supply farm homes with library privileges.”[22] Municipal libraries have reached their highest development in Massachusetts, which has on its public shelves more than six million volumes, about two to each inhabitant; but in the absence of a county system the rural population is neglected. Indiana also has an admirable township law, empowering townships to combine and work in concert; yet only one rural inhabitant in each eleven enjoys library privileges. A very different tale is told in those states where the system of the central county library has been set up, though the system is even now but in its infancy. The pioneer county library was established in 1901 in Van Wert, Ohio, in a state where the library movement had hitherto made but indifferent progress. Funds for a building had been left to the county town by a self-made banker, J. S. Brumback, and his heirs decided that it should be a library for the whole county, whereby 30,000 people would enjoy benefits that would otherwise have been restricted to 8,000. The county is small and compact, measuring 405 square miles, and is predominantly a rural area, 16,300 persons at that time living on farms or in out-of-the-way spots, and the inhabitants of the towns depending largely for business on the rural population. The county spirit is strong. There are county parks, a county fair, a county hospital, a county Chautauqua, agricultural shows, sports, singing contests, and other county affairs. Hence the tree was planted in the right soil, and took hold at once. A county tax was sanctioned, a large initial stock of books was acquired, and has been continually augmented; and when the stock had increased to 25,000 the whole library service, which is threefold, dealing with the town of Van Wert, with fifteen branches, and with the schools in town and country, was run at an aggregate cost of $7,000 per annum. The staff is divided into three departments corresponding to the three divisions of the service, besides the custodians at the branches, who receive an honorarium for their attendance at certain hours. An equal if not a greater circulation of books is attained through the schools than even through the branch stations. Sunday schools are pressed into the work, and the extension activities are multifarious. Collections of 125 books are sent to each branch every three months; in addition, supply boxes of a hundred books go regularly to some branches, and when required to others. Every inhabitant of the county it must be understood, is entitled to borrow direct from the central library. This is an important point, and, observes the librarian, it would be still more important if the central library were worked on the open access system. In 1920, the total number of agencies in operation was 142, comprehending, besides the central library, five city stations, six city schools, fifteen branches, and 115 school collections. The registered borrowers comprise nearly sixty per cent.