12 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
universal dissemination of knowledge and virtue, by means of free 
publie libraries” This pamphlet is said to be a second edition of 
an earlier one entitled “The intellectual flambeau,” published at 
Washington in 1816. 
The first public library law in America was that passed by the 
State of New York in 1835. One writer,’ indeed, states that it was 
“ the first known law of a state allowing the people to tax themselves 
to maintain genuine, public libraries. The law did not establish 
libraries for schools (as some have supposed) but for the people, in 
districts of the size of a school district.” In fact, the author of the 
Act, John A. Dix, Secretary of State for New York, distinctly stated 
that “ The object was not so much for the benefit of children attend- 
ing school, as for those who have completed their common school 
education. Its main design was to throw into school districts, and 
place within the reach of all their inhabitants, a collection of good 
works on subjects calculated to enlarge their understandings and 
store their minds with useful knowledge.” 
This Act provided that : 
1. The taxable inhabitants of each ‘school district in the state shall have 
power, when lawfully assembled at any district meeting, to lay là tax on the 
district, not exceeding $20 for the first year, for the purchase of a district 
library, consisting of such books as they shall in their district meeting 
direct, and such further sum as they may deem necessary for the purchase 
of a bookcase. The intention to propose such tax shall be stated in the notice 
required to be given for such meeting. 
2. The taxable inhabitants of each school district shall also have power, 
when so assembled in any subsequent year, to lay a tax not exceeding $10 in 
any one year, for the purpose of making additions to the district library. 
3. The clerk of the district, or such other person as the taxable inhabi- 
tants may at their annual meeting designate and appoint by a majority of 
votes, shall be the librarian of the district, and shall have the care and 
custody of the library, under such regulations as the inhabitants may adopt 
for his government. 
4. The taxes authorized by this act to be raised, shall be assessed and 
collected in the same manner as a tax for building a schoolhouse. 
Three years after the passing of this act, $55,000 a year was set 
apart by the State of New York for books and apparatus for school 
districts, provided the districts would give as much as their pro rata 
share. The example of New York was soon followed by other States 
ci the Union, both in the east and west, and eventually paved the 
way to a broader and better system of free public libraries supported 
hy local rates. The school district library reached its highest develop- 
ment between 1838 and 1851. Early in the seventies it was found 


1 Dr. Homes, ‘“ Legislation for public libraries,’ Library Journal, July- 
August, 1879. 
