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how do you do? Early last month, Governor Brown, upon taking office describe his objective of bringing to California the forward force of liberalism. He called for legislation to implement his ideas and as we commented in our editorial discussion with you on January the 7th. Such a

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program would surely cost a great deal of money. Since then, the governor has presented his budget and I would like to talk to you now about just one item in that budget. An item of $25,387. That doesn't sound like a A great deal of money when

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one considers the total of well over $2 billion dollars which the governor asks to run the state. In his diligent effort to get this vast sum the governor has done as any prudent man should. He has tried to cut existing expense that he considers unnecessary or

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of little importance To save $25,387. The administration has made a proposal which will in effect withdraw a valuable library from the people of this area. Specifically. It is a proposal to transfer the famous Sutro library to the University of California. By doing so. The state library

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budget Will be reduced by $25,387 in recommending the transfer of the budget Committee made no provision however, for in addition to the University of California's budget to absorb the staff of four people, the increased workload and the facilities involved in transferring the Sutro collection to the

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university's library system. In plain words, it means the Sutra library will be put into cold storage. Now, you may wonder why we are taking such an interest in what may seem to be a purely academic situation. While fundamentally, we feel that it involves the cultural interests

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of all Californians. This state has a colorful and romantic history marked by the excitement, adventure and dynamic expansion of a true democracy in action and Californians as a whole are vitally interested in the past for this is their heritage. Mm hmm. When man becomes aware of

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his past, he acquires a sense of responsibility for the future. That was the credo of the late Adolph Sutro Who devoted 20 years of his life accumulating the Living Records of Man's Quest for Reason and Truth. His work resulted in the second largest reference library of

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its kind on the pacific coast. It was Adolph Sutro wish that this private collection be made available to the general public and not restricted to a relatively few students, scholars and pedagogue of colleges and universities. He wanted all Californians to have the opportunity of sharing the

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heritage of this colorful past. So, in 1900 and 13, the Sutro library was presented to and gratefully received by the state of California with the stipulation that would be maintained in san Francisco. It has been open to the public ever since to anyone and everyone without

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cost, charge or fee Since 1900 and 23 when the collection was moved to its present quarters in the public library on Larkin Street, it has been plagued by a gradual decline of budgetary allotments necessary for the proper housing upkeep and staffing. And now now the last

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shred of support has been taken away As small as it is. The total budget of $25,387 will be withdrawn unless the elected representatives of the people change their minds. We know, the governor has an ambitious liberal program that requires a great deal of money and we

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understand his problem, but we doubt that his program calls for the economy rising on this pick a human level. The savings of slightly over $25,000 could not possibly counterbalance the loss of such a valuable asset to our general culture and education. If I recall rightly, the

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Governor, in his first message to the Legislature early this year said he desired to improve the educational standards of the state. How how can the deep freezing of a library of this importance be reconciled with that objective or for that matter with liberalism, which implies emancipation

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of the mind? Well, actually, under the proposal to move the library, there would be no savings in the current budget year since the cost of withdrawing the Sutro collection from the state library and moving over 100,000 volumes to the new location in the university library would

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cost according to estimates More than the $25,387 the budget people hoped to slash from the 1959, budget. More importantly, however, the Sutra library would no longer be freely available to the people of the state of California. Under the conditions it was given to and accepted by

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the state. The university library is maintained primarily for its students and faculty and not for the public. True, the public may borrow from the university library, but But at a cost of $6 a year for each individual. This obviously would have handicapped to the free lending

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of the Sutro materials and deter the interest, research and cultural quest of the general public. The central library is widely used, evidenced by the fact that within the last nine year period its circulation of materials has increased threefold. and in the face of the $6 annual

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fee, it is reasonable to expect and assume that the future will see a speedy decline in the use of the library the central library by the public. Therefore, I call the transfer of the central library from a free and open status to the university system. The

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deep freeze process. Inasmuch as the funds for the central library have already been deleted from the state library budget by the Department of Finance. It will be necessary to restore the appropriation in the budget bill, which is now before the legislature, the senators and and assemblyman

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of the legislature represent the people of the state, you if they realize that you consider the maintenance of the central library on a free and open basis a necessary adjunct of the public cultural welfare. They must as responsible representatives restore the budget. On the other hand,

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if the public shows its indifference and apathy towards cultural assets, then the Legislature cannot be blamed for its lack of interest. We not only have the opportunity to share in the heritage of a great and colorful history, we have the obligation of assuring that this heritage

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not be destroyed by a too hasty concerns for the immediate future, the centuries warning of john Milton, we'll live forever, he said. He too, destroys a good book, kills reason itself. Thank you.