Finally comes fiction. A few immigrants who have acquired the habit of reading fiction prefer to read stories and poems of a more realistic character, like those of Jack London, Upton Sinclair, Ernest Poole, Mark Twain, Arnold Bennett, Longfellow. The traveling libraries need not be voluminous so much as of good quality. Aside from being practically useful, they should try to help the rural immigrant settlers to improve their standards of living and to broaden their intellectual horizon.
But who is going to stimulate and lead such an extension of the libraries into the backwoods communities? The national and state-wide library associations would be the ones to undertake this work. As they succeeded in the extension of the American library to the battlefields of Europe, so they without doubt will succeed in the extension of the library to the firing line in our own country--to the line where future America is in the making.
There is no doubt that rural communities will respond to national assistance and greatly benefit by it. Even if only a small beginning could be made very soon, increased demand and local initiative would undoubtedly justify the project.
The day is not distant when the need of community books in every American community will be recognized as an indispensable supplement to all schooling work. In the new colonies that are being planned by colonization companies the library as a part of the general community scheme must not be overlooked. As the advantages of having book supplies available become manifest, it may be possible to provide local housing facilities as well as trained assistants.
There may be a room or even a separate building that can be given over to this purpose. If there is a general community building, no better use could be devised for a portion of it than a small, practical, accessible library. If not the primary object of such a community building it would certainly be an important one.
A public recreation hall in a rural community may be made one of the most effective Americanizing agencies. Public meetings, lectures, amateur theatrical performances, dancing, public celebrations, games, sports, etc., may be held there. It is the neutral place where all community members, natives and immigrants of various races, religions, and tongues, meet one another and learn to know one another, where the much-needed social visiting among the natives and immigrants may have its inception.