 But Mr. Hallity is the guy you should salute when you go and visit your public library If you go and visit any public library in California because it was his dream to make that happen All right, sorry, I'm gonna try try not to get too worked up over over him Anyway, the largest reading room that I could find prior to 1854 was mr. Shledon's general library. He claimed to have 18,000 volumes That's way more than the mercantile association the other another library way more than we would have for years Mr. Shledon though had trouble getting people to pay and if you look over the year over the months of his Library the membership cost goes down and down and down and finally he says 18,000 books for sale The clamor for a public library in San Francisco Started as far as I know in May of 1851 when the principal newspaper at the time the Daily Alta Begged for one For when the bar room the bill your table the gambling saloon the masquerade and the retreats of Cyprian wantonness Get tiresome Isn't that exciting What do you think Cyprian wantonness is? Well Cyprus is close to Greece Anyway, my mind's spinning off into Places that shouldn't go Anyway, what the city needed the newspaper claimed was a place where congenial spirits could meet and enjoy the luxury of rational conversations Where they could exchange thoughts and ideas and read and reflect then in November of 1851 something momentous happened The mechanics exchange opened on Montgomery Street at Washington Now this is a picture of one that opened in Sacramento I could not find a picture of one of ours here in in San Francisco But the concept was the same and what the mechanics exchange was was an enterprise that aimed to provide facilities for Contractors and mechanics to find employment draw up contracts meet staff Potential staff interview them receive mail and transact business. I Imagine it as kind of a career center slash Kinko's slash coffee house It is at this place that the working people of the city first congregated and where They could get together outside of the saloons and private clubs and other dangerous places To talk about wages and laws that affected their lives Like the city and states licensed taxes These laws were an attempt to generate a stable source of income Keep in mind at this time the economy as a whole City and state was dependent upon the production and export of gold Which fluctuated wildly and also appeared to be drying up The city and state charged a separate quarterly tax Which affected Virtually all people engaged in the trade sale manufacturer or disposal of goods A pawnbroker for example would pay the city quarterly nearly seven thousand dollars in today's money This was in addition to the state's license tax Which was ten cents per hundred dollars of business estimated and that actually is in 18 52 dollar fifty one dollars, so seven thousand dollars is in today's money Anyway, I'll stop talking in January of 1850 52 furor over these license laws was boiling over The mechanics of the city met three times at the mechanics exchange to plan their response and Ultimately they resolved to challenge the Constitutionality of the state and city license laws and they would take their fight to the California Supreme Court Meanwhile the mechanics as a whole Statewide are beginning to recognize that they as a group were a formidable force for change in Sacramento the mechanics struck on August 1st and resolve not to work less than six dollars a day They chose that number because they felt that was the going rate for mechanics in San Francisco And Sacramento hated the fact that they weren't getting paid as much as as mechanics here a Few days later the blacksmiths and journeymen house painters met in San Francisco to do the same and Less than a week later on August 14th the carpenters carpenters and joiners in Marysville met at 7 a.m. In the main Plaza formed themselves into a line and Headed by a drum and fife marched through the principal streets of the town demanding higher wages The whole time the newspapers Abounded with stories of mechanics institutes around the world and how they helped their communities prevail The mechanics of this city began to see a need for such an organization One that catered to their social and political needs their reading interests and their professional growth on the evening of December 11th 1854 the ring leaders of all these former Actions that I've talked about the meetings to fight the special license taxes the meetings to raise wages Those guys were John Syme Roderick Matheson Benjamin Haywood George Glouyus and two scores of others They met in the tax collector's office where Roderick Matheson worked at City Hall with the objective of forming a mechanics Institute So here's a list of the more leading members of of us The Fellows in red. I said we're the ring leaders Benjamin Haywood 25 years old in 1854 He was an active organizer of the mechanics and represented them to the state or at the state legislature and at large civic events like the funeral of Henry Clay who was a Wig and when he died There was mass demonstrations all over the nation and a big one here in San Francisco George Carquique Glouyus. He was a member of the city government. He was on the board of alderman sort of a proto board of supervisors and John Syme he was also active in the wig party. He was a California Assemblyman and a major advocate for mechanics Interests he introduced a mechanics lean law and other fun things The only person I have a picture for is Roderick Matheson handsome devil We know the most about him because he wrote a lot of letters to his wife and he left the city in 1856 because of strife caused by the death of James King of William Anyway, he was active in the wig party He worked in the tax collector's office and was a clerk and then later our president and then he left where he moved to Healdsburg and founded another Mechanics and Agricultural Institute Then he went to fight in the Civil War and died Anyway, our founders all had boundless faith in the future of San Francisco as a port and an industrial center They had great concern about the moral atmosphere of San Francisco Keep in mind it was the city was 90% men under the age of 40 They probably in particular were concerned about that Cyprian wanton this And most importantly they had an aversion to imported goods which they believed kept prices high and kept local people from getting jobs What I'm struck with is how contemporary these concerns are sounds just like today So from the start The directors knew what they wanted. They wanted a library with open stacks. So all the books were accessible to the members They wanted a game room where members could relax and spread out their chests and checkerboards They wanted classes that would stretch the mind and teach useful skills The city still needed to be built. We needed people that knew what they were doing And they wanted to be an organization that welcomed everyone regardless of race or gender And to cost as little as possible Oops, let's go back. So do you think this is what they had in mind? Alrighty the problem was getting the funds together Lots of private libraries would start and fold because they had no way to make money So following meetings outlined a plan for raising money Stock was to be offered at twenty five dollars a share. Everyone had to buy one share of stock and $25 back then was about seven hundred dollars in today's money So in addition you had to pay only 10% was due though at first which would later be a problem You had to sign the Constitution which meant that you believed in the Mechanics Institute and you would do everything you could to make it successful and then individual memberships were Five there was a five dollar initiation fee, which was roughly a hundred forty dollars in today's money And then there were quarterly dues of a dollar fifty So basically what it appears to me is that our ninety five dollar membership fee is an incredible deal All right, so then in subsequent meetings the Constitution and bylaws were written and a logo was designed By architect Thomas Boyd. I am stunned by this picture and Let me tell you why you should be too The symbols are very common to Mechanics Institutes in general especially that arm and hammer at the top That's a symbol of the strength of labor The the beehive at the bottom The beehive connotes industry and then everything else on the shield there are symbols of the Mechanic the architect. We've got a plumb line a leveler a compass All symbols of the craftsman The cornucopia is flanking that represent California's agricultural bounty and the anchor to the left its role as a port The scales Remind us to lead a balanced life and the motto be just and fear not That's a quote from Shakespeare's Henry the 8th. It admonishes one to lead One's life according to your principles