is in its very form a sum- 
 mons to the future. All its volumes, its records of former 
 thinking, its expression of the man who has been, are 
 gathered at the rear. But above and in front of these the 
 dome rises ample and high. It transcends the stack-room 
 as the soul of the future shall be greater than the soul 
 of the past. Let it always be for us who shall love it that 
 this temple shall stand with its great past behind it but with 
 its portal forever insistently toward the dawn. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 BY HORACE WHITE, LL. D. 
 
 When President Eaton invited me to take part in the 
 dedication of our new library building, he suggested that 
 I should give some account of the library work of Andrew 
 Carnegie, to whom we are indebted for this important 
 addition to our educational resources. As no complete 
 statistics of that work had ever been published, my journal- 
 istic instinct told me that this was a promising lead, and 
 I replied that I would try to do so. Accordingly I called 
 on Mr. Carnegie and asked him if he would allow me to 
 have access to the list of free libraries which he had started 
 in the English-speaking world. He replied in the affirma- 
 tive and referred me to his private secretary, Mr. Bertram, 
 for particulars. 
 
 When I applied to Mr. Bertram that gentleman told me 
 I was asking for something he did not possess, since his 
 books of account had not yet been posted, and that it would 
 take a month to put them in proper order. He was too 
 busy with the new libraries going out to take account of 
 the old ones already gone. I said that I would not en- 
 croach upon his time that was so usefully employed, but 
 would compile my statistics from his rough notes. He 
 pulled out a drawer from which he took sundry books and 
 papers and after a cursory and rather rueful examination 
 of them said that nobody but himself could put them in 
 intelligible form; but he went on to say that since it was 
 a necessary part of his own work, and a task that must be 
 done some time, he might as well do it now. He would 
 
11 
 
 therefore undertake to furnish me, at the end of thirty 
 days, the statistics I wanted. He has kept his promise and 
 I am now able to present Mr. Carnegie's library work to 
 you in detail. Mr. Bertram said that this information had 
 been often asked for but had never been given out before. 
 
 In the fall of 1891,Cornell University dedicated her 
 library building, which still holds high rank among similar 
 structures in this country. The principal address on the 
 occasion was delivered by President Oilman of Johns Hop- 
 kins University. The speaker made some opening remarks 
 on the general growth and progress of public libraries. 
 "Witness," he said, "the noble gifts of the Astors, of 
 Bates, Peabody, Rush, Lenox, Tilden, Newberry, Crerar, 
 Chittenden and many more." It was a well-deserved trib- 
 ute that he paid to the memory of these benefactors of their 
 kind. All of the gifts to which Dr. Gilman referred were 
 made in the latter half, and most of them in the last quar- 
 ter, of the nineteenth century. Yet more work has been 
 done in this country for free libraries since the date of 
 Dr. Oilman's address thirteen years ago than had been 
 done in our whole previous history, and one man has done 
 more of it than all others put together. 
 
 Mr. Carnegie has, up to the present time, given or 
 pledged himself to give, 1,290 library buildings to the 
 English-speaking people. Of these, 779 are in the United 
 States. The aggregate cost of these buildings is $39,325,- 
 240, of which $29,094,080, or practically three-fourths of 
 the whole, has been expended in this country, about $6,000,- 
 000 in England, about $2,000,000 in Scotland and $1,475,- 
 500 in Canada. The proportion of the total population 
 which Mr. Carnegie has supplied with library facilities is, 
 for the aggregate of the English speaking race, a little more 
 than 18 per cent. ; and that is the per centage for the Unit- 
 ed States, for England and for Canada taken separately. 
 This means that eighteen in each one hundred persons, in 
 all and in each of these countries, have free and convenient 
 
12 
 
 access to books by reason of Mr. Carnegie's beneficence. 
 These are mostly dwellers in towns and cities. 
 
 It is a condition of library activity and usefulness that 
 there shall be some density of population at the nucleus, 
 and it is a condition of Mr. Carnegie's gifts also that the 
 communities supplied shall expend annually a sum equal 
 to ten per cent, of the cost of the building, for the main- 
 tenance and upkeep of the libraries; that is, for books, li- 
 brary service and repairs. In other words, a town accept- 
 ing a $50,000 building must pledge itself to expend $5,000 
 per year to keep the library going. As this money has to 
 be raised by taxation, it becomes a common interest. Ev- 
 erybody has a share in it, everybody feels at liberty to 
 use the library, and everybody is interested in its good 
 administration. 
 
 The statistics which I shall append to this discourse show 
 the distribution of the Carnegie libraries by states. Some 
 discrepancies will be noticed. Thus, in New York 55 per 
 cent, of the population is so supplied, while the proportion 
 in Minnesota is less than 10 per cent. The difference is to 
 be accounted for, doubtless, by the great density of popula- 
 tion in New York City where 80 Carnegie libraries, which 
 are branches of the New York Public library and under its 
 administration, have been or are to be supplied. I attended 
 the formal opening of one of these branch libraries a 
 few days ago. It was in the East side of the city in the 
 midst of a working population. The day was cold and snow 
 was falling, but the new library was surrounded by a 
 large group of children and youths of both sexes eager to 
 get a glimpse of the interior of this commodious and well 
 provided structure, which was to be thrown open to them 
 on the following day. The architecture was plain bit, 
 massive. The books were on the shelves and all the ap- 
 pliances which library science has evolved for book hand- 
 ling, and for the convenience of the attendants and visitors, 
 were there. The facilities for lighting and heating, for 
 
13 
 
 seating and writing, were as complete as in the building 
 which we now dedicate. I called Dr. Billings' attention 
 to the throng outside. "Yes," said he, "and if you come 
 tomorrow you will see them inside here, all holding out 
 their hands for books." It was an inspiring sight and I 
 could not help contrasting it with the scarcity of books in 
 my own boyhood days. The poorest family in New York 
 or in Beloit has greater wealth of books at its command 
 than the richest family in either place had fifty years ago. 
 No fact marking the progress of the world has more sig- 
 nificance than this. 
 
 There are no Carnegie libraries in the State of Mississip- 
 pi, while in California, which has about the same number 
 of people, there are 35. As Mr. Carnegie does not discrimi- 
 nate between states or sections, the discrepancy here noted 
 must be due to the indifference of the Mississippians them- 
 selves to libraries, or (which means the same thing) their 
 unwillingness to be taxed for the support of them. Ala- 
 bama has shared Mr. Carnegie J s bounty to the extent of 
 five libraries, but Arkansas has none. Two of the small 
 states of the Union, Rhode Island and Delaware, have no 
 Carnegie libraries, whereas Idaho, which is still smaller in 
 population, has three; Nevada, the smallest of all, has 
 one, and the District of Columbia seven. As regards Rhode 
 Island, I suppose the explanation is that she had a full 
 supply of free libraries before Mr. Carnegie took up the 
 work. Most of the New England states were early in the 
 field with free library laws, and they had also an unusual 
 proportion of wealthy and public spirited citizens. Thus 
 Connecticut, although one of the foremost states in the 
 Union in the way of public libraries, has only one from Mr. 
 Carnegie. 
 
 The progress of mankind in the arts of civilized life 
 during our day and generation makes a tale of wonder, and 
 no part of it is more astonishing than the production of 
 books. The outpour of the publishing house is appalling 
 
14 
 
 to anybody who aims to keep himself informed of current 
 literature, science and art. In fact nobody can keep peace 
 with the rushing tide. The utmost he can do is to keep in 
 touch with one or two branches of knowledge, and to sample 
 the rest by glancing at the reviews in magazines and news- 
 papers, which are often very misleading guides. As the 
 output of the press multiplies, it separates into depart- 
 ments. For example, during the past dozen years, a vast 
 literature of electricity has accumulated on book shelves. 
 I confess that I do not understand the subject. I do not 
 know the difference between volts, amperes, ohms, and 
 watts. So this great increment in the world of books tells 
 me nothing except the effects produced by electricity. I 
 used to think that I understood chemistry pretty well and 
 I have sought to follow the advanced steps of chemical 
 knowledge, but it has moved so rapidly in recent years 
 that it has got far beyond my depth. Spectrum analysis, 
 biology, psychology, meteorology and many other ologies, 
 which did not exist in my college days, have multiplied on 
 the intellectual horizon to such an extent that I am 
 ashamed in contemplating my own ignorance. I console 
 myself, however, with the thought that the masters of these 
 ologies are perhaps as prone to stumble when outside of 
 their particular pathways as I am when out of mine. 
 
 Although the output of the publishing houses is beyond 
 the effective reach and grasp of any individual, we must all 
 rejoice that the volume of it is great and increasing. Doubt- 
 less much of it is worthless and some of it pernicious, but 
 the winnowing mill of time is working on the heap from 
 day to day, separating the wheat from the chaff. The 
 literature that belongs to the ages, whether of past or 
 present production, will not be buried out of sight by the 
 rubbish of our time, or of any time. Some of the most 
 popular authors of my college days are not known even by 
 name to the undergraduates of the present day. Fifty 
 years ago Captain Marryatt and Harrison Ainsworth were 
 
15 
 
 in sharp competition with Dickens and Thackery; the po- 
 ems of Mrs. Hemans and of Martin Farquhar Tupper were 
 on more center tables than those of Shelley and Keats ; and 
 Willis was accounted the superior of Poe. 
 
 How idle, then, how wide of the mark it is to say, as 
 some persons do, that the indiscriminate giving of money 
 for free libraries is enfeebling the minds of the people by 
 putting in their hands the abounding trash of the day. 
 How are we to know what is trash and what is not ? Dante 
 did not become famous till some centuries after his death. 
 John Bunyan was derided by all the critics of his own 
 period, and the poet Cowper, who flourished nearly a 
 century later, said that in polite society the "Pilgrim's 
 Progress" was mentioned only with a sneer. No committee 
 of experts or censors can infallibly distinguish between the 
 diamonds and the paste of literature. Only the sifting 
 of the ages can do this. Therefore, I say that any books 
 which are not obviously immoral may be safely placed 
 within reach of the multitude and that the intelligence 
 of the communities which support public libraries by 
 self imposed taxation may be trusted with the selection of 
 the books to be placed on their shelves. 
 
 This is only negative testimony to the importance of Mr. 
 Carnegie's work. What shall be said on the positive side? 
 What may not be said of the present and future blessings 
 to the English-speaking world from collections of books 
 placed within the easy reach of nearly 20 per cent, of the 
 population thereof, who had no such resources before? In 
 providing these libraries, the donor 's purposes were to offer 
 enlightenment and to stimulate thought, especially among 
 the young ; to make them better men and women, and more 
 efficient workers; to afford to people of all ages and con- 
 ditions the solace of intellectual enjoyment, the means of 
 employing their leisure time agreeably, drawing them away 
 from liquor saloons, base amusements and depraving habits, 
 by offering a superior attraction; and generally to lift 
 
16 
 
 society to a higher mental and moral plane. "The most 
 potent and economical influence," says Mr. Melvil Dewey, 
 "to be exerted for good, on young and old, is through 
 reading. It is the longest lever with which human hands 
 have ever pried. Educational experts say that the chief 
 influence on the child is not the father, mother, teacher, 
 or school, but what he reads. The vast per centage of 
 children are able to secure only the barest elements of 
 education before becoming bread winners. During life the 
 rest is gained, whether of information or inspiration, from 
 what they read. ' ' 
 
 Surely it is unnecessary to enlarge on the beneficence 
 of free libraries. All that can be said of the advantages 
 of civilization over savagery, and of knowledge over ignor- 
 ance, can be said in favor of them. But it is urged by 
 some and I have often heard it said, that Mr. Carnegie 
 might make better use of his money by building hospitals, 
 infirmaries, orphan asylums, homes for the aged poor and 
 similar institutions. I am not in Mr. Carnegie 's confidence. 
 I have never exchanged a word with him on this subject, 
 but my idea is this. It is the recognized duty of civilized 
 countries to provide hospitals for the sick and poor and to 
 care for neglected children and the aged and infirm, and to 
 support them by public funds. Many communities fall 
 short of their duty in this particular and it is an open ques- 
 tion whether private individuals can do most good by sup- 
 plying the shortage out of their own pockets or by spurring 
 the public authorities to a more liberal expenditure, calling 
 for a heavier rate of taxation. There is something to be 
 said on both sides, but all that needs to be said here is 
 that a man who has given forty million dollars for public 
 libraries, and as much more for the increase and diffusion 
 of knowledge in other ways, may claim the right to judge the 
 himself how he can be most useful to mankind. Very likely 
 he thinks, too, that the increase of knowledge in the world 
 leads to the increase and better administration of charity, 
 
* UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
17 
 
 both public and private. Such, in fact, is the teaching 
 of history. 
 
 Another criticism has been advanced by persons who are 
 inclined to look the gift horse in the mouth. They say that 
 Mr. Carnegie gives only bricks and mortar, he does not sup- 
 ply books or running expenses. It is true that he seeks to 
 co-operate with the people in spreading light, not to sup- 
 plant them in that endeavor. The person who awakens 
 dormant minds, who excites public spirit and nurtures the 
 self respect of the community, does far more than one 
 who merely gives cash. As regards bricks - and mortar, 
 surely the first step toward a public library is to provide 
 house room for books and book-seekers. This is the starting 
 point and sine qua non of the whole business. Very few 
 of these 1,290 libraries would have been in existence, or un- 
 der way, if the indispensable first cost, the library plant, 
 had not been offered by Mr. Carnegie. After the plant is 
 supplied everything else grows out of the soil, and the 
 library becomes an ever living tree, whose golden fruits are 
 for all generations. Men may come and men may go, gov- 
 ernments may rise and fall, but unless the human intellect 
 is blotted out the free library once started will go on 
 forever. 
 
 The germinating idea of libraries for all, to be support- 
 ed by public taxation, is not new. It is found in the legis- 
 lation of New York as far back as 1835, when it was made 
 an adjunct of the public school system. It did not gain 
 much headway, however, until the year 1876, when it had 
 a new birth in the United States and took a fresh start. 
 It made notable progress until 1891, as Dr. Oilman told 
 us in his Cornell address ; but the colossal growth and im- 
 petus which we behold today is for the most part due to 
 Mr. Carnegie. If I had done this work I should be prouder 
 that I kindled the sacred fire in 1048 cities and towns 
 containing 24,000.000 of people, than to have my name 
 carved on 1,290 library buildings. The buildings will go 
 
18 
 
 to decay but the animating spirit which resides in good 
 books cannot die. The bricks and mortar may crumble, 
 but Mr. Carnegie may feel the assured confidence of the 
 latin poet who wrote : 
 
 "Exegi monumentum aere perennius." 
 His beneficent work is still going on. 
 
 COMPLETE LIST OF CARNEGIE LIBRARIES. 
 
 
 
 
 S^o 
 
 s.s 
 
 
 
 Oi^ 
 
 Name of State 
 or Country. 
 
 Total 
 Population. 
 
 Aggregate of 
 Population 
 Served with 
 Carnegie Li- 
 braries. 
 
 Amount Giv 
 or Promise 
 for Erection 
 Buildings. 
 
 Number Tow 
 with Tarnei 
 Libraries. 
 
 umber (Jarne 
 Libraries 
 
 ill 
 
 5-- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 jr, 
 
 
 Alaska 63,592 
 
 Alabama 1,828,697 50,987 $ 90,000 5 5 2.8 
 
 Arizona 122,931 16,834 64,000 3 313.3 
 
 Arkansas 1,311,564 
 
 California 1,485,053 584,451 1,317,500 30 35 39.7 
 
 Colorado 539,700 222,798 433,500 11 11 41.3 
 
 Connecticut 908,420 6,125 20,000 1 1 .6 
 
 Delaware 184,735 
 
 Dist. of Col 278,718 218,196 700,000 1 778.4 
 
 Florida 523,542 62,015 90,000 3 3 11.9 
 
 Georgia 2,216,331 182,343 267,500 8 9 8.2 
 
 Idaho 161,770 10,866 40,000 3 3 6.6 
 
 Illinois 4,821,550 419,060 1,038,250 53 53 8.7 
 
 Indiana 2,516,462 382,685 963,000 45 4515.2 
 
 Indian Territory ..392,060 8,890 25,000 2 2 2.3 
 
 Iowa 2,231,853 350,340 938,500 51 52 16.1 
 
 Kansas 1,470,495 141,412 265,000 12 12 9.4 
 
 Kentucky 2,147,174 354,747 533,500 10 10 16.5 
 
 Louisiana 1,381,625 293,784 260,000 2 5 21.3 
 
 Maine 694,466 77,965 176,000 11 11 11.2 
 
 Maryland 1,188,044 32,798 55,000 3 3 2.9 
 
 Massachusetts ...2,805,346 147,607 361,000 21 21 5.2 
 
 Michigan 2,420,982 522,781 1,301,200 29 34 21.6 
 
 Minnesota 1,751,394 170,614 409,000 28 28 9.7 
 
 Mississippi 1,551,270 695,863 1,327,500 15 25 22.4 
 
 Missouri 3,106,665 
 
 Montana 243,329 31,487 95,000 7 7 9.5 
 
 Nebraska 1,066,300 101,662 210,000 7 7 9.5 
 
19 
 
 Name of State 
 or Country. 
 
 Total 
 Population. 
 
 Aggregate of 
 Population 
 Served with 
 Carnegie Li- 
 braries. 
 
 Amount Givm 
 or Promised 
 for Erection of 
 Buildings. 
 
 Number Towns 
 with Carnegie 
 Libraries. 
 
 (Number Carnegie 1 
 Libraries. 
 
 Per centage of 
 whole Popula- 
 tion Served. 
 
 Nevada 42,335 
 
 New Hampshire.. 411,588 
 
 New Jersey 1,883,669 
 
 New Mexico 195,310 
 
 New York 7,268,894 
 
 North Carolina ..1,893,810 
 
 North Dakota 319,146 
 
 Ohio 4,157,545 
 
 Oklahoma 398,331 
 
 Oregon 413,539 
 
 Pennsylvania 6,302,115 
 
 Rhode Island 428,556 
 
 South Carolina ..1,340,316 
 
 South Dakota 401,570 
 
 Texas 3,048,710 
 
 Tennessee 2,020,616 
 
 Utah 276,749 
 
 Vermont 343,641 
 
 Virginia 1,854,184 
 
 Washington 518,103 
 
 West Virginia .. ..958,800 
 
 Wisconsin 2,069,042 
 
 Wyoming 92,531 
 
 United States ..76,058,167 
 
 Porto Rico 955,243 
 
 Canada 5,579,666 
 
 Scotland 4,472,000 
 
 England 32,527,843 
 
 Ireland 4,458,775 
 
 Australia 3,598,284 
 
 New Zealand 874,267 
 
 Tasmania 177,072 
 
 West Indies 1,350,000 
 
 4,500 
 
 58,000 
 
 266,731 
 
 5,601 
 
 4,050,112 
 
 59,110 
 
 73,723 
 
 1,256,980 
 
 30,332 
 
 92,716 
 
 2,103,931 
 
 16,795 
 
 34,887 
 
 285,297 
 
 135,440 
 
 16,313 
 
 24,449 
 
 138,123 
 
 188,933 
 
 23,626 
 
 296,960 
 
 25,963 
 
 15,000 
 
 137,000 
 
 512,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 6,360,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 77,700 
 
 1,713,500 
 
 88,500 
 
 110,000 
 
 6,612,930 
 
 25,000 
 126,500 
 483,500 
 195,000 
 
 25,000 
 
 65,000 
 180,000 
 432,500 
 
 60,000 
 692,000 
 
 92,500 
 
 14,274,832 $29,094,080 
 
 32,048 
 
 1,051,213 
 
 1,934,504 
 
 6,243,809 
 
 746,587 
 
 71,390 
 34,809 
 25,500 
 
 100,000 
 1,475,500 
 1,970,550 
 5,938,610 
 
 598,000 
 
 91,250 
 35,250 
 22,000 
 
 1 1 10.6 
 9 9 14.1 
 
 16 18 18.0 
 
 2 2 2.9 
 39 119 55.7 
 
 4 4 3.1 
 5 7.4 
 
 63 30.2 
 5 7.6 
 2 22.4 
 
 70 33.4 
 
 2 
 9 
 
 19 
 5 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 9 
 2 
 
 33 
 4 
 
 619 
 1 
 
 45 
 71 
 
 275 
 30 
 
 5 
 1 
 1 
 
 2 1.2 
 
 9 8.7 
 
 19 9.3 
 
 5 6.7 
 
 1 5.9 
 
 2 7.1 
 
 3 7.4 
 9 36.5 
 2 2.5 
 
 33 14.3 
 
 4 28.0 
 
 779 18.7 
 1 3.4 
 
 48 1.88 
 102 43.3 
 317 18.2 
 
 86 16.8 
 
 5 8.2 
 1 19.8 
 1 2.0 
 
 Total 130,049,317 24,414,692 $39,325,240 1,048 1,290 18.7 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 BY REV. WILLIAM E. BARTON, D. D. 
 
 The most wonderful fact in human life, save its sense of 
 ethical responsibility and its appreciation of spiritual re- 
 lationships, is its power of thought. The most wonderful 
 fact in intellectual activity is the power of communica- 
 tion of thought. The most marvelous of all human in- 
 ventions are those which provide for the projection of 
 thought. The greatest and most useful of the arts is that 
 which at once disseminates and preserves thought. It 
 is an event of importance to a community when a school 
 is erected in which men are taught to think, or a church 
 is instituted in which their thoughts are guided toward 
 things that are highest and best. It is hardly less significant 
 when a printing press is set up for the dissemination of 
 thought. When a community already supplied with school 
 and church and printed books, aye more, with art gallery 
 and gymnasium, for the development of the physical and 
 the aesthetic elements in life, with laboratories for the de- 
 termination of the qualities of matter, and observatory 
 for the survey of the stellar spaces, still feels a lack, and 
 seeks to supply it in the erection of a building, there 
 would seem to be little doubt what kind of structure would 
 then minister most to the needs of the people. Beloit has 
 been endeavoring to co-ordinate and supplement the work 
 of its existing institutions and provide for the intellectual 
 needs of the community, and of the college which, in this 
 particular community, is so conspicuous and important a 
 component part. 
 
21 
 
 Today's celebration crowns the success of that endeavor. 
 Friends from many and distant places congratulate Beloit 
 today, the community and the college, on the dedication of 
 this new library. 
 
 It is significant that this library is the gift of a man 
 of wealth who is here repeating his benefaction to many 
 communities throughout our land. It is a most significant 
 fact in its relation to the temper of our generation that 
 many men are not content to keep and spend upon them- 
 selves or waste in harmful luxury the wealth which is the 
 product, not of their own genius alone, but of the marvel- 
 lous productivity of our country. Too long has the accumu- 
 lation of wealth held to the essential theory of the gentle- 
 manly brigands of a few centuries ago, 
 
 "That he shall get who has the power, 
 And he shall keep who can." 
 
 We are growing into a better consciousness of the moral 
 obligations which accompany the delegation of great power. 
 It is an important discovery, made by an increasing num- 
 ber of rich men, that their wealth is not solely theirs, that 
 it is due, not wholly to their own sagacity and industry; 
 that in the unequal social conditions in which the world- 
 has been slowly moving out of savagery, we have not yet 
 arrived at the time in which wealth distributes itself with 
 absolute righteousness among the various interests which 
 combine for its production; that thus far the battle has 
 been to the strong and the race to the swift more than 
 has been meet; and that the man who has accumulated 
 wealth has acquired with it immense obligations to his 
 fellowmen. Rich men are discovering these simple truths. 
 And so we have an increasing number of them, and none 
 too many, going about like roaring lions, seeking what they 
 may endow. May their number increase, and that also of 
 the tribe of Orpheus, who can charm these lions into smiling 
 benevolence. 
 
 In the important achievement of converting capitalists 
 
22 
 
 into altruists, no class of men deserve so much of praise 
 as college presidents. I am disposed to think that the 
 Christian college is justified if only as a means to this im- 
 portant end. How else shall rich men declare just divi- 
 dends on the vast sums which they hold in trust, save by 
 liberal philanthropies? What shall prevent their piling 
 their money in useless heaps of metal, or wearing their 
 thumbs and conscience to a callus in cutting coupons which 
 they cannot spend? 
 
 I have seen a letter from Mr. Carnegie to Dr. D. K. 
 Pearsons, saying that Mr. Carnegie felt much indebted to 
 our friend of the Christian college for teaching him the 
 wise use of money. Dr. Pearsons taught Mr. Carnegie, and 
 Beloit College taught Dr. Pearsons. Worthily now does Mr. 
 Carnegie complete the circle, and bind it with this building. 
 Considering the great good Beloit has done these two 
 philanthropists, well may the college stand today in mod- 
 est pride, and say, "Gentlemen, you are welcome." 
 
 The time has not yet been seen on earth in which there 
 was not something to be said on both sides of the question. 
 Is the world getting better? That question is still de- 
 batable. The world is getting better and it is getting 
 worse in spots. There are rising tides of righteousness and 
 mighty undertows of sin. There are forces of sin, organ- 
 ized, boastful, defiant, with large vested interests, breath- 
 ings of threatenings and slaughter . There are hosts of the 
 Lord, alert, eager, intrepid, marching under a banner which 
 has gone forward for nineteen hundred years. We can- 
 not answer the question whether the world is growing bet- 
 ter or worse by noting where this flag waves or that shot 
 falls. It is necessary to survey the whole line, and to dis- 
 cover the spirit of the entire campaign. If we look for evi- 
 dence of the growing goodness of the world, we shall find 
 it not alone in isolated incidents of the long, hard battle, 
 but in the general advancement of long battle lines. 
 
 These are among the facts with which the thoughtful man 
 must reckon : 
 
23 
 
 The focus of scientific research upon the eradication of 
 preventable disaster. 
 
 The growing conviction of governments that it is a 
 part of their legitimate business to provide for the protec- 
 tion of the poor against extortion, and against the perils 
 of improper housing and sanitation, as truly as it is to 
 protect the government itself from aggression or insur- 
 rection. 
 
 The increasing dissatisfaction of benevolent societies with 
 the mere temporary attention to the ills attending poverty ; 
 and the determination to eliminate poverty of the de- 
 basing sort, by abolishing the conditions which produce it. 
 
 The conviction that penal institutions are somehow to 
 be made laboratories for the construction of manhood, out 
 of material however refractory. 
 
 The growth of arbitration between nations, and the hope 
 of universal peace on earth. 
 
 The determination of the Church of Christ to make the 
 principles of Jesus the moral constitution of the world; 
 though now having for the first time in history measured 
 the world and taken stock of the difficulties to be en- 
 countered in this vast enterprise. 
 
 And to these and similar evidences of the progress of 
 the world in righteousness, we cannot fail to add the un- 
 precedented feeling of moral responsibility on the part of 
 men of wealth. 
 
 I congratulate these men of wealth who have discovered 
 useful and permanent investments such as this library. 
 There is no safer investment other than investments in 
 churches. Happy is the rich man who discovers how to 
 plant a block of stock so securely and so profitably as this. 
 It is not exactly an impertinence to thank him: it is more 
 fitting that he be congratulated. When a man gives wisely, 
 thoughtfully, and with such a promise of continued use- 
 fulness, it is more blessed to give than to receive. The 
 friends of Beloit and the admirers of the benevolence of 
 
24 
 
 Andrew Carnegie felicitate them both, the college and the 
 capitalist, on such a timely and sensible gift. 
 
 Every village needs a library, and every college must 
 have it. In the old days in New England while yet the 
 axe was ringing in the virgin forest, and the rifle crack 
 was heard in echo of the war-whoop, consecrated men 
 began founding colleges by the giving of their books to es- 
 tablish libraries. The library was even then, on the side 
 of material equipment, the germ and center of the col- 
 lege. But if libraries were important then, they are now 
 indispensible. An education is no longer the acquisition of 
 such facts as are bound between the covers of a dozen text- 
 books. It is the training of men in the use of the accumu- 
 lated resources of the centuries of thought and investiga- 
 tion; it is the development of the mind into controlling 
 relations with the thought of past ages and with the living 
 mind of the present. It is the mastery of that portion of 
 the forces of thought which is essential to the successful 
 accomplishment of a life work. 
 
 The founding of a library is, therefore, a fact of tre- 
 mendous significance in the life of a college. This library is 
 the fabled cave of Ali Baba: over yonder in the class- 
 room the professors are to teach their students the magic 
 "Open Sesame" and behold, the gems of poetry, the 
 treasure of wisdom, the pearls of philosophy, the sparkling 
 diamonds of epigram, the red rubies of romance, the sterl- 
 ing coinage of science, the pure gold of ethics and religion 
 all are theirs. 
 
 Mr. Patton, the architect of this fine building, tells me 
 that in recent library construction there has been steady 
 progress away from the old methods by which readers were 
 shut out from books, and had to deal with them through 
 the inadequate intercession of librarians and of catalogues. 
 The catalogues and the librarian are guides to the books, 
 not restrictions to limit free access to the books. I count 
 this a significant fact. There is earnest effort, and it is 
 
25 
 
 increasing, to shorten all distances between the seeker af- 
 ter truth, and the mine from which the truth is to be 
 digged. This library is a deep shaft sunk into the very 
 heart of a vast lode extending in every lateral direction 
 along the infinite radii of truth. Long may it stand 
 a monument to its donor, and an inspiration to others, a 
 deposit of knowledge, a blessing to the community, and 
 an adjunct to every department of the college. 
 
 The establishment of a public library is no assurance 
 of growth in righteousness on the part of every patron. I 
 know a sad mother who says, "My daughter was a virtuous 
 girl until she got to going with bad companions, and 
 drawing books from the public library." Do you wonder 
 at the combination ? It is not wholly unnatural. The girl 's 
 reading served only to take her into a world of the imagi- 
 nation remote from ethical responsibility, a world to which 
 she fled from duty rather than one in which she sought a 
 preparation for duty; and her reading served only to 
 minister to discontent and make easier her speedy undoing. 
 I am a firm believer in the truth that mere intellectual 
 training may become a dangerous thing apart from ethical 
 culture and the inculcation of righteousness. 
 
 There is one spot on earth where the kingdom of God 
 has almost come, and that largely through its public li- 
 brary of one or two volumes. I believe they had a prayer- 
 book; I am sure they had a Bible. When the one white 
 survivor of the lust and bloodshed which followed the mu- 
 tiny on H. M. S. Bounty began to realize his own sin and 
 his responsibility for the moral condition of his own and his 
 dead companions' half-breed children, then living on Pit- 
 cairn's Island, he found in a sailor's ship-chest a sufficient 
 literary equipment for intelligence, education, and virtue. 
 Perhaps you noticed not long ago the official report of the 
 British government of the present condition of that Island. 
 Beginning a hundred years ago with the awful double heri- 
 tage of sin, a heritage from heathen mothers and from God- 
 
26 
 
 less, mutinous murderers, diseased and drunken sailors, the 
 population of that island in four generations has outgrown 
 it all. There are no heathen there ; there is no lawlessness 
 there; there is no drunkenness, no use of tobacco, no medi- 
 cine, no sickness, no profanity, no Sabbath-breaking, but a 
 simple-hearted community dwelling in mutual kindness 
 and in the love of God. A very small public library pro- 
 duced this change. That Book, and the books which illus- 
 trate and apply its truths, the books which make character, 
 constitute the essentials of a good library. The rest is 
 of value in proportion as it furthers this end of establishing 
 character. Language, philosophy, science, all are good, in 
 proportion as they make manhood and womanhood. We 
 may speak with the tongues of the Greeks and Komans, aye 
 of men and of angels; we may study science till we can 
 remove mountains; we may know all mysteries and all 
 knowledge, but if we have not character, it is sounding 
 brass and a tinkling cymbal. 
 
 I have heard that when the Boston Athenaeum was erect- 
 ing its fine library building on Beacon street, the plans 
 were examined and approved by a series of committees, and 
 the contract was let and the work of construction well 
 along before discovery was made of an important oversight. 
 The walls were up and the roof was on, and it was noticed 
 that there was no provision for getting from the first to the 
 second story. Now, there are good things on the ground 
 floor of the Athenaeum; but the treasures of literature 
 and art are above. The same is a parable. This library 
 will be a blessing in proportion as it produces character; 
 and the supreme factor in the making of character is re- 
 ligion. May the stairway up to the best things be broad 
 and the ascent easy; for the fear of the Lord is the begin- 
 ning of wisdom. 
 
 Of the making of the many books there is no end. But 
 of dedication addresses an end must be. And this one 
 shall end with an expression of sincere good will to the col- 
 
27 
 
 lege from the church I serve, a church long and deeply in- 
 terested in this college, the church which gave Beloit its 
 honored president. Long may the college stand and pros- 
 per. Long may this library add to and strengthen the 
 work of the institution of whose equipment it is so im- 
 portant a part. May it serve the mind and the heart ; may 
 it promote research into many avenues of truth. May it 
 minister to culture of brain and life. May it quicken the 
 love of truth, and deepen all reverence for God and the 
 passion for duty. May thousands of students emerge from 
 its high portal wiser and better than when they entered. 
 And may it stand, a blessing to them and through them to 
 mankind, for many generations. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 BY PRESIDENT CHARLES R. VAN HISE. 
 
 Upon this auspicious occasion I bring to Beloit College 
 the greeting and good will of the University of Wisconsin. 
 The completion of a library building marks a new stage of 
 growth for Beloit. Of all the material equipment of a 
 college of liberal arts a library is the most essential. For 
 the humanities, which I hope may ever remain a chief line 
 of work in the college, books play the part of both library 
 and laboratory for the sciences and applied sciences. 
 
 With many I hold that for the graduate of the high 
 school or academy the next step in education should be 
 a course in a college of liberal arts. Broad studies in the 
 humanities and the pure sciences taken without reference 
 to ulterior usefulness, taken only for the purpose of gaining 
 a sympathetic appreciation of the many aspects of human- 
 ity, taken with the purpose of getting a deeper insight into 
 the universe in which we live, constitute the best course 
 which has been devised for the making of men. If this be 
 so the work which the college of liberal arts is doing is of 
 the utmost importance. But it should be recognized that 
 the aptitudes and tastes of many students are so strongly 
 directed toward technical or professional work that it is 
 almost impossible to induce them to pursue the general 
 course, which upon the average has been found to be the 
 most efficient. The "rod of the Roman schoolmaster" was 
 never able to force Darwin to get anything from Latin. 
 For many the rod of the mathematical teacher, however 
 rigidly wielded, can not accomplish much. Therefore, 
 
29 
 
 while I should not advocate the forcing of all through a 
 college before beginning technical or special studies, so far 
 as a youth can be brought to this work and taught to love it, 
 it is indeed well that he should first gain the broad and 
 general view of man and nature afforded by liberal studies. 
 And some of those who cannot at first be brought to such 
 work may later broaden their views as their horizons widen 
 and they see how partially educated is the man who is con- 
 tent with professional work alone. 
 
 In framing the college course, it should be remembered 
 that liberal teaching is not dependent upon the subject 
 alone, but also upon the spirit in which it is taught. Greek 
 may be taught so that it is as narrowly technical and 
 special as kinematics, and horticulture may be taught so 
 that it is as broadly educative as language. Liberal in- 
 struction depends more largely upon the teacher than upon 
 the subject. The college of liberal arts, as its name indi- 
 cates, stands for broad handling of all the subjects includ- 
 ed within its curriculum. In this college each subject 
 should be so handled as to show the relations of the theme 
 to the whole realm of human knov/ledge. While it is be- 
 lieved that more depends upon the teacher than upon the 
 subject, it is readily agreed that some subjects better adapt 
 themselves to liberal treatment than others and such natu- 
 rally constitute the major work of the college. 
 
 For many years Beloit has been known as a college of 
 high standards. As the standards have risen in the country 
 they have risen at Beloit. Beloit from the first has ad- 
 hered to the line of work she originally undertook. Un- 
 like many colleges she has not attempted to establish pro- 
 fessional schools and schools of applied science. By con- 
 centrating her funds along the one line of strictly collegiate 
 work she has succeeded in making that work strong. While 
 Beloit has remained a college she early saw that liberal 
 education was not to be confined to the old narrow curric- 
 ulum of philosophy, classics and mathematics. She gave 
 
30 
 
 modern languages a large place. She recognized the im- 
 portance of the third great group of the humanities, his- 
 tory, political economy, political science, and sociology. 
 She saw that pure science must have a place of equal rank 
 with the humanities in general education. Thus she fur- 
 nishes the opportunity for training both in the humanities 
 and in the sciences, and hence is able to produce liberally 
 educated men in the best sense of the word. 
 
 Often the man who knows a very limited field thinks 
 that field to constitute the essence of a liberal education and 
 that he who lacks such knowledge is not liberally educated. 
 The field may be science alone, language and literature 
 alone, or philosophy and mathematics. I do not hesitate 
 to say that one who knows only the humanities, that is, one 
 who confines his studies to man and who ignores all of the 
 remainder of the universe, is not liberally educated, nor 
 do I hesitate to say that one who knows only science, or some 
 part of it, and who ignores philosophy, language, literature, 
 and history, is not liberally educated. The liberally edu- 
 cated man should know enough of language to appreciate 
 the literature of more than one tongue; he should know 
 enough of history, political economy, and sociology, to 
 understand the governmental and social problems of the 
 race; he should know enough of science to appreciate the 
 marvelous order of nature ; he should know enough of phil- 
 osophy to be interested in the meaning of the universe and 
 the destiny of humanity. Any man who lacks altogether 
 one of these four elements has not an ideal liberal educa- 
 tion. He who has this broad foundation may wisely become 
 a specialist in some line of pure knowledge, or he may be- 
 come interested in the application of knowledge to the con- 
 crete problems of life such as are handled in the profession- 
 al schools and schools of applied science. 
 
 From what has gone before it is clear that a man is lib- 
 erally educated who has studied a broad range of sub- 
 jects in a liberal manner. The production of such men is 
 
31 
 
 the opportunity of the college. The new library building 
 here rounds out the material equipment of Beloit for this 
 work; hence it is that she is to be so profoundly congratu- 
 lated upon its completion. The University of Wisconsin 
 shares with her the joy of this occasion for it means that 
 the educational work of the state is to be better done. It 
 means that more liberally educated men are to be produced. 
 Beloit, the other colleges of the state, and the College of 
 Letters and Science of the University of Wisconsin, are 
 engaged in a common work. The amount of collegiate work 
 which in the years to come will be demanded by the youth 
 of the state will tax to the utmost the capacity of all its 
 educational institutions. That which increases the efficien- 
 cy of one is a source of joy to all. Again the University 
 of Wisconsin congratulates Beloit and congratulates the 
 state upon the occupancy of the Carnegie library which this 
 day has been dedicated to the production of liberally edu- 
 cated men and women. 
 
THE LIBRARY AS A FACTOR IN EDUCATION. 
 
 BY SECRETARY REUBEN GOLD THWAITES. 
 
 The progress of a race is largely dependent upon an ac- 
 cumulation of physical and mental experience. Under 
 ideal conditions, each generation stands on the shoulders 
 of its predecessors. But conditions are not always ideal. 
 Men of every age and race have, like children, often shown 
 themselves unwilling to accept the experience of their eld- 
 ers as a basis of action, being insistent on undergoing the 
 ordeal of their own personal experience. Indeed, certain 
 kinds of experimental knowledge have never been taken 
 for granted; we cannot or will not learn merely from the 
 statement of those who have preceded us. The student of 
 history is continually confronted by the fact that different 
 generations of men are, each in their turn, stumbling over 
 problems political, economic, social which have been 
 solved over and over again. But as a whole, the race does 
 profit in large measure by the great accumulated stores 
 of human experience, and thereby spasmodically reaches 
 successive plateaus of achievement. If such were not the 
 case, all mankind would still be in the savage state. 
 
 How has experimental knowledge and thought been 
 transmitted from one generation to another? In the most 
 primitive stages, the young have early been admitted by 
 their elders to the store of tribal experience how best to 
 fish, to hunt, to cook, to secure protection from the elements, 
 to confound their enemies, to defend themselves from at- 
 tacks of foes and beasts of prey, to cure or mitigate their 
 ailments, and to propitiate the manifold demons of air 
 
OF THE 
 
 IVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
33 
 
 and earth and water, which hover about them eager to 
 destroy. 
 
 Such was the method of direct instruction, for the press- 
 ing needs of self preservation. In the next higher step, 
 the race became self conscious pride of ancestry is a potent 
 factor in intellectual development. We find generations 
 bequeathing to their successors certain memorials of brave 
 men, gallant deeds, significant episodes in the form of 
 oral traditions, handed down from father to son, supple- 
 mented by such rude but lasting records of impressions 
 and experiences as carved bones, rock markings, and those 
 Indian mounds which are so familiar to us of Wisconsin 
 as to be commonplace, their historical significance as 
 mausoleums as well as armorial monuments being lost 
 upon the multitude. Still further on, we have symbolic 
 ornamentation upon utensils, tools, dress, huts and 
 wigwams, as in the case of the North American savage; 
 and, higher up in the scale, the monumental records of 
 architecture, symbolic sculpture, and mural decoration, 
 such as are seen in Eygpt, Peru, and Mexico. 
 
 Then, with a mighty stride forward, the twilight paths 
 of civilization were reached, and men had acquired 
 the art of writing in hieroglyphics, as on the walls and 
 monoliths of Eygpt, Assyria, and among the Aztecs; in 
 impressions upon tablets of brick, as in the recently un- 
 earthed libraries of Babylon and Nippur; and later, upon 
 still more portable and lasting vehicles of expression, the 
 clerkly papyrus and parchment, such as were made and 
 used in the library at Alexandria and the monastic collec- 
 tions of mediaeval Europe. 
 
 Until the invention of the modern art of printing from 
 blocks of wood or metal, none but the great and wealthy 
 could own books wherein were recorded the choice thoughts 
 and valuable experiences of men who had gone before, of 
 those who had stood a head higher than the common 
 throng. The records of the past had heretofore laborious- 
 
34 
 
 ly to be copied by scribes, who sometimes spent the best 
 years of a lifetime upon a single volume ; now, they could 
 be reproduced in almost endless number, and thus be made 
 available to the most distant races of mankind. Now for 
 the first time might at least the prosperous middle class 
 of scholars and merchants walk with their elder brothers 
 who had gone before with Tacitus, Herodotus, Josephus, 
 Homer, Caesar, all the philosophers, and poets, and wits, 
 and historians of classic times; for the first time own and 
 read the sacred Gospels of the Christian faith. 
 
 But although a prodigious advance had been made in 
 the popularizing of experimental knowledge, printed books 
 were at first quite expensive. The methods were labor- 
 ious: types and ink and paper were costly, being hand- 
 made; press- work was of the painstaking sort, with one 
 pull on the hand-lever for each impression, and nothing 
 short of perfection allowed to emerge from the shop the 
 result being those splendid examples of artistic mediaeval 
 typography which we vainly strive to imitate in the cost- 
 liest de luxe editions of our own day. 
 
 There were as yet no public libraries; there were collec- 
 tions at courts, and in monasteries and colleges, often 
 chained to the shelves an arrangement which the modern 
 librarian sometimes covertly envies, when, his missionary 
 zeal lagging for a moment, he contemplates his annual 
 record of books misplaced or stolen. Even in the village 
 sanctuary, the Word of God was stoutly fastened to its 
 oaken desk, a reminder of the past that still survives in 
 such churches as that at Old Chelsea; while several exam- 
 ples of chained monastic and college libraries are preserved 
 to us in England and on the European Continent. Thus 
 we see that the popular use of books spread but slowly 
 in the first years of the ''art preservative of arts." 
 
 With the slow march of improvement in printing 
 machinery, there was a steady cheapening of the cost of 
 production; although, unfortunately, it was gained at the 
 
35 
 
 expense of excellence. The price of books steadily fell, 
 and with this fall came an ever increasing circle of buyers. 
 Great public collections of books now began to appear in 
 most of the large communities monster libraries in which 
 could be consulted or from which might be borrowed the 
 literature of all the ages of civilization which had passed; 
 the literature of the ages being but another name for the 
 experience of the ages, the records of their thoughts and 
 deeds, more or less attractively set forth for the entertain- 
 ment and instruction of posterity. 
 
 At first, the public library was merely a collection of 
 books to the use of which any qualified person might sub- 
 scribe the library of an open association, like the Young 
 Men's or Mechanics' associations which in the memory of 
 most of us here present prevailed so generally in our own 
 country a half century, or even less, ago ; of a corporation 
 of scholars, such as an institute, an academy, or a college, 
 the most famous example of which is the Bodleian of 
 Oxford. 
 
 Not until a half century ago but yesterday, in the 
 story of a race did the now obvious idea take root that 
 the library, wherein was preserved records of the experi- 
 ences of preceding generations of mankind, should be open 
 to every citizen, and should be supported by public taxa- 
 tion; just exactly as the public school is supported for 
 what is the school, if it be not a means of conveying to 
 youth the experiences of the ages, through the joint media 
 of oral traditions and of books? A time-honored method, 
 surely; for have we not seen barbaric man supplementing 
 the oral traditions of the tribe with monumental records of 
 the cruder sort than printed books, but hardly less elo- 
 quent. 
 
 The school and the library have sprung from the same 
 parent their joint historical origin being the attempt of 
 the first man to convey to his child the fruit of observa- 
 tions along the rugged path of life. The school as was 
 
36 
 
 natural, for its office is, or rather was, largely oral was 
 first to gain popular recognition as a necessary depart- 
 ment of government. In our own happy day, the library, 
 from being the possession of a favored few, has at last 
 become generally accepted as a proper and essential tool 
 in the educational uplift of the race. In modern life, the 
 schoolhouse in each civilized community is but one phase 
 of the ever-pressing, ever-needful task of teaching by ex- 
 perience; the library building is another. And is it not 
 recognized at last, that the librarian and the schoolmaster 
 are equal factors in one and the same work ? the librarian 
 being the custodian of the records, the schoolmaster their 
 expounder ; although not seldom, in practice, their respect- 
 ive duties so overlap one the other, that the line of de- 
 marcation is not easily defined. 
 
 We are assembled here to-day formally to emphasize 
 what is certainly one of the most important events in the 
 life of this honored seat of learning the opening of a 
 new library building, far better adapted in space and in 
 technical equipment than was its predecessor, for the work 
 which it is doing and is to do. The event is indicative of 
 the fact that, everywhere in our college world, the library 
 is coming to its own. A few months ago, a philanthropist 
 asked a certain university president of my acquaintance, 
 wherein he might best expend three-quarters of a million 
 dollars which it was his purpose to present to the institu- 
 tion. The answer came, quick as thought, that the erection 
 of a library building was by all means the greatest and 
 most immediate service that he could render; and plans 
 are now under way for a structure which shall worthily 
 house that university's records of the past. 
 
 The library is to-day generally recognized by thoughtful 
 men as the storehouse of accumulated knowledge, the labo- 
 ratory of the humanities, the nerve-centre of the college. 
 Such was the thought which induced President Low to 
 place hi* magnificent library in the centre of the fine 
 
31 
 
 group of buildings which house Columbia University 
 the largest and most artistic of them all. Princeton and 
 Cornell, in constructing their new library buildings, ex- 
 hibited the same wise appreciation; Yale is gradually 
 evolving a structure which shall eventually take rank over 
 all its architectural colleagues; and Harvard is but await- 
 ing a generous giver, before making her library the domin- 
 ant feature of her campus. Such is the note heard upon 
 every hand in our own country; while abroad, one often 
 finds the library building the central factor at seats of 
 learning. The college library must be centrally located, 
 in order that it may be convenient to every department; 
 it must be lacking in no mechanical device which may 
 facilitate the use of its treasures; while its commanding 
 importance in the work of education, and its dignity as the 
 repository of the records of human experience and achieve- 
 ment, alike demand that its architecture be artistic and if 
 possible impressive. 
 
 We have seen that the college library is both a store- 
 house of experimental knowledge, so far as it is recorded 
 in books and manuscripts, and a laboratory for such forms 
 of present-day instruction as need these tools closely at 
 hand and there has of late been a rapid increase in the 
 uses which instructors are making of the library, with 
 every indication that the demands upon that department 
 are as yet in their infancy. This leads us to the familiar 
 inquiry as to how far the college may safely go, in the 
 scope of its collection. The records of knowledge have, 
 especially within the past century, become so various in 
 character and so vast in extent, that no library 
 in existence contains a tithe or even a hundredth of them 
 all. Such colossal stores as those at Berlin, Paris, London, 
 and St. Petersburg, for instance, are weak in many im- 
 portant lines of collection. In the now rich department 
 of Americana, for example, the British Museum is the only 
 European library where can be found anything more than 
 
38 
 
 a scattering and unrepresentative collection but the 
 Museum remains the one resource for American scholars 
 who are studying some of the phases of our own history. 
 In the United States, no one library not even the Nation- 
 al, at Washington may be regarded as sufficiently rich to 
 satisfy scholars, save in a limited range of subjects. The 
 specialist in almost any department of human study finds 
 it essential to visit many libraries, if he would exhaust the 
 possibilities of his subject, and he may even feel obliged to 
 supplement his investigations by a tour to the European 
 collections. 
 
 This condition of affairs is in no sense a criticism of 
 library administration or policy. It is simply inevitable, 
 in view either of the immense stores of books which exist 
 on many topics, or the extreme rarity or the enormous 
 cost of others. All of which proves that no librarian, 
 however well supported by plethoric funds, can hope to 
 exhaust any one field of importance. The investigating 
 scholar in all unusual and intricate lines of investigation 
 will, probably until the end of time, be obliged now and then 
 to travel ; save that the growing system of loaning books 
 from one library to another, for the benefit of read- 
 ers, will enable him more and more to broaden his field of 
 inquiry without stirring from his favorite alcove. 
 
 It being clear, then, that no library can aspire to the 
 possession of all the books, it is only in a few centres of 
 research, where favoring conditions exist, that very large 
 collections of unusual material need be stored. For each 
 European country, one or two such centres of collection are 
 probably sufficient. But in so vast a land as our own, 
 whose cities are few and far between, and where great 
 expenditures of time and money are essential for the most 
 ordinary journeys, it is desirable that this number be 
 greatly increased possibly on the average of every three 
 hundred miles or so, between the oceans. Of course no 
 such merely artificial distribution is practicable; but in 
 
39 
 
 general terms, we are fast approaching what is essentially 
 that condition. When we contemplate the very consider- 
 able number of important reference libraries upon the 
 Atlantic coast at Boston, Cambridge, Worcester, Provi- 
 dence, New Haven, New York, Ithaca, Albany, Buffalo, 
 Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Washington and watch the 
 rapid growth of the large university, state, and public 
 libraries at Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Chi- 
 cago, Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and at 
 three or four points upon the Pacific tidewater, there is 
 every reason for optimism. The special investigator at 
 Beloit, who finds this excellent general collection a 
 pent-up Utica, is fortunate indeed, in being closely in 
 touch with two of the most important centres of book 
 collection in America Chicago, with its several differen- 
 tiated and practically co-operating libraries, and Madison, 
 where two state-supported libraries (that of the State His- 
 torical Society and that of the State University, to name 
 them in the order of their size), have been so admirably 
 housed through the exercise of a true legislative wisdom. 
 
 Situated, then, as Beloit is, she is happily enabled to 
 centre her funds upon a general, standard collection, which 
 is, or should be, the norm of every college library. Hav- 
 ing, I believe, no aspirations to pose as a university, and 
 * 'hoi ding fast to that which is good" in the direction of 
 a conservative classical education, her library funds need 
 not be expended upon the unusual or the severely technic- 
 al branches. She needs few public documents, a depart- 
 ment which grows like the green bay tree, and whose in- 
 tricate problems of collection and handling puzzle and 
 distract even the most optimistic bibliophile; no curiously 
 involved "sets" of the learned societies need arise as night- 
 mares to disturb the slumbers of her library committee; 
 costly mediaeval collections, overflowing alcoves of con- 
 tinental "sources," the singular perversions of British 
 patents and parliamentary reports, the ever-expanding out- 
 
40 
 
 put of expensive genealogies, the problems of the map 
 and manuscript departments, and the unwieldly octopus 
 of general newspaper files (the local files should of course 
 be kept) , none of these come to drive her librarian mad. 
 
 The college library may safely avoid specializing, leav- 
 ing that to its more strenuous and probably better-sup- 
 ported sisters at neighboring centres of research. In 
 building up a collection of the essentials of a well-rounded 
 laboratory of the humanities, it will find abundant use for 
 its funds and best serve its constituency of teachers and 
 students. 
 
 We are dedicating, to-day, a building erected through 
 the munificence of one who perhaps more thoroughly than 
 any other man of his time, realizes the historical origin of 
 the library, and its immense importance as a factor in our 
 modern life. The dream of Andrew Carnegie is, that, 
 having the tax-supported school, each community shall 
 have a tax-supported library as its supplement and con- 
 fluent he furnishing the plant, if the public will liber- 
 ally operate it. The Carnegie library is generally a 
 gift to the town; seldom indeed has he opened his purse- 
 strings to a college, as here at Beloit. Possibly it would 
 have been better, had he been more generous to the col- 
 leges, where libraries exercise such direct and potent in- 
 fluence over the scholars from whose ranks come those 
 who shape popular education. But we are admonished 
 not to examine too closely the teeth of the gift-horse we 
 must take our Carnegie libraries as they come, or not at 
 all. There are those who think that we suffer somewhat, 
 in accepting gifts from so wholesale and, it is to be feared, 
 so indiscriminating a source ; that it were far better for a lo- 
 cal philanthropist to present the library to the town, or a 
 philanthropic alumnus to give it to the college perhaps 
 better for us, certainly better for the philanthropist. Mr. 
 Carnegie ought not to be allowed to reap all the reward 
 which awaits the cheerful giver but lacking any other 
 
41 
 
 donor, we certainly must recognize the Carnegie libraries 
 as a distinct boon to mankind, and let us be thankful for 
 them, and ask no questions. 
 
 The opening of a Carnegie library building, here as else- 
 where, certainly means that a new impulse has been 
 given in the community to the interests of education, that 
 new and better advantages are offered unto the sons of 
 men for the acquirement of that wisdom which comes 
 from the contemplation of the thoughts and achievements 
 of those who have gone before. It means that in that 
 community, be it scholastic or popular, every boy and 
 man, girl or woman, may henceforth, when need be, dwell 
 in the glorious company of the past and the present; 
 with philosophers, poets, historians, and scientists; with 
 men of action and men of thought; with Shakspeare, 
 Milton, Shelley, Byron, Moore, Tennyson, Lowell, Holmes, 
 and all the sweet singers of yesterday and to-day; with 
 Newton, Bacon, Darwin, Tyndall, Huxley, and Spencer; 
 with novelists like Fielding, Scott, George Eliot, Dickens, 
 Thackeray, and Robert Louis Stevenson; with keen essay- 
 ists and wits, like Lamb and Hood ; with men of the golden 
 era of Samuel Johnson and Goldsmith and the inimitable 
 Boswell; with historians like Gibbon, Hume, Macaulay, 
 and Green; that, in biographies, they may walk with the 
 leaders in statecraft, the church, invention, and the mas- 
 ters of industry; and with the great explorers, like Marco 
 Polo, Lewis and Clark, Fremont, Livingston, and Stanley 
 a glorious company this, our elder brothers on varied 
 fields of human endeavor. Wise the generation which can 
 stand on the plateaus of such achievement, and press for- 
 ward to still higher vantage points. 
 
 And so, sir, on behalf of the parent library of our 
 state, I bring to you its cordial greetings and congratula- 
 tions on this interesting occasion. The opening of this 
 beautiful structure will surely be followed by a still deep- 
 er popular appreciation of the great importance of your 
 
42 
 
 library in the educational work to which Beloit College is 
 committed, and, let us hope, an increase in the bearing of 
 gifts. The interest in your own ranks will likewise be 
 stimulated, and with enlarged interest will come increased 
 usage, and consequent demand for wise and generous de- 
 velopment. Your new hall of records, sir, will surely 
 bring rich rewards in the higher life of Beloit, her gown 
 and her town. 
 
THE LIBRARY A UNIVERSITY FOR THE PEOPLE 
 
 BY PROFESSOR NATHANIEL BUTLER. 
 
 It was Thomas Carlyle, I think, who said that a great 
 library is a University for the people. The term is well 
 chosen and is to be understood to describe the library, not 
 only as the distributor of knowledege, not only as a means 
 of education, and not only as a University in that it is 
 an aid to research and a repository of its results, but as 
 standing for that highest and most human product of 
 education and research culture, for which, at last, the 
 University itself stands. 
 
 And precisely what do we mean by culture? I think 
 we may define it by noticing what especially marks the 
 man whom we call cultured. There are two of these 
 marks: first, we find in the man of culture an intelligent 
 taste for the finer things of life for art, music, literature 
 yes, and for the still finer things courtesy, charity, re- 
 ligion. It is these things that sweeten life. Indeed, these 
 are what give significance to life. For if a man 
 draws his wages or his salary merely that he may live to 
 draw more wages or salary, what does that signify? But 
 all this earning and living has meaning if he, in the inter- 
 vals of making a living, knows how to live. You cannot 
 explain why a man should live at all save in terms of cul- 
 ture. 
 
 The second thing that marks a man of culture is intelli- 
 gent and sympathetic interest in other men's pursuits. 
 He may be, must in these days be, a specialist. But he 
 conceives his specialty in the light of its relations to what 
 
44 
 
 other men are doing. Otherwise he does not conceive it 
 aright. It is this that makes the father and mother 
 able not only to clothe and feed the children, but to create 
 a home life through sympathy with children. It is this 
 that saves us from being mere artisans, traders, profes- 
 sionals, and scholars, and makes us citizens. It is this that 
 makes us see in our own vocation one of many activities 
 that are together bringing in the kingdom of God. Cul- 
 ture I repeat is chiefly a taste for the finer things of life 
 and an intelligent interest in all human pursuits. 
 
 Now the library stands for this higher culture because 
 the library is primarily the repository and distributor of 
 Literature. And what is Literature? 
 
 In the broadest interpretation of the term, Literature 
 may be defined as any written record of thought or senti- 
 ment. The man who first wrote down what he thought 
 or felt is, in a sense, the father of all literature. In this 
 view treaties between primitive tribes, dry and meagre 
 chronicles, your dictionary and your telephone-directory are 
 Literature. But we may as well narrow our definition at 
 once for no one understands the term in so broad a sense. 
 Literature, as we understand and use the term, means that 
 body of writing whose main purpose is, not to instruct or 
 inform, but to convey noble pleasure through appeal to 
 emotion or imagination. The motives of Literature, 
 then, are the motives not of science, but of art. Liter- 
 ature then is one of the Fine Arts. Now one of the main 
 purposes of the Arts is to give this emotional and imagina- 
 tive pleasure. The work may express profound truth. It 
 may convey valuable information. But over and above 
 the truth or the information, the thing that holds and 
 claims us, and takes us again and again to the same work 
 is the artist's peculiar way of seeing his subject, and of 
 making us see it. He has, indeed, mastered his theme, 
 but his heart has vitalized it, his fancy has played about 
 it, we see it through his eyes. Hundreds have sung about 
 
45 
 
 the daisy. And yet except what Chaucer, and Burns, 
 and Wordsworth have sung we do not much care what the 
 rest have given. Not only the substance, then, but the 
 manner, the "way of putting it" holds and charms us, 
 and so constitutes the immortality of the work. It must 
 appeal not only to intellect, but first of all to emotion and 
 imagination. 
 
 We must therefore revise our definition and say that 
 Literature consists of any record of thought or sentiment 
 such that it delights the reader. But again we must nar- 
 row our definition. Surely not everything that gives 
 pleasure can be called a work of art. The book that 
 amuses for nine days, and after that lies unnoticed, the 
 book that everybody reads for a month, and that nobody 
 reads after that, we cannot call Literature. Of what- 
 ever deserves that name one of two things is true either 
 that it continues to hold and charm men, or that it is 
 inseparably associated with some interest that continues 
 to hold and charm men. When a book, a poem, an essay, con- 
 tinues to be read, not only by the writer 'sown countrymen, 
 not only by men of his own time, but by other men and in 
 other times than those in the midst of which it was writ- 
 ten, we may safely call that a work of Literature. We 
 must therefore again revise our definition and say that 
 Literature consists of any written record of thought or 
 feeling such that it survives the writer and his times, and 
 delights other men and other times than those in the midst 
 of which it was written. Here without doubt belong 
 Longfellow, Lowell, Bryant, Wordsworth, Browning, Ten- 
 nyson, Milton, Dante, Shakspeare. 
 
 But, agreeing that the writings of all these men are 
 Literature, we can hardly include them in one class. Of 
 Shakspeare we say that men have delighted in him for 
 more than three hundred years. And we are certain that 
 in five hundred years men will still be delighting in this 
 great interpreter of life, unless the race should perish or 
 
46 
 
 undergo a change that is inconceivable. We cannot say 
 the same of Longfellow or Lowell. We can not be quite 
 so sure of it even in the case of Wordsworth or Milton. 
 We shall say, then, that Literature falls into two classes: 
 first, those writings that survive the author and his times, 
 but do not at last attain immortality; second, those that 
 become a part of the imperishable property of the race. 
 Homer, Dante, Shakspeare the world will hold fast to 
 the works of these men, as it will to those of Beethoven 
 and Michael Angel o. Time sifts the books and gives us 
 Literature. Then it sifts Literature and gives us the clas- 
 sics. Here we have Literature in the narrowest, truest 
 sense. And we may define it as the record of the best that 
 has been thought and said in the world. 
 
 Having now defined Literature let us ask what is its 
 function. 
 
 In his essay on Alexander Pope, DeQuincey has made 
 for us a very useful division of books into two classes 
 which he calls respectively "literature of knowledge" and 
 " literature of power." The function of the first is to 
 teach, that of the second to move, arouse, stimulate. 
 What DeQuincey calls ' ' literature of knowledge ' ' we should 
 hardly call Literature at all. An arithmetic would be "lit- 
 erature of knowledge." So would a statistical table or 
 a scientific report. But "literature of power," pure 
 Literature, would be represented by Shakspeare, Goethe, 
 Browning; these men do not so much instruct as they 
 move, arouse, stimulate us. What gives chief value to a 
 work of literature, as such, is not the information it af- 
 fords, but that it radiates and communicates power of 
 some kind. Carlyle regarded as the chief value in any 
 book its power to generate in the reader "self activity." 
 "The chief use of reading to me," said Montaigne, "is 
 that it arouses my reason, it appeals to my judgment 
 not my memory." "The tendency of education through 
 books," said Mark Pattison, "is to sharpen individuality, 
 
47 
 
 to cultivate independence of mind, to make a man cease 
 to be the contented servant of the things that perish." 
 We read, not that we may take on the individuality of the 
 author. We read Emerson, not that we may be like Em- 
 erson. We read Browning, not that we may give up our 
 personality for his. On the contrary we read that we 
 may be awakened, aroused, stimulated and made to live 
 the life natural to us in our best condition. The ques- 
 tion as to the function of Literature may be answered 
 once for all by saying that Literature is of no value save 
 as a help to living, giving us what we may translate into 
 impulse, motive, character, conduct what promotes self 
 activity. 
 
 Literature is thus seen to be one of the prime education- 
 al agencies. That through this library, it will become so 
 in a larger degree than heretofore, there can be no doubt. 
 In this college and in this community are preserved, as 
 in very few Western communities, the traditions that 
 magnify the humanities, the traditions that emphasize cul- 
 ture not as opposed to technical or special training but as 
 the pre-requisite to these, the traditions that assert that 
 education that has no reference to vocation is the indis- 
 pensable foundation of education for a vocation. From 
 the standpoint even of modern utilitarianism, the cost of 
 this new library has been most wisely invested. The com- 
 mon judgment of men approves these words with which 
 Mr. Chauncey Depew closed an address: "He who gives 
 money to the hospita I gives well. He who gives to the asy- 
 lum gives well. But he who gives to the school gives best. 
 For," said he, falling into the familiar language of the 
 railway, "the money that goes to the hospital goes for re- 
 pairs ; but the line can never be made as good as new, and 
 the earnings are never sufficient to keep the concern going. 
 The money that goes to the asylum, where are the incur- 
 able in mind and body that is where humanity is in the 
 hands of a receiver, and the money goes to keep the receiver 
 
in funds, to keep a bankrupt concern going. It is all very 
 well, all very well. But the money that goes to the 
 school goes for construction a new line, new cars, new 
 locomotives. The line runs through regions where God's 
 acres have never felt the beneficent influence of the plow. 
 It runs through the region where the mill may be built, 
 where the home may be established, where towns and cities 
 may spring up, and it carries out and distributes, right 
 and left, the missionaries of God, for the enlightenment 
 of mankind and the salvation of the Kepublic. ' ' 
 
 V OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY