STOP, THIEF!

Reports are continually coming to the College police concerning cases of stealing, in which the losses vary from one to several hundred dollars. That such a situation should exist in Cambridge at the present time is not surprising: a wave of robbery has affected every university and college in the country. As most of the crooks resort to exceedingly clever methods in playing their trade, it will be very difficult to stop the stealing unless the students cooperate with the College police.

"Keep the room doors and windows locked!" is the most urgent request that the authorities make. Although the buildings are watched carefully and the "no trespassing" regulations are strictly enforced, sneaks, variously and skillfully disguised, gain entrance frequently and then, as a result of the students' hospitality in leaving their rooms open, make away with whatever is at hand, be it money, as gold watch, or a saxaphone. To use a lock is a sure and simple way of eliminating such robberies.

"Beware of the swindler" is another warning. Occasionally some "good fellow" goes the rounds, selling "imported" cloth, encyclopedias, or sundry other articles, and incidentally trying to draw students into gambling games. In the past such persons have usually succeeded in getting out of Cambridge before the police have discovered their presence; if notified at once, the authorities could arrest the swindlers and punish them under the law.

A third point on which there can be cooperation is the question of leaving coats and hats about in the College buildings. At the main entrance of Widener Library, there is provided a room where students may deposit their belongings free rather than leave them where anyone can nonchalantly pick them up and walk out, never to be seen again. In other buildings, students are requested to keep their hats and coats where they can watch them. If this is done, the daily reports of stolen coats will cease.

We call attention to this situation because cooperation is essential. The College police are doing everything in their power to stop robbery but they cannot succeed without the assistance of the student body. By protecting property more carefully and reporting all suspicious circumstances to the headquarters in Massachusetts Hall, students can do much to make it unhealthy and unprofitable for crooks to operate at Harvard.