school buildings, to be open evenings, under the supervision of the New York Public Library. The children's room is a growing factor in our libraries. New methods picture exhibitions, short talks. attractive surroundings, even games-are used to draw the little ones to the library at an impressionable age.

FREDERICK H. HILD,

CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY.

The Bureau of Education for the past thirty years has emphasized the importance of libraries as aids to instruction, and in 1896 we saw the establishment

the Library Department of the

National Educational Association.

Librarians.-Schools and Training Classes.In the Annual for 1893 a list of these was given. Since then summer courses have been offered at the Cleveland Public Library, the Ohio State University, and the University of Wisconsin; the Armour Institute Library School was removed to the University of Illinois in 1897, and elementary classes for training assistants have been put into operation in the public libraries of New York city, Denver, Hartford, Dayton, and Butte (Montana), the New York Free Circulating Library, etc.

The report for 1900 of the committee of the American Library Association on schools sounds a warning against giving undue importance to these various schools and training classes, and points out the one-sided education that the pupils are apt to acquire. While the question of the relative merit of school training and practical service in a librarian's equipment is touched upon in this report, sight is not lost of the unquestionable service that these schools have done in systematizing the details of certain work, especially cataloguing. Perhaps those libraries which main tain preparatory classes for prospective assistants, in which theory and practice are mingled, are doing their share in working out this problem.

Associations and Clubs. These, which do so much for the extension of library interest, have also been increasing. A National Association of State Librarians has been formed. State associations have been organized since 1893 in Vermont (1894), Ohio and Nebraska (1895), Illinois (1896), Georgia (1897), and California (1898). The California was formerly the Central California (formed in 1895), and other such "sectional associations" were organized in southern California (1891), north

FREDERICK M. CRUNDEN, ST. LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY.

A review of the whole subject of library economy is offered in Public Libraries in America (Boston, 1894) by W. I. Fletcher, librarian of Amherst College. And the index to the first twenty-one volumes of the Library Journal is a key to a veritable storehouse of information on special topics.

Foreign Libraries.-The foregoing applies, as 18 seen, to the United States only. The Second International Conference of 1897 at London (the first was in 1877), in which not a few Americans partici

WILLIAM 1. FLETCHER,
AMHERST COLLEGE LIBRARY.

pated, brings us to the foreign field.

Free public libraries, as we understand them in the United States, exist only sporadically on the Continent in Europe. Gräsel, in the Börsenblatt for Dec. 5, 1898, made a plea for their establishment in smaller cities in Germany. Beginnings are cited as follows: The German Society of Ethical Culture has established libraries in Berlin, Freiburg, and Frankfort. In Jena this society cooperated with the Comenius Society. In Dresden the Association Volkswohl opened reading rooms.

Later reports show that in Germany, especially in the eastern provinces of Prussia, the local authorities and educational associations are founding libraries with great energy. To the Gesellschaft für Verbreitung von Volksbildung (headquarters in Berlin) is due the credit of having given the incentive to this work and practically furthering it. From 1892 to 1899 this society founded and aided 1.103 libraries, and in 1900 (to November) it founded and aided 438 libraries, expending $7,000 for this purpose. The libraries are administered partly by reading, library, and other educational associations, and partly by teachers, ministers, school boards, etc. Unfortunately, the

logue. There is increasing liberality in library regulations, making the collections more accessible. As the libraries are usually intended for scholars (all this, of course, refers to university libraries and the like) the conditions for entrance are quite severe. The act in regard to qualifying for trained library service was published in the Centralblatt für Bibliothekswesen (vol. ii, pages 77-79). Germany, Switzerland, and Italy have national conferences of librarians.

Italy is startlingly modern. Its system of interlibrary loans is so liberal that it will send a rare manuscript from one city to another at Government expense.

A. Chevalley described the poor condition of public libraries in France in the Library Journal for 1899, page 21.

Statistics for 1893 show that 1,277,436 volumes were used in the many free circulating libraries established by the city government of Paris.

Poole's Index has now found its counterpart in Germany and France in Bibliographie der Deutschen Zeitschriften Literatur (vol. i, 1896) and D. Jordel's Répertoire bibliographique des principales revues françaises (first issue for 1897) respectively.

In England the contest over "open access" has raged fiercely. The Clerkenwell Open Lending

and support, and are practically libraries for English-speaking people in foreign lands. In Japan, excluding the Imperial Library, there were, in 1899, 30 public and private libraries, containing 346,342 volumes, and these libraries were visited by 46,243 persons in 1897.

The Library Journal and Public Libraries have notes on foreign libraries each month. There are also various foreign periodicals devoted wholly or in part to library affairs, although, owing to conditions indicated, their contents differ in character from those of our own journals. Among them are the Centralblatt für Bibliothekswesen (vol. i, 1884); Rivista delle Biblioteche (vol. i, 1888); Revue des Bibliothèques (vol.

JOHN COTTON DANA,

i, 1891); The Li- SPRINGFIELD (MASS.) CITY LIBRARY. brary (vol. i, 1889; organ of Library Association of the United Kingdom); Revue internationale des Archives, des Bibliothèques, et des Musées (first year 1897).

LOUISIANA, a Southern State, admitted to the Union April 30, 1812; area, 48,720 square miles. The population, according to each decennial census since admission, was 152,923 in 1820; 215,739 in 1830; 352,411 in 1840; 517,726 in 1850; 708,002 in 1860; 726,915 in 1870; 939,946 in 1880; 1,118,587 in 1890; and 1,381,627 in 1900. Capital, Baton Rouge.

Government. The following were the State officers this year until May, when the newly elected administration came in: Governor, Murphy J. Foster; Lieutenant Governor, R. H. Snyder; Secretary of State, John T. Michel; Treasurer, A. V. Fournette; Auditor, W. W. Heard; Attorney-General, M. J. Cunningham; Superintendent of Education, J. V. Calhoun; Adjutant General, Allen Jumel; Commissioner of Agriculture, Leon Jastremski; Commissioner of Insurance, J. J. McCann; Bank Examiner, F. G. Freret; Railroad Commission, C. L. DeFuentes, R. N. Sims, W. L. Foster. The Secretary of State and the Superintendent of Education were re-elected. The other State officers for the remainder of the year were: Governor, W. W. Heard; Lieutenant Governor, Albert Estopinal; Attorney-General, Walter Guion; Treasurer, Ledoux E. Smith: Auditor, W. S. Frazee; Registrar of the Land Office, J. M. Smith; President of the Board of Control of the Penitentiary, C. Harrison Parker; President of the State Pension Board, J. A. Chalaron; Quarantine Physician, J. N. Thomas; Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration, Jordan G. Lee; Jury Commissioners, J. R. Todd, L. H. Joseph, E. S. Maunsell. All the State officers are Democrats. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Francis T. Nicholls; Associate Justices, Newton C. Blanchard, Lynn B. Watkins, Joseph A. Breaux, Frank A. Monroe; Clerk, T. M. C. Hyman-all Democrats.

The term of the State officers is four years. They are elected in April of the years of presidential elections. The Legislature meets biennially in May of the even-numbered years; the session is limited to sixty days.

Population. The population by parishes, according to the census of 1900, was as follows:

Acadia, 23,483; Ascension, 24,142; Assumption, 21,620; Avoyelles, 29,701; Bienville, 17,588; Bossier, 24,153; Caddo, 44,499; Calcasieu, 30,428; Caldwell, 6,917; Cameron, 3,952; Catahoula, 16,351; Claiborne, 23,029; Concordia, 13,559; De Soto, 25,063; East Baton Rouge, 31,153; East Carroll, 11,373; East Feliciana, 20,443; Franklin, 8,890; Grant, 12,902; Iberia, 29,015; Iberville, 27,006; Jackson, 9,119; Jefferson, 15,321; Lafayette, 22,825; Lafourche, 28,882; Lincoln, 15,898; Livingston, 8,100; Madison, 12,322; Morehouse, 16,634; Natchitoches, 33,216; Orleans, 287,104; Ouachita, 20,947; Plaquemines, 13,039; Pointe Coupée, 25,777; Rapides, 39,578; Red River, 11,548; Richland, 11,116; Sabine, 15,421; St. Bernard, 5,031; St. Charles, 9,072; St. Helena, 8,479; St. James, 20,197; St. John the Baptist, 12,330; St. Landry, 52,906; St. Martin, 18,940; St. Mary, 34,145; St. Tammany, 13,335; Tangipahoa, 17,625; Tensas, 19,070; Terrebonne, 24,464; Union, 18,520; Vermilion, 20,705; Vernon, 10,327; Washington, 9,628; Webster, 15,125; West Baton Rouge, 10,285; West Carroll, 3,685; West Feliciana, 15,944; Winn, 9,648.

WILLIAM WRIGHT HEARD, GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA.

New Orleans has 287,104 inhabitants; in 1890 it had 242,039. Shreveport has 16,013; Baton Rouge, 11,269; New Iberia, 6,815; Lake Charles, 6,680; Monroe, 5,428; Alexandria, 4,760; Crowley, 4,214; Donaldsonville, 4,105; Plaquemine, 3,590; Lafayette, 3,314; Thibodaux, 3,253; Houma, 3,212; Opelousas, 2,951; Franklin, 2,692; Natchitoches, 2,388; Morgan City, 2,332; Jackson, 2,012.

Finances. From a statement of the Auditor it appears that from April 1, 1894, to April 1, 1900, State obligations to the amount of $2,649,206 have been retired at a cost of $1,393,382, some of the bonds having been retired before maturity. The Governor said in his message in May: "The 4-per-cent. bonds command a premium of 9 to 10 per cent., while the bonds of the various levee boards, which, a few years ago, were very difficult to place, are likewise above par. Not a dollar of the floating indebtedness created since 1880 is left outstanding, and all transactions, both of State and district boards, are absolutely upon a cash basis."

The total revenues derived from all privilege tax turned in by the sheriffs is $329,157.62, against $307,517.09 in 1899. The privilege license fees paid direct to the State treasury are not embraced in this statement, and will amount to about $70,000. The privilege tax report gives also the State revenue from saloons. There are now 13 counties that license the liquor business. Taxes amounting to $131,100 were paid by the 146 liquor saloons. The municipalities are empowered to levy a tax on dram shops not to exceed 50 per cent. of the amount collected by the State, and in some of the towns and cities the maximum penalty is denounced against them.

Valuations. The total assessment of the State is $276,568,507, an increase in one year of

$8,845,004. Following are valuations reported in December by the State Board of Appraisers: Railroads, $24,865,275; telegraphs, $338,634; telephones, $774,210; sleeping cars, $96,752; express companies, $62,610; aggregate, $26,137,481.

Charities and Corrections.-The number of inmates of the State Asylum for the Insane, at Jackson, this year was 1,195, with a total under treatment of 1,653.

There were 140 at the Soldiers' Home, which has an income of about $18,000. On the roll of pensioners were 240, with 248 applications under consideration. With the $50,000 available, the board was able to give only small amounts, divided into three grades $4.50, $3.50, and $2.50.

The Institute for the Blind graduated a class of 5 in May. Its appropriation in 1899 was $10,000. Appropriations for the year to other charitable institutions were: Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, $18,000; Charity Hospital, New Orleans, $90,000; Charity Hospital, Shreveport, $18,000; Lepers' Home, $7,000; Insane Asylum, $100,000.

There are about 840 convicts in the State Penitentiary. Under the new management most of them will probably be placed on convict farms.

Education. The biennial report of the public schools was rendered in June. The school population-children between six and eighteen yearswas 404,757 in 1899. The enrollment was 196,169, of whom 74,233 were negroes. The average attendance was 90,187 whites and 56,136 negroes. The number reported as in attendance at private schools was 11,896 whites and 2,798 negroes, though this is not complete; the Superintendent says about 10,000 should be added. The number of teachers in the public schools was: White males, 1,455; white females, 1,617; total whites, 3,072. Colored males, 536; colored females, 549; total colored, 1,085. Total teachers, 4,157.

The schools have several sources of revenue, chiefly the current school fund, which is a tax of 1 mill on the taxable property in the State. Then there are the poll tax and other special taxes and allowances. The poll tax, the payment of which is required of every registered voter sixty years of age or under, as a condition of casting his ballot, amounted in 1899 to $115,475, with several parishes to hear from. The amount of revenue for the public schools in 1899 was $1,242,026.

At the State Normal School, at Natchitoches, 17 were graduated in January and 30 in May. The board arranged in July for establishing a model school; a building will be erected for the accommodation of 480 pupils. The attendance for the fall term had reached 492 on Oct. 10.

The State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College is at Baton Rouge. An appropriation of $20,000 by the Legislature furnished means for a new building, which will have dormitories for 150 students and dining-room accommodations for 500.

A State industrial school is to be built at Lafay ette, to be called the Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute. Efforts were made in the Legislature to provide for a textile school, which is deemed desirable in view of the prospects of the cotton manufacturing industry.

The Louisiana Chautauqua, at Ruston, opened July 1 with a large attendance. Summer normal schools at Mansfield and Franklin enrolled large classes of teachers.

St. Charles College, at Grand Coteau, was completely destroyed by fire, Feb. 17. The library, of 5,000 volumes, contained some single books of great value that can not be replaced. There was insurance of $8,000 on the burned property, which

The report of the State Board of Appraisers gives the mileage of railroads in the State in 1900 at 2,123 of main track and 744 of sidings, branch tracks, and double tracks, not including street railroads, which are assessed only in the localities where they exist.

Militia. Since the war with Spain the militia has been reorganized, and in June the Seventeenth Company of infantry was mustered in, completing the number deemed necessary by the military authorities. The State National Guard is composed of 17 companies of infantry, 10 companies or batteries of artillery, 1 troop of cavalry, and 5 divisions of naval militia, comprising altogether a force of about 2,000 men.

Banks. The condition of the national banks in the State, June 29, was reported: Loans and discounts, $3,697,049; stocks, securities, etc., $112,943; gold coin, $66,188; total specie, $321,712. United States certificates deposit for legal tender notes, $402,358; individual deposits, $4,210,222; average reserve held, 25.87 per cent.

Including savings banks, there are 57 State banks, 8 of which are in New Orleans.

In September, 1900, the capital of all the State banks and savings banks amounted to $3,820,210. The last returns of the condition of the State banks, dated June 30, 1900, show that the reported surplus and undivided profits amounted to $1,548,320.13, against $1,386,530.31 on Sept. 30, 1899, a gain of $161,789.82. The average rate of discount on stock paid by the State banks outside of New Orleans for the year 1899 is more than 10 per cent.; this, added to the surplus and undivided profits gained in the same time, shows something over 16 per cent. as the net profits of these institutions.

Insurance. In a suit of the city of New Orleans against the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, the State Supreme Court decided in May that the foreign company must pay a license of $2,400 for the privilege of conducting its business in the city during the year 1899, with 2 per cent. a month interest from March of that year. If it could be shown that a municipal license had been paid by the company in any other town or towns in the State, based on premiums there collected or receipts there received, the city of New Orleans could not afterward claim to include such premiums or receipts in the aggregate amount upon which it demanded a license, even though the returns of such premiums collected elsewhere had been made to the principal office of the company in New Orleans. The company had contended that it was liable only for tax on the business with in the city.

Products and Industries.-The cotton crop is given as 625,000 bales; the consumption in mills of the State, 16,420 bales; there are 6 mills, of which 4 were in operation. The sugar crop was small, as it has been for two or three years; it was estimated at 250,000 long tons.

The timber business has made progress, as shown by the Auditor's report. In 1900 there were 229 licensed sawmills, against 202 in 1899. The cotton-seed-oil mills have increased from 28 to 41.

The Governor's message says of the rice indusVOL. XL.-22 A

try: "It has assumed colossal proportions on the shores of the Mississippi, but more particularly in south Louisiana, where great irrigation canals have been made and mammoth pumping plants and rice mills established. Those canals are made by throwing up levees from 10 to 50 feet apart, into which the water is pumped from streams. The canals are navigable by small boats. They range from 2 to 20 miles in length, watering from 1,000 to 20,000 acres. The capital invested will soon approximate $3,500,000, showing a total length of 300 miles of main canals and 500 miles of laterals, capable of watering 200,000 acres. No less than 14 rice mills have been erected in this territory, and several more are in course of construction. Rice irrigation is also carried on from wells."

Lawlessness.-A series of bloody disturbances occurred in New Orleans in July. The trouble began when, at the request of some frightened colored women, two policemen attempted to arrest two colored men. One of the colored men not only shot one of the policemen, but retreated to one house after another with his Winchester rifle and shot several others who attempted to arrest or shoot him. He was conquered at last only by setting fire to the house in which he was concealed. Meanwhile a mob of boys, very young men, and hoodlums had seized the occasion to go through the streets and kill or maltreat peaceable negroes of both sexes. A colored schoolhouse in which the negroes were reported to have stored ammunition was burned by the mob. The total casualties resulting from this affair were reported as 11 persons killed, 3 mortally wounded, and 28 seriously injured.

Four suspected negro burglars, all ex-convicts, were taken from jail at Ponchatoula, Sept. 20, and hanged.

A negro ex-convict and cattle thief was terribly whipped by whitecappers near Lake Charles, May 12.

On June 23 a man was lynched near Springfield for the murder and robbery of an aged woman. A negro who shot and seriously wounded a railroad conductor was lynched near Plaquemine, Oct. 19.

A negro who had made threats against the lives of two men was lynched, June 9, at Devall. For attempted criminal assault a negro was lynched at Lena, May 12, and one at Whitehall, Aug. 27.

A negro who confessed a murder was hanged by a mob, about Aug. 30, at Cheneyville.

April 20, in Livingston Parish, a party of 6 or 8 white men rode up to a negro's house and fired into the dwelling, wounding one of the occupants. They then rode on to the next house and fired a second volley, killing a negro boy. Four young men of the party were arrested. The shooting is said to have been without cause.

A lumber company attempted to work a new sawmill at Tioga with mixed labor, but the whites began shooting at the negroes to force them to leave, as they have been compelled to do at many of the other mills on the line of the Iron Mountain Railroad.

A dispatch of Aug. 15 said: "The commission appointed by the second white mass meeting in Cheneyville, La., to regulate the negroes of that neighborhood went to work yesterday. The resolutions adopted ordered the negroes to give way on the sidewalk to white people and also prohibited them from gathering at the railroad depot. A young negro jumped on a railroad train yesterday and got in the way of some white passengers. It was decided by the commission to discipline him.

He was therefore marched to the business center of the town, straightened out, and given 50 lashes with a cowhide whip, in the presence of a large audience of whites and negroes.'

At Allentown, in April, the foreman of a lumber mill was shot and instantly killed by a negro, who then took his own life. Two other negroes were arrested on a charge of having conspired with the murderer to kill the foreman; they were seized by a mob and hanged in the woods.

A riot arose at Lake Charles in September, in consequence of an assault by a negro on an old lady at Chloe station. A mob attempted to take him from the jail where he was placed after arrest, and in the attempt the jailer was killed by a shot from the mob. Three men were arrested, charged with the murder. The negro was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment.

Political. The State election was held April 17. It was the first general election held under the new Constitution. The total registration was 129,729; of these it is said that about 7,000 were negroes. Not only negroes, but many naturalized foreigners, were disfranchised by the new election provisions requiring educational or property qualifications. There were three tickets in the fieldthe Democratic, the regular Republican, and the Republican-Fusion.

The nominations made at the Democratic convention, which was held Dec. 20, 1899, were: For Governor, W. W. Heard; Lieutenant Governor, Albert Estopinal; Secretary of State, John T. Michel; Attorney-General, Walter Guion; Superintendent of Education, Joseph V. Calhoun; Treasurer, Ledoux E. Smith; Auditor, W. S. Frazee.

The regular Republicans, also called the Wimberley Republicans from the name of the State member of the National Republican Committee, appointed their convention for Feb. 5, when they met at New Orleans and selected the following candidates: For Governor, Eugene S. Reems; Lieutenant Governor, F. B. Earhart; Treasurer, Benjamin Bloomfield; Auditor, James Forsythe; Attorney-General, Robert P. Hunter; Superintendent of Education, D. M. Lines.

On Feb. 6 a convention was held at Alexandria by a section of Republicans, composed in part of the sugar planters who left the Democratic party at the time the sugar bounty was discontinued. They have been called the "Lily Whites." They were joined by other Republicans not favoring the management of the regular party, and the following ticket was named: For Governor, C. Taylor Cade; Lieutenant Governor, W. G. Wyly; Treasurer, T. J. Woodward; Attorney-General, Clay Knobloch; Secretary of State, W. J. Behan; Auditor, J. C. Weeks; Superintendent of Education, C. K. Murray.

The People's party, at Alexandria, Feb. 7, agreed upon the following ticket: For Governor, D. M. Sholars; Lieutenant Governor, T. J. Woodward; Secretary of State, J. T. Howell; Attorney-General, Taylor Beattie; Auditor, O. H. Deshotels; Treasurer, B. W. Marsden; Superintendent of Education, O. B. Staples.

Committees of the independent Republicans and the Populists held a conference about Feb. 20; they were joined by independent Democrats who, under the leadership of Senator Caffery, were opposed to the administration of Gov. Foster and to the election provisions of the new Constitution. Senator Caffery seems to have been out of favor with his party on account of his gold standard principles and his having voted in Congress against some measures deemed of interest to the citizens of the State. The fusion ticket was headed by It was: For Governor, Donelson Caffery,

his son.

Jr., independent Democrat; Lieutenant Governor, D. M. Sholars, Populist-Democrat; Attorney-General, W. G. Wyly, Republican; Secretary of State, C. Taylor Cade, Republican; Treasurer, George A. Hassinger, Republican; Auditor, O. H. Deshotels, Populist; Superintendent of Education, O. B. Staples, Populist. Mr. Caffery's letter of acceptance may be taken as a declaration of the principles of the combined parties. He said in part: *The sole memento of the vanished question of race supremacy is found in Democratic majorities based on negro votes counted but not cast; and having fought and prevailed against an unbearable and now impossible domination, it becomes necessary for our people to resist the domination of overgrown power armed with the weapons intrusted to the officers of State for the defense of our civilization. Under our government of majorities without votes, we have learned that there may be a more odious form of oppression than taxation without representation. The Governor must not be the fountainhead of political authority. The school system must be removed from petty politics. The registrars must be elected by the people of the several parishes. The registration must not be a partisan weapon. All candidates must have the right of naming their commissioners of election. The trick laws governing the official ballot and representation at the polls must no longer throttle opposition to the candidates of the party in control, and as the whole system of registration and election laws was designed to prevent the growth and formation of opposing parties and the building up of that spirit of independence which is the life breath of the republic, a new system must be introduced which will hold out to the people all the opportunities now denied them."

There was trouble about the official ballot and the election commissioners. Those to which the Republicans were entitled were in most parishes given to the regular Republicans, though in some to the fusionists. In sending in their nomination papers, the fusionists appended the requisite number of signatures, but in parishes where signers afterward withdrew their names by telegraph, the election board was unwilling to allow the names of the candidates to appear on the official ballot.

The election resulted in victory for the Democrats on the State ticket and on nearly every local ticket. The total vote was less than half as large as at the last State election. The vote for Governor was: Heard, Democrat, 60,206; Reems, Republican, 2,449; Caffery, fusion, 14,215. The vote for presidential electors was: Democratic, 53,671; Republican, 14,233.

A proposed amendment to the Constitution was carried, which will enable New Orleans to issue bonds to pay for water, sewerage, and drainage improvements.

The Legislature elected was wholly Democratic.

The Democratic convention for choosing delegates to the national convention and nominating electors was held June 4, at Baton Rouge. The delegates were instructed for William J. Bryan. The resolutions denounced the imperialistic policy of the administration, condemned the annexation of the Philippines, asked that the government of Cuba be given into the hands of its citizens, denounced trusts, opposed wars of conquest and acquisition of colonies and militarism, asked national aid for the levee system and the deepening of the channel of the Southwest Pass at the mouth of the Mississippi, favored the construction of the Nicaragua Canal immediately by the United States alone and the election of Senators by direct vote of the people, and expressed sympathy for the Boers.