In conversing one day with the superintendent of one of our local industries where the library is maintaining a station, I learned something of the many provisions devised by the welfare department of the organization as conducted by the social secretaries of the company. From my tour of inspection I have a vivid recollection of attractive dining rooms, an indoor gymnasium with an up-to-date swimming pool, office or laboratory for a medical attendant to administer first aid and attend to accidents of more or less serious nature, architectural plans, free of charge, for prospective home builders, a well selected book collection of popular and technical character, presided over by a representative of the public library, which institution also arranges for biweekly noon lectures on popular and instructive topics. On my commending the humanitarian spirit animating the management of the company the prompt response came: "That element enters only as incidental in our policy. It is all a matter of business. We must hold our organization intact. It is important to retain our skilled workmen and we must make it worth their while to remain with us." If it has been found to be good policy to provide for the contentment and welfare of the human units in an organization where, after all, a large part of the day's work is rather mechanical and of fixed standards, how vastly more important it must be to give a close, generous consideration to the happiness and comfort of the personnel in a library system where the personal service is of paramount importance, where the physical and mental vitality is under constant pressure, where improvement in the day's work is always exacted and where the result yielded to the individual effort is uncertain and often undemonstrable. In the case of library service, humanitarian regard should weigh equally with considerations of statistics and output, inasmuch as library work is a service for humanity and its welfare. Those entrusted with the management of libraries may well remember the maxim that "as we do we teach," which, applied to library conditions, may lead us to conclude that whatsoever is done to promote the happiness and best instincts of the rank and file in a library organization, will result directly in instilling in the public service, rendered by them, a spirit of sympathy, ready regard of the rights and needs of the public and an eagerness to serve loyally. Any library management conceived and executed in this spirit may be depended upon for achievements in what is really _library economy_. I'll endeavor to formulate some suggestions toward effecting such results and I can harbor but feelings of satisfaction, should I be advised later that they have already been practically realized in some institutions. The question of how to maintain and increase the efficiency of the staff might well be approached from two angles, the physical and the mental conservation of forces.