Endowments; Library fund raising; Carnegie libraries; Beijing (China); Eliot, Charles William, 1834-1926; Koo, V. K. Wellington, 1888-1985
Format
correspondence
Genre
Business correspondence
Origin Information
1886
Physical Description
microfilm, 16 mm, b&w
digitized microfilm
Note (Reel no.)
Reel 81
Note
PDF may contain multiple grant documents.
Peking China Library Building
An American Free Public Library at Peking Not long after I arrived in Tientsin I had an interview with four gentlemen, three Chinese and one American, who were concerned with educational institutions there established, and had been encouraged by an im perfect report of a speech I made at Shanghai to offer me some suggestions as to useful work which the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace might undertake in China. From this interview and some subsequent conversations there resulted a memorial (See Appendix III) to the Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, proposing that the Endowment establish at Peking a free public library on the American plan, to be built and carried on under the direction of the Endowment, but with the ultimate intention of transferring it in due time to the Chinese Government or to a board of trustees resident in China. It was proposed that this Library should maintain at Peking a free reading room open day and evening, and a good collection of books on such subjects as agriculture, mining, the fundamental trades, economics, geography, commerce, sanitation, public works, the applied sciences, government, public administration, international law, and the judicial settlement of disputes between nations. It should also permit any book which has been in the library one year and does not belong to the reference collection to be borrowed for home use during a period not exceeding twenty days, provided the borrower, if living outside of Peking, pay the postage. It should also through a special officer select, translate, edit, and circulate leaflets and booklets containing useful information on any or all of the subjects above mentioned, the distribution being made gratuitously, first, to Chinese newspapers and periodicals, secondly, to educational institutions, thirdly, to appropriate government officials, and fourthly, to private persons on request. The memorial urged that this free library be placed in Peking, where many office-holders and candidates for office will always be living, where several important educational institutions already exist, and more are likely to be created, and where the Legations and the headquarters of press correspondents are established. This memorial was signed by many influential men, including three members of the Cabinet, a large group of Chinese graduates of American institutions, and Chinese gentlemen connected with the press and with the bureaus of the present government. The argument in favor of such action on the part of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is strong. Here is a method of maintaining intercourse between the Western nations and the Chinese nation, by bringing to the knowledge of the educated Chinese the Western books, journals, and magazines relating to those subjects which the educated Chinese need to appropriate year after year and use for the benefit of their country. The influence of such a library would not be momentary, but enduring. It would take first effect on Chinese young men who had been educated abroad and had acquired some European language; but it would also provide a powerful means of influence on Chinese who had never studied out of China, and who knew no language but Chinese. It would provide an effectual means of intercourse between the East and the West; and it would enable the young men who had got to work in China after receiving a Western education to keep themselves well informed in the Western professional subjects through which they were earning their livelihood in China. It has often been observed that Chinese students returning from the Occident with a good knowledge of their respective subjects find it very difficult to keep themselves informed as to the advances later made among Western nations in the scientific, economic, and governmental subjects. Such a library would have to be conducted for a generation by American librarians, to be appointed and paid by the Carnegie Endowment. It may be confidently assumed that the Chinese government would give an adequate lot of land as the site of the proposed building; for there are large areas of land in Peking which were formerly reserved for the Imperial family and clan, and will now revert to the government. The lot should be large enough to give plenty of light and air, and space for additions to the building. The building need not be large at present, but should be of brick and steel construction throughout, and should represent in all respects the best type of American fire proof library construction. A stack capacity of from two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand volumes would be ample, and a reading room for a hundred persons would be sufficient. A building designed to cost a hundred and fifty thousand dollars gold ($150,000) in the United States, with heating apparatus, plumbing, and all furniture included in that cost, would be sufficient ; for that sum would procure in China a building with fifty per cent more cubical contents than it would produce in the United States. Books to the value of about thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) should be bought at the outset; and thereafter the annual cost of carrying on the library would be from twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars ($25,000 to $30,000), This estimate is based on present (1912) prices and costs of living in Peking. (For details see Appendix III.) If this estimate of annual expenditure seems small, it should be noticed that the memorial does not request that the library be a complete representation of all branches of knowledge. The great subjects of languages, literature, history, theology, philosophy, fine arts, and music are not mentioned. The proposed library might well serve as a model for other Chinese provinces or cities. There is room in China for a dozen such institutions ; and there is therefore a fair chance that the good work started in Peking by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace may before long spread and be multiplied. Its influence would all be directed to strengthening the grasp of the Chinese on the applied sciences and the inductive method, and so to building up China as a strong, unified power, capable of keeping order at home, repelling aggression from without, executing the needful works of conservancy and sanitation, and increasing the national wealth and the well-being of all the people... APPENDIX III Memorial for the Endowment of a Free Public Library in Peking, China To the Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Sirs: We, the undersigned, all of whom are or have lately been concerned with education in China, have the honor to present to the Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace the following memorial : — The revolution in China is a movement to substitute for a despotic government, under which neither life nor property was secure, especially in the official and higher commercial classes, a government under just and equal laws, enacted by representatives of that portion of the people which has received some measure of education, and binding alike on rulers and ruled, rich and poor, educated and illiterate. For ultimate success in establishing a strong, unified, and stable national government, under which the right to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' will be secured to the whole population, the republican movement must rely on the gradual diffusion, among the Chinese people, of education and of Western ideals of order and liberty under law. We believe that the safe progress of good government in China might be effectively promoted, year after year, by a free public library conducted in Peking under the American plan ; and we therefore unanimously and earnestly request the Trustees to establish and maintain such a library under their own direction for the present, but with the ultimate intention of transferring it in due time to the Chinese Central Government or to a board of trustees resident in China. In as much as the library might well have some functions not commonly exercised by American public libraries, we venture to describe briefly the institution we have in mind : 1. It should be placed in Peking, the capital city, where many office-holders and candidates for office will always be living, where several important educational institutions already exist, and more are likely to be created, and where the legations and the headquarters of the press correspondents are established. 2. For Peking it should maintain a free reading room, open day and evening, and a good collection of reference books on such subjects as agriculture, mining, the fundamental trades, economics, geography, commerce, sanitation, public works, government, public administration, international law, and the judicial settlement of disputes between nations. 3. It should also permit any book, which has been in the library one year, and does not belong to the reference collection, to be borrowed for home use, during a period not exceedmg twenty days, provided the borrower, if living outside of Peking, pay the postage. 4. It should also, through a special officer, select, translate, edit and circulate leaflets and booklets containing useful information on any or all of the subjects above mentioned (cf. 2), the distribution being made gratuitously, first to Chinese newspapers and periodicals, secondly to educational institutions, thirdly, to appropriate government officials, and fourthly, to private persons on request. We feel confident that such an institution would gradually acquire great influence in China, and hence in the whole Orient; and that it would effectively promote good government, industrial and commercial prosperity, and thus, the peace of the world. We have the honor to be, Sirs, Yours respectfully: Name. Occupation. Address. V. K. Wellington Koo (Columbia). Secretary of the Cabinet. The Known Yuan, Peking. Tsang Kwong-Sheung (Penna.). Private Secretary to Premier. The Known Yuan, Peking. Y. C. Lung (Pennsylvania). Private Secretary to President Yuan. Office of the President, Peking. Jen H. Jee (Harvard) Private Secretary to President Yuan. Office of the President, Peking. Ts'ai Ting Kan (Hartford High School). Naval Secretary to the President. Office of the President, Peking. Hugh G. H. Tong (Harvard). Forest Inspector to Manchuria. Board of Agriculture. Victor L. Young (Albany Business College). Returned Students Club. Ching Chun Wong (Yale and University of Illinois). Ministry of Communications. Peking University, Peking. Liang Lai Kwei (Massachusetts Agricultural College and Cornell University). Head of the Agricultural Station. Peking University. Li Chien Luan (Columbia). Tientsin. L. C. Chu (Yale). Peking. K. L. Carlos Sun (Cornell). Board of Communications. Peking. N. T. Woo (California and Wisconsin). Director, College of Commerce, Peking University. Peking. T. E. Ing (Pennsylvania). Peking. Witson S. Shan ( Columbia). Peking. Lo Chong (Oxford). Board of Communications. Peking. T. C. Sun (Cornell). Director of Kirin Changchung Railway. Changchun, Manchuria. Mun-Yen Chung (Yale, '83). Shanghai. P. A. C. Tzan. Honorable Secretary North-China American College Club, English Secretary to the President. Waichiao Pu, Peking. Yu Chuan Chang Attache to the Foreign Office, ex-Hon. Treasurer North-China American College Club. Waichiao Pu, Peking. Koliang Yit. Dean of College of Agriculture and Director of Experiment Station. Government University, Peking. W. L. Chun (West Point). Captain, General Staff. General Staff (3rd Bureau), Peking. W. C. Chen. Editor of the Peking Daily News. Peking Daily News, Peking. Luther M. Jee (California). Professor of Political Economy, College of Finance, Peking. c/o Peking Daily News Office, Peking. P. H. Linn. Editor of the Peking Daily News. c/o Peking Daily News Office, Peking. Chao S. Bok. Senator for Kwang-tung. Peking. H. B. Kingman (Philadelphia). Dental Surgeon. 23 Rue du Baron Gros, Tientsin. Morrison St., Peking. Wu Kuei Ling (Cornell). Electrical Engineer. Peking-Mukden Line. Tsok Kai Tse (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Mining Engineer. Peking. Julian Kwan (Yale). C. G. Railways. Tientsin. Yen TeChing (Lehigh). Ministry of Posts and Communications. Peking. We, the undersigned, comprising Chinese who have at one time or another been educated in America, desire to express our hearty support and cordial approval of the Memorial to the Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace lor the establishment of a free public library in Peking. Tong Shao Yi (Premier). (Columbia.) Chengting T. Wang (Acting Minister Industry and Commerce) . (Yale.) Wang Chung Hui (Minister of Justice). (Yale.) Supplementary List of Signers to the Library Memorial. Sao-Ke Alfred. Sze Secretary of Communications. Peking. W. W. Yen. Second Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Yen Fuh. President Government University. Tsai Yuen Beh. Secretary of Education. Fan Yuan Lin. Second Secretary of Education. George Ernest Morrison, M.D. Correspondent of the London Times. S. Sung Young. President Tongshan Engineering College. Tong Kaison. President Chinghua College. P. K. C. Tyau. Interpreter and Secretary to President Yuan Shih Kai. J. B. Taylor. Principal of Anglo-Chinese College. Tientsin. Wang Shoh Lian. President Pei-yang University. Yen Shiu. Former Vice-Minister of Education. Peking. Yamei Kin, M.D. Superintendent Pei-yang Woman's Medical School and Hospital. Tientsin. Gilbert Reid, D.D. President International Institute of China. Shanghai. Chang- Po-Ling. Principal of Nankai Middle School. Tientsin. Wu Lien-Teh, M.D. Deputy-Director Army Medical College and Medical Adviser to the Foreign Office. Tientsin. Chu Chi. Editor of the Peking Daily News. Peking. Chang Yu-Shu. Honorary President General Chamber of Commerce. Peking. Kang Shih-To. Editor of the Chinese Daily, Minsupao. Peking. Charles D. Tenney, LL.D. Former President Pei-yang University and Adviser on Education to the Imperial Government. Tientsin. Sung Chi-Chiu. Merchant. Tientsin." [SOURCE: Eliot, Charles William, 1834-1926. Some Roads Towards Peace: a Report to the Trustees of the Endowment On Observations Made In China And Japan In 1912. Washington, D. C., Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1914, pp. 36-38; 73-75. HathiTrust, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001638946. Accessed 9 Oct. 2018.] "DR. MORRISON'S LIBRARY IN PEKING While I was in Peking it came to my attention that the famous library collected by Dr. Q. E. Morrison, Adviser to the President, was to be sold. With the interest of the future School in view, I called on Dr. Morrison on two separate occasions and took a superficial view of the contents of the library, being at the time unable to give it more careful study. While this great collection contains many literary treasures, in European languages, which are of absorbing interest to the student of China, I found that it lacked much material which would be of prime importance to us, and that its most costly items were rare old editions of books that have been lately republished with the addition of scholarly and illuminating notes, thus making the originals of little practical value to the student. Other interesting items were original manuscripts by the early Jesuit fathers in China, which, intrinsically, are worth large sums, but which have been made available in excellent printed form by the French missionary presses. While such gaps as were brought to my attention in the rapid and insufficient survey I was able to make, seemed for the most part easy to fill, I did not find that the library as a whole represented the ideal of collection suitable to the proposed American School. I have since heard that there was a possibility of President Eliot's suggestion to the Carnegie Peace Foundation being followed, and that Dr. Morrison's library might form the nucleus of a Peking Municipal Library aa a part of the Carnegie Peace Foundation plans. If such a thing were brought about it would be of immense use to foreigners in China and in many cases to the Chinese themselves. I should recommend, in the event of such a purchase, that the library of the School be housed with Dr. Morrison's collection, thus making duplication unnecessary to either, and at the same time strengthening both." [SOURCE: Warner, Langdon, 1881-1955. Report On the Proposed American School In Peking. [1914], pp. 175-176. HathiTrust, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001871470. Accessed 9 Oct. 2018.] "Yuan Shikai (Chinese: 袁世凱; pinyin: Yuán Shìkǎi; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty, and tried to save the dynasty with a number of modernization projects including bureaucratic, fiscal, judicial, educational, and other reforms. He established the first modern army and a more efficient provincial government in North China in the last years of the Qing Empire before the abdication of the last Qing Emperor in 1911. Through negotiation, he became the first president of the Republic of China in 1912. This army and bureaucratic control were the foundation of his autocratic rule as the first formal President of the Republic of China. He was frustrated in a short-lived attempt to restore monarchy in China, with himself as the Hongxian Emperor (Chinese: 洪憲皇帝)... ...Faced with widespread opposition, the Hongxian Emperor repeatedly delayed the accession rites in order to appease his foes, but his prestige was irreparably damaged and province after province continued to voice disapproval. On 25 December 1915, Yunnan's military governor, Cai E, rebelled, launching the National Protection War. The governor of Guizhou followed in January 1916, and Guangxi declared independence in March. Funding for the Hongxian Emperor's accession ceremony was cut on 1 March, and Yuan formally abandoned the empire on 22 March after 83 days. This was not enough for his enemies, who called for his resignation as president. More provinces rebelled before Yuan died from uremia at 10 a.m. on 6 June 1916, at the age of fifty-six." [SOURCE: "Yuan Shikai." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_Shikai. Accessed 9 Oct. 2018.] "Vi Kyuin Wellington Koo (Chinese: 顧維鈞; pinyin: Gù Wéijūn; Wade–Giles: Ku Wei-chün; 29 January 1888 – 14 November 1985) was a Chinese statesman of the Republic of China. He was one of China's representatives at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919; served as an Ambassador to France, Great Britain and the United States; was a participant in the founding of the League of Nations and the United Nations; and sat as a judge on the International Court of Justice in The Hague from 1957 to 1967. Between October 1926 and June 1927, while serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Koo briefly held the concurrent positions of acting Premier and interim President of the Republic of China. Koo was the first and only Chinese head of state known to use a Western name publicly. While his presidency was brief, his extraordinary lifespan of 97 years makes him the longest-lived person to ever have lead China... ...Koo returned to China in 1912 to serve the new Republic of China as English Secretary to President Yuan Shikai. In 1915, Koo was made China's Minister to the United States and Cuba." [SOURCE: "Wellington Koo." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Koo. Accessed 9 Oct. 2018.] "Charles William Eliot (March 20, 1834 – August 22, 1926) was an American academic who was selected as Harvard's president in 1869. A member of the prominent Eliot family of Boston, he transformed the provincial college into the pre-eminent American research university. Eliot served until 1909, having the longest term as president in the university's history." [SOURCE: "Charles William Eliot." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_William_Eliot. Accessed 9 Oct. 2018.]
Language
English
Library Location
Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University