CONGRESS. (INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT.) 



217 





anslato, or import, < -itln -r in whole or in 



^.ininir tin- iniiiii dcMifii with intent t<. 

 .ic the 'law, !, knowing the Minn' to I"- so printed, 

 iramatt/.ed, translated, or iiii|i<niri|, shall 

 ic in Mil.- anv ,-i,p\ of such map or other 

 .forcsaid. In- shall I'nrt'i-it t<> the proprietor 

 ii which tin- same shall U- cop'u-d uiul 

 thereof, either i-oj.u-<l nr printed, and 

 .rthcr forfeit 1 I'or e\cr\ sheet of tin- same 



Moll, either prilltilli;. printed, eop- 



'lishe.l. imported, or exposed tor >ale, and in 

 .1 painting', statue, "r statuary, lie shall forfeit 

 , M r\ copy of the same in 'his possession, or 

 r cxiosel for sale; one half thereof to 

 proprietor and tho other half to the use of the 



M. '.'. That section -l!l'!7 of the Revised Statutes 



id the same i.s hereby, amended BO o to read as 



t%7. Kvery person who shall print or pub- 

 lish anv manuscript whatever without the consent of 

 the author or proprietor first obtained shall be liable 

 ,'ithor or proprietor for all damages occasioned 

 : ; injurv.'' 



: '. That section 4971 of the Keviscd Statutes 

 and the same is hereby, repeuli d. 

 <F.O. 11. Tliut for the purpose o'f this act each vol- 

 :' a book in two or more volumes, when such 

 s are published separately and the first one 

 shall not have been issued hi- fore this act shall take 

 .ml each number of a periodical shall be con- 

 sidered an independent publication, subject to the 



pvriirhting us above. 



0, !_'. That this act shall go into effect on the 

 day of July, A; i>. 1891. 



' r ;< ! l.">. That this act shall only apply to a citizen 

 foreign state or nation when such foreign state 

 on permits to citizens of the United States of 

 the benefit of copyright on substantially the 

 basis as its own citizens ; or when such foreign 

 or nation permits to citizens of the United States 

 of Ameriea copyright privileges substantially similar 

 to those provided for in this net ; or when such for- 

 ate or nation is a party to an international 

 .cut which provides for reciprocity in the grant 

 riirht, by tho terms of which agreement the 

 United States or America may at its pleasure become 

 ajiarty to such agreement The existence of either 

 ot the conditions aforesaid shall be determined by 

 the President of the United States, by proclamation 

 In from time to time, as the purposes of this act 

 require. 



icre were bitter protests against the measure 

 this form in both the Senate and the House 

 of Representatives. In the latter body, March 



dr. Springer, of Illinois, said : 

 Mr. Speaker, in the original bill there was a 

 hibition of certain books coming into this 

 country under any circumstances. The Senate 

 amended that by what is known as the Sherman 

 amendment, so as \,o subject such books to the 

 duty imposed by tho existing tariff law. Now, 

 the n inference committee have modified that 

 amendment by specifying what the exceptions 

 are that are permitted to come in, and I desire 

 ti> have read from the clerk's desk paragraphs 

 512 to 516 inclusive of the McKinley bill, which 

 are (lie paragraphs referred to in this report, 

 and which have not been considered by the 

 House and are new matter entirely." 

 The clerk read as follows: 



M'j. Hooks, engravings, photographs ; bound or un- 

 Ixuiiid. etchings, maps, atut charts, which shall have 

 ; Tinted and bound or manufactured more than 

 ' enty years at the date of importation. 



Itooks and pamphlets printed exclusively in 

 guages other than Knglish ; also books and music 

 1 print, used exclusively by the blind. 



614. Books, engravings, photographs, etching*, 



bound or unbound, map- and .-hart- imported by au- 

 thority or for the um- of tho Unitc-d States, or for the 

 use ot the Library of < 'ongreaa. 



518, Hi>oks, mill*, lithographic prints unl chart* 

 specially LmportM, not more than two copies in any 

 one invoice in good faith, for the use of any society 

 incorporated for educational, philosophical, li- 

 or religious pur|>scs, or for the encouragement of tM 

 tine arts, or for the use or by order of any college, 

 academy, school, or seminary of learning in the. 

 I'nited States, subject to such regulations as the Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury shall prescribe. 



51(5. Books, or libraries, or parts of libraries and 

 othe_r household effect* of persons or families from 

 foreign countries, if actually used by them not less 

 than one year, and not intended for any other person 

 or persons, nor for sale. 



"The provisions of law as just read by the 

 clerk show the books that come in free under 

 the present law and which will continue to come 

 in free if this bill should pass. Among the 

 books thus admitted free are books in other lan- 

 guages than English. They are permitted to 

 come in free, notwithstanding the copyright 

 law. Books published in all languages except 

 that which we habitually speak and read can 

 come into the country without payment of duty 

 as heretofore. 



" The writings of Confucius in Chinese, or the 

 Koran, or books in Sanskrit or any other lan- 

 guage not ordinarily spoken in this country, are 

 admitted without the payment of duty, but books 

 in the language which we ordinarily speak or 

 read are excluded by this bill. I simply wanted 

 to call attention to this matter to show that 

 Congress is now making a discrimination against 

 the mother-tongue." 



Mr. Kerr, of Iowa, said : 



" As the gentleman from Illinois has just said, 

 this bill in its present form is an absolute pro- 

 hibition of the importation into this country of 

 foreign bo'oks. Under previous laws, I believe, 

 they were admitted by paying a duty of 80 per 

 cent. ; and the American publishers had the ad- 

 vantage of 25 or 80 per cent, in the publishing 

 of books in this country. Under the law now 

 proposed to be enacted, we shall be left entirely 

 at the mercy of American publishers. 



" The present bill pretends to be in the inter- 

 est of the American author ; but it affords him 

 no protection whatever. Both the American au- 

 thor and the American reader are left entirely 

 at the mercy of the great publishing houses of 

 the country. Hereafter, if this bill should be- 

 come a law, no American can buy a book that he 

 can read" (unless he first learns a foreign lan- 

 guage) without paying just such price as the 

 American publisher, operating without competi- 

 tion from any other source, may see fit to place 

 upon it. This is in effect a Chinese wall against 

 intelligence." 



Mr. Breckenridge, of Arkansas, said : 



"This evidently is not a copyright proposition 

 disentangled from other questions. If it were 

 that, or if it were within any reasonable limit an 

 approximation to that, I should be among its 

 warmest supporters; for I believe in the copy- 

 right doctrine (if it may be so defined) quite as 

 strongly as any gentleman here. But I am re- 

 pelled more than some others are by those mat- 

 ters which are associated with the copyright 

 privileges or guarantees provided for in this bill. 



