Editor The Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
The awful loss of this state library is the result, of course, of carelessness, more, or less criminal. No punishment can follow the crime. A portion of the loss can be repaired by the purchase of such books as were printed and a liberal use of money from the poor taxpayer, but the books without price—the early records of our villages and states—these we must forever regret and do without. Never was such a mass of rich historical lore so shabbily treated.
As for the building—good riddance! It had not a line of beauty—was filled with vulgar display of mere expenditure and, as the fire proves, was unsuitable for its uses. May it never be repaired. Possibly some of the new rich class might purchase itfor its money associations or its tawdry decorations; or it might be well to plant ivy over its remains—it would make a magnificent ruin.
Surely there ought to be culture and honesty enough in this great Empire State to erect a Capitol building on dignified, simple, beautiful lines that would be a credit to our commonwealth, and which would have sufficient space about it to emphasize its dignity.
The amount of money spoken of in connection with a restoration after the fire wreck would, under honest conditions, build a far more desirable structure, of 'which- we -would all be proud, and not "fireproof" as that word has come to signify, but something that "cannot burn."
As our records are gone, it matters little what provision is made for a library, but a central building for the state, suitably situated, properly designed and honestly constructed, would in a measure atone for some of the iniqulties attached to the old site.
F V. MORRELL.
177 Quincy street. April 3, 1911.
No comments:
Post a Comment