THOUGHTLESSNESS--OR WORSE

In the time of mid-years, when the volumes on the Widener shelves are constantly in demand, there is an apparent tendency among some men to alter the standards of honesty. Books mysteriously disappear for a few days, or a few weeks, while the borrower, in his leisure moments, studies them at his ease. Others desiring to consult these books find that the shelves are empty.

The "borrowers" do not call themselves dishonest. Many of them are quite reputable young men, slightly lacking in brain, perhaps, but accredited with honesty for all that. All of them would be bitterly offended if named by an ugly and descriptive term. And yet their actions are neither more nor less than thievery. When a man takes a book from--the Library shelves under cover of his coat, or in his bag, he is robbing every other man who may wish to read that book.

Perhaps those men who unconventionally loan University books to themselves do not think. A sense of conscience which is blunted ceases to be a sense; it is simply inert matter. Probably food speculators do not reflect on the ultimate consequences when they raise the price of life's necessities. But their lack of thought makes hunger no less bitter to those who are deprived. Personal gain is behind the food speculator and the book thief alike. But the books in the Widener Library are to be shared by all, they are community property, and a good citizen must always think of his community.