PLACE AND PURPOSE OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
The place now assigned the public library, by very general consent, is that of an integral part of our system of public and free education. On no other theory has it sure and lasting foundation; on no other theory may it be supported by general taxation; on no other theory can it be wisely and consistently administered. A public tax can be levied for the maintenance of a public library only upon the principle which underlies all righteous public taxation, not that the taxpayer wants something and will receive it in proportion to the amount of his contribution, but that the public wants something of such general interest and value that all property-owners may be asked and required to contribute towards its cost.
The demand for intelligent and effective citizenship is increasing daily, for two reasons: First—The problems of public life and of public service, of communal existence, are daily becoming more complex, more difficult of satisfactory solution. Second—We are recognizing more clearly than ever before that our present success and prestige are due to the fact that more than any other people in the world's history have we succeeded in securing that active participation and practical co-operation of the whole people in all public affairs. In the whole people are we finding and are we to find wholesomeness and strength.
But coincident with this discovery, this keen realization of the place and value of all in advancing the common interests of all, has come the feeling: First—That the common public schools must be made good enough for all; and, Second—That even at their best they are insufficient. The five school years (average) of the American child constitute a very narrow portal through which to enter upon the privileges and duties of life, as we desire life to be to every child born under the flag. There is need of far more information, instruction, inspiration and uplift than can possibly be secured in that limited time.
Casting about for a satisfactory supplement and complement for the public schools, we find the public library ready to render exactly this service; to make it possible for the adult to continue through life the growth begun in childhood in the public school. Only in this way and by this means can we hope to continue the common American people as the most uncommon people which the world has yet known.
Henceforth, then, these two must go hand in hand, neither trenching upon the field of the other, neither burdening or hampering the other, each helping the other. The public school must take the initiative, determining lines of thought and work, developing in each child the power to act and the tendency to act, making full use of the public library as an effective ally in all its current work, and making such use of it as to create in each pupil the library habit, to last through life. The public library must respond by every possible supplementary effort, by most intelligent co-operation, by most sympathetic and effective assistance, and by giving pupils a welcome which they will feel holds good till waning physical powers make further use of the library impossible.
NATIONAL EDUCATION ASS'N REPORT, 1906.
The most imperative duty of the state is the universal education of the masses. No money which can be usefully spent for this indispensable end should be denied. Public sentiment should, on the contrary, approve the doctrine that the more that can be judiciously spent, the better for the country. There is no insurance of nations so cheap as the enlightenment of the people.
ANDREW CARNEGIE.