To the Editor of the "Nonru-Ciiwa DaiLy News"
Sin,—OF course I realise that these' torrid days are the worst of, all times to appeal to a sense of civie duty. And yet I feel that some. thing should be said concerning the state of our Public Library.
Thad occasion £2 took cycle", "Being in urgent need of a curate information on the theory of it, T visited the Public Library as the most convenient source formation. And would you bel it? Not one book was to be found Which described this interesting Phenomenon!
The Encyclopedia Britannica, that reliable source of information, is to be seen only in the ancient, outworn edition of 1910! As far as the young people of Shanghai are concerned, if they depended on the public library to inform them, such names as the Great War, the' League of Nations, radio, automobile, television, even, the familiar "talkie" would mean nothing. How can one blame the ordinary "Shanghai boy" for being provincial and uninformed, when he has nowhere to go to improve his knowledge?
Surely it is an obligation of the S.M.C. to provide food for the mind to at least an equal if not greater degree than it is its obligation to provide aesthetic delight in the Municipal Orchestra. Please, can't we make some effort to keep date in our knowledge and thought? Let's improve the Pubic Library!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.