A HARVARD RACKET

Petty thieveries, unintentional borrowing, wilful destruction of valuable portraits, fraudulent representation of works of art of Fogg, a racket of passing worthless checks on parents and friends of Harvard students, and the recently exposed racket of stealing and selling fine books from many libraries, Widener included; such is the lot which has fallen to Harvard and Harvard men during the past year. The University in the last twelve months has been subjected to an increasing number of these criminal actions, several a which have had not only a serious financial effect, but also done irreparable damage.

Widener library most constantly feels the results of the wave of thefts. Even the installation of the turnstiles, although eminently successful in preventing the loss of textbooks and fiction, is of no avail against the skillfully planned campaign of the racketeer. But, on the other hand, this saving has been somewhat lessened by the losses sustained by the new House libraries during their first year of existence.

The racket of imposing upon Harvard families can only be stopped by individual precautions; such crimes as portrait slashings, which can only be the work of an insane man, are impossible to foresee and almost as difficult to trace, while their prevention involves procedure far too impractical. In a similar way, any further measures to protect the treasures of libraries and museums must unavoidably entail "red tape" which may even outweigh the saving. Yet the point of least loss and inconvenience can only be reached after experimentation towards both extremes. Present regulations have apparently proved unsatisfactory; a period of stricter protective care seems the only solution to this problem.