STEALERS OF BOOKS.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 505, 24 January 1906, Page 6

STEALERS OF BOOKS.

People Who Purloin Volumes from f Public Libraries. J-ar*e Xamaera of Book* DlMipear Everr Year la Sptta of Pert petaal ViaJlaace of Attaeaea, While it may be taken for granted that the great 00-17 of readers who frequent my pabiic abrary axe honest, both in practice and iruentioff. there will always remain a certain nnmber who are conspicuously the reverse. In all public libraries a large number of volumes disappear during the 12 months of a year; a few; of these may have been lost through carelessness while in circulation, but the greater number of them hare been stolen, says the Philadelphia Record. Th» fact being freely admitted in the repOßts of all librarians, the question naturally arises: Who are the thieves? Do rhey steal the books in order to sell fhf>m. or do«s their dishonesty arise from a diseased lore of literature? Melvtl Dewey, who may be regarded as an authority on the subject, has truthfully declared that it is almost impossible to tf II a library thief at sight. He may hide his dishonesty beneath an exterior as smug and sanctimonious as that of Pecksniff. A promfnent lawyer of Brooklyn, of dlstinguis?<pd appearance and fine manners, made a regular practice of stealing the periodicals in a well-known public library. Being caught at it one day and accused by the librarian, be put on an air of great dignity, hotly declared he was Insulted and walked out. But the magazine the lawyer had stolen was found thrown down In the entry, and he never again reappeared in that library. At the New Tork mercantile library a young woman was discovered leaving* the rooms with one hook, which she was entitled to, In her hand, and five others hidden under her closi. She proved to belong to a well-to-do family, as 4 was amply able to buy all the books she could need. Tie !»te Dr. William F. Poole, who t- » r t.ir£ of t* ■ Chicago public library, £*rhvf -. r~»ny clergymsn had, as rr; j"' "- » imperfect appreciation —' *> -. meum tunm. He had fr*r- !-:'• - -; luore remiss in returning V- v r acf other class of men. He C-. cot intend to reflect on a coble and sacred profession by charging the dsrelicticci of the few upon the many, but he believed the truth about the matter should be told. He had had unpleasant experiences with men of that calling, who, after stealing books from the library, had removed the book plates and library stamp and covered the volumes with heavy paper, carefully pasted down inside the covers. This statement seems to be borne out by the record of the Union theological seminary at New York, in its dealings with ministers and theological According to the librarian's renor* the seminary has lost 1,000 vo''-~- -, 'xkan out and not returned. This, of course, included what were charged out, but could not be recovered.

The long history Ct the Mercantile library of Philadelphia furnishes many strange case* of this form of petty larceny. At a certain period in the somewhat checkered career of this timehonored institution a number of valuable books were mined from its shelves, and m«ana were taken to detect the culprit This led to the discovery that the thief wai a physician in the most respectable rank In society, and more than 60 volumes were found upon the shelvesef hie private library and recovered. Other example* of kleptomania in persons of accepted social position have astonished the custodians of this library from time to time, but tha means of preventing each thefts has not yet been discovered.

It may be gathered from these many cases of library depredations that they are very common, that perpetual vigilance Is necessary in order to guard the books and that In nearly all cases some form of punishment would be wiser than pardon. In many cases of detected theft strong appeals are made by the culprit or his friends to save exposure by public proceedings. These appeals are commonly made not so much to avoid paying fine* Imposed by law as to avoid the eisgrae* attached to publicity, it is probably true that in the majority of cases such innueaee has been strong enough to overcome the determination s< the library authorities to let the law take ft* course. Unfortunately, the consequence of such leniency seems to en.jnnrage the extremely lax conception of •fc* «ta<~e<<r°<ie of «übllc property enter-*r'->.M! by ;c ?.rj men and women of

"*" *" » *«m- Zealand, la hj * . ,a:ii Tales the cLSidren under * du are actually less In nui» h;i -. u-i ih»y were ten years ago. whii. ;a some states there are fewer under ten years than in 1881. In New Zealand complaint is made that there are not enough children to fill the schools. Mr. Coyhlan notes that the immigration of young .married women has fallen off In recent years, yet in IWT there were in New South Wales 112.247 married women under 46 years, ffltile la 1891 there were 149,247; still the number of children born was about the cane in each year, and In Australia and New Zealand there are now annually 20.000 fewer births than would lake place h-d t e rate of ten yearc ago :_t .;..ca:; eX—N. T. Tribune r..-.* o;u Weather Talk. "What din you and Algernon find to talk aboiir?' asked the chaperon. "The weather." was the demure reply. 'I »aid i: looked as if it were going to rain, and he said he had an umbrella and he would like that hp mighr shield :f.e i...m all the storms of lif,. and la*: Florida would be a lovely p. - t ■':- \ "-edding trip. We didn't tal* 3b.i.. anything but the tor half an hour.'—Washington Star