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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



belonged to both parties, and some of 

 them perhaps had the audacity to be- 

 long to neither, and in general they 

 were not conspicuous in the caucus or 

 famous for their knowledge of ropes 

 and wires. They were simply Ameri- 

 can citizens, eminent for character and 

 ability, pleading a cause in which not 

 they alone but the whole people were 

 concerned, and in which, so far as they 

 themselves were personally interested, 

 they had a case as strong as justice and 

 common sense could make it. All this 

 availed but little to conquer the in- 

 difference of Congress to a proposition 

 that could not be expressed in terms of 

 " politics." 



There was a little more than indif- 

 ference in it, however. The proposi- 

 tion was that this country should cease 

 to appropriate without compensation 

 the literary goods of foreigners, par- 

 ticularly of the British ; and this did 

 not fall in with those considerations of 

 expediency which are so likely to influ- 

 ence the attitude of our legislators to- 

 ward moral questions. How could the 

 representative excuse himself to his 

 constituents for making anything dear 

 in the interest merely of abstract jus- 

 tice and of the higher intellectual de- 

 velopment of the country at large? 

 It was also the case that certain or- 

 ganized interests were arrayed against 

 the principle of international copy- 

 right. There was no little opposition 

 to it among publishers, printers, ste- 

 reotypers, engravers, etc., who thought 

 they saw in it the threat of a seri- 

 ous diminution of business. It is no 

 wonder, therefore, that Congress should 

 have put the matter off from year to 

 year ; the only wonder, indeed, is 

 that those who believed in the prin- 

 ciple should have had the courage to 

 go on and should now by dint of pa- 

 tient persistence be in a position to 

 present to Congress a stronger case 

 than ever — one that can only be put 

 aside through the most extreme and 

 culpable indifference to an issue which 



affects, not the balance of parties, but 

 the higher life of the whole people. 



As the matter stands now, there is 

 substantially but one opinion among 

 publishers and authors in regard to the 

 copyright question. The consideration 

 of justice to foreign authors remains, 

 of course, as before, neither stronger 

 nor weaker; bat careful reflection has 

 led the great majority of those inter- 

 ested in the publishing trade to see that, 

 in this case, justice to the foreigner 

 means advantage to themselves. The 

 stimulus that would be given to domes- 

 tic literary production by the granting 

 of copyright to American editions of 

 foreign works would admittedly be 

 very great ; and, as the author can do 

 nothing without the printer and pub- 

 lisher, these would share the benefit 

 with him. There are bills now before 

 both houses of Congress — the House 

 bill being a copy of that introduced 

 into the Senate by Senator Chace, of 

 Rhode Island— providing for the ex- 

 tension of copyright privileges to foi*- 

 eigners on condition that the work for 

 which the privilege is sought is pub- 

 lished simultaneously in the United 

 States and in the country of origin. 

 Proof of publication will be the filing 

 of two copies of the best American 

 edition of the work in the office of the 

 Librarian of Congress. Upon the grant- 

 ing of copyright to a foreign work, the 

 importation of all foreign editions of 

 the work in question, save with the 

 consent of the holder of the copyright, 

 is interdicted. These are the principal 

 provisions of the measure, and it will 

 be seen that they do justice to all in- 

 terests concerned. They also appear to 

 commend themselves to those members 

 of Congress who have given the subject 

 most attention, as the committees of 

 both Houses having the matter in 

 charge reported, without a dissenting 

 voice, in favor of the bill. Congress, 

 therefore, has now an opportunity of do- 

 ing the country a triple service: 1. Re- 

 moving the stigma which attaches to the 



