EDITOR'S TABLE. 



411 



tected, it would have been impossible ; 

 and tbe fact that with the recent enor- 

 mous development of piracy, which re- 

 spects nobody's rights of property, they 

 have suffered material losses, is but a 

 confirmation of the point that the open 

 competition proposed in the present 

 plan would have exactly the same ef- 

 fect that piracy is having now. 



In fact, then, we have a practice 

 which has grown up under existing 

 conditions that makes no distinction 

 between our authors and those of other 

 countries, which is supported by a large 

 class of readers, and which only needs 

 the simplest legal sanction to completely 

 solve the question of international copy- 

 right without resort to untried, compli- 

 cated, and otherwise doubtful business 

 methods. 



Looked at from the moral side, which 

 really is the only proper stand-point, Mr. 

 Smith's plan is, if possible, open to still 

 stronger objection, and its defects in this 

 respect are so cleverly and forcibly 

 pointed out by Professor Huxley in the 

 " Nineteenth Century " that we make 

 no apology for quoting his remarks in 

 full. He says: 



1 find in Mr. Pearsall Smith's interesting 

 paper two chief matters for consideration : 

 the one is a statement of the moral principles 

 by which the transatlantic English-speaking 

 people propose to govern themselves in deal- 

 ing with the property of British authors ; 

 and the other is a plan for securing to tl:e 

 said British authors such a price for the use 

 of their property as is compatible with the 

 moral principles in question. The princi- 

 ples are very easily gathered from Mr. Pear- 

 sall Smith's candid exposition of them. 

 Transatlantic readers, it appears, by no 

 means go so far as to deny that a book is the 

 property of its author ; and they are evi- 

 dently quite shocked at the notion that, when 

 they possess themselves of a pirated edition, 

 .they may be placing themselves in the posi- 

 tion of receivers of stolen goods. Their con- 

 science has been stirred to its depths by the 

 suspicion that such may be the case, and will 

 give them no peace until they are satisfied 

 that the man whose genius has charmed 

 away their sorrows or opened up new vistas 

 for their intellect has not been left to starve 

 on mere praise. All they ask (and they seem 



to tliink the request a grace) is that they 

 themselves shall be the assessors of the pe- 

 cimiary value of their obligations. "Our 

 souls require moral and intellectual elevation ; 

 we are accustomed to get these elevators 

 cheaply, and we mean to go on getting them 

 cheaply. We shall be happy to consider any 

 arrangement for rewarding the makers of the 

 elevators consistently with that declaration ; 

 but they had better recollect that we are mas- 

 ters of the situation, and that we shall appro- 

 priate our spiritual nourishment without pay- 

 ment, if we can not get it at our own price." 



In England we still retain so much of tho 

 ingrained conservatism of the decaying civi- 

 lizations of Europe, that, if a starving man 

 goes into a baker's shop, and carries off a 

 sLxpenny loaf, leaving only twopence in its 

 place, the poor wretch is haled before tho 

 nearest magistrate and sent to prison for a 

 thief. It would be no good whatever for him 

 to plead that his bodily frame absolutely re- 

 quired to be elevated and kept erect by reg- 

 ular installments of bread ; that he had been 

 accustomed all his life to get a big loaf for 

 twopence ; and that, in his judgment, the 

 baker got quite enough profit out of the two- 

 pence — to prison he would go. But see the 

 difference. The starveling is not (at any 

 rate yet) master of the situation, and the 

 baker (j)lus the magistrate) is. However, we 

 are altering all these things rapidly. It has 

 become an axiom among a large and influen- 

 tial class of our politicians, that a want con- 

 stitutes a good claim for that which you want, 

 but which other people happen to possess. 

 The " earth hunger " of the many has estab- 

 lished itself as an excellent plea for the spoli- 

 ation of the land-owning few ; lease-holders 

 are already trying the effect of " house-hun- 

 ger" on house-owners ; and the happy time 

 seems approaching when the consumer, and 

 not the producer, will fix the price of all 

 things desirable. The course of action by 

 which, according to Mr. Pearsall Smith, 

 transatlantic readers propose to deal with 

 British authors, is but another anticipation 

 of that social millennium when the "have- 

 nots," whether they lack land or house or 

 money or capacity or morals, will have 

 parted among themselves all the belongings 

 of the " haves " — save the two last men- 

 tioned. 



The proposed plan for " protected copy- 

 right with free-trade competition" has one 

 merit. It recognizes the right of property of 

 an author in his work. It is a frank confes- 

 sion that piracy is theft. But, as a practical 

 measure, I can not say I feel any confidence 

 in its working. The author is to provide 



