New Britain herald., 1924-07-02

Seated al my table just removed from
 the thr0ngs on the sidewalk, slipping
 my yermoulh, l arrived reluctantly al
 this conclusion, Not that poverty
 pressed me- On the contrary, from
 the proceeds of a certain bit Of leger'
 demain there remained to me, after
 paying my passage across inc Allan
 tic, my expenses in Paris these last
 three months, and restoring my ward
 robe 10 its present satisfactory com
 dition, some ten thousand dollars,
 Certainly, benefited by the exchange,
 l could hope to live deeantly for ans
 other six months at least,
 Not so long ago, l would have been
 overioyed at assurance of financial
 security for six weeks. or even six
 days: Indeed, sufficient food in my stomach 10 keep hunger away for six
 hours was a rare condition with me.
 But our ideas change with our changing prosperity. Let those who think that the mind governs material things ponder tlss obvious reverse.
 am, l think. one who makes up his mind quickly. and acts imme- diately Certainly when l had do- eidcd that l would rather live thief than starve an honest man. I had acted instantly Let me say in pa rcnthesis. that l had not yet arrived At regret for that decision. ] acted, in this perhaps less important matter, as suddenly as I had acted on that evening when ] had kissed an airy farewell 10 the traditions Of all the Ainsleys. of whom l. John. was the first to turn 10 crime.
 l raised my finger. and an atten- tive garcon leaped 10 my table. I paid him for my aperitif, rose. and with one stride was mingled with the crowd that surged from the Place de POpera up the Boulevard des Ca. pucines. It was an observation of the individpals who made ID the crowd that had brought me to de- cision.
 For it was sprngtime, and the world had come 10 Paris. From my place at the table I had seen fortunes in furs and jewels pass by. The prohteers of all the world were here. and their wives and daughters and Haunted the success of their males before the others of their kind.
 Swarthy Argentineans grown rich in beef and hides, shining-eyed Span- lards who had traded while Europe bled, munitions from Eng land and America-they rode and walked the street. of Paris, gross. vulgar and overfed. As, after a ter rife storm strange carcasses arise from the depths and float offensiyelv upon the surface of the sea, so now upon the surface of society drifted weird carrion.
 The sight of them, obese and onu- lent, made me realize that it was lime for me to set about the aquisi- ton Of some of their more merchant able gauds. Not that I intended to prey directly upon these nouveaux riches! But where the carrion lies. the vulture flies. It was toward the 'ulture, his talons gripping choice norsels, that l would bend my en- argies. l would let the vulture do all the unpleasant work, and Il would reap his profit.
 For do not think that had spent .hese months in Paris in mere stupid sratlhcat1on of appetites that had been baked so long by poverty. If s true that l had indulged in sundry uxuries and pleasures, that had wed once more as gentleman | mould live. unharassed by sojling economies; but I had devoted myself | tudiously to thought of the future.
 That that future must be outside | he law had determined. My first 'ehture into crime had yielded me a 'roht so great. for such slight effort md risk, that I never for a moment anything but continuing lpon the career that the needs of xistence had made me choose. For understand that these are not tbe 'entent confessions of paltry rick- 'ocket; they are the narratives of an | rtist
 Tn the apartment which had ented, on the Rue Daunou, had elioerately studied my problem. lad acquired all the literature deal ng With criminals that could find. ma l came to the inevitable con- fusion that the so-called super- had never existed. For aI- avs the histories of these persons ndcd with the accounts of their ar- ests and convictions to punisbments DO unpleasant to contemplate. A upercriminal should be one wbs scaped the law completely, who died men his time came full of riche, s well as sin.
 Yet some of these men had showr
 talent for crime that approacbel enius, l asked myself why they had nally Tailed, why, at the end, in tho ock, they had heard the judgment f society.
 The answer was obvious: no man an be stronger or cleverer than all he forces of all society. The man. hen, who antagonizes these forces is
 fool. A fool must fall in whatever e attempts, But the man who scognizes the difficulties before him. nd takes precautions that will mini llze these difficulties, increases his nance of success.
 l had seen one sample of the spe- les termed supercrook. and I knew lyself to be, in every possible way. lore capable of success in his profess on than he. If, then. I had more bility than he. and if so directed " energies and efforts that I would Tn the least riSlr of ,,.o....-:.. | .