LIBRARIES, PUBLIC. 



327 



Ping- Yang city, nearly demolished and deserted 

 in the Chino-Japanese War, has now a popula- 

 tion of 100,000, who are diligent and thrifty and 

 profit by the great mining enterprises recently 

 opened near them, and in the working of the coal 

 that crops up almost everywhere around the city. 



Kun-san is at the mouth of the Keum river. Its 

 tide has a rise of 21 feet. 



Politics and Events. An anti-Christian up- 

 rising in February, led by the ultra-Confucianists, 

 was nipped in the bud by the energetic action of 

 the foreign representatives. The treaty between 

 Korea and Belgium was ratified Feb. 23, in Seoul. 

 The Korea branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 

 formed in October, 1899, have published two vol- 

 umes of their Proceedings. On April 20 Baron P. 

 G. von Mollendorff died at Ningpo. From 1882 

 to 1885 he was in the service of the Korean Gov- 

 ernment, and introduced many reforms, until the 

 Koreans suspected him to be under the influence 

 of Russia, and he was relieved Sept. 4, 1885. Rose 

 island, dominating the harbor of Chemulpo, which 

 had been bought by Japanese, was recovered by 

 the Korean Government. A great outbreak in 

 May in Quelpaert island, arising chiefly from the 

 levying of excessive tolls, in which the adherents 



of the French missionaries suffered, called for the 

 despatch of a large military force ;ui<! a French 

 gunboat, which arrived after the troubles had 

 been quelled. The eightieth birthday of Hie Em- 

 peror's mother was celebrated -June Ml uiih gn-ut 

 festivities. In carrying out the renovation of 

 Seoul, much work has been done in tin; park ne;ir 

 the great white marble pagoda, famed throughout 

 Asia, which was erected in a monastery during 

 the splendid Buddhist age, before Seoul was 

 founded. The rice crop, owing to the omission of 

 the usual rainy season, proved for the most part 

 a failure. Export was for a time prohibited, and 

 300,000 bags of rice from Annam were imported. 

 The Koreans on Kang-wa island have erected tab- 

 lets to the memory of the slain at the hands of 

 the Americans in 1871, when the marines and sail- 

 ors from Rear- Admiral John Rodgers's fleet were 

 led by Commander (now Rear- Admiral ) Winfield 

 S. Schley. A memorial service in honor of the late 

 President McKinley was held in Seoul, Sept. 19, 

 at which the diplomatic body was present in full 

 force. 



The year has been one of steady national prog- 

 ress and great activity and success among all the 

 missionary bodies. 



LIBRARIES, PUBLIC. The following state- 

 ments include additions to the general summary 

 published last year, as well as a review of some of 

 the principal events of 1901. 



Increase of Libraries. Statistics collected by 

 the United States Bureau of Education in 1900 

 show that there has been a remarkable increase of 

 libraries in the past five years. The number of 

 libraries of 1,000 volumes or more was found to 

 be 5,383, containing 44,591,851 volumes. Com- 

 parison of these figures with those of the bureau's 

 report in 1896 discloses an increase of 1,357 li- 

 braries and 11,539,979 volumes (almost 35 per 

 cent.). While the North Atlantic division has 

 2,473 of these libraries (New York alone having 

 718, Massachusetts 571, and Pennsylvania 401) 

 and more than half of the number of volumes, the 

 largest gains have again been in the North Cen- 

 tral (40 per cent.) and Western (38 per cent.) 

 divisions, Oklahoma showing 379 per cent, in- 

 crease, and Arkansas, Indian Territory, New 

 Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and West 

 Virginia more than 100 per cent. each. The North 

 Central division has 1,728 libraries and 11,211,710 

 volumes, the South Atlantic division 421 libraries 

 and 5,303,237 volumes, the South Central division 

 374 libraries and 1,886,731 volumes, and the West- 

 ern division 387 libraries and 2,779,596 volumes. 

 There is an average of one library to every 14,118 

 persons, and 59 volumes to every 100 population 

 (in 1896 the number was 47). In New York 

 there are 103 volumes to every 100 of population ; 

 in Massachusetts, 236; in California, 120. Of 

 these libraries 4 have over 500,000 volumes each, 

 3 between 300,000 and 500,000, and 47 between 

 100,000 and 300,000; 3,654 have fewer than 5,000 

 each. Financial statistics were given by some 

 libraries. Of these, 1,016 received $2,349,294 

 through State, county, or city appropriations; 

 988 received $2,213,715 from taxation; 714 re- 

 ceived $1,198,955 from endowment funds; 962 re- 

 ceived $488,130 from membership fees and dues; 

 294 received $50,742 from book-rents; 819 received 

 $551,522 from donations; and 1,474 received $1,- 

 000,048 from sources not stated. The total in- 

 come of 3,115 libraries was $7,812,406. The ag- 



gregate of the endowment funds reported by 645 

 libraries is $25,267,643, and the value of buildings 

 owned by 710 libraries is $47,083,805. The amount 

 expended for books in the year by 2,972 libraries 

 was $2,056,675. 



The libraries having fewer than 1,000 and more 

 than 300 volumes now number 3,878, and contain 

 2,018,658 volumes. This makes the number of all 

 libraries having more than 300 volumes 9,261, with 

 a total of 46,610,509 volumes, a total gain of 

 2,077 libraries and 12,014,251 volumes. There 

 are, besides, several thousand libraries having 

 fewer than 300 volumes each. 



Gifts. According to the report presented to 

 the American Library Association, more than 

 $16,000,000 were given to American libraries in 

 the year ending July 1, 1901. Some of the details 

 will be found in the present volume under GIFTS 

 AND BEQUESTS, but reference must be made here 

 specially to Andrew Carnegie, whose gifts during 

 the period in question reached the aggregate of 

 $11,219,500. 



New York City's Library System. The fig- 

 ures above include Carnegie's gift of $5,200,000 to 

 the city of New York for a system of 65 branch 

 libraries, of which 42 go to the boroughs of Man- 

 hattan, the Bronx, and Richmond, to be controlled 

 by the New York Public Library, the rest to 

 Brooklyn. In New York city (borough of Man- 

 hattan) the New York Free Circulating Libraries 

 (January, 1900), the St. Agnes Free Library 

 (1901), and the Washington Heights Library 

 (1901), have become circulating branches of the 

 Public Library, and a State law makes it possible 

 for any other circulating libraries 'to consolidate 

 with the New York Public Library without fur- 

 ther formality; similarly in Brooklyn, most of 

 the smaller libraries have been brought within the 

 fold of the Brooklyn Public Library. The estab- 

 lishment of 8 libraries in the public schools of 

 Manhattan, controlled by the Public Library, is a 

 move the results of which will be watched with 

 interest. It brings the library into intimate rela- 

 tions with the schools. 



Print Departments. In 1900 the New York 

 Public Library decided to establish a department 



