I looked over the statistics of my home county, Pope County, Ark. In 1855, 100 years ago, in the northern half of my county, which is a rural area, there were more people living in the communities and on the farms than there are today.

I think that the shift of population, to some extent, is good. It represents some gains in the economic sense. But yet the families lived pretty close together in the little communities, the villages of that day, when 9 out of 10 families were probably engaged in farming exclusively; had a social contact that the remote families today, for their scattered farm now, do not enjoy.

And bookmobiles should be reaching them. That is, I think, a fairly typical situation. At any rate, it is not too isolated an example. So it is for that reason and a feeling that the Federal Government does have some responsibility to those people that I endose this bill. I know that many of these children that are growing up in these isolated places will be spending their adult years and living their lives in these cities, and there should be a better basis for their civic life. They could make a greater contribution if we should do this.

Now it is my great pleasure, Mr. Chairman, to present one of the outstanding women of my State, Mrs. Merlin Moore, chosen by popular vote sponsored by one of the leading daily newspapers in our State recently, as the women of the year. And one of the factors in that selection was her interest in library service. She knows more about libraries than any nonprofessional worker in our State. She is a businesswoman and a civic leader, and I am sure the committee will hear her with profit.

It is a delight to present Mrs. Merlin Moore.

Mr. LANDRUM. Thank you, Congressman Brooks Hays.
And, Mrs. Moore, it is nice to have you with us.

You have a statement, I assume.

STATEMENT OF MRS. MERLIN M. MOORE, CHAIRMAN, ARKANSAS LIBRARY COMMISSION, LITTLE ROCK, ARK.

Mrs. MOORE. I have a statement, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

It is most fitting that Congressman Hays should be here at the same time that I am because, together, we have been working for rural libraries in Arkansas since 1925, as he mentioned. Prior, however, to 1937 only a few of Arkansas' larger cities had libraries, and even these were inadequately supported.

Rural people were without library service of any kind except in a few instances where civic-minded-or, really, charitably mindedcity library boards extended their services on a limited scale to nearby rural areas, this being done primarily, of course, because the people were trades people, and it was done really for business reasons. A survey a few years earlier showed that less than 3 percent of the rural population in Arkansas had access to a library.

A single notable exception was in Jefferson County, Ark., where it was my own privilege to participate in the organization of a county library. This library was actually organized 1 year before the passage of permissive legislation in 1927 by the State of Arkansas, which, for the first time, gave a legal basis for a county library service. This was the law which Congressman Hays just mentioned. Actually what happened was Jefferson County had been operating a year and we

were told that if a single taxpayer objected to the use of public funds our service would have to be stopped. So we asked the assistant attorney general, who then was Congressman Hays, to draft a bill which would legalize this country library, and help in other ways with county-library service, and this was done.

In the first year of the operation of the Jefferson County Library, rural school children read more than 40,000 books. The significance of this is sesen when you know that these books were carried from school to school by teachers, school officials and parents who volunteered their services for this work. If you will, visualize how many more lives could have been enriched by the use of a bookmobile such as we have today.

This rembarkable demonstration, together with the impetus of an unusually effective statewide WPA library project, stirred up public interest and support which resulted in the passage, in 1935, of legislation establishing the Arkansas Library Commission.

The reason I give you this background is because many States, such as Connecticut and the New England States, have library sys-tems older even than their public school systems. But I point this out to you to show that we are comparatively new in Arkansas in establishing library service.

The first appropriation for the work of this commission came in 1937 and amounted to $50,000 per annum for 1937-38. Since that time there has been a steady increase in funds until the current appropriation per annum made by the 1955 general assembly amounts to $153,850. Although Arkansas is unfortunately a State which has never been able to raise sufficient revenues to pay for all needed services, the Arkansas Legislature has been constantly cognizant of library needs. It has consistently done its best to provide for library services.

To demonstrate that we in Arkansas are not attempting to shirk our own responsibility, in seeking passage of the library services bill, I would like to mention one other think about the action of our last general assembly.

Because of decreased State revenues, practically every State agency received a cut in appropriation for the 1955-57 biennium. Since all other agencies were being trimmed, the legislative council felt obliged to present a library appropriation budget which was somewhat smaller than for the previous biennium. When this appropriations came up for a vote, the legislature, without a dissenting vote in either House, restored the cut.

The State of Arkansas is doing all that it presently can afford to do to provide county library services. Recognizing its financial inability to extend these services to one-third of our counties which are without any county library, the last general assembly passed a resolution urging enactment of the library services bill. A copy of this resolution is attached to my testimony.

(The resolution referred to follows:)

ARKANSAS LEGISLATURE SENDS MEMORIAL ON LIBRARY SERVICES BILL TO CONGRESS. FEBRUARY 1955

Whereas there is an immediate need for the extension of public library service to the rural areas of the State of Arkansas; and

Whereas the State of Arkansas does not at present have sufficient funds with which to supply public library service to the rural areas of this State; and

Whereas there is now pending in the Congress of the United States Senate bill 205 which authorized the appropriation of funds to the various States for use in extending public library services to rural areas without such services, or with inadequate services; and

Whereas Senate bill 205 would permit extension of public library services to the rural areas of the State of Arkansas: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate of the 60th General Assembly of the State of Arkansas, the house of representatives concurring therein, does by this resolution endorse said Senate bill 205, and urge that immediate hearings be held by Congress toward its passage, and further urge the immediate passage of the same; and be it further

Resolved, That the secretary of state is hereby instructed to transmit, within 5 days after receipt thereof, a certified copy of this resolution to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate of the 84th Congress, and to each Member of the Congress from the State of Arkansas.

Mrs. MOORE. Fifty of our seventy-five counties are now organized under our county library law. We are proud to have achieved this in less than 20 years. Even with this progress, however, we still have 25 counties with a population of about one-half million whose only source of reading material is from tiny village libraries subsisting on a few hundred dollars a year inasmuch as they are usually supported by some women's group-if they have these or by mail service from the book collection maintained by the Arkansas Library Commission in Little Rock.

Growth of Arkansas libararies has not only resulted from State aid, but from the support which the people have given on a local level. In 1941 a constitutional amendment was adopted permitting cities of 5,000 or more to levy a tax of 1 mill for library purposes. By 1948 rural citizens wanted to have the same light to tax themselves to provide for libraries, and another constitutional amendment was adopted permitting counties to levy a similar 1-mill tax. Since that time 38 of the 50 counties receiving State aid have levied a local library tax. Other counties will vote on such a tax at the next general election. To assure maximum local library support, the Arkansas Library Commission, since 1951, has not permitted any county library to be organized where this local tax had not first been voted.

To point up the need for Federal assistance, I would like to discuss the situation which has arisen in several specific counties. Baxter County, for example, voted the 1-mill tax in 1952, but the proceeds amounted to less than $3,000 per year, which is obviously insufficient to establish and support the library. Because of the limited State funds, the commission cannot allow an establishment grant to buy an initial collection of books and pay the other expenses necessary for the establishment of this county library on a sound basis.

Fulton and Sharp Counties, as other examples, have single county library service. They are desperately trying to maintain this service creditably.

I wish to digress from my statement to say that under the present rules of the library commission these counties would not have been permitted to organize a single county library service.

In Fulton County last year the millage tax amounted to $2,200. The county's library-minded quorum court appropriated an identical amount from its limited county general fund to carry on. This really amounted to doubling their library tax.

Sharp County had even less money. Revenue from the millage tax was only $1,700 last year. The quorum court gave an additional $500,

and, together with private friends of the library, bought a book truck, since sufficient money for a bookmobile was not available.

These examples which I have mentioned show convincingly that the people are, on a local level, doing all the law allows and sometimes more to support their libraries. At present there simply is not enough taxable wealth in some of the counties to provide the barest essentials in the way of a decent library.

Mr. LANDRUM. Mrs. Moore, what is a quorum court?

Mrs. MOORE. It is composed in Arkansas of the justices of the peace of the various townships, and they are the tax-levying court. Mr. LANDRUM. I see.

Mrs. MOORE. That is provided under our law. The county judge and the quorum court are the tax-levying group.

Mr. LANDRUM. It is an official group, not a voluntary organiza

tion.

Mrs. MOORE. It is an official governmental group which appropriates all the money of the county general fund which is not specifically tagged for certain purposes.

Mr. LANDRUM. Thank you.

Mrs. MOORE. If the commission had available money to offer as an inducement, we could persuade several struggling libraries to consolidate into a multicounty unit which, by a pooling of State and local resources, could be creditably maintained once the initial cost of setting up shop was out of the way.

I digress here once again to say that the use of these incentive grants by our State commission has been most effective even though they have been very small. For example, we have tried to do this: where we have city libraries and county libraries operating in the same county we have used an incentive grant to persuade them to consolidate in order to reduce costs and give better service. And, even though that incentive grant has been small, it has been excellent bait which has caught the fish.

In fairness, I think I should say that all of our counties, as mentioned above, are not in this predicament. Some do have more adequate annual revenues from the 1-mill tax, running as high, for example, as $32,600 in Jefferson County, our top county in this tax field.

In Arkansas, as in many other States, equality of assessments, upon the basis of which taxes are levied, is a problem. In Arkansas we are working on this problem. The 1955 general assembly enacted legislation which will bring about reforms in the equalization of

assessments.

I would like to digress further to say that I served on a citizen's committee which worked on that problem and helped to make recommendations to the general assembly about our problem of equalizing taxes.

These reforms will undoubtedly result in increased tax dollars. This will take time, however, and there is always the age-old scramble for tax dollars. It is our honest conviction that if, during the next 5 years, Arkansas receives its share-approximately $165,000 annually-of money which would be appropriated under the library-services bill, we can handle our own problem after that.

I would like to digress there to say that I realize and you would realize that we would not be able to support libraries in Arkansas as adequately as Mr. Hacker so ably presented from New York State,

but neither do we have homes or any of the other worldly goods in the same proportion as the New Yorkers have. We have not reached the stage of having 2 cars in every garage; we are still working on the matter of 2 chickens in every pot.

Mr. LANDRUM. Mrs. Moore, you evidently have some attraction because I notice in the last few years you have attracted one of New York State's most prominent citizens to come down and establish his residence there.

Mrs. MOORE. We have indeed. I am glad you mentioned that because he is presently chairman of our industrial commission for the State, and we hope to lure some industries away from some of these other more industrial areas, and, thereby, increase the tax dollars in our part of the country. As an example, Mr. Rockefeller, as head of the tax commission, has already persuaded a bicycle plant to locate in Little Rock, something which will bring in a $20 million plant. That was his first plum which he brought to the State, the first of his good works, I might add.

By using these Federal funds for the initial cost of opening new libraries, consolidation and improvement of existing libraries, we will have a sound basic library setup available to every county. By that time our tax reforms should be effective, and sufficient tax dollars for the continued operation of these libraries should be available.

I have here, in that connection, a letter which could appropriately be read at this time from the Governor of our State, which says:

DEAR MRS. MOORE: I have read the prepared statement which you are to present to the subcommittee of the House of Representatives which is considering the library-services bill now before Congress. I wish to strongly endorse that statement.

I would like to further state, and for you to communicate this to the subcommittee, that we in Arkansas are intent upon equalizing our property assessments. When this is done there should be substantially increased revenues for use by all units of local government to pay for needed services. I feel sure that throughout the State county libraries will receive their fair share of this increased revenue.

I would particularly like to emphasize my agreement with that part of your statement which says that, while we can probably take care of our county library needs over a period of years, we are urgently in need of funds for immediate action.

Sincerely yours,

ORVAL E. FAUBUS, Governor.

I would like to present also for the record, Mr. Chairman, a letter to you from the Governor, who urges immediate and favorable action by this subcommittee.

4

Mr. LANDRUM. Is there any objection to this becoming a part of the record?

(There was no response.)

Mr. LANDRUM. It will be received as a part of the record.

(The letter referred to follows:)

Hon. PHIL LANDRUM,

STATE OF ARKANSAS, Little Rock, May 23, 1955.

Chairman, Subcommittee on the Library Services Bill,

Committee on Labor and Education,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN LANDRUM: Because of its recognition of the critical need for funds to provide library service for many of the rural sections of Arkansas, the Arkansas General Assembly recently adopted a resolution requesting passage of the library services bill. I understand that a copy of this resolution has been furnished to your committee.