February 1940 — Deplorable, said the Chamber of Commerce

Five months after the file closed in Washington, the argument started over for the fourth time in seven years, and this time a third organization took it up. On the evening of Wednesday, February 7, 1940, the professional division of the La Crosse Chamber of Commerce went to its own board of directors and asked for a special committee.

"do something definite, as soon as possible, to better the facilities on the north side"

— the professional division to the Chamber of Commerce board, February 8, 1940

The word the division used for the branch libraries was deplorable — the same word Alderman Arthur O. Scott had used on the floor two and a half years earlier, when he moved that plans be drawn. The report went no further than that. It did not argue the case or cite a figure. It did not need to. Everyone had the figures.

The matter was referred to committee, with reports due at the next regular meeting on the twenty-first.