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.
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