George Washington owes library fines

NEW YORK, April 19 (UPI) -- A New York library said George Washington, the first president of the United States, owes $300,000 in late fees for two books he never returned.

The New York Society Library said President Washington visited the facility Oct. 5, 1789, and borrowed international relations treatise "Law of Nations" and Vol. 12 of the British Parliament transcript series "Commons Debates," the New York Daily News reported Monday.

Officials said the books, which were due Nov. 2 of that same year, have been compiling late fees of a few pennies a day ever since.

"We're not actively pursuing the overdue fines," head librarian Mark Bartlett joked. "But we would be very happy if we were able to get the books back."