The war probably did more than any other agency in all history to promote the use of books. Homesick men, tired men, wounded men, all took to books to keep their minds off their troubles and their pains. Men who formerly had scoffed at books, the pleasures they could give and the things they could teach, turned to them as they would turn to faithful friends. And the habit of reading acquired by men in active service and those incapacitated by wounds or disease has clung to them since, helping many to a state of mental satisfaction, and others to material success. During the war the American Library Association distributed more than 7,000,000 volumes to men in service at home and overseas. Those who were active in camp and field had, of course, some time to read, but the most beneficial effects through books was achieved among men in the hospitals. For them the hours passed slowly, and books were necessary to help them in comparative contentment. Not only were tales of travel, adventure and fiction in demand, but there was an unceasing call for technical books and special kinds of reading matter such as might help a man to climb to a more advanced place in the world's workshop after army life was over. Many a soldier who, since the armistice, has achieved success in profession or trade, acknowledges that he was helped materially by books that he read while in the service. D>octors in the military hospitals emphasized the therapeutic value of reading, and the A. L. A. rapidly marshaled its resources and was able to supply books, magazines and newspapers to more than 200 hospitals, and librarians to 75. Since the war's termination the Association has kept up this work to a very considerable degree, and still is supplying a book and magazine service to the 42 Public Health Service Hospitals. In nine of these the A. L. A. has full-time librarians stationed, and in others the Red Cross and the A. L. A. combine to pay the salary of a librarian who also acts as Red Cross Director, the Red Cross furnishing the quarters for the library, and the A. L. A. the books, newspapers and magazines. In some cities the public libraries consider it as part of their regular duties to give a special service to these hospitals. This great work which the Association did during the war made it ambitious to accomplish even more for the benefit of civilization and the advancement of good citizenship, and it, therefore, has adopted an Enlarged Program which comprises the promotion of efficiency, contentment and industry by inculcating a desire for good reading, and placing books where they will be easy of access to all. The Association's slogan Books for Everybody ! makes known its intent in a general way, but there are many special branches of this general program, such as urging that a more diversified literature be printed for the blind in the standard Braille type, and that publishers be shown the necessity of having books, which tell of. American ideals and traditions, printed in foreign languages so that the new comers to this country can readily acquire an understanding of its aims, and the opportunities which it offers. For these purposes as well as to urge the adoption of the county library system through which books will be put within easy reach of the most isolated communities, and to facilitate its present service to the Merchant Marine, coast guards, and lighthouse stations and patients in the Public Health Service hospitals, the Association is raising $2,000,000. This sum is being obtained through the personal efforts of librarians, library trustees and friends of libraries, and without recourse to a drive. Theodore Roosevelt once said: After the church and the school the free public library is the most effective influence for good in America. The moral, mental, and material benefits to be derived from a carefully selected collection of good books, free for the use of all the people, cannot be overestimated. No community can afford to be without a library. This view likewise has been endorsed by other great men and women, and almost universally by the press. Writing on the subject the Newz York World recently said editorially: What has been done for a few towns by private generosity, with or without public co-operation, should be done for many towns and outlying regions, needing to be more closely knit to the intellectual life of the country as a whole, by public action at the public cost.