The two main objections to the library were the mass circulation of fiction (dime store novels) and taxes. “Yet others think the rate of taxation authorized to be levied – half a mil on the dollar per annum – is too high, having regard to the very rapid increase in the assessments of the city. So strong is the hostile sentiment that the malcontents feel themselves justified in demanding that the City Council take council’s opinion on the legality of the by-law.”