The New York herald., 1922-09-03

Oh8 w buo pcupAcs tndt
what they were written for and the
men who wrote 'em would be the first
p say they wanted me or anybody
4ho could get any benefit from their
books to have them"
With such sophistry . young me
ehanic met the charge that he had
bsen stealing books from the New
York Public Library for more than
three years BY means ola series
cards issued to fictitious names he
pad acquired q working library Of
his own. and when a policeman fol-
1uwed him to HIS home and caught
Am with the goods" he seemed but
little dismayed.
I'm a mechanic" said he, "and
mean to be an inventor. needed the
help these books could give and did
not have money to buy sthem.
knowledge belongs to everybody and
nobody can steal It"
The specific complaint under which
be was arraigned In court was the
theft of one book. Bergson's "Crea-
tive Evolution" and the magistrate
asked the ambitious seeker after
knowledge If he did not agree that
fhis living author had some rights in
his work. that is. If he did not de-
serve royalty payment on all cop
ses sold His answer was singular.
NO." said he. that notion is all
wrong. II Bergson hadn't discovered
these things somebody else would.
He was just a messenger to bring
new ideas to the people"
"And do you also think that If
shakespeare had not written King
Lear somebody else would have
written itg' queried the magistrate.
Sure thing" said the ambitious
young man
Although he produced witnesses to
prove that he was OF good character
bved quietly. studied by himself and
vent to night classes, there was
nothing to do but to send him to the
penitentiary for a year. The case
v1s hagrant and while admitting
taking the books the young man de-
eaared he was not guilty of any
crime. Unznoved he heard the SEN
esnce and the last thing he said to
NE court was to beg the loan of a
couple Of law books to read while he
vas a prisoner.
Erastus Brugge Is "a years old and
elone in the world He is like Lord
Verulam tn this respect that he con-
6ders all human knowledge to be
his province. Also like Queen Eliza
beth's Chief Justice, unless history
maligns that person, Erastus Brugge
b lacking in certain moral distinc-
tton between what is mine and what
b thine. He exhibited this obliquity
of vision at the New York Public
library when he carried off thirty
books without observing the formali-
q Of having the titles entered on a
card with the promise to return
them at the expiration OF two weeks.
Commonly wholesale theft Of
eooks cover volumes in a particular
subject and by consulting data filed
h the circulation room and other
aata held in the general reading
room it IS not difficult to narrow sus-
picion to include but a few readers
and by observing these the thief may
BE- found out.
But Brugge was interested In art
- well as science, and indeed even
included music In the catholicity of
his taste, as was shown when the
Books were finally recovered, for
ehey included two valuable opera
scores. The Stone Age. the Einstein
Theory. the Elimination Of the Edo
I'm are a few OF the fields where his
curiosity wandered. Authors as diff
9erent as Froude and Benedetto
Croce appealed to him
Finally the method used by Brugge
N getting by the guardians at the
ooors Of the library came to light.
II was simplicity itself. He possessed
D card and after loading up with a
volume or two in the reading room
On the top floor II was his custom
20 descend TO the circulation depart
ment, turn in a piece of light fiction
and choose another. These trivial
Books. said Mr.. Brugge when he