TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12591, 6 September 1906, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Mr McNab has come back Library from America much imScience. pressed with tho scientifio methods in force there in the management of libraries. In a conversation with a representative of tho "Now Zeahnd Times" he pointed out that Parliamentary Libraries in America are free libraries in tho fullest sense of tho term. In the great Congressional Library at Washington, any ono may walk in and be supplied with any book he wants. Book oitaloguos are out of date in America, whore everything is catalogued on the card plan, tmder a system by which a book is catalogued for all time within a few minutes of its arrival. Tho Congressional Library supplies the cards to all libraries that want them, with tho result that a uniform system is in operation. Mr McNab thinks that probably the Congressional Library would be willing to supply New Zealand libraries with cards. But the most noticeable feature of American libraries seems* to bo tho perfection of system in getting at books. Tho reading-room of the Congressional Library holds five hundred people, and the attendants occupy a stago in the centre. Tho reader sends in a ticket asking for a certain book. He signs the ticket, on which ho also writes tho date, tho name of tho book, and the number of his seat. The ticket is handed to a clerk at the table, who looks nt tho card catalogue and finds out whether tho book ds in the library. In front of him is a row of pneumatic tubes representing noarlj' all tho letters in tho alphabet; if tho book is in tho library, ho puts tho ticket into ono of the tubes, and it goes off to another department where the book is, and where the ticket is rocoived by an attendant. The latter gets the book, inserts a card in it, and tho book is conveyed by a travelling platform to tho clerk in tho reading-room, who ascertains all the particulars from tho cirri, and sends the book to tho reader. Wlien the latter is done with it, he returns it to the clerk, who sends ft back to its shelf by the moving platform. Readers are asked to report to the authorities if over fifteen minutes is occupied in supplying a book; in the British

Museum an hour is said to bo tho usual time, and sometimes the visitor is asked to givo a day's notice. Books of reference are lent out with a freedom amazing to a New Zealander. In tho fine art department of the Congressional Library it is the custom as tho anniversaries of particular events oomo round, to 6ct out on tables all works of art relating to these events, with the result that in ono great show room art treasures emblejnatical of much of the world's history 'are displayed in tho course of a year. Altogether Mr McNab thinks it would bo an excellent move for New Zealand to send somo

one to America to report on libraries there with a view to making improvements at home.

A man who was once an

The Anarchist-, and retired Anarohist'a from the brctOierhood—MoraCs. evidently thoroughly

disgusted—has given his impressions of anarchists to the world in a book just published! in London. The book is a damning indictment of Anarchists—nob merely of their murders, but of the utter immorality and soullessness of their daily actions. Tho average anarchist, he says, will laugh at tihe mention of tho word morality. Ho is a lazy scoundrel, who prefers to murder and steal ■ratheir than work. A 'number of Italian Anarchists who took refuge in London, were fond of tettlinig how tho "oomtrades" in Italy raised funds to cany on the propaganda. A large audience would be drawn together by. placards announcing a lecture on "Anarchist morality," ami while they wero listening to the speeches certain "comrades" would ease" tliom of their watches and purses. One of the favourite "dodges" of the "Free Initiative Group" of London was to take a shop (without paying any rent), stock it with empty boxes 90 as to give it a genuine appearance, add a little genuine stock (got by fraud), and then advertise the "business" for salo as a going concern, By this means they would net £20 or £30 cm. every "business" sold, generally the hard-earned savings of some working man anxious to start in business for himself. Their proceedings are .generally of the mest disorderly kind, for there is no chairman, and every one is allowed to speak when ho likes. Tho different groups are continually quarrelling. There' is an edifying story told of the way in which the Anarchist will rob his "brother" if he gets a chance. One group published an Anarchist sheet. "Dissensions soon aroso among tho associates as to the management of tihiß property. A minority of two, in the exercise of their 'individual liberty,' claimed the lot to do as they liked with, and shut the dcor in tho face of tho other "brothers," who, in their turn, 'burgled' tho premises at dead of night. Then the minority called in the poKce (by ho means strange for Anarchists). However, a reunion took place between the opposing factions, and everything went as merrily as a marriage bell, until, cine fine day, the majority found that this time the minority had sold up all the happy home and pocketed tho proceeds I And now, dear reader (as they say in tracts), just picture in your mind the beauty of Anarchy adopted nationally !" Tho reformed Anarchist has a few satisfactory words to say of the English Anarchist, or rather for the absence of him. There are practically no purely English Anairchists, and the foreign element in London is gradually but surely dwindling, largely owing to the work of the Oriminal Investigation Department, whose elaborate system of espionage has so estranged "comrades" that mutual suspicion has sprung up between them.

Apparently the storm of

Where protest at the action of England the American Government Leads. in engaging a London tailor to design new uniforms for tho American army has had no effect, for Mr Winter, the tailor in question, has returned to London from America quite eatislSed with his trip, uiiring which, by the way, he was paid £250 a week. He told a journalist that all bjs suggestions had been received, and spoke in tho highest

terms of tho material ho had been called

on to clothe. "The American army contains tho pick of American manhood. The soldiers aro as hard as nails, lean and musoular. They are, indeed, a (magnificent lot of athletes, and are capable of standing any amount of hardship. It was a pleasure- to design clothes for them, particularly aa those they wero wearing were ill-fitting and uncomfortable, and without graceful-

I ness." In future tho American Tommy is to ho dressed like his English cousin, though whether he.is to don tho bearskin and other abominations to tho ! reformer is not stated. Ho ia to wear khaki in tho summer and cloth in the winter, and tho cloth will be much better than that in the uniforms of poverty-stricken England. The tunic and trousers are to fit tho figure, and, altogether, Mr Winter prophesies that tho American soldier will be the bestdressed soldier iv the world. When his interviewer mentioned tho American tailor, Mr Winter smiled tho smile of a man of an unassailable plane of excellence. "They make a lot of money inventing 'fad' clothes. The result, so far as their customers is concerned, is ludicrous.'' The gilded, youth of New York and other American cities wero tho most foolish-looking exquisites ho ever saw. The fashionable youth wore a coat which might hare belonged to a giant, and hung round his figure like a cloak, ami as for his trousers, they looked as if they had been made in a hurry by his women folk. "Yet the American man ptys enormous prioes for these awful clothes, and imagines he is dressed like an Englishman." Thank heaven there is at least ono branch of human endeavour in which tho Old Country is superior to hustling America! Apparently tho only weapon left to Americans in their mortification is the top-hat. "Ono good turn deserves another," says an American paper. "England sends us her best tailor to design tho pat- ! terns for our sold ions' clothes; wo will ship her any ono of our leading hat- , ters to relieve her men of the tyranny and tho torture, of her 'topper.' At tho Ascot race meeting the other day, where high hats and frock coats are obligatory, two men fainted, a distinguished African explorer nearly collapsed, and every man was limp. With our summer straw and tho togs that go with it, instead of a casualty list, there would bo happiness, even among the men who backed tho wrong horse." However, there are signs that the "topper" will go out without I American assistance.