them, please send these. War Paint, The Fables of La Fontaine, Peter and Wendy, Uncle Sam's Story Book. Your friend, DIXON SCHUSTER. Dixon should have been able to borrow these from a community branch library or a bookmobile which would schedule a regular time to serve our town. Mr. LANDRUM. In regard to that letter, children are quite often more able to say what they want and feel than we adults. Is that not correct? Mrs. CHANEY. Yes, sir. I recently spoke to a newcomer to our county who remarked that he certainly did miss having public library facilities which really would be a good selling point for our county. Our county is small and has a low property valuation. Its library service should be a part of a regional library serving the three southern Maryland counties. Our people question a plan for service which is a joint project with other counties. With the passage of the library services bill it would be possible to use some of Maryland's share of Federal funds to show the people good library service on a regional basis. They would like it and want it continued. I think of children being benefited in all rural areas of our country who are writing to city libraries for reference material for their school needs as well as those who appreciate reading material for recreation. Increased library facilities in rural areas would also mean a better informed generation of youth, better able to cope with changing conditions in the world in which we live and, surely, they will be greater assets as citizens in these United States. Mr. LANDRUM. Thank you, Mrs. Chaney and the other witnesses. At this time I will recognize Mr. Hussey, who has some statements for the record. Mr. HUSSEY. Mr. Chairman, Congressmen Berry did not have time to wait, and he would like for his statement to show that he appeared. Mr. LANDRUM. Let it be received. (The statement referred to follows:) STATEMENT OF HON. E. Y. BERRY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA Gentlemen, I am Representative E. Y. Berry from the Second District of South Dakota. I have some information relative to H. R. 2813, known as the library services bill, which I would like to submit for your consideration. South Dakota, together with the neighboring States of North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, and others in the Great Plains region, through its historical development has a tradition of pioneering. The people of South Dakota with their courage, resourcefulness and the spirit of the early pioneer have striven to develop the educational and cultural background of the State through the organization of small community libraries. Many of the small public libraries have been so successful that the municipalities through due process of law have assumed the full responsibility for the library so that the residents within the legal boundaries of the municipalities may have the privilege of obtaining the books and other material necessary for an intelligent understanding and solution of State, National and international problems which affect each individual. South Dakota has made progress. However, although the progress in the development of libraries has been steady and strong, it has not kept pace with our modern civilization with its scientific advances and a world where distances have shrunk. The individual citizen must more and more participate in the intelligent solution of these problems if our freedom and the American way of life is to be preserved. Hence, the need for Federal funds to assist the State and the other States in the Great Plains region in developing a pattern of library service which will be peculiar to the area and geared to informing and educating the citizens in the current problems of a rapidly changing world. Today 53.3 percent of the population of South Dakota or 345,490 people are without public library service. Of the 87 public libraries which offer library service to the 47.7 percent of the people of South Dakota, or 304,539 of the population, none of the public libraries with the exception of 3, offer a service adequate to meet the American Library Association standards or the needs of the people. The expenditures per capita for library service in South Dakota during 1954 was $0.56 per capita. The minimum standard of per capita expenditures for library service as developed by the American Library Association is $1.50. The per capita number of books recommended for book collections in public libraries is based on the population served. At least 2 volumes per capita should be available for the people in our small communities with no library having book collections of less than 6,000 volumes. With the exception of the libraries in the larger communities (Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen, Watertown, Huron, Mitchell, Yankton, Brookings, Milbank, Mobridge, Webster, Madison) most of the libraries have far less than the minimum number of 6,000 volumes. The number of current books purchased by the same libraries is inadequate. In fact, the State library on its 1953-54 appropriation was able to purchase only 1 new book for every 125 people without library service. South Dakota is a State which is entering a new phase of development. Heretofore, it has been basically an agricultural State with its denser population in the eastern part of the State, small ranches in the central part of the State and very large ranches in the western part of the State. With the development of the Missouri River and the construction of the Fort Randall and Oahe Dams, a new source of power is available not only to South Dakota but to the other States in the area which will influence their future. The availability of power will tend to attract industries within the State which in turn will necessitate a change in the pattern of community life with its attendant growth of population. This will call for more modern educational institutions--one of which is the public library. The money which the library service bill makes available to the several States together with the provision that each State make a plan for library development peculiar to its own State, is particularly important and needed in South Dakota, since such funds are not available from the State. The western half of our State with its sparse population and small assessed valuations is a section which needs particular study in the development of library service. This area is generally known as the ranch area with the exception of our scenic Black Hills. In this section of the State, which is my district, there is a total population of 158,147 people. Over 60 percent of these people do not have public library service. In this congressional district there are 23 counties, 13 of which are without any public libraries, 6 have 1 public library within their boundaries, and 1 has 2 public libraries. Three of the counties in this area have countywide library service. Only one of the public libraries (Rapid City) in my congressional district meets the American Library Association standards. The rural people of South Dakota are eager to be informed as evidenced by the cooperation which they give the Extension Service with its various adult education programs and the public schools to which they send their children. The eagerness with which they read the books on the reading in the home list which is compiled by the State library and distributed by the Extension Service is proof of their desire for information not only on homemaking and agricultural problems but also State, National and international problems. It is to meet the needs of our rural people that programs such as contemplated in the library services bill are needed. Our President, Hon. Dwight D. Eisenhower, said, "To the intellectual development of our citizens-and thus, to their ability to participate in the activities of this Republic-few habits are more important than reading ***." I submit the following facts for your information and for the committee record: South Dakota has 68 counties: 4 unorganized counties, 17 counties in South Dakota without public libraries, 7 county libraries in South Dakota. Total population in South Dakota: 650,029. Population without library service: 345,490. Twenty-three counties in South Dakota in my district: 13 counties in the district without public libraries; 6 counties in the district with 1 public library; 1 county in the district with 2 public libraries; 3 counties in the district with county libraries; total population of the district, 158,147; population without library service, 94,800; percent without library service, 60 percent. Thank you for consideration of these facts in connection with the important matter of library facilities. Mr. HUSSEY. Also a letter from the Illinois Library Association, of Chicago, Ill. Mr. LANDRUM. That may be inserted in the record at this point. (The letter referred to follows:) Hon. GRAHAM A. BARDEN, ILLINOIS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor, Washington 25, D. C. May 23, 1955. My DEAR Mr. BARDEN: AS president of the Illinois Library Association, I wish to thank you for your recent action in setting up the special subcommittee on the Library Services Bill. The association is vitally interested in the improvement and development of public library service to the rural areas of Illinois, and we hope for the early passage of the Bill. At the present time, Illinois has 8,712,176 residents. Of this number, only 5,203,079 residents have adequate public library service, leaving 3,509,097 persons with inadequate service or with no service at all. Of the 398 existing public libraries in the State of Illinois, only 40 libraries are able to give adequate service. This evaluation is based on standards set up by the American Library Association. Many of these libraries have a total annual income of less than $1,000. There are 410 towns in Illinois with a population of 500 or more which have no public library service. Of the 40 Illinois libraries in a position to give adequate library service, 23 are in the metropolitan Chicago area. Only 17 communities in downstate Illinois, representing only 822,579 residents, have adequate library service. This means that, excluding the metropolitan Chicago area, most of the State of Illinois has either no public library service at all, or inadequate service. The Illinois Library Association is concerned that each citizen of Illinois has ready access to sources of information that will help him to realize his community responsibilities and assume his obligations. The library services bill will help to stimulate both the improvement and development of public library service throughout our State. The Illinois Library Association appreciates your efforts in behalf of the bill and urges your continued support. Sincerely yours, MARGUERITE GIEZENTANNER, President. Mr. HUSSEY. And a statement of Mr. Gilbert W. Chapman, representing the National Book Committee, Inc. Mr. LANDRUM. Without objection, that may be inserted at this point. (The statement referred to follows:) STATEMENT OF GILBERT W. CHAPMAN REPRESENTING THE NATIONAL BOOK COMMITTEE, INC. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Gilbert W. Chapman and I live in New York City. I am president of the Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co., and chairman of the National Book Committee, Inc., the organization on whose behalf I am submitting this statement. The National Book Committee is an organization of citizens devoted to the use of books. Its purpose is to keep books free, make them widely available, and encourage people to read them. We believe that books are not a luxury but a necessity. We therefore support the library services bill as a specific measure designed to bring books to a substantial segment of our fellow countrymen who now must go without. As a businessman, I am concerned about the general knowledge and the intellectural alertness of people employed and advancing in industry. As an engi neer, I am concerned about the technical training and the broad outlook of the rising generation of specialists we will need to keep America's production going. As a citizen, I am concerned about the level of competence in public affairs demanded of all Americans by the pressing problems which confront our Nation. On all these counts, I feel that we must do more than we are presently doing to provide for the wiser and wider distribution and use of books. It is, I suggest, nothing less than a national disgrace that 27 million of our citizens have no access to public libraries. We support this bill because it begins to remedy that disgrace. It provides funds for books and services, not for construction, which means that the maximum number of books would be put into the hands of the people. It leaves the carrying out of the program in the hands of the States. And it would cost each American, for just 5 years, about the same as a pack of chewing gum a year. We think this is a good return for our tax money, and an essential investment in our future, which will be shaped for good or for ill by the intelligence and information of all our citizens. The release of atomic energy has suddenly offered us the choice between destruction and salvation for many, if not all, of the world's people. The atom bomb, the hydrogen bomb, the cobalt bomb, each increasing the fear of total destruction, are constantly in the news. Yet we all know this new power points to the potential liberation of mankind-if only the atom can be reserved for peaceful use. The engineers and technicians have brought automation into being, with the possibility of man's freedom from back-breaking labor. Even the human brain is aided by the new science of electronic calculation. Out of all this, humanity may anticipate a vast increase in leisure, with ample goods and services to make that leisure worth while. In the last two decades, man's knowledge of the forces of nature has increased faster than during the previous 500,000 years of his existence. Our task, as always, is to know how to use what is known. In the maze of atoms, isotopes, and electrons in which we find ourselves, the problem cannot be the concern of a limited group of people. It must be the concern of every one of our leaders, our citizenry, our specialists alike. We are in that position of which Thomas Huxley, speaking to the American people in 1876, said: "The condition of success, your sole safeguard, is the moral worth and intellectual clearness of the individual citizen." Huxley, speaking more than 75 years ago, could not have foreseen the shape of things today, but his warning was prophetic. The American people must develop the enlightenment and moral strength to be able to bridge the gap between the vast field of knowledge and our own limited comprehension of it. Leadership in the United States comes from the people. Thus the great public must contain a sufficient number of individuals, well-educated and of such strong moral and intellectual clarity as not only to be able to discern these qualities in the leaders it elects, but to support and guide their political and economic thinking. It is now an important requirement of our Nation that its citizens have a broad knowledge of the world, its people, their habits, their cultures, and their way of life. It is just as important for the man in the street to absorb his share of this knowledge as it is for his political, religious, and industrial leaders. No one can minimize the almost overwhelming crisis in which mankind finds itself. On every side, we are faced with difficult decisions. We must all be aware, without panic, what our problems are. We must have knowledge and we must have faith that a better way of life is attainable. In books, we can find that knowledge and that faith. An informed people is a free people. By depriving any of the people of access to information, we endanger by that much the freedom of all of us. The adoption of the library services bill by this session of the Congress will help guard our strength and our freedom. Mr. HUSSEY. And a letter to Hon. Phil Landrum, chairman of the Subcommittee on Library Services Bill, from the Sioux City Public Library, Sioux City, Iowa. Mr. LANDRUM. Without objection, that may be inserted in the record at this point. (The letter referred to follows:) Hon. PHIL LANDRUM, SIOUX CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY, Chairman, Subcommittee on Library Services Bill, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: May I identify myself: Florence W. Butler, director of work with children, Public Library, Sioux City, Iowa. I am writing this testimony on behalf of the Division of Libraries for Children and Young People of the American Library Association. I should like this testimony made part of the record. As well as expressing the views and hopes of some 3,000 of my colleagues in the library profession I believe I am speaking for the children and young people of the United States, particularly those living in rural communities. For all our pride in the beauties of rural America, there are certain significant sights missing from the rural scene. The sight of small children clutching library application blanks, breathlessly announcing their intentions to become borrowers of books; the beatific look on a child's face as he makes his first discovery of the right library book on which to try out his newly acquired reading prowess; the sight of groups of children completely absorbed in sharing a story hour where they are living with their heroes, be they heroes of nursery talkes like Jack the Giant Killer or Beowulf which is part of the heritage of classic literature or new heroes of today; the sight of a family emerging from a library laden with books to suit the ages and interests of each with some books to be shared together in family reading hours, the grandfather shepherding a small flock of grandchildren into the library, sampling this book and that until just the right ones are found; the mother with preschool children leaving them in the nursery story hour room while she attends a class especially designed to keep her abreast the trends in children's books. These are city sights. Our rural boys and girls are far less privileged. With 26 million Americans without library service many of our children have no books other than their textbooks. Boys and girls of today need books, many books, as young people have never needed them before. Even with more mass media of communication, they need books in order to learn to evaluate, to help them to a better understanding of themselves and the world in which they live. The day is past when a school assignment is completed when the teacher asks the pupil to read from page 72 to page 76. There is research to be done on all manner of subjects in all grades. Books are necessary, films are necessary, recordings are necessary. Good teachers cannot be expected to teach without good equipment close at hand. With the sharp rise in school population, books are needed in greater numbers, nor will books alone suffice. Reading guidance to help children to find the right book for the moment and to help them toward developing discriminating taste in reading is a necessary adjunct to the collection of good books. Modern library service provides this. Ninety percent of the millions of Americans who are without library service live on farms and in small towns. This woeful lack of books is a heavy price to pay for rural living. According to the National Grange more than 500,000 rural young people move into town and cities each year to seek their livelihood. Far too many of these young people go poorly equipped because of poor educational facilities and lack of reading materials. Besides the economic problem facing these young people as they compete for jobs there is a social problem created by many, who lacking worthwhile interests and good habits for filling their leisure time make poor adjustments in the shift from rural to urban living. Providing books which strengthen a sound sense of values is far less costly than dealing with juvenile delinquency. There is a need throughout the country for more library service to young people. Young people's departments in many libraries have gone a long way in challenging youth to clearer thinking, self-expression, and leadership through providing personnel to deal especially with youth, good youth book collections dealing with youth's interests and problems, discussion groups, film forums and record listening groups. The eagerness of children to read and their parents to have them read to demonstrated by the large circulation of children's books in existing libraries. The pathos of those children who would read if books were provided is discenible too. Our library book discussion program, Book Bandwagon, which is tele |