a large lunch room for the use of the employees, and several unassigned

rooms.

Through the generosity of George Sheidley, $25,000 was placed in the hands of the Board of Education in October, 1897, for the purchase of books. In commemoration of this gift a bronze tablet, bearing an intaglio head of Mr. Sheidley, was placed in the rotunda of the library. Upon the tablet appears the following inscription: "George Sheidley. Born Feb. 22, 1835. Died Mch. 2, 1896. An unassuming, generous, public-spirited citizen of Kansas City, Missouri. A lover of his fellow men, who gave twenty-five thousand dollars to this library. Let this noble act be ever remembered and cherished by a grateful people."

That this sum might be expended in a broad, judicious and helpful manner, Alfred Gregory, the Rev. Henry Hopkins, the Rev. Cameron Mann, Miss Ethel Allen, Mrs. Silas C. Delap, Mrs. Laura Scammon, Miss Frances Logan, J. M. Greenwood, superintendent of schools, and Mrs. Carrie Westlake Whitney, the librarian, were appointed on a special committee to select the books. By a partial expenditure of this money the number of volumes was increased from 30,000 to 40,000. In selecting the books the different classes were "rounded out," and the art and reference books materially improved. Books for special departments, such as science, club work and manual training school work, were added. Lists were placed before the book committee by specialists, guaranteeing the best selections on all scientific subjects. Books in German, French, Spanish, Italian and Swedish were selected from lists prepared by those familiar with the languages.

The Jackson County Medical library was placed in the public library March 7, 1898, and thoroughly catalogued, to be used by any one bringing a permit from a member of that association. In 1897 James M. Greenwood, superintendent of the public schools, gave the library a valuable collection of arithmetics, numbering 300 volumes, one of the most complete in the United States.

All subscribers to the library surrendered their cards January 1, 1898, and a free circulating and reference library was inaugurated. The new system of free distribution caused a remarkable increase in circulation. The library then contained about 45,000 carefully selected volumes. The Westport library called the Allen library, with 1,300 volumes, was added as a branch to the Kansas City public library in July, 1899, when Westport was annexed to Kansas City, and was opened in November as its Westport branch.

In the librarian's report for the year ending June 30, 1899, J. V. C. Karnes, chairman of the library committee, mentioned for the first time the probable need of an annex to the present building. He said: "There is a great need for increased room for the work in the children's department

and the prediction is ventured that it will only be a short time when an annex to the library building will be demanded." The need of an annex was urged also by the librarian. In the following year, Robert L. Yeager, president of the Board of Education, in a preface to the librarian's report, said: Already the library is taxed almost to its utmost capacity in the several departments, and especially in the children's room. It is crowded, and the board is now studying the problem of enlarging this department, as the aim of the board, as a means toward a better citizenship, is to influence the youth of our city. We feel that if we can only get control of the small boys and girls and start them on the right path of reading, we have made a great step towards improving the citizenship.

"As this is the last report that I, as president, will have the pleasure of submitting to the people, I earnestly invoke their support and countenance of the library, and especially in devising means for the increase of the children's department."

The crowded condition of the children's room made an addition absolutely necessary in 1900. A small room north of the children's department, formerly used as a reception room, was equipped for a children's reading room. Although this addition afforded temporary relief, the increasing number of small patrons soon made more room necessary.

The Kansas City public library sustained a great loss when J. V. C. Karnes, vice-president of the Board of Education, and chairman of the library committee, resigned, August 24, 1899. Mr. Karnes took an especial interest in the library and he was a friend to every member of the staff. An appreciation of Mr. Karnes was expressed by Mrs. Whitney, the librarian, on the occasion of the unveiling of a portrait of Mr. Karnes that had been presented to the library: "Could the heart of the Honorable J. V. C. Karnes be unveiled tonight as is his portrait, upon it would be found the imprint of the Kansas City public library." Hon. Gardiner Lathrop was chosen to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Karnes.

The year ending June 30, 1906, completed the twenty-fifth year of active service of Mrs. Whitney as librarian. It has been a quarter century of steady growth, of rise and progress; no retrogression or adversity had been felt in the history of the Kansas City public library. The important changes and advancement in the character of the work had been made in a gradual and thoroughly systematic manner, due to the broad co-operation of the Board of Education. While the growth was not marvelous, the library advanced step by step until it ranks among the advanced libraries of the country.

The general complaint of librarians throughout the country, whether they are situated in large cities or in small communities, is that the citizens,

although enthusiastic over almost everything pertaining to the betterment of their towns, although interested in all phases of municipal government and in municipal art-for some reason cannot be persuaded, or even cajoled into an appreciation of what should be the first institution of a city, the free public library. In Kansas City, it may be on account of the library being so closely allied with the schools-they are governed by the same board and are maintained by the same fund-the citizens always have understood the value of a library in a community and they have always been sufficiently interested to use the library and to appreciate its worth.

The Kansas City public library is not only a part of the educational system of the city, but it is regarded as an important factor in civic progress. While statistics indicate definitely the growth and development of the library, no conception is given, through figures, of the moral and intellectual influence of the institution on the residents of the community, or its influence in the development of the future generations, the boys and girls.

When the present library building was opened to the public in September, 1897, it seemed a very large structure; it did not appear that there would be a need of "more room" for at least twenty-five years. The building in 1908 was inadequate for the various departments; the children's rooms were very much crowded; the newly devised fiction room was merely a temporary arrangement. The space was too limited for the books and the patrons. It was evident that an addition must be built to keep pace with the growth.

Twenty-six library sub-stations had been established in the out-lying public schools in 1908. The school libraries are under the supervision of the principals. The sub-stations aid in giving the books of the library a wider circulation.

The library staff in 1908 was composed of the librarian, assistant librarian, ten regular assistants, eight pages; three special night assistants; and three extra Sunday assistants. A foreman and four assistants were employed in the bindery.

The number of volumes in the Kansas City public library in 1908 was 90,000.

The Public Library Quarterly-in January, 1901, the Kansas City Public library organ was launched. The institution had long realized the necessity of a library organ as a means of communication to the public and to other libraries, and to this end, beginning with January, nineteen hundred and one, the KANSAS CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY QUARTERLY was published. The purpose of the Bulletin was to publish lists of new books to supplement the printed catalogues; to publish bibliographies of special subjects, announcements of current publications and general library news

of interest to the reading public, it being the desire of the library that the people of Kansas City become more generally cognizant of the aim and influence of the library work. The Library Quarterly presented itself to the reading public, pleading as a raison d'etre, a supplementary catalogue of new books, accompanied by several pages of local library notes; this purpose has been strengthened by publishing with each number a complete dictionary catalogue of some one class of books. The Twentieth annual report of the publie library for the year ending June 30, 1901 was published in the January 1902 issue of the Kansas City Public Library Quarterly, with a view of placing the annual reports more generally before the library patrons. The reports since have been published in the quarterlies following the close of each fiscal year.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE PRESS.

Years before Missouri had become a territory, Western enterprise had established a newspaper within its boundaries that was published under difficulties unknown to modern journalism. At one time, publication was suspended temporarily for want of white paper; again, mails were delayed for two months; on another occasion dearth of news made publication impossible. But these hindrances were regarded as mere incidents by the pioneer journalists.

The St. Louis Republic, the father of Missouri newspapers, was established as the Missouri Gazette, a weekly periodical, July 12, 1808, in St. Louis, then a village of less than one thousand inhabitants. It was printed on foolscap paper with an old fashioned hand press. The newspaper was a success from the beginning and increased steadily in size and in importance. It appeared as the Louisiana Gazette, December 7, 1808, so as to appeal to a general rather than a local field, Missouri being then a part of the territory of Louisiana. When Missouri became a territory, the newspaper resumed its original title. The publication having changed editors, became known as the Missouri Republican, in 1822, under which title it was known until 1888, when it became The St. Louis Republic. This paper was changed from a weekly to a daily on Sept. 20, 1836. The second newspaper established within the borders of Missouri, the Western Journal, was first published in 1815, and was a rival of the Missouri Gazette. Under a variety of names, it lived a checkered career until 1832, when it expired as The Beacon. The St. Louis Times, founded in 1829, lived

and died four times and finally, in 1881, was bought by the owners of the Missouri Republican and absorbed by that publication. The St. Louis GlobeDemocrat was evolved from the Workingman's Advocate, a Democratic newspaper established in 1831. The Advocate was transformed into The Argus, again into the Missouri Reporter, the Union, the Missouri Democrat, and finally, in 1875, was merged with The Globe, becoming the Globe-Democrat. The first newspaper published west of St. Louis was the Missouri Intelligencer, established in Franklin, Mo., in 1819.

Kansas City's first newspaper, the Kansas Ledger, was established in 1851, when the town had a population of about 500. At the end of two years it suspended and for eighteen months Kansas City was without a newspaper. The Kansas City Enterprise appeared in October, 1854; later it was known as the Western Journal of Commerce and finally became The Kansas City Journal. The Western Metropolitan was established in 1858 as a rival of the Western Journal of Commerce. It afterwards was known as the Kansas City Enquirer, one of the newspapers that suspended publication during the Civil war. In the border war in 1856, a newspaper named the Border Star was published in Westport. Its politics were extremely pro-slavery.

At the close of the Civil war there were only two newspapers in Kansas City, the Western Journal of Commerce and the Daily Kansas City Post, German. The first newspaper that was established after the Civil war was the Advertiser, which struggled for four years and then was discontinued. With the growth of the city the field of journalism broadened and there was a demand for better newspaper service.

The first issue of The Kansas City Times appeared in 1868. For two years it found existence a hard struggle, but, in 1870, having changed management, a successful era began. Publication of the Evening Mail began in 1875 and continued until 1882 when it was consolidated with The Kansas City Star. Another newspaper known as The Mail was established in 1892. It continued until October, 1902, when it was absorbed by the Kansas City Record. The Kansas City Star, an evening newspaper, was founded in 1880. The publication, under the management of William R. Nelson, has had a career of unbroken prosperity. The Evening News was published from 1885 to 1890. One of its editors was Willis J. Abbott, distinguished as a writer of stories for boys, and who became political editor of the New York Journal. The Kansas City Globe was established in 1889 and lived two years. Louis Hammerslough was the editor and owner. The Kansas City Presse, established in 1883, has become one of the leading German daily newspapers of Western Missouri. The Daily Record, the official newspaper of Jackson county, was established in 1888. The Kansas City World, an evening newspaper, was published from