AN OLD CAMEL BACK LOCOMOTIVE AND IRON HOPPER COAL CARS, FORMERLY USED IN THE SERVICE.

THE system of traveling libraries,

under the care of the state, was introduced to the American people in 1892. In that year the legislature of New York authorized such libraries, and in February, 1893, the first one was sent out from Albany. From the day that New York began the experiment, interest has been growing, and more than half a dozen states have already taken up the plan. The purpose is that those who dwell in a community far removed from a library may be able to obtain some of the privileges and advantages of those who have easy access to a large collection of books. In brief, on the application of responsible parties, and the payment of transportation, a selected number of volumes (usually 50 or 100) are sent from the central library to a community, to circulate among the people for few months. The books so sent form the traveling library." This is the New York plan, which is developing along the lines followed in Australia, where the traveling library has been in operation a number of years.

But long before the state of New York had taken up the traveling library some of our American railroad companies were circulating books to the employes along their lines; and those states that have adopted the system of traveling libraries can extend their usefulness by enlisting the interest of railroads and railroad men in the work. The railroad, the means of travel, should be made the means of introducing the traveling library into every corner of the state. The experience of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is direct evidence that the effort would be crowned with

success.

During the last half century the state of New York has spent millions of dollars on books for the people. It is, therefore, not unnatural that there should be a larger use of the traveling library of a railroad in a section where, until within recent years, the free circulating

library was almost unknown. Such a

library, in some of its features both original and unique, is found in the Baltimore & Ohio Employes' Free Circulating Library. This library, after having been moved several times, is now at home in a large second-story room, in the building at the corner of Pratt and Poppleton streets, Baltimore, at the Mt. Clare shops.

was

In 1884 the late Dr. W. T. Barnard "assistant to president" of the B. & O. corporation, and to him the library is largely, if not entirely, due. Dr. Barnard was actively interested in the B. & O. Relief Association (now the Relief Department), and thus acquired a knowledge of the sad lack of educational facilities along the main stem and branches of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad." He therefore undertook to establish a free circulating library "exclusively for the use of the employes and families of employes of this service." His plan was outlined in a circular, dated December 1, 1884, from which the following is taken:

"The establishment of a Free Circulating Library for the employes of the company is undertaken in the belief that such an institution will be welcomed by all classes as a popular and desirable measure, and that, through its agency and development, much-needed opportunity will be afforded employes to qualify themselves for promotion and advancement in life, while at the same time their children, wherever located, will have at hand facilities for study and instructive reading matter seldom obtainable outside large cities. This will be done without cost to employes and in such a manner that the books furnished can be utilized not only at reading-rooms (not always convenient of access), but also amid the comforts and society of their homes.

"The plan, in brief, is, by means of contributions of money and books, to establish a compact general and technical library, selected with special reference to the wants and tastes of employes and their families; to print inexpensive but carefully prepared catalogues and cards on which to make requisitions for books, and to so distribute them that every member can receive and return literature, without delay, through the company's train service.

"This library is therefore to be exclusively for the use of all employes, their wives, and more particularly, their children. Its mission will be to exert an elevating and educating influence on those it reaches. It will supply current periodicals, standard

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works on the sciences, general literature, poetry, historical, text and other books of practical utility to engineers, mechanics, firemen and other railroad employes, and those especially adapted to educating and forming the character of the young. Whatever is immoral in tendency will be rigidly excluded from its shelves, and its management will do all it can to discourage the use of literature from which unhealthy and unreal ideas of life might be drawn.

"It has been created and will be sustained by voluntary contributions of money and literature from the officers and employes of the Baltimore & Ohio Company and outside friends interested in their welfare.

"Its headquarters will be at Baltimore; but it will undertake to distribute books, etc., to any point on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad lines."

The plan, as outlined by Dr. Barnard,

received the official sanction of the company March 2, 1885, through an order of the president, the late Robert Garrett. The order provided for the management of the library by a library committee, said committee to be composed of two directors of the Technological School, two members of the committee of management of the Relief Association, and a representative of the B. & O. Company, appointed by the president. The principal instructor of the Technological School and the secretary of the Relief Association were to be members of the library committee ex-officio. The Technological School was abandoned some years ago, and since then its representation on the committee has been dropped. When the Relief Association was changed to the Relief Department the corresponding officials of the latter became members of the library committee. The library year begins December 1, and the members of the committee are appointed annually. The president of the company appoints the librarian.

The library committee, as provided for in the president's order, organized and began work at once. They appealed for aid to those only who were financially interested in the company. They collected $5,391 and received about 1,500 well selected books as donations. The nucleus of the collection was a donation of 600 volumes to the employes at Mt. Clare by the late John W. Garrett, in September 1869.

December 3, 1885, the library began its work with 4,500 volumes on its shelves, 3,000 of which had been purchased. The first year 16, 120 volumes were circulated, 4,850 at Mt. Clare, and the remainder at different stations on

the lines of the B. & O. The circulation for the second year was 23,514; for the third year, 23,470, a slight decrease. The fourth year showed an increase of more than 2,000 over the previous year; and since then there has been a steady growth in the circulation. The circulation for 1895 was 37,702, and in 1896 2,500 borrowers drew 39,505 volumes from the library. Since 1885 more than 300,000 volumes have been drawn.

These books travel as far westward as the Mississippi River, through eight great states, and over a railway system approximating 3,000 miles. They are delivered to borrowers through local agents, and the average time, from the placing of an order for a book in the hands of an agent until the book called for is in his hands, is now less than 24 hours for the entire system. The library uses 674 agencies, each agency serving as a delivery station for the employes of the community or department.

Along with the increase in the number of books used there has been a decrease in the percentage of fiction. The first year 64 per cent of the circulation was fiction; the percentage of fiction is now less than 53 per cent.

A book may be retained two weeks, and may be once renewed for a like period, or oftener, if no application for it is on file. There is a fine of one cent per day on books kept over time, but a margin of three days is allowed to cover the time consumed in transit.

On leaving the service of the company all books must be returned before pay vouchers are cashed; otherwise the value of the book will be deducted from the wages of the employe.

The whole system of sending out and returning a book is similar to that of the registry department of the postoffice. Every person who handles a package receipts for it, so that it is possible to trace anything that may be lost. The company is responsible for all books in transit, and it exacts the same care in the handling of library property that is required for all other property.

The system of ordering and charging books for circulation is very simple. The borrower fills out a requisition blank, that is, by writing the name and call numbers of the books he wants, which

he selects from printed catalogues, and by signing his name and address and the department in which he is employed. The requisition is then countersigned by the agent through whom he wishes to get the book, and it is sent to the librarian at Mt. Clare, Baltimore. The librarian takes the first book on the list (using his discretion, however, in case of fiction to select for the reader), and then makes out a record-card for the transaction. On this card is entered the date, the requisition, book, agency and package number, and the name of the borrower. The card is filed in the order of the book number. Another entry is made on a card under the agency number. This entry shows how many and what books are at any agency at any time. When a book is returned its number is marked off on the agency card, and the charge on the card filed under the book number is canceled. A new series of requisition numbers begins every year on the first of December, and the requisition number is always the total circulation of the fiscal year to date.

After all entries have been duly made and the requisitions have been stamped and dated, the books are wrapped in packages. These packages are then stamped and labeled for delivery through the baggage department to the agents along the lines. Several agencies take

such a number of books that satchels are used in carrying them back and forth.

To prolong the life and usefulness of the books, and at the lowest possible cost, the librarian uses for binding and repair the leather from worn car seats, which he gets from the passenger car

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repair shops. The leather is practically useless when it is removed from the seats, but the pieces he is able to get makes a binding that is both neat and durable.

Mr. Irving, the enthusiastic librarian. goes over the lines once a year visiting all the agents in the interest of the library. This is done during the summer, when, for about four weeks, the library is closed.

The library now contains about 14,000 volumes. Gifts of suitable books will be gladly received.

Corporations, like individuals, are recognizing that their duty to those they employ is not complete on the payment of the stipulated wage. Hence it is that relief departments, Young Men's Christian Associations, and other helpful organizations are established or encouraged by so many of our railroads. These organizations raise men to a higher physical, intellectual and moral plane of life-the very fundamentals. of faithful service. In other words, it pays to have some regard for the men outside of working hours.

The force of good books in our daily lives is being felt and recognized more and more every day. To the section hand and his family, living in rockbound isolation, to the operator in the signaltower, waiting for the click of his instrument to call him to duty, to railroad workingmen everywhere along the Company's lines, the books from Baltimore are bringing sunshine; and in the economy of the universe I fancy that it is no less important to cause such sunshine than it is to cause two green blades to grow where now there grows but one.