The justification for taxing the members of a community to
support a Public Library, although rarely questioned to-day
was argued with heat in former times. Earlier, there was the
same difference of opinion with regard to the public
schools. In order to obtain the argument in opposition, in
its best form, we have had to draw from a British source,
which we consider it proper to quote here because it
elicited a reply from an American librarian which will
immediately follow: