* 1,1 x~
M _ T LOUISVILLE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY
l `
~ , naximum was allowed. In most of the interven-
1 ing years the rate accruing to the library was
`— three cents, and in 1941-42 it was three-and-a-
* 1 half cents.
The library is unusual among institutions of
its type in its ownership of a valuable down-
xi town rent—producing property, the building oc-
cupied by the Kaufman—Straus Company, one of
` Louisvi1le’s large department stores. Since
1903 the Kaufman-Straus Building has brought
the library a total of $l,734,28U.48 in rents.
For the first ten years of that time the rental
was $28,800 a year; this was increased for the
‘ next fifteen years to $36,000 annually. In `
_ 1928 a new twelve-year lease was signed, call-
K ing for an annual rental of $71,947.62. This
j agreement remained in force for four years.
Then, because of the depression, the rent was
reduced by mutual consent, to $50,000 annually
in September, 1932. From September 1, 1935, to -
January 31, 1940, when the present (1942) lease
’ V was executed, the mercantile company paid rent
of $56,000 a year.
This new lease provides a rental of 3 per
cent of the company’s gross sales (less "re-
turns"—-articles bought but returned by the
g customers), with a guaranteed minimum of
7 $60,000 a year. ln the first twelve months the
, agreement was in force the extra rent, over the
$60,000, was $12,757.28; in the second, Februa-
ry 1, 1941-January 31, 1942, the total rent was
$94,472.72. Seventeen years ago the library
P rejected a sale offer of a million dollars for V
‘ the property. lts foresight in so doing is now A
  evident; for it could not have obtained, in
1941, a 9.4 per cent return on anything inwhich
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