6i6 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



allowing the railways and the public 

 a chance to arrange terms between 

 them, with public opinion as the 

 I)rincipal court of appeal. 



THE FUNCTION OF THE PUBLIC 

 • •• LIBRARY. 



A PAPER that was read by Mr. 

 Lindsay Swift, of the Boston Pub- 

 lic Library, at a meeting of the 

 Massachusetts Library Club, on the 

 subject of Paternalism in Public 

 Libraries, and which we find in 

 the Library Journal for November 

 last, is one which, in our opinion, 

 deserves to be separately printed 

 and widely circulated. It abounds 

 in good sense, and preaches a doc- 

 trine of self-help and self-reliance 

 which is much needed in these days. 



A question which the author of 

 the paper does not discuss, but 

 which, it seems to us, lies at the 

 threshold of the whole subject, is 

 whether the very existence of a pub- 

 lic library — if we understand by the 

 term a library supported by public 

 taxes — is not in itself an exempli- 

 fication of paternalism. Mr. Swift 

 strikes us as a benevolent bureau- 

 crat who w^ants to give the people at 

 large a wider liberty in the matter 

 •of reading than the ruling influ- 

 ences of time and place are disposed 

 to allow. He sees that liberty is 

 good, that leading strings belong to 

 infancy, and he raises his protest 

 against a paternalism in the man- 

 agement of public libraries which, 

 under the plea of providing only 

 the most approved reading for all 

 classes, would tend to the repres- 

 sion of individuality in the reader 

 and the establishment of the su- 

 premacy of commonplace. But what 

 if commonplace insists on being su- 

 preme and shutting out whatever is 

 not of one complexion with itself? 

 How are we to resist its demand 

 in the administration of a State- 

 supported, and therefore majority- 

 ruled, institution? "You offer us," 

 say its representatives, " a liberty 



we do not want for ourselves, and 

 are not prepared to concede to 

 others, as we are sure it can not be 

 for their good. We are not going 

 to consult the tastes of cranks, 

 criminals, intellectual aristocrats, 

 or social mugwumps of any kind. 

 For all practical purposes we are 

 the public, and we mean to run this 

 public library." To the objection 

 that a portion, at least, of the taxes 

 is paid by those whose views and 

 tastes are not going to be consulted, 

 the answer would be ready : " It is 

 for the majority to say how taxes 

 shall be applied." We recognize the 

 excellence of Mr. Swift's intentions 

 and sympathize with his way of 

 looking at things, but we feel that 

 his objections to " paternalism " in 

 connection with public libraries are 

 delivered from a somewhat shaky 

 platform. We observe that a peri- 

 odical quoted in the Library Jour- 

 nal — the Overland Monthly — makes 

 the remark that " there is nothing 

 to be said for free books that could 

 not be urged in favor of free beef- 

 steaks and free overcoats." 



Some of the points, however, 

 that are made by Mr. Swift are de- 

 serving of attention. The several 

 professions — law, medicine, theol- 

 ogy, etc. — would more or less like to 

 have only such books placed upon 

 the shelves of a public library as 

 represent what may be called their 

 respective orthodoxies. But, as Mr. 

 Swift observes, " libraries are as 

 much the depositories of the folly 

 as of the wisdom of the ages." A 

 library, therefore, should tell us 

 what men have thought and at- 

 tempted in the past, and what they 

 are thinking and attempting now. 

 It is for schools and colleges, for 

 newspapers and reviews, to afford 

 guidance in the wilderness of opin- 

 ions, not for the library to make 

 a point of putting out of people's 

 reach everything that is not in line 

 with the scientific, literaiy, or other 

 orthodoxy of the hour. 



