EDITOR'S TABLE. 



267 



Youmans was heartily seconded by 

 Mr. Appleton, as was also the plan 

 of the Popular Science Monthly. 



A distinctive feature of the ar- 

 rangements for the issue of all these 

 foreign books, and one which re- 

 dounds in no small degree to the 

 credit of the firm, was the voluntary 

 agreement, in the absence of an in- 

 ternational copyright law, to pay 

 their authors the usual royalties, 

 making no distinction between them 

 and authors at home. Mr. Apple- 

 ton had been a lifelong advocate of 

 international copyright, founding 

 his contention on the simple justice 

 of recognizing the property rights 

 of the author, no matter where he 

 lived. Although to adopt such a 

 course was to expose themselves to 

 the possibility of heavy loss through 

 the issue of reprints by irresponsi- 

 ble parties, a thing which actually 

 happened in the case of a good many 

 of the volumes, the principle was 

 faithfully adhered to, thus antici- 

 pating by many years the central 

 provision of our present law. 



The storm of denunciation raised 

 abroad by the appearance of the 

 earlier installments of these writ- 

 ings might well have deterred the 

 boldest from repeating the experi- 

 ment of giving them currency in 

 America. But in spite of solemn 

 warnings that dire consequences 

 would be visited on the publisher 

 who ventured to issue them here, 

 the books continued to appear, while 

 the predicted evils never came to 

 pass. 



It miTst not be inferred from the 

 foregoing, however, that Mr. Ap- 

 pleton was either unmindful or 

 wanting in respect for the opposi- 

 tion which his course aroused. 

 Much of this had its origin in the 

 religious convictions of the commu- 

 nity, not a little of the criticism, be 

 it said, emanating directly from the 

 Church or its leading representa- 



tives. But, being a strong church- 

 man himself, actively furthering the 

 work of the Church with his pri- 

 vate means and personal co-opera- 

 tion, in full sympathy with its pur- 

 poses, and rejoicing in its beneficent 

 influence, he was the last one who 

 would wantonly outrage the sacred 

 beliefs of his fellow-men. Yet, 

 gifted with a large-mindedness that 

 is at least unusual in the walks of 

 business, he was enabled to see that 

 the onward march of natural knowl- 

 edge which had so often before ex- 

 cited alarm among men of narrow 

 views could have nothing in it that 

 was inconsistent with a truly reli- 

 gious life ; while, on the other hand, 

 to promote its advance and diffu- 

 sion was to contribute by so much 

 to the highest human welfare. 



The wisdom of Mr. Appleton's 

 course has been fully justified by the 

 event. As we look over the last half 

 of the century, which has been so 

 fruitful in discovery and has wit- 

 nessed the development of so many 

 agencies for the amelioration of hu- 

 man ills and so manifold an increase 

 in man's power for right living, we 

 can see at the various stages of 

 this evolution how large a part the 

 broadening of thought fostered by 

 these authors and the new aims and 

 methods in inquiry suggested by 

 them have contributed to the ad- 

 vance. It could not, in short, have 

 been made so rapidly or effectively 

 without the stimulus they gave. For 

 what has been done in this line in 

 this country we think — when we 

 reflect that it was he who had the 

 courage to bring the works of those 

 thinkers here, and who made them 

 accessible to students and the read- 

 ing public, who constituted the 

 agency through which the new 

 thoughts and aims were spread — a 

 very important part in the achieve- 

 ment may fairly be ascribed to Mr. 

 William H. Appleton. 



