Chapter 4

In past years there have been sharp criticisms on the other side of an American habit of "adapting" and reshaping English books, so that the authors, in addition to the grievance of receiving no compensation for their American editions, had the further cause for complaint that these editions were not trustworthy and did not fairly represent their productions. It was also charged that English material was occasionally "annexed" bodily by American authors, without any credit being given. For both sets of charges there have doubtless been grounds, but the instances have certainly during the past quarter century grown very much fewer. Indeed, the last kind of appropriation would to-day be almost impossible, as the knowledge of English current literature is so thorough that detection would follow at once. "Appropriated" material could not be sold. In England, however, while American literature is, as I have shown, beginning to be appreciated, it is not yet at all thoroughly known, and there is therefore much less risk in making use of it. As a matter of fact it has been so made use of by literary hacks to a considerable extent, and there are some amusing instances in which the English publishers and English critics have been imposed upon by material that was _not_ original. Mr. Randolph, the publisher, relates how he was innocently led to reprint some essays brought to him by an English friend, which seemed to him very fresh and original, and which proved to have been taken bodily from one of Henry Ward Beecher's volumes. Mr. Randolph promptly called Mr. Beecher's attention to his own felonious conduct, and handed him a check for the considerable amount due him for copyright on the sales.

A translation by Charlton T. Lewis of Bengel's "Gnomon of the New Testament" was reprinted in London as the work of "two clergymen of the Church of England." Mr. Lewis' version was followed verbatim, with the single exception of the omission of some Latin quotations.

Dr. S. Irenæus Prime had sent to him a volume bearing the name of an English author, with the inquiry as to whether, in his judgment, it was likely to prove of interest for American readers. He found he was hardly in a position to give an impartial answer to the inquiry, as the book was one of _his own_, for several editions of which the American public had already shown a hearty appreciation.

These are but incidental examples of one kind of appreciation that has been accorded to American literary work, which may be complimentary but can hardly be called satisfactory. I refer to them not because they can be considered as any legitimate extenuation of similar American misdeeds, for I do not admit that in questions of equity, the _tu quoque_ forms any argument or defence. They are worth mentioning only for the sake of emphasizing to our English friends, what they have not fairly appreciated, that there are at least two sides to the evil of the present state of things, and that the demoralization produced by it has not been confined to our side of the Atlantic. These instances of misappropriation are not of course fairly representative of the English publishing or literary fraternity, any more than similar American instances, which have formed the text of various English homilies, can be accepted as indicating the standard of literary and trade morality with us. We Americans simply say for ourselves that the evils and demoralizing tendencies of the lack of international agreements are fully recognized by us, and that while certain conditions of manufacturing have heretofore formed a troublesome obstacle in the way of the establishing of such agreement, we are glad to believe that this obstacle is now in a fair way of being overcome. In the meantime, we claim that, in the absence of law, our American publishers, especially those of the present generation, have, of their own free will, given to English authors a large part of the advantage that a law would have secured to them, and have done this without any corresponding advantage of protection for themselves.

We are also fully appreciative of the credit due to such of the English houses as (in the face of perhaps greater difficulties) have made similar efforts to do justice to American authors.

One of the not least important results to be looked for from international copyright is a more effective co-operation in their work on the part of the publishers of the two great English-speaking nations. They will find their interest and profit in working together, and the very great extension that may be expected in the custom of a joint investment in the production of books for both markets will bring a very material saving in the first cost, a saving in the advantage of which authors, publishers, and public will alike share.

It seems probable that the "courtesy of the trade" which has made possible the present relations between American publishers and foreign authors is not going to retain its effectiveness. Within the last year certain "libraries" and "series" have sprung into existence, which present in cheaply-printed pamphlet form some of the best of recent English fiction. Those who conduct them reap the advantage of the literary judgment and foreign connections of the older publishing houses, and, taking possession of material that has been carefully selected and liberally paid for, are able to offer it to the public at prices which are certainly low as compared with those of bound books that have paid copyright, but are doubtless high enough for literature that is so cheaply obtained and so cheaply printed.

These enterprises have been carried on by concerns which have not heretofore dealt in standard fiction, and which are not prepared to respect the international arrangements or trade courtesies of the older houses.

To one of the "cheap series" the above remarks do not apply. The "Franklin Square Library" is published by a house which makes a practice of paying for its English literary material, and which lays great stress upon "the courtesy of the trade." It is generally understood by the trade that this series was planned, not so much as a publishing investment, as for purposes of self-defence, and that it would in all probability not be continued after the necessity for self-defence had passed by. A good many of its numbers include works for which the usual English payments have been made, and it is very evident that, in this shape, books so paid for cannot secure a remunerative sale. It seems safe to conclude, therefore, that their publication is not, in the literal sense of the term, a _business_ investment, and that the undertaking is not planned to be permanent.

A very considerable business in cheap reprints has also sprung up in Toronto, from which point are circulated throughout the Western States cheap editions of English works for the "advance sheets" and "American market," of which Eastern publishers have paid liberal prices. Some enterprising Canadian dealers have also taken advantage of the present confusion between the United States postal and customs regulations to build up a trade by supplying through the mails reprints of _American copyright works_, in editions which, being flimsily printed, and free of charge for copyright, can be sold at very moderate prices indeed.

It is very evident that, in the face of competition of this kind, the payments by American publishers to foreign writers of fiction must be materially diminished, or must cease altogether. These pamphlet series have, however, done a most important service in pointing out the absurdity of the present condition of literary property, and in emphasizing the need of an international copyright law. In connection with the change in the conditions of book-manufacturing before alluded to, they may be credited as having influenced a material modification of opinion on the part of publishers who have in years past opposed an international copyright as either inexpedient or unnecessary, but who are now quoted as ready to give their support to any practicable and equitable measure that may be proposed.

I have endeavored to give in the foregoing pages an outline sketch of the history and present position of the question of international copyright, and to briefly indicate some of the relations in which it stands to ethics and political economy.

We may, I trust, be able, at no very distant period, to look back upon, as exploded fallacies of an antiquated barbarism, the beliefs that the material prosperity of a community can be assured by surrounding it with Chinese walls of restrictions to prevent it from purchasing in exchange for its own products its neighbors' goods, and that its moral and mental development can be furthered by the free exercise of the privilege of appropriating its neighbors' books.

* * * * *

FREE TRADE,

AS PROMOTING PEACE

AND

GOOD WILL AMONG MEN.

_A paper read before the New York Free Trade Club, Feb. 20, 1879, by Charles L. Brace._

To the moralist, Free Trade is not most of all important as a means of producing and distributing wealth, (though in that it be the most efficient) but rather as a portion of that movement of humanity which, receiving its greatest impulse eighteen centuries ago, has been steadily ever since removing prejudices, lightening burdens, doing away with abuses, and bringing together into one, different classes and peoples and races. Living under the influence of this great humane impulse, we do not enough remember what effects it has already accomplished, what slow but permanent victories it has won, and what it proves itself adapted to win in the centuries to come.

It will better show us what changes await the world in such parts of its progress as relate to Free Trade, to note, briefly, a few of the improvement wrought by the spirit of humanity and by right reason in Europe during the last thousand years.

End of Project Gutenberg's International Copyright, by George Haven Putnam