Some of the questions selected at random, show the demands made upon the room. A committee of the City Council is appointed to investigate the question of public service corporation commissions, and the library receives a call for material upon the question "Whether it is better to have public utilities regulated by state public service commissions, or to have them regulated by the City Council." When the investigation of the telephone rates is to be made the history of the telephone investigations carried on by previous councils is looked up. Upon investigating the advisability of electrifying the railway terminals, statistics are demanded showing the amount of damage that is done by the smoke of the railroads in the city limits. Only the live, up-to-date material can be of any value to these city officials, and a knowledge of what other cities have done relative to these questions is necessary.

Newspaper men who are doing such excellent work in keeping the people informed about what improvements are being made to better the conditions in the city, demand a great deal of a civics room. For example: A newspaper man writing a series of articles upon how to improve Chicago, wishing to write an article on housing, sends in a call for information regarding Schmidlapp houses, and it is our business to get him the material. Again he wishes to show how to reduce the cost of living, and sends in a request for information concerning the conveyance of produce from the farmer to the consumer by means of the interurban cars. Or again he wishes to inspire the public with the desire to beautify the city with window boxes and flowers and he wishes to know what European cities are doing along this line.

Civic associations and women's clubs are constantly making demands upon our resources. Such questions as:

What material have you from the budget exhibits of other cities?

Statistics showing the death rate in garden cities as compared with the death rate in cities where the population is congested.

The provision of giving the wages of prisoners to the support of the family.

Public comfort stations.

City planning and garden cities.

The question of working women's wages in its relation to the social evil was studied, during the recent investigation of the Illinois Vice Commission, by students and women's clubs.