e word of promise in our ear,
And break it to our hope,"

as has already sometimes happened. The public appropriation is so
limited by penny-wise legislation in a number of states as to discourage
all action, and kill all interest in the matter.

In the same way, it is to be hoped that these states will accompany
their enabling acts by auxiliary legislation similar to that in
Massachusetts and New Hampshire; or, perhaps still better, patterned
upon that of New York. It is difficult to decide upon the comparative
advantages of these two systems. That of Massachusetts seems to me
better for permanent results; but that of New York seems likely to be
more immediately effective in stirring the sluggish interest of
indifferent communities. Both are wonderfully economical in money, and
both have great effectiveness when worked by the intelligent interest of
even a few enthusiastic friends of the free library movement in any
community. It would seem that even a governor who thinks five million
people cannot afford $25,000 for the "Birds of Pennsylvania" might
consent to spend a fifth of that sum per year to begin a work that would
not end, if once well begun, without putting a new and most effective
agency of social culture and even economic progress within the reach of
every boy and girl in the state.

The machinery through which to plan and begin this great and hopeful
experiment should be carefully considered. Massachusetts's unsalaried
commission of eminent citizens, New York's Board of University Regents,
alike insure that in those commonwealths the work will be carried on
under the most hopeful and efficient conditions. Some such unpartisan
and public-spirited agency is absolutely demanded for the success of the
movement in a state that has to begin it _de novo_; and the _personnel_
of the agency is the most important point in any legislation initiating
it.

There is also a difference of opinion as to whether school boards, or
boards specially constituted for the purpose, should have charge of
public libraries. My opinion is decidedly in favor of the latter; for
while school boards would bring the library, as is most desirable, into
closer relation with the public schools, an independent board, chosen,
perhaps, by the school board in connection with the city council, as
sometimes in Massachusetts, would be likely to bring more ability,
independence, and careful consideration to the affairs of the library,
and to