I suppose I am one of those simple-minded visionary optimists of whom
Prof. Royce speaks. But I do not "dislike" economic facts in the sense
of ignoring them, and I am not blind to the persistence of the elemental
forces of human nature. But as the abolition of slavery changed men's
mental attitude towards this social crime, without at all changing human
nature, just so I believe that the adoption of other social reforms
would in a generation cause all men to look with horror and wonder upon
social injustice that nearly every one now ignores or regards as
irremediable and inevitable. I share Ruskin's scorn of the word
"Utopian." "A thing is either possible or impossible." As Carlyle says,
"The actual final rights of man lie in the far deeps of the ideal. Every
noble work is at first impossible." In the A.L.A. we have heard the word
"Utopian," or its equivalent, on more than one occasion met by the
motto, "Hitch your wagon to a star"; and we have seen the impracticable
an accomplished fact.

If time permitted I might risk ridicule by presenting some features of
the vision that I see with the eye of faith in an all-wise and
all-powerful Creater and belief in human perfectibility as an infinite
progress.

"Die Zukunft decket
Schmerzen and Gluecke
Schrittweis' dem Blicke;
Doch ungeschrecket,
Dringen wir vorwaerts."

"New occasions teach new duties;
Time makes ancient good uncouth!
They must upward still and onward
Who would keep abreast with truth."

INDEX

Abbott, Abiel, library pioneer, 172.

Adams, Brooks, quoted, 81.

Adams, Charles Francis, trustee of Crane Library, Quincy, 308.

Adams, John Quincy, quoted, 294.

Adams, Matthew, lends books to Franklin, 133.

Adams library, Quincy, Mass., 310.

Adaptation of Libraries to Constituencies,
paper, by S.S. Green; in full, 307.

Addingham, Eng., home of Robert Collyer, 105.

Addison, Joseph, quoted, 389.

Address at the dedication of the Library of the
University of Pennsylvania,
by Talcott Williams; in full, 365.

Alexander the Great, quoted, 161.

Alexandrian Library, destruction of, 377.

Allegheny, Pa., gift of conservatories, 42.

Alternatives to tax-support; general editorial introduction, 251.

American Antiquarian Soc'y, 313.

American Library Ass'n,
work of, 70;
catalogue praised.

American Magazine of Civics, article from, 169.

"A