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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



when "the principle of piracy has been 

 abandoned, and the black flag of litera- 

 ture hauled down." But in a second 

 article the view taken is less favorable. 

 It sees numerous difficulties, and thinks 

 " there is very little use in discussing 

 these farcical proposals which the pub- 

 lishers of the transatlantic cities have 

 elaborated." It thinks the proposition 

 to throw open the power of publishing 

 books to everybody, subject to the 

 obligation of paying a royalty to the 

 author to be fixed by law, is " not yet 

 sufficiently discussed." And so, on the 

 whole, it concludes that we had better 

 postpone the subject, and wait for some- 

 thing more satisfactory. 



The "Times," however, is disingenu- 

 ous in characterizing the plan suggested 

 by Messrs. Harper as elaborated by the 

 publishers of transatlantic cities. That 

 house speaks only for itself, and does 

 not undertake to represent other Amer- 

 ican publishers. Both the proviso that 

 the publisher shall be an American citi- 

 zen, and the time-limit assigned for 

 reprinting, will be held by others as 

 not essential to the American position, 

 and as open to modification in settling 

 the details of an international arrange- 

 ment. 



We speak of the " American posi- 

 tion," and are fairly justified in doing 

 so, for there is now wide and decisive 

 agreement that foreign books copyright- 

 ed in this country, must be manufac- 

 tured in this country. In granting the 

 copyright to English authors, and plac- 

 ing them upon the same footing as our 

 own, we yield all the rights of the case 

 that can be demanded in the name of 

 justice. Every nation that grants copy- 

 rights even to its own authors, qualifies 

 and limits them by considerations of 

 public expediency, it being assumed that 

 the community has duties to itself as 

 well as to authors. This country would 

 therefore.be vindicated byuniversal pre- 

 cedents in giving the new arrangements 

 such a form that they will not be inju- 

 rious to important American interests. 



The requirement that foreign books 

 copyrighted in this country shall be 

 printed in this country is dictated by the 

 first law of nature the principle of 

 self-preservation. Any international 

 copyright that did not enforce this 

 condition would be destructive to an ex- 

 tensive and valuable domestic industry, 

 and would put the American book-mar- 

 ket at once and completely under the 

 control of foreign publishers, thousands 

 of miles away from us. Under a state of 

 things which, although it may not have 

 been just, has nevertheless been legal, 

 the publishing interest in the United 

 States has grown into extensive propor- 

 tions. We have numerous manufactur- 

 ing establishments of all kinds for every 

 branch of the business. We have heavy 

 investments in paper manufactories, 

 printing-houses, binderies, and shops for 

 making all the necessary machinery, 

 and we have multitudes of trained me- 

 chanics to carry on the required opera- 

 tions. 



Whether all this capital shall be 

 sunk, and all this industry paralyzed, 

 and a reading people shall cease to 

 supply itself with books in accordance 

 with its own tastes and preferences, 

 depends upon the form of copyright 

 adopted, if that measure is to be carried 

 out. And when it is remembered that 

 the foreign publisher has no claims upon 

 us whatever, and that we discharge all 

 our obligations in protecting the prop- 

 erty rights of the foreign author, it is 

 obvious that every consideration of na- 

 tional expediency dictates that we should 

 take care of our own interests in this 

 matter. 



It is usual to represent the policy 

 here maintained as inspired by the 

 greed of mercenary and monopolizing 

 American publishers. It is no such 

 thing. It is life or death to the whole 

 business. To yield the point is to trans- 

 fer the American book-trade almost 

 bodily to England. In requiring copy- 

 righted books to be printed here, the 

 American publisher only stipulates for 



