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