INSANITY.

325

her of the family of the patient, not prisoner, will be conscientious
enough to come forward and pay the bill.

I have taken more of your time than I should, and my real reason
for doing so must now appear. Never, perhaps, has there been in
that county such an unmistakable outburst of public disapproval as
followed the announcement of the verdict of the jury, and it came, not
only from individuals, but from press and pulpit as well; and that it
did come is no cause for surprise, because no greater travesty of'
justice was ever enacted. How did it happen? How did it occur that
a jury, sworn to try the case upon its merits, swept all evidence
aside and decided the questions involved without assistance? I will
tell you. A member of the jury was approached a few days subsequent
to the trial and asked why they brought in such a verdict, and here
is his reply: mark it well:	“Because no sane man would kill his son.”

What object could be accomplished by offering evidence to a jury,
each member of which had already made up his mind that an act is
in itself a sufficient evidence of insanity? They believed that a man
who commits such an unnatural act as that of killing his son must
for that very reason be insane. If this be true; if the killing of a
son by his father is unequivocal evidence of insanity, then the killing
of a father by his son would be insanity; or the killing of wife by
husband; or brother by brother; or friend by friend; or—but where
would such a course of reasoning lead? Do all fathers love their
sons under all circumstances; or are sons always filial; or brothers
always devoted; or friends always fond; or wives always true?

While it may be readily conceded that to kill one we love, or,
indeed, to murder one we are supposed to love, is an unnatural act,
yet, so long as fathers and sons and husbands and wives and brothers
and friends, sane and clothed in their right minds,have killed each
other, it requires no high order of ability to discern how unsafe and
perilous it would be to advocate the establishment of insanity on the
ground of an unnatural act. There was a time when the thinking
world was startled by the announcement of a belief that no sane man
ever committed suicide, but no one who has given the matter any
attention will be led astray by such a statement. Insane men suicide,
but so have sane men, time and time again, and with the best of
reasons for doing so. In these cases, as in all others, sanity or
insanity will be determined by the reason, "or lack of reason, for
suiciding, but not by the act itself.

While actions may usually be regarded as an index to the mental
state of the individual, yet we know from observation and experience
that they are frequently quite the reverse; that apparently innocent
acts frequently have their origin in the most malicious and malevolent
natures; that seemingly disorderly acts are often the result of attend-
ing and unforseen circumstances and not unlawful motives; that
actions which appear to bear the unmistakable trademark of insanity
often reveal the crafty handiwork of crime, and that no act can be
so criminal in its nature that it may not have its origin in a delusion.326	BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OF CONTROL

Unsatisfactory and insecure indeed must be a condition whose founda-
tions rest upon nothing more substantial or reliable than conduct;
and vague and uncertain must be the position of anyone who bases
his knowledge and understanding of insanity upon the actions of the
individual alone.

The presence of insanity is to be determined:

1st. From the life history of the individual.

2nd. From changes in temperament, character, moods, habits*,
and modes of thought.	'	9

3d. From physical evidences of disease.

4th. From the presence' of delusions.

5th. From gait, mode of expression, appearance and general de-
meanor.	*

6th. From stigmata of degeneration.

These conditions may be indicated, or suggested, or even illumin-
ated by the actions of the individual, but this is the sole and only
value of concrete acts in the establishment of insanity. They may
point the finger of suspicion but they prove nothing in themselves.

Insanity is a question of morbid physiology; it is a question of
perverted metabolism; it is a question of psychical involvement due
to physical disease; it is all this and possibly more; but it can never
be safely regarded as a question of conduct.

LIBRARIES IN THE STATE INSTITUTIONS.

By Johnson Brigham, State Librarian and President of the Iowa
Library Commission.

The request of this body, acting on the recommendation of its;
program committee, they in turn acting on the suggestion of a member
of the Board of Control whom I am always glad to serve, coupled!
with a desire on my part to serve the State wherever and when-
ever I can—and especially to further the progress of the Library cause
in the State,—induced me to enter a field filled with trained workers
and attempt to advise the workers as to a part of their work.

Finding the subject assigned me has not been covered by the
papers and discussions reported in the bulletins issued by the Board of
Control, I discover that to me has been accorded the rare privilege
of pioneering the way toward future understanding of the subject from
a general viewpoint. Should my suggestions seem to you as needless
as the proverbial carrying of coals to Newcastle; you will still have*
as consolation for the time you have accorded me, the first generali-INSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

32,7

£/ 2J7* 4>

•zations thus far made, as far as I am able to discover, along, three
separate yet related lines of investigation as to libraries in State
Institutions, namely:

I—	Institutional Libraries in other States than qurs.

II—	Institutional libraries in Iowa.

III—	The evolution of the “Iowa- Idea” as applied to libraries in
State Institutions, with suggestions as to the future development of that
idea.

Note in passing two points, namely:	(1) that in using the term

'institutions’ in this paper I employ it in a restricted sense, including
only those for which the Board of Control is held directly responsible,
and not including purely educational institutions; and (2) that in
giving the status of institutions in other states than ours, I have
drawn my .information—limited at most—chiefly from the laws and
reports of those states and not from personal replies to questions as
in the case of the Iowa institutions. And this leads me here to
acknowledge my indebtedness to the superintendents represented in
this body for their prompt, painstaking and courteous responses to
my calls for information.

I.

It was my original intention to compile a mass of statistics from
the several states which might be helpful , in regulating the ratio of
books to readers and to institutions, and in the development of a
general policy for the use of books and libraries as contributory to
the mental and moral evolution of the inmates of your several insti-
tutions. But my search among the reports 6f institutions in other
states, while not wholly in vain, has not enabled me to draw any
very satisfactory conclusions. I might say here that, selfishly,
the most satisfactory conclusion I have been able to draw from the
many reports consulted is that Iowa has in a few years placed herself
in advance of many if not most of the states in the formulation of
a library policy for State institutions.

We naturally turn first to literary New England, the home of
the library movement, for examplars in the work of engrafting the
library upon the educational system ■ adopted in state institutions.
A sweeping generalization will suffice to show what the New England
•states are actually doing so far as their own reports give information.

MAINE:	Of the several institutions in Maine I find mention of

libraries only in four. At the Insane Hospital there was expended
for reading matter during the year last reported the sum of $161.81
of which $120.15 was for periodicals. Number of patients, 771. Amount
expended per capita, nearly twenty-one cents. I find that this money
is not an appropriation, but interest on an endowment fund of $3,222.91.
The trustees’ report contains a tribute to the benefits of the library
—a tribute seemingly out of proportion to the small sum of money
expended per capita.

The Industrial School for Girls, 165 inmates, has an endowment328

BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OF CONTROL

fund of $3,912.50, the income of which is used for the purchase of
books, periodicals and pictures, and for entertainments and other
recreation. Just what portion of the interest on this small fund is
devoted to the library is not stated. In reports on the needs and
policy of the school no mention is made of the library.

The Military and Naval Orphan Asylum with 95 inmates expended
for the purchase of books $207.70,—or about $2.19 per capita. In the
trustee’ report mention is made of additions to the library “which
were fully appreciated and enjoyed.”

In the State Prison, 184 inmates, there was expended during the
year for papers, magazines, music, etc., the sum of $313.99. How
much of this small sum went for ‘music, etc.’ we have no means of
knowing. The chaplain reports the destruction of over one hundred
volumes worn beyond repair. These were replaced by second-hand
books donated by convicts and others interested. Sixty volumes were
added by purchase. At this rate of purchase—sixty volumes for a
population of 184—or nearly one book for every three convicts, no
wonder the books are worn out in the service. The prison evidently
depends for periodicals on gifts of newspapers and old magazines.

The State Reform School, 148 inmates, appropriated for library
and reading room, $43.61—or nearly thirty cents per capita. There
is nothing in the superintendent’s report to indicate that there is a
library or even a reading room, other than an acknowledgment of
donations of newspapers.

In the School for the Deaf, with 87 inmates, I could find no expen-
diture for books other than for school supplies. I looked in vain in
the principal’s report for a reference to books or a library, either
under the head of ‘educational department’ or under that of ‘needs.’
Acknowledgments are .given for contributions of magazines, fruits,
nuts, etc.

NEW HAMPSHIRE:	I find little in the reports of New Hamp-

shire to throw light upon the subject. The State Hospital reports 425
inmates and an expenditure of $437.42 for stationery, library, printing,
etc. The portion received by the library was necessarily small.

The Industrial School for the Feeble Minded, with 147 inmates,
reports the receipt of $45.04 interest on fund for books, or less than
thirty-two cents per capita. Beyond this sum the institution seems
to depend upon donations.

The State Prison, with 210 inmates, gives no evidence of financial
aid for the library; but there doubtless is an outlay for books for the
chaplain in his report states that he has revised and reprinted a
catalogue of books and is rebinding and adding new books. The
chaplain bears testimony to the aid rendered by books, both in giving
information and in calling attention to other things than self and
their surroundings.

VERMONT:	Little is given in relation to libraries in the VermontINSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

329

reports. In. the State Hospital for the Insane, with 514 patients, there
was an expenditure of $261.66, or less than fifty-one cents for each
patient. Donations of hooks and periodicals are acknowledged.

I find.no mention of hooks or a library in the report of the
Brattlehoro Retreat or in that of the Lakeside Sanitorium.

The State Prison with 147 convicts has no discoverable expenditure
for hooks. The chaplain reports few hooks added in two years, but
gives testimony of the beneficial effect' of good reading upon the
convicts.

The House of Correction and the Industrial School reports give
no evidence of the purchase of anything beyond school books.

MASSACHUSETTS:	In my study of the voluminous Massachus-

etts reports I found gratifying uniformity in the statistics furnished
concerning the numerous hospitals for the insane and other institu-
tions, but when I came to tabulate the statistics of the other State
institutions I found so many variations that it was impossible to pres-
ent any aggregates, or averages, which would be conclusive on any
one point. The most I am able to present that has any significance
for us of Iowa is the ratio of annual expenditure for books, periodicals,
etc., to the number of inmates in several of the State institutions.
Take for example the State Hospital for the Insane at Danvers. Dur-
ing the last year reported, there was an average of 1105 inmates with
$437.01 expended for books, etc., or nearly forty cents per capita.

North Hampton .................................Per Capita, $ .338

{Taunton ...................................... “	“	.1-12

Worcester ....................................   “	**	.427

Worcester Insane	Asylum ........................ “	“	.362

Westboro .....................................   “	“	.	.266

Medfield Insane	Asylum ......................... “	“	.09

To these may be added also the following ratios:

Bridgewater State Farm..........................Per Capita,

Tewksbury State Hospital ........................ “	“

School for Feeble-Minded ..........:.............. “	“

Hospital for Dipsomaniacs .......................  “	“

State Sanitorium ...............................   “	“

Hospital for Epileptics.........................   “	“

State Reformatory ..............................   “	“

Reformatory Prison for Women.....................  “	“

The term ‘et cetera’ coupled with books in the figures just read,
renders the ratios of questionable value as a basis of comparison.

I cannot find any allusion to library or books in the report of the
Massachusetts State Prison, although the prison contains 817 inmates.

The School for the Blind with 278 inmates, makes no separate
mention of expenditure for books, though the school has a library
valued at $29,458. The school library is evidently well endowed.

$ .484
.133
.29
.83
.238
.83

1.17

1.18330	BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OF CONTROL

It is interesting to note the valuations put upon the several librar-
ies in these institutions as far as they are given:

North Hampton Insane Hospital............................$ 1,240.00

Danvers	”	”	     1,545.00

Medfield	”	”	.......................... 534.81

Taunton	”	”	    900.00

Worcester	”	”	  5,401.44

”	” Asylum .............................. 650.00

Bridgewater State Farm .................................. 300.00

Tewksbury State Hospital	........................ 31,000.00

Perkins Institute and School for the Blind................ 59,458.00

In the reports from the trustees and superintendents of the several
institutions above named no mention whatever is made of books or
need of books except general acknowledgements of gifts of books and
periodicals, and,' in two cases, the chaplain’s tribute to the increasing
value of books in fostering character, strengthening mental resources
and affording wholesome recreation.

RHODE ISLAND:	The Rhode Island Board of State Charities and

Corrections, makes mention of libraries only in connection with two
of the five State institutions covered by its latest report. It refers
to the well selected library in the School for Boys—the students
numbering 357—and notes an authorization of an expenditure of $100
for additional books, or nearly twenty-nine cents per capita.

In the School for Girls, there is mention of nine general periodicals
but no mention of books.

In the report of t^e warden of the State Prison with 183 convicts,
is ah item of $52.85 for library—or nearly twenty-nine cents per capita.

CONNECTICUT:	I have studied the Connecticut reports only to

find a single instance in which are given separate library statistics,
and these give no clue as to expenditure. I find that the Connecticut
State Prison with 500 inmates has 4,300 volumes with a circulation
of 24,080 and with a library catalogue distributed among the convicts.

The several institutional reports are valuless so for as my purpose
is concerned, in that in two instances stationery, books and postage
are run together as a single item; the library and chapel in another;
postage, periodicals, etc., in another.

NEW YORK:	I turned with confidence to the State of New York,

with its wealth of public documents and its uniformity in the prepara-
tion of the same—thanks to the commendable efforts of Dr. Whitten of
the New York State Library in that direction. I found in connection
with the several State Hospital reports an approximate uniformity
in statement: but the uniformity is not carried far enough to serve my
purpose. Instead of separate items for books in the several expense
accounts, I found books and stationery thrown together, thus giving
ho basis for the estimate I had hoped to make of the expenditure
for books per capita.INSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

331

I wrote Dr. Whitten, asking him if he could separate for me the
expenditure for books from the expenditure for stationery. Let me
read you his reply:

Dear Mr. Brigham:—Dr. Hill of the State Board of Charities
tells me that no systematic effort has been made in the past to
provide libraries for inmates of State charitable institutions. Some
of the institution's have received important donations of money and
books from time to time. The item in the financial report “Books
and stationery” refers usually to blank books purchased for the book-
keeping department.

An item has been included in this year’s appropriation bill of
$1,200 to be expended by the State Library for a traveling library
for state institutions. This is intended as the nucleus of a system of
institutional libraries.

The State Insane hospitals have fared better in rdgard to library
facilities and I have asked Mr. McGarr, Secretary of the Commission
in Lunacy, to write you in regard to them.

Very truly yours,

ROBERT H. WHITTEN.

f

Let me read the letter from Secretary McGarr:

Dear Sir:—Doctor Whitten has handed me your letter to him
under date of May 22nd.

Assuming that the point you desire information upon is as to the
books supplied to the hospital patients, I have to say that the re-
quisitions of the fourteen large State Hospitals under the control of
the Commission vary so greatly that it is not possible for me to give
you information that would be of great value. The purchases of these
books are made from an allowance which varies from 2 to 3y2 cents
per capita made every two months [or 12 to 21 cents per capita per
year] to these institutions, the variation being due to the differing
size of the institutions, the larger per capita allowance being made
for the smaller institutions. This per capita allowance, however, is
for all kinds of amusements and diversion regarded by the hospital
superintendents as appropriate for their charges. The superintendents
devote a very considerable portion of this allowance to the purchase
of books.

As to the grouping in our financial statements of books and sta-
tionery, this refers only to medical books intended for the library used
by the physicians of the hospitals. Very respectfully yours,

T. E. McGARR,

Secretary.

In the state prisons, reformatories and hospitals for insane con-
victs, there is not the same uniformity in reports. Sing Sing, with
1274 inmates reports a general circulation of books during the year
amounting to 39,123 volumes of which 30,651 was fiction. It is inter-
esting to note that in the list of novelists preferred, Dumas, Reade,
Collins, King and Kipling take the lead. This prison has an appropri-
ation of $500 for books,—-or nearly forty cents per capita.

Auburn, with 1082 inmates, has $500, or over forty-six cents per
capita, and with this sum has added 750 volumes.

Clinton with its 1028 inmates and $500 appropriation, or nearly
fifty cents per, capita, has a beginning of about 500 volumes in its332

BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OP CONTROL

library. The report from the East New York reformatory, with its
234 inmates makes no mention of books.

Matteawan Hospital for insane convicts, with 640 inmates seems
to be dependent upon contributions for books and periodicals.

Dannemora, with 112 inmates, has $500 appropriation or over $4.46
per capita, nearly all of which is annually expended.

The report from the State Industrial School incidentally mentions
a library and offices for the chaplain, parole agent, and disciplinary
department but makes no mention of books.

The Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, New
York City, speaks of the purchase of $300 worth of new books,
of the organization of class libraries and of the encouragement which
a free use of the books has given to a further increase of the number
of books in the library.

The New York Juveline Asylum reports an unexpended balance of
$759.52 in the Fanshaw library fund.

The Western House of Refuge for Women reports an appropria-
tion of $200 for library wants.

Eight other State institutional reports seem to ignore books and
libraries entirely.

The State Reformatory at Elmira, an institution with a world-wide
reputation for reform in methods of treating youthful criminals, cov-
ers its expenditures for books under some general item, probably
“educational”; but its school director, Mr. Upham, gives me in a single
page more of suggestion than can be found in all the other New
York reports. He thinks the library indispensable, but that it also
presents serious problems. As for example: How much shall the in-
mates be allowed to read? He finds few have sufficient self-control
to leave story-books for studies. How much shall they be given to
read? Pew have the reading habit and those few prefer the trashiest
form of novel. How best to cultivate the reading habit, and develop
that into the habit of reading good books? In his attempt to answer
these hard questions, Mr. Upham would limit the men of the lower
classes to one book a week. He would sort the poor books from the
good with the purpose of eliminating the bad, the uninteresting and
the unprofitable books that find their way into the library. He would
considerably extend the reading privilege of the men in the academical
division. In addition to the one book a week, those in this division
may every two weeks draw another book on some serious subject such
as history, biography, etc. He would stimulate interest by putting
into the hands of every inmate, (except those in the very lowest class)
a list of books on history, biography, literature, science and travel.
He selects fiction, not in accordance with the wishes of the inmates,
but in accordance with their needs and environments. He makes
free use of special lists of best books selected by the Free Traveling
Library department of the State Library,—a department quivalent to
our Iowa Library Commission.INSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

333

Since this, outline of Mr. Upham’s suggestions was written, a later
report—that of 1904—has been received. From this report I learn
that about 300 books have been added to the library during the year;
but that this is counterbalanced by the loss of an equal number
destroyed on account of epidemics and through natural wear. With
a population of 1,387, this addition of only 300 books—-scarcely making
good the loss of books withdrawn—would seem a meager encourage-
ment to Mr. Upham in his worthy purpose to solve the serious prob-
lems to which reference has been made.

The Institution for the Blind shows a library fund with an un-
expended balance of $2,754.44. The State Library cooperates with
its superintendent in supplying the blind with embossed books.

In the other institutional reports of the State of New York
I find little of interest on the subject under consideration.

I extended my investigation to but one of the middle-western
states—that one presumably the most progressive.

OHIO:	I find no appropriation for books and no mention of

same in connection with the Toledo Hospital.

The Columbus Hospital with an income of $207,308.21 gives an
expenditure of $68.27 for books and instruments!—Evidently noth-
ing for library books.

Massillon State Hospital with a total income of over $81,000
reports an expenditure of $926 for books and pictures.

Cleveland Hospital reports an expenditure of $421.25 for books.

The Boys’ Industrial School reports arrangements made with the
State Library by which it is to receive the benefit of the State
Traveling Library system which will allow the institution 100 books
every three months. But the report adds that the library ought to
have more books, and calls for an extra appropriation therefor.

It will thus be seen that with all the progress Ohio has made,
the library movement has not yet had full and free course in her
State institutions.

Time and your patience would not permit a further extension
of these unclassified outlines. .

I will generalize by stating that, so far as I have investigated, the
institutional reports which come to us from the South present dreary
masses of figures relating to material things, with little or nothing
to indicate that the Southern States regard their criminal class as
worth the effort of reformation, and much to indicate that they are
speculating off that class by means of labor contracts, the inevitable
tendency of which being to demonize, not humanize, the violators of
law. And, in the main, the policy of the Southern States toward its
dependent classes, with few exceptions, seems to be a reluctant ac-
ceptance of responsibility for these classes and a reduction of the
expenses of their support to the minimum of maintenance.334

BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OF CONTROL

IL

I must not linger longer outside the confines of our own State.
Here I want to add my testimony to the aid which the Board of
Control has rendered the library movement and the State of Iowa by
extending that movement to the institutions under their immediate
control. The previous condition of servitude of two members of the
Board in library work, may not have entered the mind of the Governor
who appointed them,—their all-around fitness for the position having
been so apparent; but, fortunately, they came to their task with years
of experience as ex-officio members of the State Library Board, and
that at a time when the then new Traveling Library system was in-
augurated by that Board. One of its members, Judge Kinne, was one
of the committee to select the first $4,500 worth of books for the
Traveling Library and upon that committee devolved the duty of
making the first rules to govern the workings of the new system.
Every detail, not only of the State Library, but of the Traveling
Library, came under the close and careful scrutiny of Judge Robinson,
the other member to whom I refer, who, as a member of the book
committee of the Board, was largely responsible for all the book pur-
chases made by the State Librarian. These two experienced bookmen
needed only to present the subject to the third member, Mr.
Cownie, to convince him that the needs of the State called for
the planting and upbuilding of libraries in every State institution;
not only for the elimination of ignorance but also for the minimizing
of mental affliction and bodily suffering and the helpful stimulation of
high ideals of citizenship and of individual life.

With the initiative of a Board so constituted, a Board happily re-
moved from the bane of party and partisan politics, it is scarcely to
be wondered at that the comparatively young State of Iowa should
have progressed beyond many of the older states in the development
of a policy making books and libraries a potent force for good in
State institutions.

Here I desire to present, as part of my findings on the theme
assigned me, a brief and interesting resume of the library policy of
the Board of Control prepared by Judge Kinne in response to my
request. He says:

Dear Sir:—Replying to your favor touching the libraries in the
State institutions under the control of this Board, we beg to say there
is no limit fixed by the Board to the purchase of books either in the
aggregate or for any particular institution. Until the act of the legis-
lature of two years ago there was no money provided for the pur-
chase of books at any institution except as we obtained special ap-
propriations therefor. These were usually in small amounts. Thai
legislature passed an act setting apart, under the control of the Board,
a certain portion of the money received for admissions to the peni-
tentiaries for use in procuring libraries for other state institutions.
Under this act very large additions have been made to the libraries
at the hospitals at Cherokee and at Independence,—and like provision
made for the Boys’ Industrial School at Eldora. There is no particu-INSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

335

lar policy regarding libraries for any of our institutions or class of
institutions. The only thing we seek to do is to provide each institu- V
tion with a good working library of a healthy character and best"
suited to the needs of its inmates. Manifestly it would require a
somewhat different' class of books at the industrial schools than at
the hospitals or at the penitentiaries; so each institution in this re-
spect is treated separately as its needs seem to demand. No prepared
instructions have been sent to superintendents regarding the purchase
of libraries and the care and use of books. Many of the additions to
the libraries have been made at our suggestion, because we thought
they were badly needed, and superintendents have been instructed from \
time to time to make estimates for libraries composed of such books
as they deemed best. These lists have usually been submitted to
some one in your department that they might be carefully scanned and
such additions and changes made as seemed desirable. In some in-
stances we have eliminated certain books that were asked for. At
the penitentiaries the lists have usually been made up by the chaplains. ‘
The two late large purchases at Independence and Cherokee were
made from lists made up in your office very largely. It is the policy
of the Board to expend, so far as the finances will permit, any amount >
of money that may be necessary or proper for the development of the
libraries in all of the institutions. Quite a good library has already
been accumulated at Council Bluffs since the late fire. This was picked
out of course by the authorities at that institution. Considerable of
a library has been accumulated at Glenwood, originally the gift of a
man by the name of Y/ilkinson to the institution. Also the library at
Davenport has been added to by appropriations from time to time and
also a small gift by a citizen of Davenport who is now deceased.
There is quite a large library at the hospital at Mt. Pleasant,—very
much of it bought many years ago and very many of the books in ex- .
pensive bindings, hardly appropriate for an institution of that kind;
and many of the books are of too solid and heavy a character for
reading by the patients. Several hundred volumes are in the library
at Clarinda, having been purchased in the last four or five years, and
are being added to from time to time. Other expenditures are expected
to be made every year in the filling up of these libraries and putting
on the shelves such new books as may comihend themselves from
time to time. In addition to all this all the institutions are furnished
from their regular funds with a large number of the current magazines -
of the day, and usually several copies of each, so that they are passed
from one to another as they are read and they are found to be not
only very useful but very much sought for by the inmates of all the
institutions.	Very truly yours,

BOARD OP CONTROL OP STATE INSTITUTIONS,

By L. G. Kinne.

In my somewhat hastily considered questions which you, gentle-
men, were kind enough to answer, I sought to learn something of the
conditions under which you are separately, and in a measure variously*
working toward a common end.

Let me give you, at the outset, a few interesting aggregates with
certain suggestive ratios drawn from same. (For the aggregates of
population and expenditures for books I am indebted to Judge Kinne*
of the Board of Control, and to Mr. Treat, chief clerk of the Board.336

BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OF CONTROL

No. of Books Expended Books Ex-
Latest average pop- No. of books in added in for books per pend-
ulation in State In- library as re- last biennial in last bi- cap. ed per

stitutions.*		ported to me.	period.	ennial period.	cap.
Anamosa ....	. 385	9,000	1,293	$1,579.39. 23.38	$4.10
Cherokee ....	. 732	956	956	928.66	1.30	1.26
Clarinda		. 934	1,529	214	197.65	1.63	.21
Council Bluffs. 240		2,200		9.17	
Davenport ...	. 492	4,000		8.13	
Eldora 		. 458	2,635 .	885	899.34	5.75	1.96
Ft. Madison..	. 567	8,000	507	592.85 14.10	1.04
Glenwood ...	.1,009	800	' 23	39.11	.79	.04
Independence.	1,050	1,200	738	616.55	1.14	.60
Marshalltown	786	1,745		2.22	
Mitchellville..	206	1,000	266	215.98	4.85	1.04
Mt. Pleasant.	.1,051	2,800	152	147.56	2.66	.14
Vinton 		. 151	6,044		40.00	
Total ...	.8,061	41,909	5,034	$5,217.09	8.85	$1.04

This large aggregate of population—-over 8,000—committed to your
care by the State, with the already large and growing aggregation of
books committed to your keeping by the Board, must force upon you
a serious consideration of the whole subject of library policy. The
tentative and therefore temporary policies which have been pursued
in most of the institutions represented here must of necessity be soon
or late supplanted by a clearly defined policy adequate for present needs
and, of infinitely more importance, sufficient for the greater needs
of the future.

I find that six institutions have a common reading room each with
a collection of books on the shelves; six have no general library, and
one, the School for the Deaf, has none now but soon will have one.

I find that seven institutions loan books to individuals; three loan
to groups of fifty or more, using in a general sense the Traveling
Library system, and three loan both to individuals and groups or wards.

III.

These inquiries were made more with a view to finding out the
facts than to make suggestions. Librarians have to contend against
the innate desire to create a system that shall be uniform in all re-
spects. I am of the opinion that in these days when system is the
word—not only on Wall Street, but also in our western cities and
towns—it is easy to squeeze the life out of a wholesome movement in
the direction of general organization by insisting on absolute uniform-
ity.

I think the Board and the superintendents who have honored me
with a hearing will agree with me that you, individually and collectively

* Anamosa and Ft. Madison penitentiaries; Cherokee, Clarinda, In-
dependence and Mt. Pleasant, hospitals for the insane; Council Bluffs,
School for the deaf; Davenport, Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home; Eldora Indus-
trial School for Boys; Glenwood, Home for the Feeble-Minded; Marshall-
town, Soldiers’ Home; Mitchellville, Industrial School for Girls; Vinton,
College for the Blind.INSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

337

are not in the State's service for the purpose of building up a system
that shall work automatically without variation or shadow of turning.
Each, I doubt not, will clearly recognize the fact that the problems to
be solved in the School for the Feeble-Minded and those to be wrought
out in the institutions for those whose minds are abnormally active;
the problems of the hospital and those of the prison; the problems of
the School for the Deaf and those of the School for the Blind; the
problems of the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home and those of the Home for
veterans whose remaining years are at best but years of waiting, are
only in general, surely not in detail, alike.

You are where you are because you have brought your reserves
of judgment and experience to the positions you respectively occupy
for the purpose of working out certain factors in the great general
problem to which the State is committed, namely:

How best to care for the State’s dependent ones—reducing to a
minimum their inefficiency, raising to the maximum their helpfulness
and at the same time building up the foundations of character, self-
respect and regard for others. In some degree the problem of each is
unique, and your success will largely depend upon your individual
aptness for handling that particular factor which is distinctively your
own. The Board of Control has wisely refrained from repressing that
most important part of every intricate problem—the individuality of
the man to whom it is committed.

Applying these reflections on the general library policy of the
Board to the question raised by me in my list of questions,—that of a
central library,—I would only say that it would seem to me desirable
that every institution should have its central library and reading room
and that the books in that library should be accessible to all comers.
I am aware that in the penitentiary there must be severity of discipline
which would limit this free use of the library, that the physical and
mental conditions in the hospitals would of themselves seriously limit
the use of the general library, and that there are still other limitations
which will occur to you; but the fact remains, that in every institu-
tion a general library accessible to all who can avail themselves of its
benefits, should be utilized as an incentive to the inmate’s well-
doing and, in turn, as contributory to, his well-being. I would
especially urge the central library and reading room for the
benefit of the corps of officers and assistants when off duty; but of this,
more further on. In the many cases of exception to the rule, it would
seem to be well to imitate the practical wisdom of Mahomet who, on
finding that the mountain would not come to him, went to the moun-
tain. If good books exercise the informing, educating and elevating
influence which we claim for them, they should be brought from the
central library to the ward, the cell, the room, the cot, the individual—
not in a promiscuous, haphazard way, but with the utmost discretion—
almost as much discretion as the physician uses in bringing medicine
to the sick. In some institutions the group or ward system will recom-
mend itself in preference to the central library reading room. In these338

BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OF CONTROL

cases the central library, if such there be, will be only a store-room for
books; but I urge you to push to the outside limit of discretion the
permission to have direct, personal access to books.

Here I recall a picture which may have some bearing upon the
problem of the superintendents of the hospitals for the insane. It is
related that after the poet. Southey lost his reason, his favorite haunt
was his library in Greta Hall at Keswick. It is pathetically related that
he was wont to spend hours of the day walking back and forth in front
of his book shelves, his hands resting lovingly upon certain of his books
which in other years had been to him a comfort and consolation. I
think those of you who are booklovers, and doubtless this term would
include every member of this conference, will agree with me in that
there is a certain consolation to the mind perturbed or worn, in the
mere presence and companionship of books.

But getting back to practical details, I, as president of the Iowa
Library Commission, would invite the members of this conference to
visit the rooms of the Commission at the west end of the Capitol base-
ment. I invite you not only that you may know what the Commission
is doing in a general way for the library movement in our state, but
also that you may study the Traveling Library system as it is operated
throughout the State. It may be that there is something in the details
of the system, as for instance, the book cases and the charging system
in use, which could be utilized in your respective institutions—espec-
ially the larger ones.

I would call your attention especially to the simple charging
system adopted by the Commission, a system wrought out by Miss
Margaret W. Brown, librarian of the Commission,-—the product of long
experience in handling the complicated details of loaning books. In
general it is simply this:	A card-pocket is pasted in the front cover

and each book has a book-card with the author and title written plain-
ly on it. When the book is loaned the book-card is taken from the
book and the librarian writes on it the name of the borrower and the
date of the loan. When the book is returned the librarian returns the
card to the pocket in the book after adding the date of the return.
There is room for many entries on the card. The advantage of this
system is not only that it is an easy method of keeping a record of the
loan and return of books, but it also gives a history of each book—
not only the number of readers but the names of the readers. When
one card is exhausted another takes its place. This, filed, gives a com-
plete record of the book; and the records, together, give a history of
the library with all the data necessary to compiling reports as to cir-
culation, etc. This system does away with your record books, sub-
stituting the all-including card system, with the many advantages of
that system which I need not take time to explain.

FICTION.—I find the fiction question has scarcely more than en-
tered your respective Edens to disturb your serenity. It is a question
on which many a public library board has split, on,£ on which many
librarians have found themselves out of harmony with their respectiveINSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

339,

boards, and one which adds sometimes seriousness and sometimes
gaiety to the annual conferences of the American Library Association.
It will be well to anticipate the question and so avoid, or at least re-
duce to a minimum,' the friction attending its after-solution. As you
know there is no longer any such fiction question as that which con-
fronted us older men in our youth. It used to take such forms as this:
“Is novel reading a benefit or a detriment?” Or, giving the question
an ethical turn, “Is novel reading a blessing or a curse?” I have
heard, as; have some of you, the novel unqualifiedly condemned from
the pulpit as a shrewd device of the devil for entrapping the souls
of the young, the weak and the unwary. But all this is changed. Now
everybody reads more or less of fiction,—in the newspapers and
magazines and books. Teachers use novels in their classes, preachers
quote from them in their sermons, lecturers make them the themes
of their lectures. The world’s best literary critics are agreed in that
much of the thought which in other years was put into lyric, descriptive,
dramatic and epic poetry, now finds its way into the novel. Novels
embody the best work of many of the great poets of the last century,
among whom may be found Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Dickens,
George Eliot and George Meredith. Confining ourselves to our own
country, not a few of our best poets have found most of their inspira-
tion in the novel. This is almost true of Longfellow—I refer especially to
his 'Hyperion’—and of Aldrich, with his half-dozen or more novels, and
is wholly true of Howells, Helen Hunt Jackson, Edith Wharton, Hamlin
Garland and many another poet-novelist of to-day. Fiction is life either
crystallized or symbolized in the printed page, as painting is life
crystallized or symbolized on canvas. Fiction is philosophy teaching
by example. Fiction is preaching by illustration and suggestion.
Fiction is the glass through which men and women see their own
souls reflected. • Burns cried out for—

“—Some power the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us.”

That power lies within the grasp of the Scotts, the Thackerays,
the Dickenses, the Crocketts, the Barries, the Hawthornes, the Poes,
the Howellses, the Cables, the Harriet Beecher Stowes, the Hamlin
Garlands, the Octave Thanets.

I need not stop to reason with you on the fundamental question
—the value of books in institutional work. The fact that fiction finds
eager readers when and where there is no apparent desire for works
of theology, philosophy, phililogy, science in the abstract, or history
in its severer forms, is one which you as students of psychology are not
slow to note. Let me impress upon your minds the fact that while
there are many—at least ten—wide open gates to the world of literature,
few there bo who seek to enter by nine of the ten. Nearly all, make
directly for the more attractive gate of fiction. So universal is this
condition among all classes of men—including women and children—
that you may truthfully declare that there is practically one general340

BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OF CONTROL

entrance to the world of books, and that is by the fiction gate. Will
you emulate the example of mediaeval scientists and mechanics who
fought electricity as an emanation from the devil; or shall you more
wisely avail yourselves of this universal taste for fiction as modern
scientists and mechanics have utilized that ex-spirit of the power of
the air, electricity, making what was once regarded as man’s enemy
his faithful friend and serviceable ally. The question, allowing me to
put it, admits of but one answer . Your problem lies, not in the
abstract, but in the concrete; and your question is not “fiction or no
fiction?” but rather, How much “—or, if you prefer “How little fiction?”

Here let me note the status of fiction in the several State institu-
tions here represented:

IN THE PENITENTIARIES.

At Anamosa, in round numbers.......................50 per

At Fort Madison, approximately.....................37 Vz ”

cent

97

Making an average of

43 %	”

IN THE HOSPITALS FOR THE INSANE.

At Cherokee.........................................75	per	cent

At Clarinda ......................................  85	”	”

At Independence ....................................80	”	”

At Mt. Pleasant...................................  25	”	”

Making an average of.......................  66	%	”	”

IN THE STATE SCHOOLS.

In the School for the Deaf. ........................33 1-3 per cent

In the Industrial School for Boys...................33 1-3	”	”

In the School for Feeble Minded Children............ 33	1-3	”	”

In the Industrial School for Girls.................. 88	”	”

In the School for the Blind......................... 25	”	”

Making an average of.........................42 3-5	”	”

IN THE HOMES.

In the	Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home....................   .33	1-3	per	cent

In the	Soldiers’ home................................ 21	”	”

Making an average of........................271-6

This gives a general average of nearly 45 per cent.
Is the average too high, or too low?INSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

341

As applied to your own respective institutions, your answers
to the question are as follows:

Eight are of the opinion that the ratio of fiction to other hooks
is about right as it is and five favor an increase. None favor a decrease.

I now deliberately enter upon dangerous ground, for I am likely
to run against settled judgments formed from personal and practical
study of the several problems committed to you for solution. But if I
shall do no more than put your conclusions to the test of criticism,
I shall be satisfied.

Let me say right here that when I use the term ‘fiction’ I have in
mind good, sane, helpful, wholesome, and at the same time enter-
taining fiction. Not the penny-dreadfuls that sow in youthful minds
the seeds of vice, nor the elegantly bound and handsomely illustrated
novels that confound love with lust and condone offenses against the
moral law which are robbing aged parents of the support that is their
due, and breeding the social sins that war against the home, society and
the State. Nor, have'I in mind the goody-goody fiction which shuns
.all contact with sin and would ignore the three provocatives of mis-
conduct, figuratively named by the old theologians as “the world, the
flesh and the devil.” There can be no strong character-building
without resistance, without struggle and triumph; and it follows that
there can be no great work of fiction which .ignores the soul-con-
flicts forth from which come characters that really count for something
in the world. I like to recommend for young men such helpful stories
as Edna Lyall’s ‘Donovan’, Dr. Holland’s ‘Arthur Bonnicastle,’ Mrs.
Humphry Ward’s ‘David Grieve,’ Miss Glasgow’s ‘Voice of the People,’
E. Hopkinson Smith’s ‘Caleb West,’ and his ‘Tom Grogan; or for
young women such character-making stories as Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
Ward’s ‘A Singular Life,’ Mrs. Burnett’s ‘That Lass o’ Lowrie,’ Balzac’s
'’Eugenie Grandet,’ Dinah Muloch Craik’s ‘John Halifax,’ and her ‘Noble
Life’ and such books of the period as Eleanor Gates ‘Biography of
a Prairie Girl,’ which have in the narration the strength of actual
-encounter with sin and adverse circumstance. Such books are to the
moral nature what the gymnasium and athletic sports are to the
physical nature.

But to return to my analysis.

The three institutions whose superintendents favor an increase in
the ratio of fiction to all other books in their respective libraries are
ns follows:

School for Boys			33 1-3	per	cent	fiction
School for Girls			88			99
Institution for Feeble Minded Children		.....33 1-3	”	”	”
Soldiers’ Home					21	”	”	*>
Hospital at Mt. Pleasant				......25		”	”

My outside judgment—take it for v/hat it is worth—-is that in the342	BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OF CONTROL

School for the Boys and the Institution for the Feeble-Minded the
fiction may well be speedily increased from 33 1-3 per cent.-
to 50 per cent, and then gradually increased to 60 per cent.; that
the fiction in the School for Girls may well be decreased from 88 per
cent, to 60 per cent.; that the percentage at Mt. Fleasant may well be
speedily increased from 25 to 50 and then gradually increased to 60;
that the percentage of fiction in the Soldiers’ Home may well be in-
creased as speedily as possible from 21 to 50, and then gradually in-
creased to 75.

Of the several classes of institutions whose superintendents recom-
mend no change in the ratio, my best outside judgment, whatever it
is worth, is as follows: that the libraries in the hospitals for the
insane should contain 75 per cent, of fiction. This would reduce the*
ratio at Clarinda 10 per cent, and at Independence 5 per cent. As-
before stated it would increase the ratio at Mt. Pleasant 50 per cent,
and leave the percentage at Cherokee as it now stands.

In the several schools I would have fiction range from 50 to 60.
per cent., thus materially increasing the ratio in all the schools but
one.

In the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home, which is virtually a school, I
would gradually increase the percentage from 33 1-3 to a point be-
tween 50 and 60.

I would in general terms define my position as to fiction for
convicts as follows:	First—The convict mind is rarely philosophical,

rarely analytical, largely governed by feelings and influenced
by emotions and passions. The ethical side of the convict’s
education is possible only as the feelings, emotions and passions
are touched. To reach the convict the educator must knock at the
door of his imagination. If that door swings open, all else is possible,
if that door remains closed, all other doors are sure to be doubly bolted
and barred.

I am sure Chaplain Jessup, of Ft. ^Madison, must have found
the secret of ingress to the convict’s mind, for in a letter accompanying,
his answers to my questions, he pays this strong tribute to the library
as an adjunct to educational work at the prison:	“It cannot be too'

highly spoken of in relation to discipline, and its direct effect on.
the prisoner is remarkable.” I have no doubt in my own mind that
the work of the chaplain at Ft. Madison would be accompanied with
far richer results were the companionship to which he refers enriched
by a large accession of rare works of fiction through which the life
blood of great men and women has been found to flow.

I would be extremely liberal in dealing out well selected fiction to
the insane. It has been demonstrated, over and over again, and the.
superintendents of our Iowa hospitals confirm the demonstration, that
in many cases books do minister to the mind diseased. Over the
door of the public library in ancient Alexandria was a significant in-INSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

343

rscription which freely translated would read, “Medicine for Hurt
Minds/' When you think of the possibilities for the diversion and en-
tertainment of diseased minds, which may he found between the covers
of a book, do not hesitate to supply the books that directly appeal to
the imagination, books that afford the bewildered mind an avenue
leading forth from its labyrinth into some other world in which self is
lost in sympathy.

In the several schools I would have about the same proportion as
should be placed in any other school library, the kind and quality
dependent upon local conditions. Here should ever be kept in mind
the duty of superintendent, or librarian, to make the reading of
fiction a healthful stimulus to the reading of poetry, biography, history,
philosophy, science and the applied sciences. The best fiction suggests,
or at least stimulates interest in, the substantial lines of investigation
and the more elevating planes of thought. The step from the historical
novel to biography should be invited by the librarian in charge. The
step from the novel of affairs to the study of affairs—the study of inven-
tions, of trade combinations, of world movements—and the study of
careers, their weakness and their strength; the step from the novel of
motive, of aspiration and of purpose, to the ethical works which make
pointed and practical right motive and purposes and which direct the
newly aroused ambition into healthful channels,—all this should be en-
couraged by the librarian in charge and by all who come in contact with
the student-mind.

When we come to the veterans of the War of the Rebellion, we
find a class by itself. The State, appreciating their past services
and deploring their necessities, has provided them a home, not distinc-
tively a hospital, not in any sense a place of detention nor in any
'sense a school. Many of them are inveterate readers and more of
them would read, and be the happier therefor, if the appetite were
more strongly tempted. In view of the solace which reading would
afford them in their declining years, what limit would I put upon
fiction with this class? I have given figures, but am disposed to
withdraw them, leaving as my final answer:	The only limit I would put

upon them is that which they would put upon themselves. In other
words, with a variety of good books of all classes to draw from, with
a larger percentage of fiction than of any other one class, and with
freest access to the books on the shelves, I would have the librarian
make careful note of all selections and, at the end of the year, find
the percentage of class with class, revising this percentage with every
succeeding year. I would follow this lead, making the library at the
Soldiers' Home strong along the line of natural selection.

PERIODICALS—In all thirteen institutions represented here, I am
pleased to note a liberal supply of such periodicals as are found to
stimulate interest in world-happenings, in the trend of world-thought
and of the life-currents surging all about them of which they would
otherwise know little or nothing. The pictures in the illustrated
magazines are of themselves worth many times more than they cost344

BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OP CONTROL

as wholesome food for the imagination. In the magazines of the period
we may find that happy mean between two extremes, namely healthful
recreation and helpful information and suggestion. Let me add right
here the suggestion that our Library Commission clearing house is now
overstacked with such standard magazines, as McClure’s, the CosmopolL
tan and Munsey’s, which are yours for the asking—your institutions
paying the freight.

ASSISTANTS—In my questions put to the superintendents
nothing was said of the literary necessities of the assistants variously
named in various institutions,—the valuable and essential corps of
allies on whom the Board and the superintendents rely for the develop-
ment of their policy and the working out of their plans. I do not
mean simply the physicans, the trained nurses, the chaplains in the
prisons, the teachers in your schools and the instructors in your
workshops, though most of the reading is likely to be done by them ;
but I would include also the humblest employes in the various institu-
tions. Attractive as positions in State institutions seem to many on
the outside, those who fill them must come to feel that they are missing
some of the gratification which comes from life in the larger world
outside. In a limited sense they are prisoners—though self-elected to
imprisonment. It is important that these, from the greatest to the least,,
shall be made not only comfortable but happy in their work; and the
work which you are doing toward the building of libraries in your
respective institutions will not be what it should be, unless the library
as an institution becomes a constant source of solace and satisfaction,
of entertainment and instruction to those who have cast their lot with
you. In planning for the future of your library, keep ever in mind
the duty, the necessity, of providing for the intellectual needs of your
executive family.

Library Training and the Summer School. In another paragraph
I have referred to the services rendered, or the services which might
be rendered, by acting librarians in encouraging and directing the
reading of those with whom they come in contact. It gives me
pleasure to note that in all, or nearly all, of the State institutions
represented here, there has been more or less encouragement extended
to those who should use the library. I note also with satisfaction, that
in most of the institutions here represented some meaure of classifica-
tion or cataloging has been attempted. Several institutions have well
arranged and helpful book or pamphlet catalogues for the use of the
inmates. Only one institution reports an attempt at a card catalogue
and that only an author’s list without the necessary classification
which must come later. Let me urge upon you, and upon the Board,
the present desirability and, too, the future if not the present necessity
of the card catalogue known in library circles as the dictionary
catalogue, one consisting of authors’ names and titles and subjects of
books alphabetically arranged with appropriate classification according
to the now generally accepted decimal system, and with shelf-numbers
which shall make the class and not the alcove the unit of location.INSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

315

Without attempting a detailed explanation, let me add that under
such a system there is no possibility of embarrassment through the
encroachment of one class, or department, upon space preempted by
another. Under the alcove system, or under the arbitrary setting aside
of certain space for one class and certain other space for another
class of books, the moment your space in one department is filled you
are helpless, and until it is filled you have more or less unused space;
while under the expansive system now in general use in libraries,
there can be no encroachment of one class upon another for the depart-
ment or class, to-day, next week or next year, is just as large as the
number of books it contains.

'‘But,” you say,' “the number of books in our library it too small
to require a card catalogue.” Possibly, and yet you would be surprised
to find how much a card catalogue would be consulted if one were
inaugurated in your library. But the chief reason for inaugurating it
now, is that under the general plan and purpose of the Board with
reference to libraries as outlined in Judge Kinne’s letter, your library
will continue to grow and must soon assume proportions which will
make it more and more difficult to handle under the old system—or
lack of system.

The re-cataloging of an old library is laborious and expensive. The
re-cataloging of our State Library was a work of six years, the ex-
pense of which to the State for cataloguer’s salary alone was $6,000
to which may be added at least another $1,000 for material and inci-
dental expense. Begin your card catalogue early and much inconven-
ience, annoyance and expense will be avoided.

All this leads down to an experiment I want to see tried. A sug-
gestion occurs in one of the questions put in my letter of inquiry, as
follows:

“Would you recommend that your acting librarian be sent, at State
expense, to the Summer Library School at the State University (six
weeks) provided the Regents of the University would be willing to
remit the entrance fee?”

As I had anticipated, the answer in most cases was in the nega-
tive. Of course it was not to be expected that convicts, or mildly
insane persons, or children, or persons only temporarily acting as
librarian, would be sent to the Summer School. Of the ten who
answered the question but two gave affirmative answers. Namely the
superintendent of the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home and the superintendent
of the School for the Deaf, fin the case first named the librarian
is the superintendent’s stenographer, and in the second case the
librarian is a teacher in the school. After receiving the replies, I
wrote to President MacLean of the State University, asking him if
he would recommend remitting the entrance fee to two pupils sent to
the Library School by the Board of Control. Miss Tyler, secretary of
the Library Commission, and director of the school united with me
in the inquiry. His answer was that he would be pleased to make346

BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OF CONTROL

such recommendation to the Regents. I regard the President’s letter as
conclusive and would therefore urge upon the Board of Control the
sending of the two persons above ndmed, that the Board may judge
from the outcome as to the value of training to acting librarians in
State Institutions. I hope to see the experiment tried because I am
convinced of the direct good which will result therefrom; and, too,
because I am of the opinion that with growing libraries on your
hands it is only a question of time when the uncertainty of tenure
of the acting librarian, and other reasons given by eight of the super-
intendents will cease to exist. In other words the time is nearing
when every State institution must have as its acting librarian some
one whose tenure is reasonably sure and whose knowledge includes
not only a general knowledge of books, but also at least a general
knowledge of library science.

The eight institutions from whom negative answers were received
to the question as to the training of acting librarians, represent
libraries the contents of which aggregate 35,691 volumes—an average
of 4,461, which average is of itself a good-sized library, calling for the
practical application of the general principles of library science.

The immediate application of these principles to all the State
institutions is not advisable and would not be desirable. My duty
begins and ends with recommending the sending of two acting li-
brarians to the Summer School—which commences very soon—that
they, the institutions they represent, and the State that maintains
them, may receive the benefit thereof,—leaving with you and the
Board of Control the question of ending the experiment there or
carrying it further.

Let me add a few words on the reasons assigned for the negative
answers returned. Two cases gave uncertainty of tenure of acting li-
brarian—a good and sufficient season, but one which should not long
exist. In one institution, the simple nature of the books kept was
given as the reason. The emphasis now given in all the library
schools of the country to instruction for children’s librarians must
convince the most skeptical that there is much work for. librarians
among the young and, by parity of reasoning, among the mentally
backward. The special instruction given at the school last summer
by Miss Moore, of Brooklyn, N. Y., in library work among children
would seem to me to he extremely valuable to one in charge of books
for the feeble-minded. In the case of one institution the reason
assigned for the negative answer was the impropriety of recommending
a relative to the advantages of the Summer School. I see the force
of this objection and would leave the matter to the Board of Control
without comment. A library of even 1200 volumes would seem to me to
warrant scientific classification, cataloging and shelf-listing as a basis
for future accessions.

It would be worth something to the State in the future to
have a nucleus of librarians sufficiently trained to do ‘organizing work*
such as classifying, cataloging, shelf-listing, etc., who could be trans-INSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

347

ferred temporarily from one institution to another as they might be
needed, and who would have in the larger institutions sufficient work
to keep them occupied when not on special duty. At the present
time it would pay the state of Iowa to employ at a salary of §75 a
month, a trained cataloguer and organizer to go from one institution to
another, organizing each library on a scientific basis and instructing
the librarian, or an assistant, in scientific methods of handling hooks
with the best results therefrom.

Let me urge upon you the desirability of keeping and embodying
in future reports for future reference, such library statistics as, for
example, the exact total number of books—instead of the round—very
round—numbers used in several of the answers received. Also the
accessions and withdrawals since the last report, the amount expended
for books since the last report, with a report of the number and
quality of the circulation of the books.

In response to my genera! question: Is the library a help to you in
your work, the answers were, all together, an unqualified tribute to
the value of books as a comfort and solace, a benefit and blessing,
and therefore a valuable means to a desirable end.

In their enthusiasm some who responded to my inquiry were not
restrained within the limits of an affirmation. Let me quote from
some of the tributes:

One pronounced the library “a most important help.** Another
writes:	“We are proud of our library, only hoping to increase the

number of books, thereby increasing the benefit derived therefrom.”
Another:	"We should hardly know how to get along without it during

the winter months.” A prison chaplain writes:	“It is one of the

best things about the prison, helpful to the discipline and an en-
couragement to the men to look hopefully to an improved future.” And
in an accompanying letter the answer is emphasized in these suggestive
words:	“The library as an adjunct to the prison cannot be too highly

spoken of in relation to discipline and its direct effect on the prisoner.
The lot of the prisoner would be doubly hopeless and his reforma-
tion much less a possibility without the aid and companionship of
hoods.”

Prom the Soldiers* Home comes this word: ' “Our library is cer-
tainly a great help to the institution. But, as you know, when men
reach an advanced age it is hard for them to see, or to fix their
minds on any deep study or reading; nevertheless the books, together
with the magazines and papers, furnish occupation and enjoyment to
many of the old veterans.”

Thus having ascertained the value of the library as a means to
a most important end, and having made such suggestions as time would
permit, let me conclude with a single generalization from the theme
to which I have addressed myself.

I would crystallize into a single phrase the general policy of348

BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OF CONTROL

Iowa’s Boar.d of Control and of the executive officers of the institutions
under its control:

“The most and the best books, for the least money; the best
ethical and educational results, with the most of satisfaction to the
reader.”

Sterne in his “Sentimental Journey” describes a trifling incident
which has its suggestion for you. While walking down a long, dark
passage-way, soliloquizing on the Bastile and the necessity of penal
laws, he heard a childish voice and the startling words:	“I can’t get

out! I can't get out!” He looked up and down the passage-way
but was unable to discover man, woman, or child. Later, returning,
he heard the same words, repeated time after time, and finally looking
up, he saw they came from a starling hung in a cage overhead. The
tourist turned and said “But I’ll help thee! Cost what it will!” He
tried in vain to twist the wires of the cage. The bird flew to the
place where he was attempting its deliverance and thrust its head
through the trellis pressing its breast against the wires. Unable to
effect its release the man walked away, his mind regretfully recalling
his former soliloquy concerning the necessity of penal laws. As he
walked up stairs he conscientiously unsaid the words which he had
said while going down. A postrophizing imprisonment of body, or of
mind, he exclaimed:	“Disguise thyself as thou wilt; still, still thou

art a bitter draught! and, though thousands in all ages have been made
to drink thee, thou art no less bitter on that account.” Then, address-
ing himself to liberty, he added:	“ ’Tis thou, thrice sweet and gracious

goddess, whom all in public or in private worship; whose taste is
grateful, and will ever be so, till Nature herself shall change.” Recol-
lections of the imprisoned starling pursued the traveler to his room.
He sat down at his table, leaning his head upon his hand, and gave
full sweep to his imagination. He thought of the millions of his fellow
creatures born to no inheritance but slavery. He thought of all the
heart-sickness that follows hope deferred. He saw the iron enter into
the soul of the prisoner. He heard the clanking chains upon his legs.
He burst into tears.

Who among us has not at some time in his life, if not at every
stage of life’s progress, felt to some degree the shut-in feeling which
the starling voiced in the words “I can’t get out!” If we who are, in
theory at least, in full enjoyment of our freedom, find ourselves more
of less shut in by walls of circumstance, how much more must that
feeling take possession of those who are shut in by afflictions—physical
or mental, by those who are restrained by necessary, discipline and
by those whose restraint is part of the public protection! If the
library is worth something to us, what may it not be made to do for
the eight thousand shut-in souls committed to your keeping! In
approaching the library question keep this thought in mind and, too, let
your imagination dwell upon the fact that the library is a monument
to the godlike dignity of man,—man the dreamer of dreams, the seer of
visions,—the only one of God’s creatures that dreams dreams and seesINSTITUTION LIBRARIES.

319

visions,—the only one that bends himself determinedly to the task
of realizing his dreams and materializing his visions; the only one that
iooLs back to find the wisdom of the ages as written in the history of
nations and the lives of men. The birds in yonder fields and woods
build their nests as those of their kind built them ages ago.
The beavers build their homes exactly as their remote ancestors built
them in a prehistoric past. The only changes they make are forced
upon them by changed environment. But man is ever on the outlook
for new worlds to conquer, for new contributions to humanity’s service,
for new visions of the thought of God as felt in the laws of the
•universe and as written in the wisdom of the ages. See to it, then,
that the library—that epitome of the world’s knowledge, philosophy
and progress—is given the treatment it deserves in all your educational
and ethical plans and that the several libraries you create in your
respective institutions shall be so many monuments to your judgment
and to your enlightened and enlightening benevolence.

CONCERNING TEMPERANCE INSTRUCTION.

By Geo. M. Kline, M. D., Second Assistant Physician, Mt. Pleasant

State Hospital.

It may appear from the title, in as much as this paper will
treat the subject to a considerable extent from the standpoint of the
school, that the writer is presumptive in entering into a field of
investigation belonging more properly to the teacher.

No one will deny that the introduction of temperance instruction
into the school curriculum was a wise and progressive step in combating
the drink evil, and it is not to be inferred that the writer is endeavor-
ing to belittle the importance and is not in sympathy with its aims.
Nevertheless, it is to be regretted that this instruction as now -pursued
in our public schools, is not as effective as it should be.

A letter of inquiry was addressed to the county school superinten-
dents throughout the state to learn what was being done along this
line in Iowa and that some conclusions might be arrived at, as to the
value of instruction on this subject. The replies to this letter showed
that the results attained were not commensurate with the energy and
time employed in the teaching. A very few felt satisfied that all was
being, accomplished that was possible, but the majority, as far as they
were able to observe maintained that the present method of instruction
has not materially lessened the evils of drinking among our boys.

This ineffectiveness, from the general trend of the replies, is due
to the following causes:—a failure to give any instruction whatsoever
on this subject; a lack of interest manifested by many teachers in3 01

2 077875745

350	BULLETIN IOWA BOARD OF CONTROL

this work; the inaccurate and unfit way with which text books handle
the question; and, a constant destruction of the school teaching by
conditions in the home life.

It is apparent that very little regard is given its importanc^ in
many schools. One superintendent says, “I believe that in rhany
schools, the effects of drinking are taught simply to comply with the
law.” Another writes, ‘Teachers must not report this subject taught
in all grades, as was done in a town I have in mind, when to my
knowledge not a word had been spoken upon this subject during
the entire year.” Several teachers admitted that the subject'was
taught in an indifferent manner, little interest being taken in present-
ing the subject.

The cause of temperance must surely suffer when such an atti-
tude of inactivity and .indifference is manifested by the teacher. And,
though no system of instruction can be devised that will be ideal and
accomplish all that is to be desired, lasting results of this instruction
could be greatly enhanced by more earnest and systematic work on
the part of the teacher.	*	.

In this state as in nearly all the states, temperance instruction
in schools is now compulsory. In compliance with the law, the subject
is taught in connection with that of physiology and hygiene. It was
necessary at the time that this temperance legislation was passed that
the text books on physiology be revised and attention, too often undue
attention, drawn to the dangers of drinking. In this revision of the
text book,, that the law would be complied with, and more especially it
would seem, to satisfy the clamor of the over-zealous temperance
society and worker, much material of a harmful character was inserted.
A great deal of it was of a kind that had a tendency to scare children
into not using alcoholics, rather than give simple easily understood
reasons for avoiding their use. In many texts, extreme cases of
alcoholism are described with the result that they appear overdrawn
and exaggerated to the ordinary pupil.

Nearly every superintendent thought that the text books con-
tained many unscientific statements and much that was undesirable
on this subject. One superintendent writes, “Many text books give
exaggerated and untrue accounts and the average pupil quickly finds
such statements with the result that doubt is cast on the true state-
ment and the pupil unconsciously becomes in a slight sense , the
defendant, as all children naturally will side with the person who is
receiving unfair treatment.”

It is easily seen that if the statements and theories on the alcohol
question, to which considerable space is devoted in the modern text
book, are discredited by pupils that they are apt to doubt the truth-
fulness of other branches of the physiology. To illustrate this point,
the argument in one text book for exercise, as stimulating the circula-
tion is almost identical, word for word, with a criticism on the use of
intoxicants.