But If
Such An Arrangement Be Needed Between Two Such Countries As France
And England - Between Two Countries Which Do Not Speak The Same
Language, Or Share The Same Literature - How Much More Necessary Must
It Be Between England And The United States!
The literature of the
one country is the literature of the other.
The poem that is
popular in London will certainly be popular in New York. The novel
that is effective among American ladies will be equally so with
those of England. There can be no doubt as to the importance of
having or of not having a law of copyright between the two
countries. The only question can be as to the expediency and the
justice. At present there is no international copyright between
England and the United States, and there is none because the States
have declined to sanction any such law. It is known by all who are
concerned in the matter on either side of the water that as far as
Great Britain is concerned such a law would meet with no impediment.
Therefore it is to be presumed that the legislators of the States
think it expedient and just to dispense with any such law. I have
said that there can be no doubt as to the importance of the
question, seeing that the price of English literature in the States
must be most materially affected by it. Without such law the
Americans are enabled to import English literature without paying
for it. It is open to any American publisher to reprint any work
from an English copy, and to sell his reprints without any
permission obtained from the English author or from the English
publisher. The absolute material which the American publisher
sells, he takes, or can take, for nothing. The paper, ink, and
composition he supplies in the ordinary way of business; but the
very matter which he professes to sell - of the book which is the
object of his trade - he is enabled to possess himself of for
nothing. If you, my reader, be a popular author, an American
publisher will take the choicest work of your brain, and make
dollars out of it, selling thousands of copies of it in his country,
whereas you can perhaps only sell hundreds of it in your own; and
will either give you nothing for that he takes, or else will explain
to you that he need give you nothing, and that in paying you he
subjects himself to the danger of seeing the property which he has
bought taken again from him by other persons. If this be so, that
question whether or no there shall be a law of international
copyright between the two countries cannot be unimportant.
But it may be inexpedient that there shall be such a law. It may be
considered well that, as the influx of English books into America is
much greater than the influx of American books back to England, the
right of obtaining such books for nothing should be reserved,
although the country in doing so robs its own authors of the
advantage which should accrue to them from the English market. It
might perhaps be thought anything but smart to surrender such an
advantage by the passing of an international copyright bill. There
are not many trades in which the tradesman can get the chief of his
goods for nothing; and it may be thought that the advantage arising
to the States from such an arrangement of circumstances should not
be abandoned. But how then about the justice? It would seem that
the less said upon that subject the better. I have heard no one say
that an author's property in his own works should not, in accordance
with justice, be insured to him in the one country as well as in the
other. I have seen no defense of the present position of affairs,
on the score of justice. The price of books would be enhanced by an
international copyright law, and it is well that books should be
cheap. That is the only argument used. So would mutton be cheap if
it could be taken out of a butcher's shop for nothing.
But I absolutely deny the expediency of the present position of the
subject, looking simply to the material advantage of the American
people in the matter, and throwing aside altogether that question of
justice. I must here, however, explain that I bring no charge
whatsoever against the American publishers. The English author is a
victim in their hands, but it is by no means their fault that he is
so. As a rule, they are willing to pay something for the works of
popular English writers; but in arranging as to what payments they
can make, they must of course bear in mind the fact that they have
no exclusive right whatsoever in the things which they purchase. It
is natural also that they should bear in mind, when making their
purchases and arranging their prices, that they can have the very
thing they are buying without any payment at all, if the price asked
do not suit them. It is not of the publishers that I complain, or
of any advantage which they take, but of the legislators of the
country, and of the advantage which accrues, or is thought by them
to accrue, to the American people from the absence of an
international copyright law. It is mean on their part to take such
advantage if it existed; and it is foolish in them to suppose that
any such advantage can accrue. The absence of any law of copyright
no doubt gives to the American publisher the power of reprinting the
works of English authors without paying for them, seeing that the
English author is undefended. But the American publisher who brings
out such a reprint is equally undefended in his property; when he
shall have produced his book, his rival in the next street may
immediately reprint it from him, and destroy the value of his
property by underselling him.
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