I 
 
 V As ttife result of the cut 
 fiia'de by' the city council in 
 the 1917 library budget, the 
 Tacoma librai'y boai'd Friday 
 solved its retrenchment pi-ob- 
 lem by unanimously voting to 
 close botli the South Taconia 
 and McKinley Hill brajiclies 
 for one year beginning Jan. 1. 
 The board decided to .operate 
 only the main building at 12th 
 and Tacoma av., such scattered 
 delivery stations in the outlying 
 districts as are willinig to circu- 
 late books at their own expense, 
 and the station In Rhodes Broth- 
 ers’ store. 
 
 Store to Pay .$1,000 
 The Rhodes Brothers’ station, 
 however, will be financed entirely 
 at the store’s expense^. $1,060 hav- 
 ing been promis( 
 ance,. the, librarj 
 ue complete CO 
 The cut .mA^e 
 
 cil amounted to 
 
 Since October the%D’»lt^ has had 
 a committee, consistin^^of 'Bishop 
 F. W. Keator, SuperihWndent of 
 Schools W. F. Geiger ^d Harry 
 E. O’Neil, at work stucfjnng vari- 
 ous plans for retrenchmeat 
 The action taken Frld- ' \\'as on 
 the recommendation of u ' - . 
 
 mittee. 
 
 Call In V. W. Expert 
 
 The committee made a detailed 
 
 mainten 
 n- 
 
 (ioun- 
 
 k 
 
 cost- -anaJjfcis of six alternative 
 plans for ^'9l^,»assisted ky ProJ. 
 W. E. He«W,, director of fho JJni- 
 versity of,l^§hlngton library and 
 library school, .who was called in 
 at the .suggestion of - Librarian 
 Kaiser and offered his- services 
 free in mal^ngi a detailed survey. 
 
 As the result* pf his survey, 
 Henry, in his repbrt to the board, 
 declared that none of the branches 
 could bo maintained even on part 
 time schedule, and' that no alter- 
 native was possible. • *»» 
 
 Compliments Library 
 He also declared that the 
 coma library has beeri ren^et^A 
 far more service theen -almos^rtca^ 
 other similar lijrafy In the. ccJhh- 
 try at a cost fter nersQ.^; served and' 
 per volunieJWftolated far bfetoS# 
 the average. ^ • *“ - 
 
 In other concluded 
 
 that the library was* offering a 
 degree of service ^o. the public 
 which was all out. of 'proportion to 
 the amount .of funds provided by 
 the people of the city for Its main- 
 tenance. 
 
 The retrenchiment plans will call 
 for a nine uer.eent. cut in •” - sal- 
 ary roll. 
 
 K^ads tn Como Off 
 
 "• set as the date 
 
 for announcing which members of 
 the library staff will he released. 
 
 The board agreed that only the 
 
 mo^k capable and efficient em-' 
 liJoyes would be' retained to serve 
 t8e Batfons of the main library. 
 
 .The-fboa-rd’s action mean^- ^iat 
 tt^e 'fSllowing outlying - d^ 
 stations will b6' Ketai.ned,..asr TO’e'y 
 have' agreed to' ke^'p the books 
 circulated* .at, iio'iexpense to the 
 board.: . 
 
 ^;iLef t 
 
 Fern lHl^'rafeth'i^5fei=n'Hill post- 
 
 off fbe^oT - 
 
 ■.-•ifc" Dunn’s Grocery, 
 »j|*is’on streets. 
 
 jib(rtoi*f*'ht ^TBenatt’s Grocery, 
 STtfe^Adf Pm^.pT. 
 a e'C'; f h e r s . 
 
 t.<fei^t''-Add.i^Gn, at Dague Drug 
 C^^'SovitH* SStli and Yakima. 
 
 iKi'e Roosevelt, Larclimont and 
 cS?iter stations will be abolished. 
 
 Delegation Appears, 
 
 A delegation from the IMcKin- * 
 ley Hill branch appeared before , 
 the board before final action was ^ 
 taken and made a plea for the : 
 continuance of the library there. I 
 They were told that the only . 
 possible way to continue would 
 be for some store in the neighbor- 
 hood to offer to distribute the 
 books free of cost. 
 
 Librarian Kaiser announced 
 that various economies had al- 
 ready been put into practice and 
 that many more were under way. 
 
A MISFORTUNE 
 
 ' The anuoiineement that the branch Tacoma 
 libraries are to be abolished has awakened some 
 of us with a start. 
 
 ‘ We have received a jolt that will not let us fall 
 off in a doze again for some time. 
 
 Certainly Tacoma folks are not feeling any, 
 sense of pride today in having the news go out to 
 the rest of the country that the city is cutting out 
 its libraries. 
 
 We have to be hit with a jolt like this to realize 
 that our libraries are nearly, if not quite, as im- 
 portant as our schools in the healthy, intelligent 
 progress of the city. 
 
 Perhaps our city fathers didn’t realize what 
 they were doing when they chopped such a hole 
 in the vitals of the citj^ Perhaps they did their 
 best in a difficult situation. 
 
 We might have no regrets if the library board 
 had been extravagant, or if the institution had 
 been developed out of proportion to the growth of 
 the city. 
 
 But we have the word of an expert such as 
 Prof. Henry of the University of Washington 
 library, that the Tacoma library, with its branches, 
 has been rendering far more service to the people, 
 with less money to do it on, than any other similar 
 library in the country. 
 
 The library board is not to blame for the pres- 
 ent misfortune — for misfortune it is. 
 
 It is up to the people of South Tacoma and Mc- 
 I Kinley hill now — in fact it is up to all the people 
 I of the city — ^to create a sentiment so strong that it 
 1 will be impossible, when the next budget is drawn, 
 
 ' to leave our library stranded — a cripple. 
 
 With our books taken out of our reach, it is just 
 like a neighborhood after our best friends have 
 left it. 
 
TELLS WHY LIBRARY 
 CUT IS NECESSARY 
 
 Bishop Keator, President of Board, in Statement 
 Points to Ne cessity of 
 
 Retrenchment 
 
 That the Tacoma public library If 
 grlving- better service than the funds at 
 its disposal warrant and that retrench- 
 ment is an absolute necessity, are the 
 outstanding: features of a statement 
 given out Saturday by Bishop Frederic) 
 W. Keator. president of the library! 
 board. Bishop Keator’s statement in'j 
 eludes a report made by Professor Wl 
 E. Henry of the State university 
 library, who has made a careful study] 
 of conditions in Tacoma. The state-, 
 ment gives a full explanation of thej 
 reasons for the board's decision toj 
 eliminate the McKinley Hill and South! 
 Tacoma branch stations. I 
 
 The statement follows: 1 
 
 We are at a most critical stage In' 
 the history of the Tacoma Public Li- 
 brary and the library board, believing., 
 that a public office is a public trust l 
 which should be reported on, wishes I 
 the citizens of Tacoma to understand 
 the situation fully. 
 
 The library budget for 1917 allowed 
 by .the city council was 18% belov/ that 
 of 191G. For the five or «ix week." 
 since this became known to the board 
 the librarian and the library staff 
 have been making a thorough study of 
 the 1917 retrenchment problem. 
 
 In reporting thus publicly on our 
 study and conclusions we do not mean 
 to direct attention to the fact that the 
 library was cut far more, proportion- 
 ately, than any other city department 
 except the civil service board, without 
 any apparent investigation on the 
 part of the council of the quantity or 
 ■quality of the work done by the li- 
 brary. It is merely our business to ' 
 give the best service possible on the 
 funds allowed us. 
 
 An efficiency survey of our work 
 was the most natural and effective ; 
 method of ascertaining the facts and 
 the data required as the basis for solv- 
 ing our problem. Such a survey has ■ 
 been made by a special committee of ’ 
 the board, the librarian and the head? 
 of departments. In addition, the li- 
 brarian, Mr. Kaiser, suggested that an 
 outside library efficiency expert be 
 called in to give his candid opinion on 
 the situation after an independent in- 
 vestigation, and the library board in- 
 vited Professor W. E. Henry, director 
 of the State University library and its 
 library school, to make such an in- 
 vestigation. 
 
 This has been done and Professor 
 Henry’s report in full is given a little 
 .later. 
 
 The budget committee of the board' 
 considered eight alternative proposals 
 for 1917 and made a cost analysis of 
 each. They were: 
 
 1. Open the main library only. 
 
 2. Open main library and Rhodes 
 station at Rhodes’ expense. 
 
 3. Open main library and outlyi-ng 
 delivery stations (without paying for 
 serves). 
 
 4. Open main library, Rhodes sta- ( 
 tlou at Rhodes’ expense and stations i 
 (no pay). 
 
 5. Open main library, Soiith Taco- '( 
 ma branch one-half schedule and 
 Rhodes station at Rhodes’ expense. 
 
 G. Open main library, McKinley Hill 
 branch on one-half schedule, and 
 Rhodes station at Rhodes’ expense. j 
 
 7. Open main library and .South Ta- 
 coma branch half time. ' 
 
 8. Open main library and McKinley 
 
 Hill branch half time. ; 
 
 A comparative statement of the cost 
 • ■f these various plans is given below, 
 and it must be borne in mind that in 
 addition to salaries, books, binding i 
 an I periodical.^, the expenses for the ■ 
 maintenance of the library and its , 
 ■ir es Include light, water, fuel, I 
 ne, building repalr.s, furniture, 
 ent repair and a great quantity 
 mical. office and janitor sup- 
 
 i 
 
 E.vpensc EKti!nnic.s 
 
 1 $.30,871 
 
 ■> 30,49,3 
 
 n H .31,533 
 
 I'lan 4 31,582 
 
 Plan 5 32,614 
 
 Plan 6 32,034 i 
 
 • Plan 7 32,754 
 
 Plan 8 32,024 
 
 The appropriation. for the library for 
 1917 is $30,046.40. Additional income ! 
 from fines, etc., may make the avail- 
 able funds ar. much as $31,300. j 
 
 It was the opinion of the commit- ; 
 tee that the board should operMe the! 
 main library efficiently, if po.ssible, j 
 thus providing one central place where 
 good library service would be render- ’ 
 ed. and operate in addition only such j 
 agencies for book distribution as could 
 be effectively managed with the re- 
 mainder of the library fund. .i 
 
 From the data, in the hands of the 
 eommittee it was apparent that the 
 board could not operate either of the j 
 branch libraries, even part time, dur- j 
 ing next year, and at the same time [ 
 keep the main library open as at pres- 
 ent. I 
 
 
 It was then voted that the com- j 
 mittec recommend to the library board . 
 that it adopt Plan 4, providing for the 
 opening of the main library, the sta- 
 1 ion at Rhodes Brothers at Rhodes 
 Brothers’ expense, and such of the de- I 
 livery stations as can be operated , 
 without compensation to the proprie- 
 tor of the store in which placed. This 
 plan the library board adopted unani- 
 mously at its meeting Friday, Novem- ; 
 
 bev 24. * 
 
 It seems fitting here to insert Pro- ' 
 fessor Henry’s report. Professor Hen- 1 
 ry was a.sked to give especial atten- ; 
 tion to the question of the proportion i 
 of the salary roll to the total expense i 
 of the library, the individual salaries j 
 paid, the quantity and quality of work j 
 :donc. and the principles of retrench- ^ 
 ment to be applied: 
 
 Peport. with recommendations, upon 
 a brief investigation of the expendi- 
 ture, equipment and service of the Ta- 
 coma Public Library : 
 
 1. FACTS. 
 
 1 Tour total salaries are out of 
 proportion to your total Income as 
 mea.sured by the average of cities and 
 libraries of approximately the .same 
 size distributed over the country. 
 
 2 Your individual salaries are not j 
 too high in any case and some of them j 
 are too low as measured by the ser- 
 vice rendered or by the demands of 
 living expenses. 
 
 3 Tour expenditure for equipment, 
 i. e. book.s, periodicals and binding, is 
 below the average per cent expended 
 
 
 4 Your circulation is larpror than 
 not only the average of similar cities, 
 but in excess of most as measured b.v 
 size of library, size of staff, or amount 
 of total income. , . ^ . 
 
 o. Your equipment is deteriorating 
 while tiie use of it is growing. 
 
 6. Tour staff is rendering excellent 
 service for the salaries p.Tld and for 
 the equipment provided, 
 
 7. Your city is not adequately pay- 
 ing for the service it is receiving and 
 it is paying much less per capita for 
 library purposes than is being paid in 
 other cities witli whieh It would be 
 willing to be compared. 
 
 s. Of both your staff and your 
 cquipmeni you iire giving of your sub- 
 stance to feed the poor. 
 
 II. CO.MMEXT 
 
 1 have made a comparative .study of 
 the equipment and .service of the Ta- 
 coma Public Library with the same 
 
1 
 
 
 of is other public lIbJ-*ries 
 J or about the same size and conditions 
 r well distributed over the United States 
 and find two fundamenta’ difficulties, 
 eac.h to a deerree exp. > ing and re- 
 inforcing: the other. 
 
 1. That the proportion of the entire 
 expenditure which is given to .str ff 
 salaries averages 46 per cent in th 
 libraries, but that you are using 
 per cent of your entire expenditure 
 for this purpose. 
 
 Thi.s might happen: a. Because of 
 exorbitant salaries; b. Because of a 
 larger staff than is necessary to ren- 
 der the service your library is iving , 
 c. Because you are rendering a great- 
 er service than is consistent with your 
 Income and your equipment. Let us 
 examine these separately and In de- 
 tail. .V 
 
 A. Tour individual salaries are not 
 too high in a single Instance. Your 
 librarian and heads of departments, 
 each requiring good scholastic educa- 
 tion, college graduation or Its eqJiv- 
 alent, plus professional training of ne 
 or two years, should be upon a s' iry 
 basis equal to the principals ani' e- 
 partment heads of your high sc' s. ' 
 If you will examine the salary lU in 
 both cases you will find the a'dva g 
 
 much in favor of the high s )o 
 
 teachers. Tour assistants should i n! 
 In salary with grade teacher.s. T le 
 do not so rank. 
 
 Many of your assistants are pai' 
 scarcely living salaries if we can ,a 
 sume they are wholly dependent uper 
 their income and we have no rigb; iV 
 assume otherwise. It is not witi t 
 the province of any public Institutin' 
 to exact or to accept service for 
 than fair compensation becar- , 
 employe happens to live “r n 
 within the city of employ • 
 some of your employes are 
 more than they are recelvli 
 not the quality of persons tt. .i a. 
 economically employed in a 7 '\i 
 Statistics of other libraries upo 
 point are lacking or so indefin’i 
 they can be used with but littk ^ 
 Comparison with schools is fair, 
 sure. 
 
 Exorbitant salaries, then, do n 
 plain the fact of ^oo large a pei 
 being given to salaries. 
 
 E. Is it true that the staff Is larger 
 than Is necessary to render the ser- 
 vice that is given? Upon a statistical 
 study of your service as indier ted by 
 the circulation, which Is tl; sig- 
 nificant single item in *b' of a 
 
 public library, I am, c ,n\ ii i that 
 your staff Is not undeserving. On the 
 contrary, I find that your circulation 
 *per staff member is equal to the best 
 jB.nd better than the average. An ad- 
 .ditlonal evidence upon this point is the 
 fact that you are circulating your 
 books at a per volume circulation cost 
 much lower than the average, ranging 
 from one-half to two-thirds the cost 
 fofind In other similar libraries. 
 
 ' Tour staff, therefore, is not too 
 large for the direct service you are 
 rendering your patrons. We cannot 
 account for the excessive salary total 
 on the grounds proposed in A or B. 
 
 C. Are you rendering a greater Im- 
 me<liate service to your patrons than 
 is consistent with your income and 
 equipment? 
 
 It has been shown that you are ren- 
 dering greater service than the aver- 
 age. Tour city is appropriating less 
 per capita of your population than is 
 done in other similar cities. With 
 these two facts In mind, it is clear 
 that you must be sacrificing some- 
 where to accomplish the Immediate 
 service. 
 
 Looking further Into your distrlbu- 
 \ tlon of expenditure, I find that you 
 ' are exhausting the most essential 
 ■ equipment of jmur library, that is, 
 your supply of books. Your library 
 i.s feeding upon its own vitals, which, , 
 if continued, means death. 
 
 2. Tour expenditure for books, 
 periodicals and bindings, taken as a 
 unit, is now below what it has been, j 
 'll and it is much below what Is being 
 expended by other similar libraries. 
 The average of expenditure in the 
 several libraries studied is approxl-- 
 mately 25 per cent of the entire ex- 
 penditure. while in your library it Is 
 only 17 per cent of your expenditure. 
 Eight per ceirt additional of your en- 
 tire outlay should have gone into these I 
 items. This means that your equip- 1 
 nient must be deteriorating, rather i 
 rapidly. An additional evidence In I 
 this same line is the fact set forth in | 
 the reports of the department heads i 
 recently rendered to your librarian. 
 These reports almost uniformly state 
 that the book stock is being depleted 
 by discarding worn-out volumes and 
 by withdrawing many volumes in peed 
 of lebinding. Of course, no institu- 
 tion can live and thrive unle.ss it 
 keeps it.s growth of equipment at 
 least a little in advance of its service 
 exhaustion. 
 
 Here, then, under C, may be explatn- 
 
 H both facts that must be remedied, 
 your salary total is too large rela- 
 tively becausein your desire for ex- 
 cellent immediate service to the pa- 
 trons you have increased your staff 
 numbers and your total staff salaries 
 out of proportion to your income and 
 a corresponding cut had to be made 
 somewhere, since your appropriation 
 is a fixed sum, and you have made It 
 in your essential equipment — books, 
 periodical, s and binding, considered as 
 one unit. 
 
 Combining C under 1 and 2, my con- 
 clusion is that you are rendering a 
 I greater immediate service to your pa- 
 I trons than is consistent with your in- 
 Icome or your equipment for 1916, and 
 I .still more out of proportion to what 
 ' is appropriated for 1917. 
 
 In short, you are rendering a great- 
 er service to a hungry public, whose 
 appetite your skill and devotion have 
 whetted, than the public is willing to 
 vote funds to supply. You are ex- 
 hausting the library by overdraft up- 
 on its ability to serve. 
 
 III. RECOMMENDATIONS 
 
 1. In the light of these facts and 
 in harmony with the opinions already 
 foreshadowed, the only alternative ap- 
 parent to me is fb decrease your sal- 
 ary item by decreasing the number of 
 the staff and discontinuing all agen- 
 cies except the main library and pos- 
 sibly such stations as can be con- 
 ducted with very little or no cost. 
 And I would recommend alternative 1 
 or 3 as set forth by your librarian 
 in the series of six. 
 
 2. In decreasing the number of per- 
 sons in your stafi and reorganizing 
 what your financial resources will 
 justify you in retaining, I would 
 recommend that you select for reten- 
 tion those whose general education, ' 
 professional preparation and valuable 
 experience best fits tjiem for Intelli- 
 gent and growing service to the pub- 
 lic in a library capacity, and their 
 number must be determined by the 
 proportion of your funds you can de- 
 vote to salaries apportioned in reason- 
 able salaries measured by your best 
 equipped persons, not by the work 
 that you would like to do for your 
 people nor by their needs. I am sure 
 this recommendation, if followed, will 
 ultimately give your citizens the best 
 .service that your money can secure for 
 them. I hesitate to make any recom- 
 mendation that will make necessary 
 the removal of any person from a po- 
 sition, but. considering the \iltimate 
 good of the institution which means 
 the good of all your citizens, I can 
 see no alternative, and certainly no 
 individual Interest must stand against 
 the interest of all. 
 

3. I Would recommend that yot 
 make reasonable increases in the sal- 
 aries of those whom you retain ap- 
 proximately as you estimated in your 
 proposed 1917 budgret, or better. Let 
 your people understand that a ibrary 
 staff is not merely a g-roup of work- 
 ers, but that most of them are im-: 
 portant guides, directors, advisers in| 
 the educational wonc of your city in' 
 phases of education in •m m/ ways, 
 more important than the '/r.-k done 
 by the teachers in the sch( s. 
 
 Young girls with little .-cholastici 
 education, little or no pi essional 
 training and no backgro md of cul- 
 ture from reading or travel, are of 
 little use in a library. In tact, they 
 . cannot be economically used, except 
 ^in a few instances where merely 
 clerical service Is demanded, and that 
 type of service is not largo in a li- 
 brary of the size now being consider- 
 ed, but grows more rapidly in larger 
 libraries. 
 
 4. As to the internal organization 
 of the staff, when the number and 
 personnel of the revised staff is fixed 
 upon, I can make no recommendation. 
 
 The judgment of the librarian and 
 the heads of departments must deter- 
 mine that in the light of such ex- 
 perimenting as may be necessary with 
 persons you select and tht work which 
 must be performed. This adjustment 
 will be guided in part by seasons, in 
 part by emergencle.s ■nd in part by 
 many tested Judgmem . The admln- 
 ! istrative ffiehibers u’ Lhe staff 
 I can make these adj. stments. 
 
 6. I would further recommend that 
 you begin at once with the new year 
 devoting a reasonable portion of your 
 funds to bringing up your rebinding, 
 to doing what binding of periodicals 
 is needed, and to 'c lenishlng your 
 book supply. In the ring year you 
 should not only expo 1 the normal 
 proportions In these x nes, but you 
 must expend In advance of the normal 
 what will replace the exhausted stocli. 
 
 When larger funds come to you, as 
 they doubtless will, you will find little 
 or no trouble making up a good staff 
 in a few weeks or months, but to build' 
 up a book collection requires much 
 time and continued care. 
 
 6. As a suggestive guide for the 
 apportionment of funds which, by th' 
 way, can not bo absolutely followed, 
 
 I would suggest the following: ^ 
 
 1. For salaries, from 4.5 per cent to] 
 50 per cent of your available funds. 
 
 2. For books, periodicals, bindlngl 
 and rebinding, from 20 per cent to 2 1 
 per cent of your entire available funds, 
 giving binding and rebinding the rlgh< 
 of way, and to book purchases wha 
 may then' be available. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 (Signed) W. E. HENRY. 
 
 November 21, 191G. 
 
 Though the report advocates plan 
 1 or 3, the board adopted plan 4, in- 
 volving practically the same expend!- f 
 tiire. feeling that it should accept Mr. | 
 H. A. Rhodes’ offer of paying $1000 j 
 for the maintenance of the library .sta- 
 tion in his store, which he did with I 
 the understanding tliat it would no’ ' 
 he regarded as a precedent, but inerc- 
 ly a.s an cir\cr:vency nioa.«i!ve fny (lii/ 
 year 1917, This station circu la ty.s anf 
 nually some 42,000 volumes of ih 
 
 421,000 circulated throughout the en- 
 tire library system. 
 
 The plan adopted applies all the 
 principles of retrenchment which wars 
 recommended to the board. The sal- 
 ary roll is reduced 9% and the equip- 
 ment expense increased 4%. Another 
 year, if a reasonable appropriation is 
 made, almost a complete adjustment 
 to the percentages suggosited should 
 be possible. 
 
 The board has under way a number 
 of plans for economy In the operation 
 of the library aside from retrench- 
 ment, some of which are already in 
 practice as a result of the self-anal- 
 ysis made by the library staff. 
 
 The retrenchment plans decided on 
 rlready Include the elimination duilng 
 ±917 of extra clrculattog copies of 
 cereain periodicals and of a few unln- 
 dexed magazines from tne reference 
 department subscription list. Also, 
 January 1, 1917, fines on overdue 
 books drawn on adult cards will be 
 raised from one cent per day to two 
 cents per day, as is the practice Ini 
 most public libraries. 
 
 Let it be said in conclusion that no 
 one can regret more than does thol 
 ibrary board the necessity for closing 
 
 shlng the ■ervlce we are rendering 
 
 le people of Tacoma. 1 1 is a. 
 
 a step backward. It would seem, 
 owever, from Professor Henry’s re- 
 rt that It is only possible to keep 
 our good service by increasing the 
 .ids for library purposes. 
 
 .T. REV. FREDERIC W. KEATOR. 
 
I 
 
 I Crippling the Library 
 
 '■j ' 
 
 ( ' ■ e action of the library board in curtailing the 
 
 , ' service in this city and closing outlying branches 
 
 ■k have been expected. The board’s hands were 
 
 • the action of the city council in cutting their 
 
 ■ i latlon several months ago. Whatever protests 
 
 c. ^’om the inconvenience that outljing districts 
 s\.j;fer sho»Od be directed to Mayor Fawcett and~the 
 
 j raeijbers of the council. The slash in budget appro- 
 priations was rer.nor dble. 
 
 Professor Henry of the "University of Washington, 
 ' an expert of note, declares that the Tacoma library and 
 its branches have been rendering more service to the 
 >eople for less money than any similar library in the 
 . country. It is a matter of civic regret that the good 
 
 ■ work which the library has been doing is checked. 
 
 When the next budget is up for consideration the 
 sentiment of the citizens of Tacoma ought to be so 
 strongly expressed to the council that the work of the 
 library will be forwarded ai’d not crippled. 
 
 
 T'r'j mayor seems to have changed his mind about it. Some days ^ 
 agcf '•^ked “Of what use is a city library anyway?” Now he i 
 i in favor of keeping library branches open in S outh 
 
 Tacomk and McKinley Hill. If the mayor were helpful instead of 
 , antogonistically critical tnere are many phases of Tacoma public h e 
 I that would be ever so much more valuable. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 \