er: the custom here, in respect to the contents of municipal public
documents, prevents such discussions of library questions as are usual
in the annual reports of other city libraries; so that, if a view of
principles and practices in and about such institutions as a class, and
of their application in this instance, is to be laid before the public
at all, it must be submitted, as in this paper, unofficially.

The following table shows the financial, and some of the literary,
relations between public libraries and cities in San Francisco, in four
other large cities, and in six small cities. The cases were taken
promiscuously as they came to hand, of the latest dates available, but
all are within a few years. New York has no free public library;
movements to establish one there have repeatedly been contemplated, but
have been abandoned, because the men who could have set up the library
would not encounter the practical certainty of its becoming one more
corruptionist engine in the hands of the city rulers. Philadelphia has
none, for reasons not known to the present writer, but, very likely, the
same as in New York. St. Louis has none now, although its excellent
Public School Library may, very likely, become one. New Orleans has
none, apparently, because it doesn't want any. Louisville has none,
because the devil cannot set up a true church; the enormous lottery
swindle which was worked off there a few years ago was ostensibly to
establish and endow one, but where did the money go?

Assessed Being,
Population Value in Whole Gives its of
Cities (1880) Millions City Library whole
(1880) Tax tax

Boston 362,000 $613 $7,261,741 $120,000 1/60
Chicago 503,000 118 3,776,451 54,330 1/75
Cincinnati 255,139 169 1/3 4,070,225 49,016 1/82
Lynn 38,274 22 1/2 332,481 5,730 1/58
Milwaukee 115,587 55 3/4 902,537 17,697 1/51
New Bedford 26,875 25 3/4 390,208 5,148 1/76
Newburyport 13,537 7 1/2 105,686 1,661 1/64
Springfield, Mass. 33,340 29 1/2 307,434 8,231 1/37
Taunton 21,213 15 3/4 213,912 5,195 1/41
Worcester