ST

Money

TARTING Monday, Sept. 24, there will be inaugurated in Detroit a six-day campaign for $40,000, our share of the $1,000,000 fund necessary for the establishment of libraries in the 32 cantonments and training camps, among which the new army is to be divided.

The Board of Commerce is giving its organization for the campaign. Divie B. Duffield is chairman of the committee of 10 which will have the work in charge.

There have been many demands upon the public pocketbook since the war started and in each case Detroit has met its share promptly and liberally.

Forty thousand dollars is not a great deal of money for a city of 800,000 to contribute to a cause as worthy as this. Any contribution from a penny to a thousand will be acceptable, for it all counts.

The plan of campaign calls for personal solicitations from as many individuals as possible, but don't wait for a solicitor to see you. Go half way and save the workers' time by mailing your donation to The War Library Service headquarters, Board of Commerce.

The money is to be used to erect library buildings, 40 x 120 feet in size, in all of the army and navy cantonments, to stock them with 350,000 new volumes, and to pay the salaries of the staff necessary for their organization.

As the men are moved across the water, libraries will follow them and each war ship will have its own library. Indeed the plan calls for the best of library facilities for the soldier from the moment he enters service until he is discharged at the end of the war, whether he is in training camp, aboard ship, in field or hospital.

Books

[NDER the direction of Librarian Adam |

U Strohm, who was named by the govern

ment as director of the work for this part of the state, thousands of books already have been collected, and even more magazines.

Detroit business men are co-operating with liberal generosity in the matter; the library workers are glad to acknowledge the loan of one of the big trucks of the Detroit Shade Tree Company for one day each week and to thank the National League for Women's Service for the aid it has given in collecting books through its organization.

As far as possible, members of the Detroit Public Library staff have been making house to house canvasses for books and periodicals and already have the satisfaction of knowing that the temporary libraries established at Selfridge Aviation Field near Mt. Clemens, at Fort Wayne and at the Engineer Corps Camp at the State Fair grounds have helped to fill the need of the men and have been greatly appreciated.

Almost any kind of book or magazine is suitable, but friends of the soldiers should bear in mind that the most desirable book is a "man's book." This does not imply that it may not have all the earmarks of taste and literature. but it must be entertaining, human, and most important of all. have the qualities of a really good story.

And in sending books or magazines, write at least your name and address in them and, if you care to add it, a little personal message of cheer for the soldiers into whose hands they will fall.

The main library building, all of the branches and the many sub-stations, as well as schools, churches, factory offices and the big downtown stores and hotels are acting as collection points for the books, but if you cannot reach these, a postal card or a telephone message to the main library building will bring a machine to your home within the next few days.

Library Service intends to keep you fully informed as to the progress of the work and will in future issues let you know what the officers and men of the army think of your generosity and thoughtfulness.

City of Detroit.

As a taxpayer of the City of Detroit I wish to protest against the closing of public libraries on Sunday. Today I found the Lothrop Branch Library situated at West Warren and Grand Boulevard closed. I called them by phone and was informed that they were never open on Sunday. It seems to me that this is a great injustice to the public and more especially so to those who are unfortunate as to have to work six days a week and whose only leisure time is on Sunday. Have spoken to Mr. Thomas Glinnan, a member of the Council, and he stated that he approved of the libraries being kept open on Sunday and advised me to write this letter in regard to same.

Trusting that some action will be taken to remedy the situation, I remain, Yours truly,

Dear Sir:

L. A. H.

The Detroit Library Commission has no objection to keeping the branch libraries open on Sundays if the city cares to assume the cost or, in other words, if Mr. H. and other taxpayers are willing to pay the bill. The Library Staff is now working on the basis of forty-five hours per week and could not very well be assigned to working seven days a week without injury to the service and themselves. The question of keeping the branches open is not a new one to the Library Commission. It has been tried tentatively for two years in one or two of our branches. The George S. Hosmer Branch, Gratiot and Pulford Aves., always a very popular branch, was kept open on Sundays for ten months annually for two years. The experiment was not successful and was finally abandoned without any criticism or discontent being reported from the public. The patronage was very largely children, in many instances, youngsters who had taken out a book on Saturday and returned it on Sunday to get another. Our statistics show that the average adult Sunday patronage in this branch did not exceed one dozen daily.

Suggested Reading

THE NATIONAL SERVICE HANDBOOK.

This is a book that every civilian should know. It not only gives thorough descriptions of all Government activities and complete statistics of the Army and Navy and Aviation Service, but also suggests many fields of work in which civilians may take part. The book has been prepared by the Government Committee on Public Information appointed by President Wilson, consisting of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of War, and George Creel, Chairman.

"It is to point out the most useful avenues of service, and at the same time inform each member of the community of the varied tasks undertaken by the Army and Navy and in the air, behind the plow and at the machine, by banks and by railroads, by doctors, nurses, and workers in the laboratories, by social workers everywhere, that this Handbook is sent throughout the Nation."-Introduction. The book is a remarkable expression of the service that all organizations and industries in the country are giving. Work in domestic welfare, European war relief, religious organizations, work of professional men and women, financing the war, mobilization of industry, commerce, labor, agriculture, civil service, medical and nursing service, are fully described.

Other Interesting Books Studies of the War A WORLD IN FERMENT, by N. M. Butler. A STUDENT IN ARMS, second series, by Donald Hankey. "The good soldier-has learnt to sacrifice everything which belongs to him individually to a cause that is far greater than any personal ambition of his own can ever be." WITH OUR FACES IN THE LIGHT, by Frederick Palmer. WHY MEN FIGHT, by Bertrand Russell.

France in the War

ON THE EDGE OF THE WAR ZONE, by Mildred Aldrich.
A continuation of "A Hilltop on the Marne."
THE LIVING PRESENT, by Gertrude Atherton.

A study of the work of French women in the war.
A valuable sociological contribution.
THE LATIN AT WAR, by Will Irwin.
BROTHERS IN ARMS, by E. A. Powell,

To help us "understand what manner or men are these our brothers in arms,"-the French.

A SOLDIER OF FRANCE TO HIS MOTHER. "Gives the intimate feelings of a young French artist." Great Britain in the War

THE OPPRESSED ENGLISH, by J. H. Beith,

A book of humor and seriousness by the author of "The First Hundred Thousand" and "Getting together." RUHLEBEN PRISON CAMP, by Israel Cohen.

The author was interned at Ruhleben, outside Berlin, for nineteen months.