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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



own hands, demands the stamps for an 

 inferior and low-priced edition. Under 

 such a condition of things, publishers of 

 ordinary business sagacity would be slow 

 to assume even the smallest risk, the 

 utter insecurity of the property making 

 all business enterprise in that direction 

 precarious. In this connection, we can 

 not do better than to give the views of 

 Mr. W. H. Appleton, whose long ex- 

 perience as a publisher enables him to 

 speak with an authority •which greatly 

 outweighs the untried speculations of 

 one who, like the writer in the "Nine- 

 teenth Century," has no practical knowl- 

 edge of the business. Eeferring, in 1872, 

 to a proposed international copyright 

 law that was then under discussion, and 

 ■which, like the present plan, provided 

 for open competition in the reprinting 

 of foreign books, Mr. Appleton said: 



The first demand of property is for se- 

 curity, . . . and to publish a book in any 

 real sense— that is, not merely to print it, 

 but to make it well and widely known, re- 

 quires much effort and larger expenditure, 

 and these will not be invested in a property 

 ■wliich is liable to be destroyed at any mo- 

 ment. . . . The publisher can neither aflbrdto 

 make the book so thoroughly known, nor can 

 he put it at so low a price as if he could count 

 upon a permanent and undisturbed control of 

 its sales. Many valuable books are not re- 

 printed at all, and therefore are to bo had 

 only at English prices, for the same reason 

 that publishers are cautious about risking 

 their capital in unprotected property. 



In its other business aspects, such as 

 the opportunities it affords for fraud, 

 the possible difficulties in recovering the 

 value of unused stamps, and the gen- 

 eral influence on the trade of the un- 

 certainties of open competition, the plan 

 is equally objectionable. Indeed, taken 

 as a whole, it seems much better adapt- 

 ed to the purpose of quieting our con- 

 sciences while we hang on to the plun- 

 der, than to the furtherance of its osten- 

 sible object— the benefit of the British 

 author. 



The fact is that the assumption on 

 which the whole scheme is based, viz., 

 that American readers will not accept 

 a monopoly copyright on foreign books, 



is untenable, and is, in the opinion of 

 many, squarely contradicted by the 

 facts. For three quarters of a century 

 Americans have bought books at fair 

 prices under monopoly copyright with- 

 out finding fault, and, moreover, when 

 the demand arose, have enjoyed the 

 advantage of lower - priced editions 

 However it may be slurred or ignored, 

 the truth is that the American people 

 have had a great deal less to do with 

 this denial of justice to English authors 

 than the publishers and the politicians; 

 and when some member of Congress, 

 in pursuit of a little cheap political 

 capital, sets up the plea that his constit- 

 uents are not willing to pay fair prices 

 for the foreign author's property in this 

 country, he may very reasonably be 

 asked to back up his statements with 

 some unmistakable expressions of feel- 

 ing from the people themselves. That 

 American readers have accepted and 

 upheld a monopoly copyright at home 

 may, until we have something definite 

 to the contrary, fairly be taken as an 

 indication that, when made acquainted 

 with the true bearings of the case, they 

 will be equally fair toward the interests 

 of the foreign author. As a matter of 

 fact they have already given abundant 

 evidence of this kindly feeling in the 

 purchase of substantial editions of Eng- 

 lish and other foreign reprinted books 

 of a solid character, amounting in the 

 aggregate to hundreds of thousands of 

 volumes, paying prices therefor which 

 have enabled the few high-minded pub- 

 lishers who voluntarily entered into the 

 arrangement to hand to the foreign au- 

 thor exactly the same return that he 

 would have received if a citizen of this 

 country. The publishers following this 

 practice have been able to make and 

 sell these books at American prices, and 

 have also found their profit, when the 

 demand would justify the venture, in 

 the sale of cheap editions. Of course, 

 in doing this they exposed themselves 

 to serious risks, and but for the old- 

 time courtesy of the trade, by which 

 they were to a considerable extent pro- 



