MELVIL DEWEY: I want to say a word about that New York list of pictures. When we printed that bulletin a great chorus of criticism arose from among the newspapers, and we smiled; we said it was characteristic of newspapers to discuss a thing without knowing at all what they were talking about. But I did not suppose that same characteristic would appear in this Association. Our bulletin states very distinctly what it is for, and it makes its own case absolutely infallible. We had to meet the problem in the state of New York, of circulating pictures bought with the taxpayers' money, to be put on the walls of the school houses--Jewish schools, Roman Catholic schools and schools of many denominations. Under those peculiar conditions it was a question whether we could carry the movement at all, and we selected about 50 people, whose judgment was most reliable, and asked them, out of several hundred pictures, to select 100 that would be open to no objection of any kind. There was no effort whatever to select the hundred _best_ pictures. They simply made a list that would pass the legislature. It included pictures that people ridiculed sadly; and yet we had on file letters from prominent people in the state to the effect that they would protest against certain well-known pictures, and we thought it wiser not to raise issues over minor details. Our bulletin is simply a list of pictures that have been passed by representatives of various religious and ethical interests. You may think it most absurd that certain pictures, perhaps the most famous, should have been voted out of such a list, but if you were to go through the schools of the state of New York or any other state you would find that there are conscientious mothers and fathers, who have had no opportunity for art training, who would get down on their knees and pray that some of these pictures might not be put on the walls of the school room. If you do not know that, you are not familiar with the sentiment in the rural districts. There was a specific purpose in our action; we heard all of these criticisms, and we did the thing that seemed right and best under the circumstances. There are about a hundred of us on the state library staff, but we do not yet, as a body, venture to feel as omniscient as some single individuals regard themselves. I strongly believe that it is not a bad thing to take the opinion of experts. We are perfectly willing to show respect to the specialist in his own field, and I think it is mighty unwise advice to give young librarians, when they are told not to ask the opinion of a good specialist, whose verdict commands the confidence of the public. Adjourned at 12.05 p.m. _FOURTH SESSION._ (LIBRARY HALL, MADISON, WIS., MONDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 8.)