Oh My Goodness! The father of our country, he who reputedly said, ‘Father, I cannot tell a lie. I chopped down the cherry tree!’ kept two books from a New York City library for more than two hundred years in his private bookshelf.
The Mt Vernon Foundation found a couple of replica copies of the books. Returned them to the library. The fine was remitted.
This cute story dominated a couple of cycles on the News Channels.
Not so cute was the story of the Congressional Hearing into Wall Street bank fraud. Congress subpoenaed records from one of the leading banks. They sent over eleven million or maybe a billion sheets of paper. (What’s a couple of extra zeros among friends?)
It will take years to go through these records. Of course, that was the point. With a grand gesture of complying, Wall Street effectively avoided any legal penalty. Everybody’s happy! Congress investigates fraud. Their tough questions keep their reelection campaigns viable. Wall Street Bankers continue to pocket millions! Two hundred Main Street banks fail in the first quarter.
This not so cute story stirs up cynical anger for more than two cycles on the News Channels.
I got to thinking about George Washington’s overdue books. That he shelved them and forgot about them is an easy thing to do. That it took the library more than two hundred years to discover this is almost beyond belief.
The chief librarian and his staff at the Library of Congress keep track of six hundred and fifty miles of shelved books in their care.
Every time I’ve absent mindedly shelved a reference book at home when I was done with it, the library sends me a polite but firm note saying, ‘Hey, that’s our book! Bring it back!’
Librarians understand large systems and have the competence and integrity to operate them for the public good!
Just wondering! Is it past due to elect librarians to Congress to run our government instead of business CEO’s and lawyers?
