THE WHITER PITTSBURGH 443 



was 1,463,207. Of the entire withdrawals from the library, the per- 

 centage of fiction to the whole was less than 58 per cent. It is stated 

 by the librarian, Mr. Hopkins, that the withdrawals in 1908 will prob- 

 ably exceed two millions. The Boston Public Library had, last year, 

 a total of 903,349 books. In 1907 the report of the Boston Library 

 showed a home circulation of 1,461,403. The report states that of this 

 number 70 per cent. " very nearly " of the entire withdrawals was 

 fiction: including juvenile books, the percentage of fiction was much 

 greater. These comparative figures are worth considering, since they 

 indicate the importance to the community of the work of the Pitts- 

 burgh Library. It would perhaps hardly have been supposed that the 

 relative proportion of useful books, namely, works of science, history, 

 travel, philosophy, art, biography and religion, which are being read 

 in a community composed so largely of workers in the industrial trades, 

 exceeds the showing of the Boston Library by 12 per cent. 



The Carnegie Technical Schools were established in October, 1905; 

 and they have a present endowment of four million dollars. There are 

 four schools: for engineers; artists and designers; tradesmen; and 

 women; and their development has been according as space could be 

 made ready. At present the accommodations are not adequate ; but 

 when the fine and commodious School of Applied Science is finished, 

 next September, it is anticipated that the present departments will all 

 be adequately housed. As time passes, buildings will be erected as 

 necessities demand and funds permit. The statement is made that 

 the buildings now provided equal not more than one seventh of the 

 future's needs. The number of students at present, in all departments, 

 is 1,750. They come from thirty states; and it is reasonably antici- 

 pated that the schools are going to draw from all quarters of the world. 

 The growth is very rapid, in appreciation and interest. 



The School of Engineering comprises electrical, mechanical, civil, 

 metallurgical and chemical; while under architectural, a department is 

 maintained by itself. The School of Design is virtually that of archi- 

 tectural design. 



The trade courses embrace draughting, electrical wiring, plumbing, 

 bricklaying, sheet metal and cornice work. (In one of the lofty rooms 

 of this department a complete two-story hoiise is in course of construc- 

 tion, wherein all of the technical features of electrical wiring and 

 equipment, plumbing, drainage, etc., are carefully demonstrated.) The 

 trade courses also involve foundry practise, forging, pattern making; 

 machine-shop practise; house and sign painting. 



The "Women's School comprises technical courses for the daytime; 

 and trade courses in the night schools. In the technical courses are 

 mathematics, English history, social ethics, chemistry, drawing and 

 designing. Also, departments of dressmaking and millinery are in- 

 cluded. There is a special department intended for professional 



