The Galaxy, May, 1877 Part 17

_Proprietary_ public libraries are the second of the six kinds in size, and would be the first if the "miscellaneous" were counted among them, as they probably should be. Under this head we have grouped all public collections the access to which is in any way limited, as by a yearly payment, by members.h.i.+p in a society, or otherwise. The large total in the table is made up of:

_Number._ _Volumes._

1. College Society L. 299 474,642 2. Mercantile 15 543,930 3. Social 708 2,052,423 4. Y. M. Christian A. 87 157,557

In this cla.s.s we first reach the libraries that deal directly with the "people"; that is, adults of moderate means. These collections have been well styled the "colleges of the poor," and in them all persons who are industrious enough to be able to spare a dollar or two yearly may obtain useful knowledge or innocent amus.e.m.e.nt. Cla.s.ses for study of languages, literature, and the arts, and lectures by prominent persons are frequently added to the library system, the whole forming one of the most potent of modern social forces. It seems quite natural that this democratic system of intellectual improvement should owe its origin to the people's philosopher, Poor Richard. Benjamin Franklin founded the first proprietary library in Philadelphia, in 1731, and his plan included not merely cooperation for the sake of pecuniary strength, but also discussion and mutual improvement.

_Free_ public libraries are in character much like the last cla.s.s, but are maintained usually by State or town grants, or by private gifts. It is probably in connection with these inst.i.tutions that the dream of some enthusiasts for uniting art museums to the collections of books will be realized.

Only twelve States have a quarter of a million volumes in their public libraries, taken together. They are:

_Libraries._ _Volumes._

Ma.s.sachusetts 454 2,208,304 New York 615 2,131,377 Pennsylvania 364 1,291,665 District of Columbia 63 761,133 Ohio 237 634,939 Illinois 177 463,826 Connecticut 121 414,396 Maryland 79 382,250 California 85 306,978 New Jersey 91 280,931 Missouri 85 260,102 Virginia 65 248,156

This order will, no doubt, rapidly and constantly change. It will be observed that in respect to number of libraries the succession is not the same as for the number of volumes. It can hardly be doubted that such States as Ohio, Illinois, California, and Missouri will advance up the line, while others that now do not possess a quarter of a million volumes, as Indiana, with 137 public libraries, Michigan, with 94, Iowa, with 80, Tennessee, with 74, and Kentucky, with 71, will soon be in the list. As a matter of State "rivalry," such summaries are valueless, even if any rivalry of the kind could be proved. But they do have some interest and value as social statistics.

More significant, perhaps, are the libraries of ten princ.i.p.al cities, in which one-quarter of all the books in the country within public reach are gathered:

_Libraries._ _Volumes._ _Pop'tion 1870._

New York 122 878,665 942,292 Boston 68 735,900 250,526 Philadelphia 101 706,447 674,022 Baltimore 38 237,934 53,180 Cincinnati 30 200,890 216,239 St. Louis 32 172,875 310,864 Brooklyn 21 165,192 396,099 San Francisco 28 162,716 149,473 Chicago 24 144,680 298,979 Charleston 6 26,600 48,956 --- --------- --------- 500 3,431,899 3,340,628

In these ten cities, therefore, are collected 7.3 per cent. of the public libraries, 28 per cent. of the books, and 8.66 per cent. of the population in this country. If Was.h.i.+ngton had been included instead of Charleston, the concentration of books in cities would have been more strikingly marked.

A proper conception of American libraries cannot be obtained without a.s.sorting them according to size, which is done in the following table:

_Number._ _Volumes_.

500- 1,000 Volumes 925 592,510 1,000- 2,000 " 762 983,953 2,000- 3,000 " 362 816,928 3,000- 4,000 " 236 765,010 4,000- 5,000 " 156 667,874 5,000- 10,000 " 264 1,703,271 10,000- 20,000 " 152 2,013,660 20,000- 50,000 " 82 2,329,305 50,000-100,000 " 10 640,617 100,000-200,000 " 7 926,727 Over 200,000 " 2 599,869

What is to be the future of American libraries? The most obvious discernible facts are that the popular energies are likely to be given to the support of free town libraries, and that the aggregate of book acc.u.mulations will be enormous, though no individual collection now presents the likelihood of rising to extreme proportions; the increase will come by the growth of the numerous small libraries. The mercantile inst.i.tutions have done and are continuing a good work, but they have prepared the way for a step beyond. Free town libraries are quite in sympathy with American ideas, and will be supported. They are capable of being made good means of disseminating information. It is fortunate that in this country novels belong to the cheapest publications, most of the good ones appearing in fifty-cent and dollar editions. More solid works are also costlier, so that a popular library can with good reason give its energies to the collection of really good works, leaving the people to supply themselves with the cheaper novels.

Numerous as are the views which have been expressed upon the proper scope and quality of the library of the future, we propose to add one to the list of suggestions. It is that the next founder of a library should confine it entirely to _periodicals_. It is through current literature that every kind of science and every tendency of thought now finds expression. The profoundest discussions in philosophy, discoveries in knowledge, keenest studies of life and character, are now made through the world's weekly and monthly publications. Books are often no more than summaries of what has been printed before in separate magazines. We have in fact heard of one gentleman who broke up the library he had spent years in collecting, and gave his attention to periodicals, because they were the original sources of knowledge in his profession. The libraries which we have styled "professional" are compelled to spend large sums on these issues, which were once styled "ephemeral," but are now found to be of lasting value.

Under these circ.u.mstances, why not have a library of this periodical literature? Just as some men refuse to read translations, learning a new language if a book they need is printed in a tongue unknown to them, so let us reject summaries and acc.u.mulate original materials. As to the cost of such a library, the five thousand important periodicals which are said to be published will require probably $30,000 a year for their purchase, and if as much more is added for rent, binding, salaries, etc., we have an income required which demands a capital of more than a million dollars, to say nothing of half a million for back numbers!

Some readers may be curious to know what chance there is of making a collection that shall be fairly representative of the world's literature. We can safely answer, _none_. Herr Hottinger, who has issued the prospectus of a universal catalogue of all books published, thinks there are about three million t.i.tles, and his critics say this estimate is too low. Twenty-five thousand new works are said to be added each year to this number. Now the largest number of _volumes_ (and therefore a less number of t.i.tles) added to libraries in this country yearly, is: Boston Public Library, 18,000; Philadelphia Mercantile, 17,004; Congressional, 15,400; Chicago Public, 11,331; Cincinnati Public, 11,398; New York Mercantile, 8,000; and Harvard, 7,000. The numbers reported by the Mercantile and public libraries are of little value, since these inst.i.tutions often buy a dozen or a score copies of a popular work. It is therefore evident that no library in this country is even attempting to keep up with the current issue of books.

It has been found impossible to estimate, with any degree of accuracy, the amount of money spent on new books by the libraries, as more than half of them fail to make any report on this point. Permanent funds, amounting to $6,105,581, are held by 358 libraries, and 1,364 have none; 1,960 make no report. The endowments are divided very unevenly among the cla.s.ses, as this table shows:

_Number Reporting._ _Amount._

Educational 54 $775,801 Professional 54 695,610 Historical 26 742,572 Government none Proprietary Public 124 1,079,359 Free Public 93 2,804,964 Miscellaneous 7 7,275

This, however, does not show what is spent yearly in buying books, an item which only one in about twenty-three of the libraries report. The amount is $562,407, and at $1.25 per volume, which is Mr. Winsor's estimate of the average cost of books, the yearly acquisitions by purchase are limited to about 450,000 volumes.

Figures such as we have presented are really no guide to the worth of an individual library, or of a library system, to the people. That can be learned only by the comparison of experiences by the men who have charge of the books and their distribution, but the elements for such an a.n.a.lysis are wanting. The yearly use of books in 742 libraries in 1875 was 8,879,869 volumes, or from two to two and a half times the number of volumes on the shelves of the reporting libraries. Great differences exist in this respect. Few libraries are so eagerly sought as the military post library on Angel Island, California, which distributed its 772 books so often that its yearly circulation was 4,500! The Chicago Public Library, with 48,100 volumes, circulated 403,356; Boston Athenaeum, with 105,000 volumes, circulated 33,000; Boston Public Library, with 299,869 volumes, circulated 758,493.

These statistics are sufficient. It is probable that the libraries of the country, costing say $16,000,000 for books, and spending more than $1,400,000 yearly, afford to the people the use of from twenty-four to thirty million volumes every year. It cannot be doubted that they form a very important factor in our social and national economy.

More than a thousand librarians are engaged in the conduct of the public libraries, many of them men of great ability and culture. There can be no doubt that their study of this important problem will result in the establis.h.i.+ng of an intelligent and harmonious system of supplying a nation with the reading matter it requires.

JOHN A. CHURCH.

HOW NATIONAL BANK NOTES ARE REDEEMED.

There are few divisions in the Treasury department of the United States at Was.h.i.+ngton less known to the public, and more interesting to visitors, than that over the entrance to which is displayed the legend "National Bank Redemption Agency." It is a matter of the most common knowledge throughout the country, that the various forms of national currency and securities are by some process, popularly esteemed more or less miraculous, printed at the Treasury, and that greenbacks are by some method, presumably more within the laws of nature, redeemed there.

The ordinary money-holder, who has in his pocket his tens or hundreds of legal tenders, is pa.s.sably familiar with the history, past and to come, of each note. But to his national bank notes the average financier is more of a stranger. Each note, if he can read as well as reckon cash, tells him whence it cometh, but ten to one he has only the vaguest notion of whither it goeth. Hence it is that of the thousands of ejaculatory comments delivered, during the centennial summer and autumn, through the wire gate opposite to the second a.s.sortment teller's desk, at the agency, so many were of a nature tending to make that industrious clerk smile with amus.e.m.e.nt or stare in amazement.

The throngs of centennial visitors who daily pa.s.sed through the halls of the Treasury saw various things at the agency to attract their notice.

They saw their entrance barred by the gate above alluded to, put there for the double purpose of securing ventilation and excluding "the great unwashed"; they saw a small-sized room converted into a perfect labyrinth by means of wirework part.i.tions; they saw in each of the apartments so set off hundreds of thousands, and even millions of dollars, in the various processes of handling in bulk, piled upon counters and tables, constructed evidently with a view to use rather than ornament; and they saw through the entrance to an adjoining room national bank notes of all denominations, pa.s.sing with wonderful rapidity under the deft fingers of counters of both s.e.xes. But what chiefly imposed upon the imagination of the country visitor were two ma.s.sive safes, reaching from the floor to the ceiling. In the interests of truth, let a revelation be made to a public too p.r.o.ne to believe their eyes. Those safes, for at least the upper third of their ponderous height, are of inch pine boards. The crowded condition of the Treasury building renders s.p.a.ce very valuable. A place of storage was needed for the various forms of stationery in use at the agency. The floor was already covered with desks, tables, and counters, the intricate pa.s.sages between which would have defied the attempts of the Minotaur to escape; but there were at least a hundred cubic feet of s.p.a.ce above each of the iron safes, absolutely going to waste. The genius of the officials and the skill of the departmental cabinet makers triumphed over the difficulties of the situation. As for the inconvenient height, is it not annihilated by a ladder?

By act of Congress, the Treasurer of the United States is const.i.tuted the agent of the national banks for the redemption of their notes. The agency, since July 1, 1875, is one of the divisions in his office.

Regular provision is made by Congress in the appropriation bills for the salaries of the force of this division. Careful accounts are kept of every item of expense incurred during the year, and at the end of the twelvemonth the sum disbursed is apportioned among the banks according to the number of the notes of each that have been handled, and a.s.sessments are made for the several amounts. The circulation of national banks being redeemable in greenbacks, each bank is required by law to keep on deposit with the Treasurer legal tenders to the amount of five per cent. of its outstanding issue as a fund for the redemption of its notes.

The present law provides for ninety-eight clerks in the agency, ranging in grade from the messenger to the superintendent. Of this number, those employed in handling money are divided into two forces, under the direction, respectively, of the receiving teller and the a.s.sorting teller. The business of the former force is to receive the s.h.i.+pments coming from the various banks and sub-treasuries for redemption, count the money, and report the amounts for return remittances; that of the latter force is to a.s.sort the notes and prepare them for delivery to the Comptroller of the Currency for destruction or to the banks for reissue.

This double process may seem at first sight very simple and easy; but in fact it is extremely complex and difficult; and the division in which it is carried on may fairly be counted among the most thoroughly organized and systematically conducted parts of all the machinery devised by the Government for the transaction of the manifold public business. And no wonder, when it is recollected that there are now in circulation nine denominations of national bank notes, the issue of twenty-three hundred and forty individual inst.i.tutions, amounting in the aggregate to three hundred and twenty millions of dollars; and that every one of these notes, and every dollar of this total, must ultimately, by those ninety-eight clerks and their successors, be separated from the ma.s.s, and a.s.signed, under the proper description, with unerring precision, each to the bank by which that particular unit of this vast volume was emitted and must be redeemed.

The bulk of the currency sent in for redemption comes through the Adams Express Company, who have a contract for making all s.h.i.+pments of money for the Government, and who for convenience have an office in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the Treasury. The agency occupies four rooms on the main floor along the west wall, and one on the opposite side of the pa.s.sage.

Early visitors to that part of the building may have noticed a wooden box, much resembling a carpenter's tool chest, trundled along upon a cart by a porter, and followed by a man with a book under his arm. The box contains the day's delivery of national bank currency for redemption, ranging ordinarily from half a million to a million and a half of dollars, and the book contains a receipt for the amount, to be signed by the receiving clerk of the agency. The money comes in perhaps a hundred or as high as two hundred and fifty packages, from as many places throughout the country. On being opened these packages display a miscellaneous aggregation, of which the following items may be mentioned: Thousands of notes of all the denominations and all the banks, perhaps a little soiled, but perfectly sound, and for all the purposes of currency in as good a condition as when they left the printers' hands; a somewhat smaller bulk of others in every state of mutilation and uncleanliness; hundreds, clean, crisp, and unwrinkled, that have not been counted three times outside of the division of issues; scores torn, cut, ground, burned, charred, boiled, soaked, chewed, and digested, until a skilful eye is required to recognize that they have ever been intended for money; and scattered singly through this ma.s.s, counterfeits, stolen notes, "split" notes, "raised" notes, and now and then a stray greenback.

The packages, after an entry of them has been made on the books, are distributed singly among women counters, each of whom gives her receipt.

A counter, upon receiving a package, takes it to her desk, breaks the seals, and first takes an inventory of the money to see whether the aggregate of the sums called for by the straps around the various parcels of notes corresponds with the amount claimed for the whole.

Should she find a discrepancy, she makes a certificate of the difference for return to the sender. Next she proceeds to count the money, carefully keeping the notes and straps of each parcel separate. If she discovers an error of count, she notes upon the strap, over her initials and the date, the sum which she finds the package to be "over" or "short." Spurious or other notes, for any reason excluded by the rules, are thrown out, pinned to the straps in which they came, and returned.

After finis.h.i.+ng her count she makes a statement of the amounts of "overs," "shorts," counterfeits, and other rejected notes, and of the amount for the credit of the sender, and from this statement return remittance is made. The next duty of the counter is to a.s.sort the notes into the two cla.s.ses of such as are unfit for circulation and such as are fit, and into the various denominations. When a hundred notes of one denomination and cla.s.s are counted she surrounds them with a white strap, on which she pencils her initials and the date. Straps printed for full packages of a hundred notes of the different denominations are provided. Less than a hundred notes make a package of "odds." The "odds"

arising from a day's count are delivered to "odd" counters, who ma.s.s them into full packages. Each counter, having finished this portion of her work, enters, in duplicate, upon a leaf of the blank book furnished her for this purpose, the various items into which she has divided her cash, and delivers this with the money to the teller. He takes an inventory of the amount by straps, and finding the counter's statement to be correct, tears off the half leaf on which the duplicate account is made, and signs the original as a receipt. After all the full packages resulting from the day's count have been delivered in this manner, the teller makes them up into bundles of ten, or one thousand notes, keeping each denomination and cla.s.s separate, and in this shape, on the evening of the day on which the money was received, they are ready for delivery to the a.s.sorting teller's room. Here the amount is inventoried and receipted for, and the money is locked up for the night in the iron portion of one of those wonder-waking safes.

None but the most experienced and skilful counters are employed in this first process, the responsibility both to the Government and the employee being too great to be imposed upon any but experts. It will readily be seen not only that correctness of count is of vital importance, but also that the knowledge and skill necessary to detect irredeemable notes are indispensable. A counter, when she puts her initials upon a package of notes, a.s.sumes the responsibility for the correctness of the amount as shown upon the strap; and any differences, if against her, will be made good at the end of the month out of her salary. The degree of accuracy reached by the present force is surprising considering the bulk of money handled daily. Counterfeits which, like the fives on the Traders' National Bank of Chicago, the Hampden of Westfield, Ma.s.sachusetts, and the Merchants' of New Bedford, Ma.s.sachusetts, have pa.s.sed current all over the country, and become so worn that some unsuspecting village banker thinks proper to have them redeemed, are laid aside without a second glance. All the tricks practised by operators in "queer" are discovered instantly.

Among the means known to these gentry for expanding illegally the value of genuine currency, that most frequently resorted to is known as "splitting." Nine notes, for example, of a single denomination, are taken, and of the first one-tenth is cut off from the upper portion with a sharp knife by a line parallel to the margin. From the second two-tenths are cut, and so on, the divisions being made successively lower by tenths of the width, until from the last note the lower tenth is cut. The upper portion of the first note is then joined, by pasting, to the lower portion of the second, the upper portion of the second to the lower portion of the third, and this plan being carried out with all the others, the result is the production of ten notes, each of which lacks one-tenth of its face, but which will pa.s.s with little question, among the inexperienced, at full value. The original notes being, however, very likely of different banks in several States, one effect of this operation, in the cases where the lines of division pa.s.s through the t.i.tles, is the creation of banks not found on the lists of the Treasury. When a note of this composition is presented for redemption the joined portions are separated, and being genuine are treated as parts of notes, and redeemed accordingly. The rules of the department applying to national bank currency are that notes lacking less than two-fifths are redeemed at their face. When more than two-fifths are missing the amount allowed for is proportionally reduced. The only exception to this rule is in cases where there is satisfactory evidence that the missing portion has been destroyed and can never be presented for redemption.

Another trick of counterfeiters is that of "raising." The original numerals and letters denoting the value of the note are carefully sc.r.a.ped off with a sharp instrument. By this means the paper is made thin, and over the places are pasted the figures and words of a higher denomination, often so neatly as to defy detection except on critical examination. Fives are in this way often converted into fifties, and ones into hundreds. Of course the alteration will readily be discovered by any one in the habit of handling money. Such notes are redeemed at the original face value.

But of all irredeemable notes those which appeal most strongly to the ill feelings of counters are of the description known as "stolen."

Readers of newspapers will doubtless recollect accounts of a heavy robbery perpetrated not many months ago upon the Northampton National Bank of Northampton, Ma.s.sachusetts. Among the booty there secured by the burglars were one hundred and forty-five new five-dollar notes, of the issue of that bank, unsigned, which had never been paid over the counter. The cas.h.i.+er had taken the precaution to make a memorandum of the numbers printed on the faces, and was therefore enabled to describe each note as he would his watch taken from his fob by a pickpocket.

Notice was given to the department, and though the notes came in shortly after by the dozen, it is safe to say that not one has been charged to the account of the bank. The notes are perfectly genuine, excepting the signatures; the most skilful expert would hardly discover anything suspicious in their appearance; the only irregularity connected with them is the way they were put in circulation. The fact of their existence renders necessary to every counter who would secure herself against loss an examination of the numbers printed on every five-dollar note of that bank pa.s.sing through her hands; for the bank, never having issued those stolen, cannot be made to redeem them. Other banks have currency in circulation upon a similar basis, the number of notes varying in different instances from one upward. Occasionally a straggler of this description makes its way some distance into the agency, but it is sure to be detected sooner or later by some of the many vigilant eyes under which it must pa.s.s--eyes perhaps made all the more vigilant by costly experience of the consequences of carelessness. Such notes when discovered to have been redeemed become the property, in exchange for a like amount in greenbacks, of the person last concerned in their redemption.

It has been seen that the greater portion of the currency received is fit for circulation. Out of an aggregate of $176,121,855, a.s.sorted during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876, $97,478,700 was of this description, and was returned to the banks for reissue. Originally it was the expectation that none but worn and mutilated notes would be offered for redemption, and for a long while all redeemed currency, in whatever condition, was destroyed, and new issued instead. But the proportion of sound notes became at length so great that the new plan was adopted as an evident measure of economy, and now no piece of paper money is withdrawn from circulation until worn out, unless at the desire of the bank. Many financial inst.i.tutions within easy reach of the capital make a custom of forwarding for redemption all their receipts of currency for the day, getting in return new notes just from the printers. This method is pursued as an accommodation to the business public, who prefer clean and crisp notes; and while a day's deposits of any large bank must include much currency perhaps just out of the Treasury, the whole bulk is often s.h.i.+pped off to avoid the labor of a.s.sorting. Besides, remittances for redeemed notes of national banks being made, if desired, in greenbacks, the agency furnishes a convenient means to city banks for keeping up their legal tender reserves. Under the effect of heavy redemptions the condition of the currency of the country is constantly improving, and the proportion of "fit" notes received at the agency is gradually increasing.

The next process which the redeemed currency undergoes is that of a.s.sorting, and is carried on in a large room extending through about one-fourth of the length of the building. Along the walls, on both sides of an aisle, are arranged three rows of a.s.sorters' tills, by means of which the labor is carried on. These tills are rectangular in shape, and are divided into fifty-two compartments or "boxes," in four rows of thirteen each. These boxes are four inches in depth, and a little larger in length and width than the surface of a note. The tills are mounted at an inclined angle upon stands, very much like a printer's case. At one end, attached by a hinged support, is a small table at which the a.s.sorter, seated upon a stool, does his counting and writing, and which, when not needed for this purpose, is swung underneath the till. A woven-wire folding screen is fastened to the upper portion of the stand, and may be locked down over the boxes, or thrown back out of the way.

Padlocks of improved construction are part of the equipment, no two keys being interchangeable. Below the till is a shelf of the width of the stand, for the convenience to the a.s.sorter next in front. Each till is supplied with a blank book in duplicate forms for the a.s.sorter's accounts, an array of different colored printed straps, a box of bank pins, and all the appliances necessary for handling money with ease and rapidity.

For convenience in a.s.sorting, the twenty-three hundred and forty banks are arranged alphabetically, according to the name of their location, into forty-four groups, which are distinguished numerically, there being from forty to upward of sixty banks in each group. The operation of a.s.sorting notes into these groups is known as the first a.s.sortment; that of a.s.sorting the notes of the groups by individual banks, as the second a.s.sortment. The bundles of redeemed currency, having been pa.s.sed to the a.s.sorting room, are delivered to the first a.s.sortment teller, who distributes them among the twelve or fifteen first a.s.sorters, taking receipts. Each of these persons carries his money to his till, and after making an inventory by straps, proceeds to count the notes. He unpins a package and lays the strap flat on the table before him. If the contents of that package are found to be correct, he lays the money upon the strap. The next strap is laid on top of this pile, and so on. By this method the several packages are kept distinct, and if he afterward finds an irredeemable note in his money, he may know from whom it comes. All errors discovered, not only in this process, but in all others, are required to be reported immediately. Should a package be found "over,"

the a.s.sorter makes a memorandum, over his initials and the date, upon the strap, and returns this with the superfluous note to the teller. The note is put in the "cash till" to the credit of the counter whose signature is on the strap. "Short" packages are returned for verification to the counter, and the deficiency is made good out of the "cash till" and charged to the counter. Spurious and stolen notes are in like manner exchanged for genuine. An account is kept of all the "overs," "shorts," etc., of each person, and on pay day the clerk who has a preponderance against him will find in the envelope enclosing his month's salary the superintendent's certificate of the balance "short,"