University of Virginia Library

. . . Perhaps I had better begin epistolary communication
by certain commentaries on the cablegrams.

I regret that the matter of salary has been mentioned
so often. I was willing to take without demur whatever you
might have decided upon as a proper salary. I must admit
that I did not have much fear of the results, for since I came
to China I have been receiving a missionary salary.

Up to the present I have not received the two thousand
dollars which you reported as cabled. . . . I was able to carry
on, however, because the University advanced five hundred
dollars Mexican and the Red Cross in Shanghai advanced
the cost of an outfit such as they supply their doctors, the cost
of passage on the steamer from Shanghai to Vladivostok,
and some money for expenses en route.

As I could not arrange for the proper A. L. A. insignia in
Shanghai, I was forced to request by cable from Nagasaki
that you send it from Washington. The Japanese couldn't
find A. L. A. in Webster's Dictionary, so I had to write
American Library Association in full. I was pleased that
the words are long.

. . . Your message of "27 November, 1918" states "Am
cabling London send twenty-five hundred A. L. A. books
Archangel." I find here that communications with Archangel
are just at present well nigh impossible; at least, it would
mean several weeks, probably several months en route, and
large expenses. . . .

Several cases of books were received by this expedition
from you months ago. Apparently others have come from
Miss Polk in Manila since then. The cases received here
have been distributed widely through the interest and energy
of Captain Moore, the Morale Officer of the Expedition. My
first work is apparently to locate these books, find out the

---

8

The methods of putting the books into use vary also. In
some cases no records have been kept, in others the records
are elaborate. One regiment has made the A. L. A. books
a part of the regimental library, and the Colonel has himself
worked out an excellent plan for exchange among his
scattered detachments. This plan has not yet been put into
effect, because the regimental library has just been started
and there is not yet a sufficient number of volumes. But
in a fortnight the library, as it now exists at the location of
the largest detachment, has had a large use. The regimental
library idea will probably prevent exchange with outside organizations,
which are fairly numerous, but it will mean location
of the books in the barracks and under regimental
supervision. In view of the scattered and uncertain conditions
here, the erection of any library buildings seems to me
not desirable.

Among the non-regimental organizations—headquarters,
hospitals, engineers—a system of exchanges can readily be
instituted, as soon as I have some new cases for distribution.
At Headquarters I yesterday learned that thirteen cases had
been sent recently from Manila. When these arrive I ought
to be able to get things moving finely; and also to reach
several detachments that have not yet had any books.

Captain Moore recently received from the chaplain of a
regiment along the line the following comment: "The books
you sent are without exception the best collection for soldiers
I have ever seen. But every book, except atlases and encyclopedias,
which we do not let out, was gone in twenty-four
hours after the library was opened and men calling for
more. We do not want more than our share, but we really
need more."

To this excerpt may be added three notes from my brief

---

9

The war is over, the winter is here, men and officers are
comfortably housed; the camp libraries have an unusual opportunity
for service.

I have been located at the officers' quarters at the Base, and
have been receiving most courteous and helpful treatment.

Yesterday and today I have found four new places where
books have been distributed. The largest collection was of
300 volumes, shelved in a Y. M. C. A. hut and canteen.
There were just sixteen books on the shelves, the others being
in circulation! The cards had been used in this case, and
I found that the cards recorded an average use of fully ten
loans per volume. The men were reading everything in
sight.

I have now located fourteen collections in use in the neighbourhood
of Vladivostok. One of these collections is divided
into six parts and another into four parts, the parts being
located at different points. This makes twenty-two locations.
There is perhaps one more in this vicinity, and there are
two or three detachments that have no books. I have heard
of four locations out along the railway—the letter from a
regimental chaplain quoted before being from one of these—

---

10

I should like to have extra cards in quantity, some ink, and,
if possible, letter paper and envelopes.

At the beginning of this week I seemed at a loss how to
proceed. However, I learned at the office of the Chief of
Staff that a letter had recently been received there from
Miss Mary Polk of Manila stating that a dozen or so boxes
of books and periodicals had been sent by transport from the
Philippines. So I started after these, ran into a mesh of red
tape, and after some patient unwinding—during which I received
most courteous treatment—I reached the following
results—which make up my report for the week:—

Location and Stock on Hand:—I have a medium-sized
room for storage in a warehouse at the Base. The room
is opposite the Base Post Office. Out of another warehouse
I dug twenty-four boxes and three parcels, containing a few
books and a welter of periodicals. These were moved to my
store-room and opened—except in the case of a box marked
for a detachment along the line. The result is the first stage
of a mobilization of most of the periodicals in the East. It
is chaos. I have considered topping it with a banner, "All
is not literature that litters." Many of the contents have nor
rhyme nor reason. Ancient financial and commercial journals,
a run of "The Bowler's Magazine," periodicals for
children, "The Ladies' Home Journal," "Butterick's Patterns,"
"The Delineator," "The Mother's Magazine," "Good Housekeeping,"
"The Woman's Homely Companion"—what is one
to do with these? There are comparatively few books, but
many of them are coverless, worm-eaten, decrepit. Yet in
this chaff there is some fine grain. And I am greatly gladdened
at the chance I now have for a wide distribution of
this stock. . . .

Methods of Distribution:—This week I got from head-quarters
a full distribution and strength chart of this expedition,
with an excellent blue-print map. This I have deposited
in the safe at the Base Post Office. It will enable me
to reach, in course of time, all the scattered detachments.
My location at the Post Office enables me to make use of the

---

11

Assistants:—For the moving I had a squad of Austrian
prisoners (well-fed, cheerful fellows); and a colonel who got
interested yesterday loaned me a soldier to open boxes. So
far I have done all the sorting that has been done. Later I
may have to get an assistant or two, particularly when I
start out for an inspection of more distant detachments.

(Last week, by the way, I sent letters to the commanding
officers of various detachments explaining the wish of the
A. L. A. to keep the camp libraries circulating. And the
very mess in the store-room is proving something of an advertisement.
Those who come to stare remain to browse.)

I have finished unpacking the boxes of periodicals which I
reported last week. The periodicals have been sorted and I
have now begun the more interesting work of making up
sets to send out. Already twenty-eight sets have been made up
for seventeen places. Some have been distributed, but thirteen
mail sacks are ready for tomorrow. I hope to be able to
send sets to all the detachments, large and small, of this expedition
during the coming week—Christmas week. Thus do
we introduce the short-story into the long Siberian night.

I am very glad to have found this work to do while I am
waiting for books to arrive; and it is teaching me locations
and methods of transportation which ought certainly to be
useful later.

Because I have been much cramped for room in which
to do the unpacking, sorting, selecting, and repacking of the
periodicals, I have done practically all of this work alone,
though I have had offers of help. This is making the job a
rather long one. . . .

In my position of "middleman" I am sure I can send to
you and to the others who are making this war work possible
the grateful Christmas greetings of the Expeditionary
Force in Siberia.

On December 24th, I cabled to you: "For sending money
Vladivostok branch Hongkong Shanghai Bank available."

This Vladivostok branch did not appear on the list . . .

---

12

During the past week I have put the finishing touches to
the arrangement of my prize collection of periodicals, and
have sent out twenty mail sacks and fifty other parcels of
this machine gun literature. More than half of the contents
of these boxes are now in the hands of the soldiers. The expressions
of appreciation are not few. . . . It has been a very
grimy job, and I have looked upon so many magazine-cover
ladies that completely clothed women of intelligent mien are
at a premium with me. But I repeat that I am heartily glad
that I found this work.

The work and the daily association with officers and men
have given me more understanding of situation and personnel.
Colonel S—— of the umpty-first infantry has
been an almost daily visitor, and a result of his interest and
initiative has been a regimental library with plans for development
that promise practical success. The central library
is used very largely. But the regiment is broken into detachments
which are scattered over the country adjoining as
thickly as the golf links of Scotland. So the branch system
with exchanges has been worked out, and this past week three
sets of from fifty to seventy-five volumes have been sent from
the main collection to branches. All this is managed and
controlled by the regiment, and the Colonel's desire is to
have the books we supply him permanently a part of the
regimental library. I have no instructions from you concerning
this; but it seems to me that the plans have many
advantages.

I have been sending letters to the commanding officers of
all the larger detachments of this expedition which are located
at some distance from Vladivostok inquiring about the desire
for books and about my chance of making each place
a visit. The answers which I have received have been uniformly
affirmative on both points. It was my plan at first
to make a round of the various locations immediately, as I
did here in the vicinity of the Base. But because the books
received had already been distributed and local methods of
control had been put into operation; because travelling is
uncertain and difficult; and because the twenty-four boxes
of old periodicals were hopelessly acquiring dust in a warehouse;
I decided to wait until I actually had, not promises, but
new books before taking to the novel experiences of the Siberian
railway. . . . I realize . . . that you may even be reaching
the Chestertonian conclusion expressed by one of the officers

---

13

There was a violent storm here on New Year's Day, and
. . . consequently what is officially known as "transportation"
has been interfered with.

However, I have distributed twenty parcels of my diminishing
stock of periodicals locally and have sent eight mail sacks
of it out by the railway, and there are sixteen other parcels
ready to go out. During the week I have unpacked the last
of the twenty-four boxes which have been my stock in trade.
These contained books; cruelly large cases they were. . . .
At times this week, if it had not been for a Chinese tailor's
attempt at a marine green uniform, I should have believed
myself a librarian of the village life period in America. And
the marine green has had its difficulties too; for these tomes
have been more than musty. Cleanliness has been next to—
impossible. However, I have got the contents of the two
cases all out on box tops and beams and the floor, and I have,
from a part of the collection, repacked six small boxes and
made up four parcels, which have all found users. Three of
the boxes are still awaiting "transportation" but may go
tomorrow. One is to accompany a small detachment which
is starting a long trip inland. In the curious difficulties, political
and otherwise, which the American engineers are having
in their endeavours toward railway improvement, "long"
means time more than distance. A newspaper correspondent
who had just come in made the journey from Omsk in
five weeks! So the Manila Club may be blessed of these
travellers. . . .

Having won back space in which to turn around in my
humble storeroom, I have arranged to have shelves put up
this coming week. . . . This rough library and distributing
room, which is located about ten feet across a hallway from
the American Base Post Office, is becoming known, and
shelves will be very useful. As an illustration that the
place and work are becoming known, I can tell of requests
that are coming in for special books as well as for periodicals.

---

14

This week the expressions of appreciation of work done
and the offers of co-operation in my plans have continued to
come in. . . . You will be interested in the response to a
parcel of magazines and a letter that I sent to the Commanding
Officer of the Legation Guard at Harbin:—

There has just come by post from Miss Mary Polk, of
Manila, a very welcome collection of supplies and information.
I have been particularly eager to get printed or other matter
about the working of the Camp Libraries in the States and
overseas. . . .

Miss Polk sent a supply of book cards and book pockets,
which will be very useful—for gifts reaching me here and for
purchases made through a Shanghai bookseller. She sent no
book plates; at least I have as yet found none in the parcels.
Speaking of book plates, may I add my humble words of congratulation
to the person or persons who designed the fine
A. L. A. plate? . . .

I am hoping that, when word begins to come through directly
from you, you will direct me what to do in the case of
regimental libraries, or permanent libraries of other permanent
units. . . .

Of my prize collection of periodicals there are now only two
"Japan Magazines" and twenty-five copies of the periodical
that publishes over two million copies weekly. (An enlisted
man remarked the other day that the Saturday Evening Post

---

15

In passing I may say that I have made some effort to keep
undesirable specimens out of the parcels of old books and
periodicals that have been distributed. . . .

With periodicals out and shelves going in, I am certainly in
a position to get some new cases of books—you can imagine
how my fingers itch to get hold of new books. And on Friday
my eager search among the material deposited by the last transport
was rewarded by the sight of eight or ten sure-enough
Camp Library boxes. But a book in the hand is more of an
achievement than I had known; for the boxes were addressed
rather casually on tags to "R. W. Bayles, Y. M. C. A." or to
"Helen Burr." And of course I could not get possession of
the cases until something was established about the names.
The names were, on investigation, not known to the American
post office, the Y. M. C. A., or the Red Cross. That being
clear, the Y. M. C. A. gave me a lever. For a special trip into
Vladivostok resulted in the enclosed letter from Mr. Inglehart.
The letter has released the cases, and I am to have them
tomorrow.

The investigation had other results. For in one of the Y. M.
C. A. offices which I visited, I found five or six other new
A. L. A. cases. These had been turned over to the Y. M. C. A.
by people on the transport. . . .

Yesterday I received by registered post from "The One Hundredth
Bank, Ltd.," Tokyo, Japan, the following letter, under
date of January eighth:

. . . "We beg to enclose herewith a cheque payable at the

---

16

Matsuda Bank for yen 3,720.93, being the equivalent of $2,000
at $53¾.

Kindly acknowledge the receipt.

Yours faithfully,

For the One Hundredth Bank,
(Signature successfully illegible)
Per Pro Manager."

About half of the first two thousand is still unused. I have
drawn from it only my expenses. . . . The books specially
wanted here and ordered from Shanghai have not yet come;
hence that bill is outstanding. But the assistance rendered by
the Red Cross in Shanghai not only made possible my coming
when I did, but also materially reduced the cost. My assignment
to the officers' quarters at the American Base in Siberia
eliminated room rent and reduced board to cost ($1.25 a day
during December). As prices are sky high in Vladivostok this
is another material advantage. Most of the matter of transportation
of books and periodicals has been taken care of by the
Quartermaster's Department and the American Post Office.
And the "Clearing House Library"—which is on the same floor
in one of the base warehouses as the Quartermaster's Department
and the Post Office—has, thanks to the Quartermaster,
cost three roubles, or thirty-eight cents, which was paid at a
Russian shop for a padlock.

The shelves in the "Clearing House Library" were finished
on Monday last, and an hour later the first of the real A. L. A.
books—ten cases—arrived. I had several hours of sheer physical
and mental enjoyment in getting the books arranged.
The Y. M. C. A. had taken ten cases from the transport. . . .
They had, previous to my call a week earlier, sent out three
cases to distant detachments. But I should have sent cases to
the same places, and the Y. M. C. A. are turning over to me full
lists of the books sent. The seven cases which they still
had are to be delivered to me tomorrow.

My work with periodicals, my correspondence with distant
detachments, and my constant association with officers at the
officers' quarters and at the Base offices have given me considerable
clue as to needs. And I find that the strength and location
chart entrusted to me at Headquarters has put me in possession
of better information on those points than even the Y. M. C. A.
possesses. I plan to keep a constant stock of books at the
"Clearing House Library" for regular library and reference
purposes and to repack from there the cases to be sent out
(hence the "Clearing House Library"). . . . This past week
I have repacked five such cases and the contents of one case
more or less have gone out from the "Clearing House Library"

---

17

The cases I have repacked contain a somewhat smaller proportion
of reference books, because I have wanted to keep a
stock of these on hand at the "Clearing House Library." Because
of the location of this small place with the large name, it
is likely to have borrowers in which the proportion of officers
is comparatively large—and of course it will be the only "central"
library. Perhaps the best proof of the quality of the users
would be a list of what has been borrowed from the "Clearing
House Library." To save space I will give the first twenty
of the new books taken out:

I ought to add that in the past day or two the proportion
of enlisted men has been higher. But the list will make clear
my meaning that the location is good for a reference library.

I am eager to get the other cases that are on the way. These

---

18

The selection of books in the A. L. A. cases is admirable
indeed. The single criticism I have heard is the lack of standard
poetry. I have myself admired the evidences of open-mindedness
and careful selection combined. . . .

A little incident of last week is unique in my library experiences.
. . . A door-filling specimen of an enlisted man,
who had borrowed Douglas Fairbanks' "Laugh and Live,"
brought it back, mildly disgusted.

"This ain't what I want. I thought it was a funny book."

"And you didn't find it funny?" I inquired.

"Naw. Say, have you got anything like Elinor Glyn's
`Three Weeks?' Elinor Glyn's so— so— well, scientific, you
know."

The adjective gave me a sudden coughing fit. But it also
gave me an answer.

"Perhaps you are interested in eugenics."

However this wasn't any more helpful than I had expected
it to be. So the man started out to help himself. He made
a laborious tour of the shelves. Finally with a grunt that
seemed to mingle satisfaction with doubt he pulled out a
volume and handed it to me for record.

"I guess that'll do. I'll try it anyway."

It was "Marriage a la mode."

Thus is virtue its own (Mrs. Humph)ry Ward!

Among the papers sent me by Miss Polk, I have found
and read eagerly a typewritten copy of your "The A. L. A.
Follows the Flag Overseas." It is a thrilling account and
most illuminating to me. Having such material as this and
having shelves and books, I have at last the happy sensation
of being "on my job." . . .

This past week has been a fairly busy one. Now that I
am able to get really to work with real cases of real A. L. A.
books, perhaps you will not have to wade through such
lengthy screeds from me. . . . Last week I reported to you
the details of the quest of seven cases of books, which had

---

19

This past week one case of books turned up in the Quartermaster's
warehouse. It had been at the bottom of a few
tons of miscellaneous boxes. The Quartermaster's department
is now looking sharply for A. L. A. cases, and is cooperating
with me very pleasantly. . . .

All the cases have been unpacked at the Clearing House
and Reference Library, and eleven have been repacked for
distribution. The repacking has been done according to my
information about local needs. The use of the reference
library continues to grow.

I had an illustration of the change in the appearance of
that thirty-eight cent Clearing House and Reference Library
recently. The enlisted man who was loaned to me several
weeks ago to help open and unpack the twenty-four boxes
of old periodicals and books nearly broke his back and did
break his hatchet over the job. When I dismissed him the
mess was beyond my powers of description. I judge that
the soldier thought the situation was hopeless. For he didn't
come back until one afternoon this past week. Meantime
the periodicals had been distributed, the boxes and the room
cleaned out, shelves put in, and books arranged on the shelves.
As I glanced up from my work I saw him standing in the
door, with mouth wide open. At my nod he fairly exploded:
"My God, you've got it cleaned up!"

On that previous day he had, while rubbing his back, confided
in me that he wanted to read a book by Marie Corelli.
This time it was waiting for him.

The books I ventured to order from Shanghai have not
yet come. But new requests have come in, and I am going
this week to venture again, for certain books on mineralogy,
chemistry, medicine, history, and English. These requests
seem to me legitimate, as they are for special reference use,
chiefly for classes which have been started among the soldiers.

During the week I have had an exchange of letters with
the Y. M. C. A. Director in Vladivostok concerning details
of cooperation. I have also had a long conference with the

---

20

. . . The use of the little Clearing House and Reference
Library has increased beyond my expectations. And the cases
which I have been able to distribute from the twenty-one
received (three of which were sent out by the Y. M. C. A.)
have only whetted the appetite for more. I shall be grievously
disappointed if the next transport—due in about a
week—does not bring a number of cases.

Little has happened during the week except this growing
use and this demand for more books. The Y. M. C. A. has,
however, appointed a new man to take charge of their library
business, and he came at once to see me. I think we can
work together with pleasure and profit. The Red Cross
is not dealing much with books, but I have during the week
had another satisfactory conference with the head of their
work among soldiers. During the week I learned that one
of the officers of the Expedition (a professor of history in
an eastern college) might be relieved of other duties in order
to give courses of lectures at various points. I got from
him a list of reference books bearing on his subjects, and
sent to Shanghai for copies of these, in order that the camp
libraries might "carry on" his work. . . .

The Commanding General has paid a brief visit to the
Clearing House and Reference Library; one day this week
the Chief of Staff sent a messenger out from Vladivostok
to the Base for a reference work which fortunately was
there. But it is the enlisted men who are responsible for the
increased use of this C. H. and R. L. at the Base.

On February 4th, I received the following cable message:
. . . "Shall we subscribe magazines continue book shipments
how many."

Because of three reasons I have so far delayed my answer.
The first is that on the sixth two mails from the

---

21

These sixty-six cases may, of course, contain soap or toothpicks
or rubber shoes. I am trying to steel myself to further
delays. But the very prospect that I may now be able
to do something worth while has proved the finest tonic. My
morale, whatever that may mean, has bounded upward at the
news. My plan is to place fifty cases as rapidly as I can,
put an assistant in charge of the little Clearing House and
Reference Library, and then go out to visit the various detachments.
. . .

Yielding to the hope that the reported cases did not contain
soap or toothpicks or rubber, yesterday I robbed the little
library at the Base to send a box of books to an army hospital,
the Commanding Officer of which, a colonel, had sent an
urgent request for such reading matter. Another indication
of the need for books here came this week in a letter from
the chaplain of a regiment at Habarovsk. . . . "The box of
books sent by you on the 27th inst. (January) was received
yesterday and acknowledgment of your favor is hereby made.
The box will be preserved as suggested by you. I have never
seen a finer collection of books for soldiers distributed among
the men than has been sent me by the A. L. A. And I do
not know just how we could have gotten on without them
in this far-away place. The men's entertainment is very
limited." . . .

Of the old books from Manila I have recently sent one
parcel to an army hospital and another to a little "troupe" of

---

22

Having been reference librarian at Princeton for five years,
I am not without experience in the range of reference questions.
But yesterday I got one from an embarrassed corporal
which even the justly praised selection in the A. L. A.
cases failed to answer. After waiting until no one besides
himself and your representative was in the little library, he
sidled up and asked, "How can one get married in Vladivostok?"
The "one" was, of course, the speaker; and the
girl, a Russian. The answer was a matter for commanding
officers and consuls to express. But the query led to two
long conversations in the library, and gave me an opportunity
to try to make sure that the boy did not altogether blink the
future in the glamour of the present. I suppose that here
is a bit of our new internationalism. And the United States
has two millions overseas!

. . . Now I have both letters and books. In quantity too.
. . . Your words, "Your plan of action seems the only wise
one," gave me immense relief. I have felt the aim of the
American Library Association War Service. That explains
my coming to Siberia. But I was anxious lest my lack of any
experience in camp library methods should make my efforts
appear futile to you from the very start.

Thank you for the letter of appointment and the letter
of introduction to General Graves. . . .

Your cable message of 19 December, 1918, "Money cabled
supplies sent above address first payment deposited Hongkong
and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Shanghai," has
never reached me. I shall write at once to China about this.
But is it possible that this is the sum received by me from
the First Hundredth Bank, Ltd., of Tokyo, in January? . . .

There are three possibilities arising out of the length of
stay of the Expedition. Of course if the Expedition itself
should withdraw before the end of April, there would be no
problem. If the Expedition should remain only a month or
two longer than that, I realize that my withdrawal would
mean a heavy expense for the A. L. A. For I believe that
there should be a representative here, if possible, when things
are cleared up. And I think it quite possible that a short extension
of my leave might be arranged. But if the Expedition
is to remain for a longer period, there would be much

---

23

With the Chief of Staff I took up another matter. When
I arrived in Siberia, the Morale Officer, Captain Moore, said
that he had received and distributed about fifty cases of A. L.
A. books. I inquired for a record of the places to which
the cases had been sent. The Morale Officer told me that he
had made such a list, but that it had got mislaid. However,
he gave me the locations so far as he recalled them, and I
wrote these down. My later investigations convinced me
that Captain Moore had made a wise distribution and had
put the A. L. A. under considerable obligations of gratitude.
Those investigations also revealed that my word-of-mouth list
accounted for only about half of the fifty cases; and that the
distribution had been quite free-and-easy. . . . Meantime
Captain Moore had been sent off on special service inland.
Very recently he has been recalled from that special service
and has been ordered home. While he was in Vladivostok
on his way, I made another attempt to get a full list. But
though he agreed to make another search, there was no
result. So I asked the Chief of Staff if he would consent to
ask the detachment commanders for some statement of the
A. L. A. books in their commands. This he has agreed to do,
and the order has just gone out. I explained the lack of
records and said that such an order would not only help to
remedy that lack but would also aid in the pro rata distribution
of new books and in the planning for the disposal of
the books when the Expedition should leave. But I sorely
fear that when the A. L. A. roll is called in this Expedition,
the proportion of lost or not accounted for will be strikingly
large. . . . Certainly I am now more anxious to distribute
the new books than I am to find the old ones.

The presence of a few cases of technical books has been
a great boon. . . . They came among the sixty-six cases
just received. And the books for special classes which were
ordered from Shanghai have just arrived—at least the bill
of lading has come. The list that came with the bill of lading
indicates that we shall get a surprisingly large proportion of
the works ordered. . . .

After I received the cases last week I managed to unpack
twenty and to prepare eight for transportation to five locations.
I don't know that this record is not a cause for blushing
rather than for pride, for the results somehow look
meagre. . . .

I have taken the opportunity to go over your letter of
January ninth and the two sets of circular instructions more
carefully. . . . As yet I have not discovered an answer to my
question concerning the ultimate disposal of books. . . . Next
as regards the shipment of books from Manila and from San
Francisco. . . . When I arrived in December, of the fifty-five
cases, twenty-four were in the Quartermaster's warehouse,
having arrived but a short time before. The others
had apparently been disposed of among the forces by the
Quartermaster's Department. One of the twenty-four cases
was addressed to a regiment with headquarters at Habarovsk,
and I sent this on without opening. Of the others all but
five or six contained periodicals. These I distributed as I
have previously reported. Two boxes of good books I turned
over to the Colonel in command at the American Base, for
his regimental library—a very successful institution. There
were two huge boxes of books, many of them old and worn
and worm-eaten and all having two or three club labels pasted
on the covers. I repacked ten smaller boxes from these and
sent them to various places—a hospital, isolated stations, and
so on. Several hundred of these remain. I have permitted
them to be taken as gifts and have continued to distribute
them myself as opportunity offered—when a new ward was
opened in a nearby hospital, when a "troupe" of soldiers went
off to perform at various detachments, when a Red Cross guard
went to Omsk, when I learned of a handful of signal corps men
at a point on the railway. About a hundred and fifty newer
books I kept until I received some cards and pockets from
Miss Polk—for I found none of the books in the cases
equipped with cards and pockets—and with this hundred
and fifty I was able to effect the beginnings of an exchange of
A. L. A. books which had previously been distributed. This
exchange affected five different detachments.

On the January transport from San Francisco, which
reached here early this month, there were sixty-six cases. In
January twenty-two cases arrived. . . . I have asked the
Y. M. C. A. for a statement as to the total number of A. L. A.
cases they have handled. . . . The request for receipts, from
the various commanding officers of detachments, of A. L. A.
cases in their charge has so far brought no information that
I had not previously received by word of mouth from Captain
Moore. So the matter of the A. L. A. books in Siberia
seems to be of a piece with the whole Russian question.

---

25

A new Y. M. C. A. man has recently been put in charge
of their books, and I sent him as full a list as I had of
the distribution of the earlier A. L. A. cases and a full list
of the distribution and of the plans for distribution of the
cases that have come to me. I asked him to favor me with
a similar record of the distribution of Y. M. C. A. books
so that we could cover the field and avoid congestion. . . . I
have endeavoured to keep the A. L. A. independent as a war
service agency. There has been no particular problem involved
in this, except that I have insisted on sending books
to commanding officers instead of directly to Y. M. C. A.
secretaries and I have urged against the requirement of deposits
or fees or fines. . . .

The use of the library by enlisted men has much increased,
and conclusions drawn from the experience of the first day
would no longer hold. . . . One day this past week . . . of
the sixty-two books drawn out fifteen were non-fiction (seven
of these being on subjects connected with Russia). The borrowers
had been: majors, 3; lieutenants, 2; sergeants, 5; corporal,
1; privates, 43; field clerks, 4; postal agents, 3; Y. M.
C. A. secretary, 1.

A box of books on special subjects connected with classes
instituted hereabouts, which I ordered from Shanghai some
weeks ago, has arrived and the books are in use. It took
me the greater part of one morning and all of one afternoon
(two trips into Vladivostok) to get the little box through the
customs. A more facile pen than mine could make a yarn
for the Saturday Evening Post out of the experience. In
the process I saw twelve different Russian officials and collected
a waste paper basket full of documents. . . .[1]

On the mail with your letters came a supply of periodicals
which the Post Office turned over to me. These have been
largely distributed, a specialty being hospitals. I have also
unpacked eight cases and repacked five since I wrote last.
The Commanding Officer at the Base has promised me a
Camp Librarian for the Clearing House Library so that I
shall be more free for the work of distribution.

I have no information about the plans of the Expedition, but
small shifts in location are not infrequent—which possibly
indicate that complete withdrawal is not to be immediate and

---

26

Notice has reached me by letter from San Francisco that
on the March transport, the "Thomas," which is due to arrive
this coming week, there are thirty-four cases of books for
me and four for the transport. . . . I shall then have received
one hundred and twenty-two altogether. If twenty more are
sent in response to my recent cablegram, there will be an adequate
supply for this expedition at its present strength.

Of the eighty-eight cases which have been received at this
writing, sixty-three have so far been unpacked at the Clearing
House Library and thirty-four repacked and distributed
among eighteen detachments or hospitals.

A letter has just been received from the Commanding Officer
at Spasskoe. At that station the books are in charge of
the Y. M. C. A. Secretary, and the Commanding Officer enclosed
a report from the Secretary as to the use of the
books:

"Portions of the library have been established at the Hospital
and elsewhere for the convenience of the men. The
central library, housed in the Y. M. C. A. building, shows
unusual activity for a small library. For example: the daily
distribution of books for the week of February tenth illustrates
this point:—

Considering the fact that the total number of books in the
library is less than 450 volumes you can see that few libraries
can show an activity in circulation equal to ours. The
War Service Library has met and is meeting a real need."

This past week the Vladivostok Y. M. C. A. Secretary in
charge of their distribution of books answered my last letter
about cooperation by a call at the Clearing House Library.

---

27

On the heels of the Y. M. C. A. man came the Red Cross
man in charge of their work among the soldiers of the Expedition.
He handles a few books and periodicals, but distributes
these almost solely among the hospitals. I had been
trying for several weeks to have him come to the Clearing
House Library to look over my work and plans, and to make
suggestions. As a result of the visit he readily agreed to
give me the benefit of his observations gained on his frequent
trips, to spy out the land as it were.

I am glad to have this good feeling and this prospect of
valuable cooperation. For one thing, it will somewhat make
up for my present inability to visit the distant detachments.
That inability is a handicap. But there have been compensations,
not only through the Red Cross and the Y. M. C. A.,
but more particularly through my residence among the shifting
body of officers at the Base, the almost daily visits and
encouragement of the Commanding Officer at the Base, and
through the connection with the Post Office. The enlisted
man in charge of the mail car has brought in information
about small and isolated detachments that would otherwise
have probably remained unknown.

I realize that the work of unpacking and repacking the
cases delays things. But I believe that the results justify
this. . . . The repacking enables me to keep one copy of each
important book for the Clearing House and Reference Library,
to remedy the occasional instances of duplication in the cases,
and to select the books in each case for the particular detachment
for whom it is destined. This last point of course adds
much pleasure to my work. An amusing instance of the
result occurred this week. To a "garage detachment" in the
country nearby I sent a case flavored with works on gasoline
engines, with automobile guides, and with Williamson
stories. The lieutenant in charge came in early the next
morning and said that he and his men had been almost fighting
for the technical books on their subject. He said that

---

28

I have been asking for an assistant at the Clearing House
Library. This week I was assigned a German prisoner!
You remarked in your recent letter that the situation here
seemed unique. Is a German prisoner Camp Librarian
unique? But he uses English well, has a very fair education
and an astonishing knowledge of books, and appears to
be accurate and a hard worker. I feared lest the soldiers
would resent getting information about the simple library
regulations from him. But there has been no evidence of
this so far. . . . I have certainly been able to work faster
with his help. . . .

The transport "Thomas" has arrived with A. L. A. cases,
but as these are unloaded by the Quartermaster's Corps,
turned over to the Commanding General, turned back to the
Q. M. C., and turned over to me, it will probably be several
days before my "turn" comes.

Of the eighty-eight cases previously received I have now
unpacked seventy-eight and repacked for distribution forty-five.
The little Clearing House Library is the gainer by this
process, and its use continues at a satisfactory rate. The
German prisoner Camp Librarian, Petzsch (conveniently pronounced
"Page"), has been of much assistance to me. . . .

My hope to have a chance to visit the various posts of the
Expedition is still delayed in fulfilment. It has seemed to
me that the distribution of the books should be continued up
to a certain point before I leave the Base; and certain shifts
that are now going on within the Expedition can best be cared
for, so far as books are concerned, by my remaining at this
center. I could wish, however, that I had a double or triple
personality. . . .

In mentioning the transport "Thomas" I omitted one matter.
. . . Four cases containing 200 books on board for use
during the voyage . . . had been received by a Y. M. C. A.
man, Mr. Tanner, I believe, and had been turned over by
him to the enlisted men going to Manila. The books seem
to have been well used. Mr. Tanner will carry out the plan
of having the four cases make the round trip.

The thirty-four cases for the A. E. F. Siberia have been
turned over to me. As yet I have not discovered the case of
supplies, but this may possibly be at the bottom of the pile.

The American Chief of Staff was yesterday not yet able to
suggest the proper answer to your question about ordering
periodicals. Certain movements towards a redistribution of
the Expedition would seem to indicate that there will be no
complete withdrawal before April Thirtieth. Hence, I opened
the question in my cablegram of having my leave of absence
extended. . . . Miss Polk wrote me that she was willing to
devote a part of her leave to carry on the work here. It
was a fine offer, I thought. But the location of the Clearing
House Library at the Base and the general nature of the
work as it has developed would seem to make it difficult for
a woman to undertake to carry it on.

I have now unpacked all the cases received before the last
lot of thirty-four, and two of these new ones. The total
unpacked is therefore ninety. Of these, fifty-six have been
repacked and distributed, the other books being on the
shelves in the Clearing House Library. The contents of
about six cases are out in circulation from that central library,
however. I have been able to supply troops going recently
to new stations as they have started.

This past week the Red Cross man in charge of their work
among the soldiers, Mr. Short, visited me on his return from
a trip and reported that the recent distribution of books was
meeting the need very satisfactorily. . . . To three recent Red
Cross trains for the interior I have supplied reading matter,
putting the books in charge of the detachment of the A. E. F.
Siberia, which acts as guard. The guard makes the round
trip and the officer in charge takes the responsibility for the
books. Both guard and Red Cross people seem to appreciate
this, as railway travelling in Siberia is still of a character to
bring white hairs to the head of Father Time.

I have completed arrangements with the Y. M. C. A. about
stocking the International Hut in Vladivostok with books.
This Hut is used not only by Americans but also by Russians,
Czecko-Slovaks, and Japanese, and one problem was concerning
the loan of books. The Y. M. C. A. plan had been to
charge a money deposit. As a result no books have been
taken on loan, all the reading taking place in the library room.
It seemed better to make the general rule that all use of books
be limited to the library, thus rendering the matter of fees unnecessary.

---

30

This past week I withdrew from the Red Cross the balance
of the first two thousand dollars, amounting to seven hundred
ninety-nine dollars, and deposited it in the newly opened agency
of the National City Bank of New York. The deposit had
to be in Russian money. But roubles happened to be particularly
cheap. . . . The deposit is therefore 9,747 roubles,
80 kopecks—which seems like a lot of money! However,
Russian money is wretched stuff at present, and counterfeits
are everywhere. I had a forty rouble note turned back when
I sent the cablegram yesterday—the cablegram costing 497
roubles and 42 kopecks incidentally.

The second two thousand was exchanged at the One Hundredth
Bank, Ltd., of Tokyo, for yen 3,720.93 (at the rate
of 53¾) and deposited in the Vladivostok Branch of the
Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. . . .

With money in yen and sen and roubles and kopecks, your
representative in Siberia hath feelings of an addled brain.

One other matter. As the "Brooklyn" is now at Vladivostok
I have called on the Captain and ascertained that no
A. L. A. books had been received by that vessel. Three
cases have therefore been repacked and delivered to the
Brooklyn.

This week the Chief of Staff went over with me the situation
concerning the withdrawal of the Expedition. . . . The
conference was specifically about the answer, [&c.] The Chief
of Staff finally suggested that periodicals might be ordered
for the permanent units. . . . In case of any withdrawals
the periodicals would, of course, follow these units to their
new location. . . .

I shall also, in my next cablegram, send some inquiry about

---

31

Action on this involves the extension of my power as your
representative to cover the United States Asiatic Fleet. . . .
A more immediate difficulty is the matter of the stock of
books for the Expedition. . . . However, I know something
about the lonely life on those little gunboats plying up and
down the Yangtse, and I am strongly inclined to send three
or four cases to Captain Kearney for the Ajax itself and for
the gunboats it may find at Shanghai. The Asiatic Fleet
may be useful at the end of this expedition as the "ultimate
consumer" of some of the A. L. A. books now in Siberia.

Among the 34 cases received on the March transport I have
discovered the case marked "Supplies." . . .

The pocket and book card scheme has been most successful
here. . . . Of the cases distributed I have simply retained
lists, for record and to enable me to avoid undue duplication
in sending several cases to one center. . . .

I received a small supply of books from Shanghai. . . .
I feel that this unauthorized expenditure of mine has been,
at least to some degree, justified by the delight of those who
needed the particular books. Three medical works of recent
edition brought an unusual expression of grateful feeling
from a major of the Medical Corps. The use of a little set
—six—of textbooks in English for foreigners is out of the
ordinary; some of the enlisted men in a company out on the
line wanted them in order to conduct classes in English among
poor Russians. . . .

Shortly after my last letter I sent two copies of a Saint
Patrick's Day paper issued by the 31st Infantry. This contained
a very gratifying account of A. L. A. activities, written,

---

32

The German prisoner Camp Librarian, Petzsch, is doing
very well. He seems intelligent, industrious, and accurate.
The soldiers appear to like him, and I have found him a
very friendly sort. The way he clicks his heels at me when
I speak is doubtless most satisfactory too, Through him I
have distributed some of the old Manila books among the
prisoners. Petzsch is himself doing a good bit of reading
in the evenings, sometimes in authors whom I suggest, and
this is increasing his usefulness as a librarian of books in
English. (However the extraordinary number of books on
the war makes one subject rather amusingly delicate.) A
morning or two ago Petzsch told me a pathetic story. It
seems that he had for the evening previous borrowed Bret
Harte's little parodies on then-current novels. He said that
he laughed over them till the tears ran down his cheeks.
Then he called some prisoner friends around and read aloud
to them. "Finally," he concluded, "it was too much. We
lay down on the floor back to back and wept together."

Last week I gave you the reasons for making the subscriptions
for periodicals. . . . The colonels . . . have expressed
pleasure at the idea of receiving these periodicals. I enclose
a copy of the signed letter from Colonel Styer.

To report that the four cases of periodicals on the transport
have been "received" is a bit premature, for they have
not yet reached me. But I am very glad to have a stock
of periodicals again. After the distribution of books this
past two months, a change to magazines will make a fine touch
of variety; and I believe the Expedition will appreciate the
new munitions.

With Colonel Styer's letter I am also sending a note from
an enlisted man who has been teaching a class or two in one
of the companies, and for whom I ordered a book or two
from Shanghai. Captain Lawrence Packard, Ph. D. (Professor
at the University of Rochester), has been delivering
a series of excellent and stimulating lectures on history and
allied subjects, and I am glad to be able to report that the
presence of books sent in the regular cases or specially ordered

---

33

A copy of Mr. Koch's "War Libraries and Allied Subjects"
has reached me this week. I have given myself the
privilege of being the first borrower, and have found the
essays most interesting and suggestive and stimulating.

In reply to yours of March 23rd, I beg to say that we will
appreciate very much receiving the periodicals you mention.
If they are addressed to the Headquarters of the Regiment,
the Chaplain will attend to their distribution in case our
companies are scattered in a number of places. . . .

I would like to place on record with you at this time the
thanks and deep appreciation of myself and the whole regiment
for the work of the Association. Only those who
have served under present conditions, during a long Siberian
winter, very far from home, can tell what benefit your work
has been to our men. . . .

This past week I have received your letter of February
twenty-first and two cable messages. . . .

As soon as the first of the two cable messages had arrived,
I took it to the Commanding Officer at the American
Base, where the central library is located, and to the Chief
of Staff at Headquarters in Vladivostok. . . . The former
officer, Colonel Sargent, who is almost a daily visitor at the
library and whose interest and helpfulness have been extraordinary,
at once suggested the sending of a representative
to take my place. The Chief of Staff, however, has not
been able to keep so cognizant of the A. L. A. work, though
he has occasionally used our books and has always been most

---

34

Your letter has been very good reading and its information
has helped me greatly. Since it came I have been able to
meet certain questions much more like a real "representative."
The foremost of these questions has been that of the "Permanent
Disposition of Books." I have informed Colonel Sargent—who
first raised the question because of its bearing on
the regimental library—and Colonel Robinson of your statement,
and both seem to appreciate the attitude of the A. L. A.

The stationery which this letter is returning in such quantity
came in one of the four boxes of periodicals which were
received by me from the Logan. Any stationery is much
at a premium in the A. E. F. Siberia, and this will help me
considerably in advertising the A. L. A. besides. The A. L. A.
signs were very gratefully received also. Did my cablegram
from Nagasaki for A. L. A. insignia go astray? My marine
green uniform has had to remain thus far quite innocent of
distinguishing marks. However, in view of the epaulets and
badges which some of our allies here wear, perhaps to have
none is to render one peculiarly distinguished.

On April first I sent a statement of my expenses to that
date. . . .

---

35

To return to more pleasant subjects, the past has been a
week of periodicals. In addition to the 1,300 received in the
four boxes from San Francisco, about three hundred came
on boats from Manila and from Shanghai. Due largely to
the German prisoner Petzsch's intelligent and vigorous work,
we had this collection sorted, tied in bundles, and the distribution
begun in two days. One day Petzsch, going from
the prisoners' barracks to the library, noticed a railway car
used by a "troupe" of enlisted men from Habarovsk who
are making a tour of the Expedition, giving a minstrel show
and other "stunts." He at once suggested that periodicals
be placed on that car, since it has become the home of that
"troupe" for a month or so. . . .

I am taking measures towards a consolidation of two collections
of books at Headquarters and of drawing in certain
collections in detachments at the Base, which can easily use the
places where books are located. Indeed that number varies
constantly. Just at present there are thirty-five places where
at least a case of books is located, extending from wherever
the flagship "Brooklyn" happens now to be to wherever in
Clearing House Library . . . slightly reducing the number of
European Russia the recent Red Cross trains have penetrated
—each train has an A. E. F. guard and each guard an A. L. A.
case of books. There are fourteen of the thirty-five which
have larger collections, and these extend from Vladivostok
to a place near Lake Baikal with a name that probably would
be most successfully pronounced in hay fever season.

This week a box of periodicals sent by the United States
Soldiers' Christian Aid Association, George Breck, Esq., Secretary,
5 Beekman Street, New York City, was turned over
to me for distribution. The periodicals have been distributed
and the gift acknowledged.

This morning the United States transport "Sheridan" arrived
with five cases of war manuals, vocational books, etc.
These are still in the hands of the Quartermaster's Corps,
but will reach me soon. They are very welcome.

I visited the "Sheridan" and found that some books and
periodicals had been supplied to the enlisted men on board;
but on the officers' deck the book cupboard was bare. I have
arranged to have one case of books put on deck, and will
notify Mr. Richards in San Francisco. I did the same for
the "Logan"—the transport before this one. . . .

---

36

A letter dated March 13th has come from Mr. C. G.
Dickson announcing the approach of a Corona typewriter and
other supplies. The news is welcome indeed. My methods
in this work have had to be laughably primitive in many
ways. . . .

Mr. Dickson writes that he is sending some boxes of ink
tablets. That is very wise. My efforts to get ink from
Shanghai resulted in a broken bottle and a frozen, black cylinder
within. Fortunately this had been well packed, and I
was able to get the thing out of the box of books in which
it came with little damage to anything except me and the
floor.

The accounts with Messrs. Edward Evans and Sons, Ltd.,
of Shanghai, covering the books purchased by post, have at
last arrived. At first the amounts were in Chinese currency.
There were liberal discounts allowed, but it struck me that
even so the prices ranged high. The rate of exchange demanded
when one buys articles in China is much higher than
the rate received when one sells gold. So I asked to have
the transaction put in terms of gold. . . . They did put sixty-three
books for which they had charged $142.91 in Chinese
currency into gold prices and the total was $93.86 gold. The
first amount of $142.91 ought to exchange at $119.09 gold—
about $25.23 gold was saved by asking for gold prices.

I wonder if I have yet confessed one Shanghai purchase.
In January, I found the A. E. F. Siberia very short on 1919
calendars. So I got eight inexpensive but decorative wall
calendars and distributed them among the heads of the
Expedition with the compliments of the A. L. A. . . .

In regard to the [International] Hut matter: . . . with
some care I selected about 400 volumes filling five cases, and
had them ready on March 20th, the date on which they were
to be called for. Nothing happened. About a week later I
discovered that the Secretary was planning to leave, and I
made two trips into Vladivostok to assure myself that there
would be no hitch. . . . But nothing happened. After his
departure I made two visits (four in all on this business) on
the Secretary in charge of the Hut. . . . He expressed his
willingness to receive the A. L. A. books, but did not seem
aware of the plan to remove the Y books. . . . The Y. M.
C. A. heads here expressed ignorance of the plan for the
Hut formulated by the late Secretary on books; and directed
him to keep the Y. books in the Hut. As this at once removed
the reason for putting A. L. A. books there, I suggested that
two collections would be unnecessary and might prove embarassing

---

37

No, not quite the end. For, meantime I had been trying
to consolidate two separate collections of books started by
Captain Moore at Headquarters in Vladivostok. And I could
now ask for the return of those two collections . . . and could
put this specially selected collection of five cases into a new
union library at Headquarters. . . .

When the five new cases arrived on the "Sheridan" today,
my reserve stock had been reduced to seven unopened cases.
But this past week I have started quite a business in exchanging
books. . . .

Early in the week the Chief of Staff made a visit of inspection
to my little library at the Base. This was a result of
the conference reported in my letter of last week.

One incidental matter and I shall have finished this unduly
long letter. Two or three times recently, as I have noticed
one donor's name appearing in several good books, I have
ventured to send the donor a note of appreciation. . . . But
I have not had time or opportunity to do this many times.

. . . Up to the present I have repacked, listed, and distributed
eighty-two cases. . . . [To continue] my attempts to
cover the whole Expedition and to make the distribution of
books so far as possible proportional to the strength of the
detachments . . . now means a redistribution of books, and
a redistribution from centers outside of Vladivostok and the
Base—from centers, that is, which are going to be reduced in
strength. Hence, I have been waiting for a fortnight or so,
and shall continue to do so until it becomes clear how the
troops are to be located. . . .

Because of censorship restrictions I have not written fully
about these larger and more important matters of Library
War Service in the Expedition. But about little incidents,
especially those centering about the little Clearing House
Library at the Base, I have been verbose indeed. Therefore,
to revert to type, I am going to drop here to the little incident
level.

In my struggles with the myriad of periodicals that occupied
my time last December, I noticed that I had a call or
two for something with pictures suitable for decorating barracks

---

38

Just at present I am having a hard cold, a temporary attack
of lameness, some visitors, and a touch of ptomaine poisoning;
so perhaps it is just as well that the distribution has
been held up for a bit. But I have been able to be at the
library at least a part of every day this past week.

. . . By repacking each case of books sent out from the
Clearing House Library (eighty-seven cases have thus far
been so repacked) and retaining a list of the contents, I have
been able to build up collections of books that were largely
free from duplication and that contained a proportion and
type of non-fiction books adapted to the local use—at least
such has been my purpose. It is altogether probable that
in the redistribution of troops the larger collections have been
broken up into smaller collections and repacked for this purpose
in such a way that I have no longer any use for my
lists. The plans for the redistribution of troops have been
carried out rapidly and my appeals to the various centers for
information about the books have thus far brought not a
single response. Of course, where companies have gone out
from the Base at Vladivostok I have been able to handle
the matter as before. But the troops from centers like
Habarovsk have gone from those centers, they are now on the
way, and, though the sectors to be guarded are known, the
actual locations of the entrained troops will depend on the
discovery of suitable barracks by the Commanding Officers;
hence, these ultimate locations are not known even at Head-quarters
in Vladivostok.

However, I presume that all of these troops have books
from the former collections, so that the chief difficulty is
that I do not know just what books each detachment has.
And just as this difficulty has arisen a possible way out has
also appeared. . . . A newly-arrived first lieutenant, Mr. Herbert
A. Horgan, has very recently been appointed Morale
Officer for the Expedition. . . . Together we worked out a
method by which the new information I need can be gathered
by the sub Morale Officers he proposes to have appointed at
each location. If this method is successful, I shall be able
to have the work reorganized by the time my successor appears.

---

39

Captain Moore placed a case of books with the American
Russian Railway Service Corps (the R. R. S.) while the
corps was marooned in Vladivostok during the wait for railway
developments. This winter I have exchanged that case
for a fresh one and added another—the use of the books
has been more than ordinary. Now the railway men are
scattered all over the line in very small detachments. The
Y. M. C. A. has undertaken to fit out a special car to maintain
touch with these men. Working through the R. R. S., who
will continue to assume responsibility for the books, I have
put two cases on this car, and the "Y" man in charge has undertaken
to feed these out to the R. R. S. men—a travelling
library. I shall keep one case at R. R. S. Headquarters in
Vladivostok, and exchanges can be effected as necessary. . . .

The little Clearing House Library at the Base . . . loaned
1,571 books during March, of which 402 were non-fiction.
That library needs an Encyclopædia and some books on law.
The new Morale Officer is a Harvard Law School man and
is one of those who has asked for law books. . . . Throughout
the Expedition, books on Russia or on Russian are in
demand. At least three little books on Russian have appeared
on sale in one of the Vladivostok shops, and I have bought
a set for the library at the Base. If cards printed as notices
for overdue books are available, they will save labor
here. . . .

The five cases which came on the last boat fitted us up
finely for poetry and war manuals. And the sets of Zane
Grey and the other new books in recent cases have gone like
the proverbial hot cakes.

The interest of Headquarters in the library at the Base
seems to be increasing. Both the Chief Surgeon and the
Inspector General visited the library for the first time this
past week. Both took books and both have repeated the
visit.

. . . I have written two short letters containing lists of
books desired by Captain Ward of the Intelligence Department
and by Lieutenant Horgan, the Morale Officer.

On Monday, I was informed by the Chief of Staff that
the War Department in Washington, had by cable raised the
question whether an army officer might not be detailed as

---

40

The Chief of Staff has asked me to prepare a report of
Library War Service in this Expedition. I have completed
a first draft and hope to have the whole finished so that I
can enclose a copy to you next week.

By the "Sherman" came three cases of "books and supplies,"
and also, from the freight clerk, two or three bags
of periodicals. None of these has yet penetrated "army channels"
far enough to reach me, however.

As the freight clerk and the Quartermaster agent on the
"Sherman" both assured me that they had an ample supply of
books on board I did not put any on this transport. However,
the library shelves seemed noticeably bare; and I gave
to an enlisted man, who is making the trip from here, some
magazines for distribution, and to an officer a few books, to
be added later to the ship's library. . . .

The money situation is serious here. The Russian money
has dropped greatly in value during a few weeks. When I
came here the exchange was about eight roubles for one
dollar. Now it is twenty-five or more for a dollar. I deposited
$799 in the new branch of the National City Bank
of New York in March, which at 12.20 amounted to 9,747.80
roubles—the bank would accept only rouble accounts. . . .
There seems to be nothing to do but hold the account in the
hope that the Russian money may recover value. There are
2,559.17 yen in the Vladivostok Branch of the Hongkong
Banking Corporation; this ought to equal $1,500 gold, but
there is some loss here, too, in exchange. . . .

No cable . . . no message about my relief has been received.
The cable business here is extraordinarily slow and
uncertain. Your message of March fourteenth did not reach
me until the end of the month. . . . The administration of
this Expedition amid huge distances and such means of
communication and transportation is one of the feats of the
war. . . .

The last manifest from Mr. Richards, stating shipments
from San Francisco during the week ending April fifth, mentioned
three boxes holding 100 volumes and supplies. . . .
Two cases came by the U. S. T. "Sherman." The two contained
133 volumes and supplies. . . . The supplies included

---

41

It has been a busy week, and one that would have convinced
me, if I had not been already convinced, that effective control
of this work requires that some one be steadily at hand
at the Base library, keeping ears open, policies fixed, and plans
fluid, and being on the mark for a sprint of hard work at
any moment. With apparently every source for information
working, I find that I recently missed a Red Cross
train for the interior with its A. E. F. Siberia guard making
the round trip. Yesterday a strange Red Cross man wildly
trying to get some canned goods at the Base Library gave
me a clue which two hours later resulted in the Lieutenant, in
command of the guard for that train, and his man receiving
in pleased surprise a specially packed case of books for the
six or eight weeks' trip. . . . At the beginning of a military
movement neither officers nor men seem to have a chance
to think of anything so secondary as reading matter munitions.
. . .

Chaplain Loughran [appointed my successor] is one of the
four chaplains who arrived a fortnight ago on the transport
"Sherman." He has been assigned to the Base, lives at the
officers' mess where I have been staying, and a simple chapel
room is being made for him in warehouse number three, one
wall of the chapel serving also as a wall of the Base Library.
So his work will be centralized—the feast of reason on one
side and the flow of soul on the other. He is Catholic. Already
he has made a good impression for energy and for
ability to get on with the men. . . .

On Wednesday, the fourteenth, I closed the Base Library
and with Petzsch and two other German prisoners helping,
had a thorough housecleaning. The low walls of the Library
were also carried up to the ceiling by a burlap-covered framework
so that the books will be much more free from warehouse
dust. . . .

Chaplain Loughran has obtained another German prisoner
assistant, a man named Leuteritz, to assist Petzsch. Yesterday
afternoon I gave Petzsch, who has been unusually efficient,

---

42

Chaplain Loughran will "take over" the work tomorrow,
the nineteenth of May, and, orders will go out to that effect
from Headquarters. . . . My plan is to visit the detachments
in Harbin, Peking, and Tientsin, so you are still far away
from seeing the end of my correspondence.