Show SUPPORT THEL LIBRARY i Considerable ble comment has peen been made on the discovery by the library board that a cOlmen appropriation of 2000 for the institution has been been burked burke burked and an declared illegal by b tho the city attorney ney ne To aggravate the situation no nono no notice tice of this acton action was given the li library J board bold which w based its is meagre expenditures qi QI the supposition that to at atthe I the 2000 was available and It is ts I now confronted with an overdraft to be met out of its is already inadequate te revenue from taxes Just what grounds the city attorney found for declaring the tle appropriation has not appeared When Mr made his magnificent gift gUt of grounds and a library building b to the city Lit the council counci accepted accept d the toe gift gUt deed and the conditions which went vent with it I namely that the city should always adequate funds f for fSr the th main mal maintenance maintenance of the library For more than thana a decade the institution has struggled along on a revenue that is pitifully un unequal unequal equal ual to tIle the Ue demands mands d made on It it itIn In Iii spite spie of the fact that it Itis is one ore of the most useful and valuable factors actors in th the educational life Ufe of the people the council counci has gone along from ron year to year y r levying of or a mill ml tax ta for the library U rr crippling its ns usefulness making it I almost impossible to buy bu any new books qt keep up the stand standard standrd standard ard rd of or work w rk When WIlen the change of r quarters quartes was made and the new Pack Packard Packard Packard ard building b was opened the board boar found their operating expenses in iii increased creased very materially Still Sti there ther was no increase of the levy len and on an I I appeal appeal from the library board bod the council passed ass this tiIs appropriation as an emergency measure It I seems curious that bills bis for carriages inci mci incidental dental expenses for or entertainment p of Jake Raleigh in country visits and numerous other othor incidental expenses of elt city officials should sho l be legal but that an In n open appropriation for or a city institution which the council counci is pledged to maintain should be condemned off offhand of offhand hand and without an opportunity for forthe forthe forthe the library management to io present pre ent its side of or tIm case caseI If I the tho js Is s illegal leg l then th the council counci is under obligation o to make ma e ea a provision Jor br or the library ia In ft the next tax levy lev at least enable the hoard to meet mo me t its ts current and anI provide sOho sum s slim m small s aH forthe for the acquisition of books and the efficient maintenance mal of or o the peoples s library No other oilier civic ci io institution returns as much from froni the outlay of or orI funds as this none Jo other ot ct is so o t serviceable to all al the people From the youngsters oun who are learning to o read up to the old men who find their daily pleasure In it its reading room it I reaches moje mc e people of all aH classe clase than any other branch of ot the th public service It I is Js peculiarly an institution of the people and it i deserves most liberal support at the hands of the council |