Concerning Library Money.

It is mildly shocking to discover from the report of Harvard's librarian how serious he considers the university's need of more funds for its library. The splendid new Widener Memorial building scarcely prepares one's mind for a cry of poverty. And the great size of Harvard's collection, now numbering nearly two million books and pamphlets, does not suggest deficiency. Later reflection, however, calls to mind how serious must be the demands which arise from this very fact of the collection's size. The Widener Library has given suitable housing to the main store of Harvard's books, but there remain the detached collections of various departments, and conditions in respect of these are not satisfactory. Again the maintenance of a library's new purchases of books, within the standards applicable to one of the greatest libraries in the world, must increase in difficulty and in special demands out of all proportion to the needs which the average city library is required to meet. If Harvard's library can get additional endowment, doubtless it will be well applied. Boston Transcript.