
a of which. we ees to be soe or not. 
990 The American Naturalist. [November, 
EDITORIAL. 
EDITORS, E. D. COPE AND J. S. KINGSLEY. 
WE have had occasion from time to time to animadvert on the — 
attitude of our government towards the intellectual rights 
of the people as exhibited by its tariff taxation on scientific and 
and artistic books and apparatus. After several years of per- 
sistent applications to Congress, a committee of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science has succeeded in 
obtaining a remission of the 25 per cent. duty levied on scientific 
books not printed in the English language. All apparatus, and 
books printed in English, must still pay the tax. Engravings, 
photographs, etc., not bound in books must still pay duty. All 
this means a great deal to the science of the country. The 
money thus obtained by the United States government comes 
directly from the pockets of a class whose profession is not 
remunerative, but whose activity it is of the greatest importance 
to the country to preserve. 
But this exaction does not satisfy the authorities of the treasury 
department at Washington. To make it more onerous it is now 
ruled by Secretary Foster that engravings, photographs, and 
other representations of objects, natural and artificial, are not 
mailable, but must be sent by express. Fancy this government 
collecting duties on photographs of minerals, insects, geological 
sections, etc., made in foreign countries and sent to scientific men 
in this country for their proper information, and for use in the 
preparation of scientific memoirs and books. Fancy the corps | 
of men employed at large salaries in inspecting and appraising 
_ these matters of which they know so much (!) and add to this 
the express charges that necessarily exceed those of the post on 
packages weighing from a half ounce upwards. Add to this the 
_ time employed in these examinations and transmissions from hand 
to hand, and the injury SA done to delicate objects in the — 
process, and we find jering whether this is a ss E 


