A REPORT ON THE EFFECT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. MADE IX COMPLIANCE WITH THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE OF JANUARY 23, 1900. BY CARROLL D. WRIGHT, COMMISSIONER OF LABOR. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PKINTING OFFICE. 1901. A REPORT ON THE EFFECT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. MADE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE OF JANUARY 23, 1900. BY CARROLL D. WRIGHT, COMMISSIONER OF LABOR. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1901. 1 LETTER OF TRAN SMITTAL. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, , I). C., January 12, 1901. SIR: In accordance with a resolution of the United States Senate adopted January 23, 1900, I have the honor to transmit herewith a report upon The Effect of the International Copyright Law in the United States. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, CARROLL D. WRIGHT, Commissioner. Hon. WILLIAM P. FRYE, President pro tempore, United States Senate. 3 4940 EFFECT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES, (a) The United States Senate, on Januaiy 23. 1900. considered and adopted the following resolution: Resolved, That the Commissioner of Labor be, and is hereby, directed to investigate the effect upon labor, production, and wages of the international copyright act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, and report the results of his inquiries to the Senate, or through the Bulletin of the Department of Labor: Provided, That the investigation hereby authorized shall be carried out under the regular appropriations made for the Department of Labor. The act of March 3, 1891, referred to in the Senate resolution, took effect July 1, 1891, and amended the then existing copyright law as embodied in the Revised Statutes of the United States, Title LX, chap- ter 3, sections 4948 to 4971, inclusive, by removing from section 4952 the restriction under which the "sole liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, completing, copying, executing, finishing, and vending" literary or artistic productions was limited to citizens of the United States or residents therein who should be "the author, inventor, designer, or proprietor 1 ' of any such production and should comply with the provisions of the chapter. The act also amended sections 4954, 4956, 4958, 4959, 4963, 4964, 4965, and 4967 of the copyright law as contained in the Revised Statutes, repealed section 4971 thereof, and prescribed the conditions under which citizens or subjects of for- eign states or nations should be permitted to avail themselves of the privilege of copyright in the United States. As the act of March 3, 1891, was amendatory, and as, since its date, certain other legislation has been enacted by Congress affecting copy- right, (V) it is deemed advisable to publish the full text of the copy- right law as it now stands, in order that a full and clear understand- ing may be had of what is known as the "international copyright law" and its relation to and connection with the general law. This law will be found in the appendix which follows the report. The salient features of the law, so far as international copyright is concerned, are, first, that all copyrighted books, photographs, chromos, a The valuable services of Mr. Victor H. Olmsted, of the Department of Labor, in collecting and arranging the material for this report, are gratefully acknowledged. C. D. W. b Acts approved March 3, 1893; March 2, 1895; January 6, 1897; February 19, 1897; and March 3, 1897. 5 6 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. or lithographs must be manufactured wholly within the United States, whether they are the work of residents or nonresidents; second, that no foreigner can secure an American copyright unless the country of which he is a citizen shall concede to American citizens copyright privileges substantially equal to those conceded to its own citizens; third, it is made a condition that the works of either Americans or foreigners for which American copyright is secured shall be published in the United States ;not later than the date of their publication in any other country, the result of which is, as to the productions of English authors, that their', w.qr'ks must be published simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic, as the copyright law of Great Britain requires that the cop}^righted works of British authors be published in that country not later than the date of their publication in any other country. The clause requiring the manufacture in the United States of copy- righted works was adopted at the instance of the typographical unions, and is the feature of the law directly affecting "labor, pro- duction, and wages," as far as the purely mechanical part of produc- tion is concerned. As to the labor of authors or artists, the quantity and quality of their productions, and the compensation gained by them, these are matters upon which the entire law has a bearing, and which, as they are beneficially or detrimentally affected, indirectly affect the labor, production, and wages of printers, stereotypers, bookbinders, pressmen, and other American craftsmen engaged in the various steps and processes through which every copyrighted work must pass after leaving the hands of its originators before it reaches those of the public. In order to secure data upon which to base a report in compliance with the Senate resolution, the representatives and officials of the International Typographical Union in several of the principal cities of the United States were called upon, and requested to furnish such information as they possessed relative to the operation and effect of the law; similar requests were made of the larger printing establish- ments, and of the leading publishers of the country. These inquiries could not be definitely answered in such a way as to enable any sta- tistical presentation to be made, and the only available statistics bear- ing upon the subject have been secured from the records of the Con- gressional Library and the United States Treasury Department, through the courtesy of the Register of Copyrights and the Auditor for the State and other Departments. The statistics, secured as above indicated, immediately follow, and show the number of copyright entries from July 10, 1870 (on which date the first entry under the jurisdiction of the Library of Congress was made), to December 31, 1900, by calendar years, and the amounts received from fees under the copyright law during the same period, INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 7 by fiscal years; the number of entries of foreign and of American pro- ductions, by calendar years, from July 1, 1895, to December 31, 1900, and the fees received for such entries; and the total number of each separate class of copyright articles deposited during each of the fiscal years ending June 30, 1898, 1899, and 1900. Information as to the number of entries of foreign and of American productions prior to July 1, 1895, and as to the different classes of copyright articles prior to July 1, 1897, is not obtainable. Reference to the table which immediately follows, relating to the number of copyright entries and amount of fees received from 1870 to 1900, will show the effect of the law so far as an increase in the num- ber of entries is concerned. The year 1890 (that immediately pre- ceding the passage of the act) shows an increase of but 1,813 entries over the number for 1889, while the year 1891 shows an increase over 1890 of 6,119 entries, although the act did not become operative until July 1 of this year. This rate of increase in the number of entries has not kept up steadily in all of the succeeding years, owing possibly to business depression, but in every year a considerable increase in the number of entries is shown, the increase in 1899 over 1898 being almost 10,000 entries, and that of 1900 over 1899 being almost 11,500. In considering these figures, however, it should be remembered that, while much of the increase ma3 r be a direct effect of the passage of the law, a part of it is undoubtedly due to the natural growth of the printing and publishing business itself, and to other causes. NUMBER OF COPYRIGHT ENTRIES AND AMOUNT OF FEES RECEIVED UNDER THE COPY- RIGHT LAW FROM JULY 10, 1870, to DEC. 31, 1900. Year. Entries (by calendar years). Fees (by years end- ing June 30). Year. En tries (by calendar years). Fees (by years end- ing June 30). 1870 a 5,600 1887 35,084 $22,595.00 1871 12, 831 $7, 280. oi 1888 38,288 15,832.00 1872 14, 180 11,673.16 1889 40,985 24,239.17 1873 15,648 12, 317. 39 1890 42, 798 27,577.99 1874 16,206 14, 413. 91 1891 48, 917 44, 277. 88 1875 14, 197 12, 426. 64 1892 54,747 42,569.12 1876 14 883 12 495 00 1893 58,973 46, 592. 33 1877 15,758 12, 362. 00 1894 62,803 47, 805. 71 1878 15, 799 13,113.00 1895 67, 614 49,917.00 1879 18 125 13 413 00 1896 . . 72,645 54,552.45 1880 20,687 15, 353. 40 1897 74,300 55,285.15 1881. 21,085 17,834.46 1898 76, 874 55,926.50 1882 22,929 15,753.04 1899 86,492 58,267.00 1883 25 204 14 411.00 1900 97,967 65,199.00 1884 ... 26, 895 7,280.00 630,468.50 1885 28 411 15 500 00 1886 31 241 25 143 00 Total 1, 178, 166 c 861, 873. 81 a From July 10. b From July 1 to Dec. 31, 1900. c Not including $2,952 received prior to Dec. 31, 1896, the years during which it was received not being specified. 8 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. NUMBER o? COPYRIGHT ENTRIES OP FOREIGN AND OP AMERICAN PRODUCTIONS AND AMOUNT OP FEES RECEIVED THEREFOR, BY CALENDAR YEARS, FROM JULY 1, 1895. TO DEC. 31, 1900. Year. Entries of foreign productions. Entries of American productions. Total. Number. Fees there- for f 1 per entry. Number. Fees there- for 50 cents per entry. Number. Fees for entries. 1895 a... 3,910 8,674 b 7, 894 7,779 8,122 8,478 $3, 910. 00 8, 674. 00 67,894.00 7, 779. 00 8, 122. 00 8, 478. 00 28,240 63,971 b 66, 406 69, 095 78, 370 89, 489 $14, 120. 00 31,985.50 b 33, 203. 00 34,547.50 39, 185. 00 44, 744. 50 32,150 72, 645 6 74, 300 76, 874 86,492 97,967 $18,030.00 40,659.50 541,097.00 42, 326. 50 47, 307. 00 53, 222. 50 18% 1897 1898 1899 1900 a From July 1. b Partly estimated. ARTICLES DEPOSITED AT THE COPYRIGHT OFFICE, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, DURING THE FISCAL YEARS 1897-98, 1898-99, 1899-1900. Articles. 1897-98. 1898-99. 1899-1900. 1. Books: (a) Books proper (volumes) 5,575 5,834 6,550 (b) Miscellaneous articles entered under the term " book " as used in the copyright law, e. g., circulars, leaflets, etc.. (c) Newspapers and magazine articles 4,698 3,262 4,196 5,185 5. 073 8,851 2. Dramatic compositions 391 507 561 3. Periodicals (numbers) 13, 726 9,777 14, 147 4. Musical compositions 17,217 19,976 16, 505 5. Maps and charts 1,296 1,478 1,353 6. Engravings, cuts, and prints 7. Chromos and lithographs 2,912 747 3, 505 1,050 3,503 1,267 8. Photographs 5,777 7,695 12, 115 9. Miscellaneous (unclassified articles) 375 14 Total 55, 976 59, 217 69, 915 Two copies of each article were received 111,952 118, 434 139,830 9a. Photographs with titles of works of art for identification, one copy each 853 1,709 1,614 Grand total . . 112,805 120, 143 141, 444 It having become apparent, as the investigation ordered by the Sen- ate progressed, that definite detailed statistical information of the character contemplated by the resolution could not be secured, the opinions of those qualified to speak in a general way as to the effects of the law were sought, and questions were formulated and propounded to prominent gentlemen connected with the printing and allied trades unions, to the managers of printing establishments, and to the prin- cipal publishing concerns throughout the country. These inquiries were designed to bring out the views of the persons and establish- ments to whom they were submitted regarding the general results of the law as affecting labor, production, and wages, and were as follows: 1. Has the international copyright law been detrimental or bene- ficial to a. Publishers or book manufacturers 1 I. Compositors, pressmen, bookbinders, and employees generally? INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 9 c. American authors? d. Foreign authors? e. The book-purchasing public? 2. In what respects has the law been detrimental or beneficial to each of the above-mentioned classes? 3. Has the effect of the law been to increase or to reduce the selling price of books? About how much per cent? 4. Was "pirac3 T ," as practiced prior to the enactment of the inter- national copyright law, beneficial or injurious to printers or publishers? 5. Do American and European publishers exchange stereotype plates, or are European plates used to any extent in the production of books in America? 6. What is your general opinion as to the operation and effect of the international copyright law? 7. In what respects do you think the la\v in question should be amended or changed ? Prominent members of the International Typographical Union in several principal cities were personally interviewed and requested to submit facts and their views in response to the above inquiries; but the efforts to secure facts and such expression were unsuccessful beyond verbal statements, by some of them, that in their opinion the law has been of no real benefit to printers or allied craftsmen; that the "manufacturing clause 1 ' of the law, requiring copyrighted works of foreign authors to be printed from type set, or from plates made from t3 r pe set in the United States, is violated to a considerable extent by the fraudulent importation from Europe of stereotype plates, which are used for the printing of such works in the United States; and that the effect of the law is to confine the labor of production of each copy- righted work to the employees of the single establishment to whom the monopoly of publication is secured under the law, whereas, were it not for the law, the works of many foreign authors would be pub- lished by several different establishments, thus giving employment to a largely increased number of operatives. Effort was made to secure definite statements giving instances of violation of the "manufacturing clause," but none could be obtained, and no expression of views beyond verbal ones, as above outlined, could be secured. The prosecution of the inquiries among publish ers, book manufac- turers, and large printing establishments was, however, measurably successful, and resulted in a considerable number of carefully prepared, thoughtful responses, both in support of, and adverse to the law. A large majority of the establishments interviewed, from whom opinions were secured, heartily favor the law, believing it to be highly benefi- cial in its general operation and effect; though some of them criticise certain of its features, and express their views as to amendments of the 10 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. law that in their opinions are desirable. On the other hand, a com- paratively small but highly respectable number of establishments are utterly opposed to the law, believing it to be pernicious in practice and wrong in principle, and they have freely expressed their opinions and the reasons upon which they are based. In all TO establishments availed themselves of the opportunity afforded by the investigation to express their views in regard to the law. Of these, 55 establishments regard the law and its results more or less favorably, while 15 look upon it as detrimental in every way. Perusal of the opinions of these establishments shows that, whether favorable or adverse to the law, as a rule they favor certain changes therein, the principal ones of which may be briefly summarized as follows: First. It is believed by many publishers that the "manufacturing clause." requiring the manufacture wholly within the United States of copyrighted books, photographs, chromos, or lithographs, whether the work of residents or nonresidents, should be abrogated. Second. That the requirement of publication of copyrighted works in the United States not later than the date of their publication in any other country (which has the effect of requiring simultaneous publica- tion on both sides of the Atlantic of the works of English authors) should be Changed so as to allow a reasonable time to elapse between publication abroad and at home. Third. That the term of existence of copyright should be extended beyond the limited period now granted. Fourth. That the publication in the United States of unauthorized translations of copyrighted works of foreigners other than English should be prohibited. The statements submitted by the proprietors of establishments and others follow, those sustaining the law being presented first: OPINIONS SUBMITTED BY PUBLISHERS AND OTHERS FAVORA- BLE TO THE INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW. 1. J. Q. Adams & Co., Boston, Mass.: "We beg leave to say that we believe the international copyright law has been beneficial both to the publishers and the book manufac- turers, and also to the book buyers, because it protects the interests of the author and publisher, who must be paid or they can not furnish literary food to the people. "We also believe that a copyright law should be perpetual. For instance, the copyright on Webster's International Dictionary, dated 1847, expired in 1890, and although that work lay dead under a copy- right from 1864 (when a revised dictionary was brought out), yet the book was reproduced in 1890 from gelatine plates, and the market was flooded to the detriment of book buyers who would not have pur- chased the work had they understood that it was a reprint of a book over 40 years old and 26 years had laid dead. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 11 "We believe the piracy as 'practiced prior to the enactment of the present law was, on the whole, injurious to publishers. While it was a benefit to the smaller houses, it was a downright injury to the larger houses." 2. D t . C. Heath & Co., Boston, Ma**.: ''First, the international copyright law as it stands has not been detrimental to the book manufacturers, though it should have been somewhat so, for a few manufacturers should not, in my judgment, be helped at the expense of the great mass of readers, who should have their books at the lowest price at which they can be made, and of course they can be made at a lower price than our manufacturers here charge for them. When a book has once been set in England it costs much less to make a duplicate set of plates for use in this country than would the resetting and electrotyping of the same books, which is now demanded under the international copyright law, and which makes the price of the book here correspondingly high. Thousands of readers on the average are thus compelled to pay tribute to one printer. As to the publishers, they may have been benefited, for the reason that so many books have not appeared here under this extra cost of production as would have appeared had the international copyright law allowed the copyrighting here of books manufactured abroad. Still, while some publishers have benefited by it, others have perhaps been slight!}' injured, for the reason that they have not pub- lished books that would have been published and possibly some money made on them had the publisher been allowed to import plates and receive copyright protection for books printed from them. "Second. Compositors, bookbinders, pressmen, and employees gen- erally have been benefited perhaps by getting employment when otherwise they might not have had any: but I think the increase of work caused by resetting here English books has not brought into employment many more people than was formerh 7 the case. ' Nor do I think that the wages of these employees have been increased in con- sequence of the international copyright law. "Third. I can not believe that this law has worked distinctly to the benefit or detriment of our authors. It certainly has not in the school- book line. 1 think foreign authors, however, have been benefited by the obtaining of royalty on books on which otherwise they would have been paid no royalty. Here again, however, our own business does not show that the law has made any difference with the foreign author, for we paid him royaltj" just the same before the law was passed as since. "Fourth. The book-purchasing public, as 1 have suggested under No. 1, has been obliged to pay more for its books than would other- wise have been the case, and hence both the paj'ing of royalty and the manufacturing of foreign books in this country has been detrimental 12 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. to the public, and yet, while I hold that the royalty to the author should be given under any circumstances, the extra payment for manu- facturing should not hold, as I have suggested. "Fifth. The law has naturally increased somewhat the selling price of books, and I should suppose not far from 5 to 10 per cent. "Sixth. Piracy, which was practiced prior to the enactment of the present law, was an advantage to pressmen, but not to typesetters. It was of advantage to certain publishers who live on reprints that pay no royalties, and perhaps a disadvantage to publishers who pay royalties. "Seventh. American publishers do buy plates of English publish- ers, and the converse. This is not an exchange of plates, but is an outright purchase in both cases. However, there may be such a thing as the exchange of plates, or the loaning of plates, but I know of noth- ing of the kind. We buy plates of English publishers, and they buy plates of us; but of course such books can not be copyrighted under the present law, as they should be, and one has to run his risk in such cases. "Eighth. The general effect of the international copyright law has been to create a confidence in us on the part of foreign authors and publishers which heretofore they did not and could not hold. This was very evident at the recent Publishers' Congress in London, but it was also evident that the Publishers' Congress thought that it should be 'the aim of each government to provide for the renewal of the treaties with the United States of America,-so that the great Republic would grant for foreign works as regards the manner of deposit and home manufacture, effective parity of treatment. Should it not be possible to obtain the adhesion of the United States of America to the Berne Union ? ' "1 think the international copyright law should be amended so that foreign books can be copyrighted here, even if the type is not set here nor the electrotype plates made here. This is a matter which should not be mixed up with tariff laws, it seems to me, else there should be a tariff on the capital which comes over here from England to be invested in ranches or anything else. A foreign author's book is his capital, and we should not hinder its investment, since it does not interfere seriously with anybody, and does, as in the case of all good books, help us beyond all money valuation." 3. Iloughton, Miffiin & Co., Boston, Maw.: "First, we believe that the adoption of the law by which American authors are enabled to obtain copyright in England, and English authors in America, has been decidedly beneficial alike to authors, pub- lishers, and book manufacturers, and this because, to begin with, it was inherently just, and what is just ought not and can not be detri- mental to anyone. The author, instead of being compelled to take what he must on a work, owing to the liability of uncompensated INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 13 appropriation by unscrupulous publishers, is now able to make his own terms, and secure a liberal return for his labors, and the publisher has the satisfaction of knowing* that he will not have to compete with unauthorized reprints, and so is able to make and develop his plans with far greater confidence and assurance than formerly. As for compositors, bookbinders, and employees of book-manufacturing establishments generally, they have certainly not suffered by the passage of the law, and the clause by which a book must be set up and printed in this country in order to secure copyright has undoubt- edly insured to them a certain amount of work which they might not otherwise have had. there having been a good many instances in which English publishers have had plates made in this country in order to secure American copyright, and subsequently imported a duplicate set for their own use in Great Britain. "So far as American authors are concerned, they were able by one or two devices, of which they took technical advantage to a greater or less extent, to prevent piracy before the passage of the international law, but it has undoubtedly been more satisfactory to have their rights defined and secured as they have been under the terms of the inter- national copyright law of 1891. "From our standard as publishers, we think that the adoption of the law has also been a good thing for the book-purchasing public; good for their morals, in that they are not tempted to purchase a book published in disregard of the author's rights; good for their taste, in that they are now more likely to get worthier pieces of book making; in short, a nicer article in every way. " It is less easy to answer the question whether the law has increased or reduced the selling price of books, as examples might be adduced in favor of either theory; but of course a protected article naturally commands a better and surer price than an unprotected one; and so, undoubtedly, the public have paid a higher price on the average for a cop3 T righted book than for an uncopy righted one. Latterly the tendency has been toward higher prices for works of fiction; but that is true of books by American authors no less than those by English ones, one factor being that the royalties paid to the authors have much increased in recent years over those which formerly prevailed, and this in turn has been due to the great increase in the number of peri- odicals and publishing houses in the last 10 years and the wider market and sharper competition for the works of successful authors. All this, however, is far better than the piracy practiced prior to the enact- ment of the present law, as honesty is always better than dishonesty. ' 'As we have already said, English publishers have undoubtedly had a good many plates made in this country since the law went into effect which would otherwise have been made in England, and the fact that an American publisher can not secure copyright if he imports English 14 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. plates instead of setting up the book here has unquestionably operated against bringing English plates over here. "If the international copyright act were to be amended in any respect, we should favor a modification of the clause which now requires simultaneous publication in order to secure copyright, as this often subjects the publisher on one side or the other to considerable inconvenience. The publishing seasons in the two countries vaiy con- siderably, and a book is frequently issued in London in the late spring and early summer which could be brought out here to better advantage in the fall. We think, therefore, it would be decidedly advantageous to author and publisher, and certainly no disadvantage to anyone else, if a term of six months after publication in one country should be allowed for its publication in the other without detriment to copyright. " Finally, we think it would be a decided improvement if instead of making the author's copyright in two terms of 28 and 14 years, respec- tively, with a liability of losing the latter, the copyright should be made a single term of 50 years, or during the lifetime of the author if he should survive more than a half century from the date of the first publication of his book." 4. Lee <& Shepard, Boston, Max*. : " We would say that we have always been an American publishing house; that since 1861, when this firm was established, we have pub- lished over 1,600 different copyrighted books by American authors, and almost nothing by foreign authors; and that since 1882 we have not purchased a single set of plates from abroad. We have not, therefore, made as much of a study of the subject as we feel we should have to properly answer your questions, and anything that we may say can be only impressions and opinions, nothing based on our own experience in the matter, as we are not directly interested except so far as a law beneficial to a portion of the publishers and authors is indirectly of benefit to all. We have paid several hundred thousand dollars to American authors for copyrights, but not a dollar to any foreign author. ; ' 1. It is our opinion that it has been beneficial, as it has prevented the importation of duplicate sets of plates of the more recent English books, and reprinting without compensation, and has enabled the American author and publisher to compete. The very large number of certain recent books by American authors sold is, in our opinion, largely due to the effects of the international copyright law, as it puts both the author and publisher on an equal footing with the foreign. " 2. Think it has benefited compositors and bookbinders, but we are doubtful in regard to the printers, for reasons stated in paragraph No. 7. " 3. Undoubtedly the law has been beneficial to authors, both Amer- ican and foreign. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 15 "4. It is our opinion that there has never been a time when the book-purchasing public could buy so many good books for as little money as the present. Whether this is due to the law, or competition among publishers, printers, and manufacturers of the different mate- rials used in book making, we are not prepared to state. "5. Price has been reduced in the past eight years, but it is our impression that this has been due to competition. "6. We never considered piracy beneficial to anybody, and think that the failures among the publishers and printers have been largely among the 'pirates.' " 7. It is our opinion that the American publisher now exchanges his plates for editions with the European publishers; that while more foreign books are 'set up' in this country than formerly, when the publisher could buy duplicate plates, less are printed, as the publisher buys editions in sheets, as he can not afford to 'set up' unless assured of a large sale; that while the compositor may gain, the printer and paper maker lose. "8. We do not feel competent to discuss the general operation and effect of the law, for reasons already stated. It is simply our impres- sion that it has been beneficial on the whole, and we are satisfied, hav- ing no personal ax to grind. We are more interested in a law that would stop the reprinting of the works of our own American authors, on which the copyrights are now constantly expiring, and that would do justice to the heirs and publishers of an author (who is unfortunate enough to be single) after 28 years' copyright has expired. "The pirates who were formerly reprinting English books are now watching like "hawks' the expiration of copyrights by prominent American authors, and particularly on juveniles, and we think this is hurting the publishers of works of American authors more than all the foreign reprints." 5. Little, Brown & Co. , Boston, Mass. : "We are of the opinion that the international copyright law, de- spite its limitations, has been of benefit to the literary and publishing- interests of the United States, as it has been possible to publish many books at the average price asked for books by American authors, and without the protection of the act such books would probably have been sold at the cost of production or less. "The act, however, should be materially amended and copyright extended to citizens of all foreign countries, as a matter of justice, and without the stipulation that the books shall be printed from t} 7 pe set in this country. Should this clause remain in force, the law ought to state clearly that a foreign author may secure copyright in the United States by having the English translation of his book published here simultaneously with the original, the translation to be printed from type set in the United States. 16 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. ic We believe that copyright to foreign authors should not depend upon the making of a treaty. There is no equitable reason why citi- zens of England and France should be able to secure copyright and those of Russia and Austria should be denied one. ; 'The condition of priority of publication of books by American authors required by Great Britain sometimes leads to injurious delay in publishing in the United States, and we hope that representations to this effect will be made to the English Government. A term of 60 days after publication in this country should be allowed for pub- lication and copyrighting in England, and we should in our turn extend the same privilege to England and other countries." 6. Lotkrop Publishing Company, Boston, Mass.: "In our opinion the existing international copyright law has been of benefit to all honorable publishers, although there are certain points in which it might be modified or amended to advantage. Fewer American books, however, obtain separate copyright in England than might be the case if the law were less ironclad, because the foreign publication of any book save by a popular or well-known writer is a problem which few publishers care to attempt where the success or failure of the book, even in America, is still a matter to be proven. We doubt if labor has been affected one way or another by the law, for the setting, printing, and binding of a book in one country scarcely makes any impression upon the same work in another country. "Few authors, too, are materially affected by the law. for it does not prevent uncopyrighted publication of a book which is not covered by the international law, and the old-time piracy is just as possible, though perhaps not as prevalent, as before the act. "It has, perhaps, in a measure affected the purchase or exchange of plates. They do not seem to seek the markets of the two countries as they once did, though whether this is because of the international law or not is a matter of conjecture. "One way in which the international copyright law could, it seems to us, be amended to advantage is in the matter of simultaneous pub- lication. That clause actually prevents many publishers from seeking foreign copyright because of the bother and business disarrangement that so hard and fast a rule creates. "If there were a definite period say, 60 days allowed as a mar- gin or limit of time during which decision as to reissue abroad could be determined and put into force, more publishers would feel like assuming the risk that such a step always appears to be. "As to the term of copyright, we should say unhesitatingly it should be made perpetual. We can see but little reason or justice in any other rule. A man's brain product should be like other property secured to 'him and his assigns forever.' Masterpieces and classics can never be strangled by an act of simple justice." INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 17 7. L. C. Page & Co., Boston, Mass.: "The law has been beneficial to publishers in general in that it enables them to protect in foreign countries their rights in books for which they have paid authors a proper remuneration either in the form of an outright payment or of a royalty. "It has also protected American publishers when they arrange in advance of publication with foreign authors or publishers for the American market of foreign books, in that it has assured them that if the book is a success they will meet with proper returns, and that they will not immediately be called upon to compete with pirate publishers who have waited until the book has proved a success and then publish cheap competing editions. "Its effect on compositors is entirely in the so-called manufacturing clause, whereby, to obtain American copyright, a foreign book must be set and printed in America and be published simultaneously with the foreign edition. We assume that this part of the law was passed with the idea of protecting compositors against European competition. We do not believe, however, that it has had this effect, because English publishers have recognized that American publishers will not make arrangements for buying the American market unless they are very certain of the success of the book in question. "Insomuch as a large proportion of English books can only have a slight success in America a success so slight that it would not pay an American publisher to set and make plates of the book English publishers, except in the case of very well-known and very popular authors, prefer not to copyright their books in America, since by copyrighting them in America the publisher who might purchase the American rights, although by the copyright he would be absolutely and adequately protected, would, on the other hand, be forced to undergo the expense of making an entirely new plant for thje book. By not copyrighting the book, the English publisher is in a position to sell in America small editions in sheets, bound copies of the book, or duplicate plates made from their own type forms, and while, owing to the fact that they can not protect the American publisher without copyright, they nevertheless, by enabling the American publisher to publish the book cheaply, find that they are in a position to place although at a relatively small profit a large proportion of their books in America. The American publisher, through his abilit} r to purchase the sheets, bound copies of the book, or duplicate plates, with the guarantee of the English publisher that the English publisher will protect him by selling no other American publisher, is able to publish the book at a much less expense than any publisher who, through his inability to make arrangements with the English publisher, is forced to make the plant for himself. "In other words, the international copyright law has enabled Amer- S. Doc. 87 2 18 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. lean publishers to protect their own books in foreign markets at a trifling expense, although considerable delay and annoyance is involved by so doing. " The English publisher, owing to the workings of the manufactur- ing clause, finds it, except in rare instances, to his advantage not to copyright his books in America. " The clause which it was hoped would force English books to be set in America has had no result whatever except in a very few cases, namely, those of important books, and this has been more than counter- balanced by the fact that American publishers, failing to place their books copyrighted abroad with foreign publishers on a cash basis, are accustomed to exchange them for duplicate plates of books not copy- righted in America. " The mere fact that American publishers can protect their books abroad has resulted in what we believe is a much increased importation of cheap English plates. "As a house which does a relatively large business with English publishers, both selling and buying, we have found this to be the case. Our books which we believe to be of value are, as a matter of course, copyrighted abroad. "We, on the other hand, very seldom purchase books from England which have been copyrighted in this country. "If a book of a foreign author has not yet been published abroad, we sometimes make arrangements whereby the manufacture of the book is done in this country and duplicate plates are shipped by us to the foreign publisher, but we find it an extremely unusual case when the foreign publisher has gone to the expense of obtaining American copyright by setting the book in America and then gone to the Ameri- can publisher in the effort to sell the American rights. "As regarding the question of piracy under this present law, we believe, as stated above, that the American publisher is protected from piracy if he chooses to undergo delay and annoyance of obtaining protection, but the foreign publisher is only protected from piracy in the case of books which, in advance of publication, both the English and American book world recognize will be large sellers. "Again, in the case of books which are copyrighted in this country by the English publisher, assuming, as we believe, that they are only books in which the sale is certain to be large, the American publisher would rather that the book were set in this country than purchase duplicate plates, for the reason that foreign duplicate plates are not satisfactory for printing, except in small editions. "Regarding the question as to whether the law has increased or reduced the selling price of books, it is fair to assume that it has had very little effect upon the price. The price of a book is based on the cost of the manufacture of each volume, plus any return to the author INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 19 or his agent (in the case of foreign books the agent being usually the foreign publisher). "We have and are paying royalties on English books which are without copyright in this country, as we have found it advisable in making arrangements with English publishers to purchase their duplicate plates and pay them royalty in addition rather than assume the risk of making much more expensive plant by setting the book in this country, even though by so doing we could avoid paying any royalty whatever. "Our general opinion of the present international copyright law is that it is good as far as it goes, in that it protects the American pub- lisher in foreign markets, although it would seem advisable to simplify the law so that English copyright may be obtained without the long delay necessitated by the need of simultaneous publication. "The law, however, has scarcely at all prevented the pirating of English books or the importation into this country of cheap duplicate plates, and no law can prevent this which carries with it a manufactur- ing clause, which, instead of forcing foreign books to be manufactured in this country, merely forces foreign books to get along without the copyright protection. We earnestly believe'that this clause should be given up and that the same protection be granted here as is granted us abroad. We go even further in believing that it would be best for publishers, manufacturers of books (including compositors, printers, and binders), and the public in general if a convention were made with the powers, whereby the publisher of a book in any civilized country could adequately protect it in any country in the world, so that the author, who furnished the brain work, and the publisher, who has assumed the risk, may be protected. "We believe that not only should a foreign book be protected in this country by the mere fact that it has been published abroad, but that the foreign publisher should have the right to arrange with the American publisher for the American market, even if such arrange- ment involved importing duplicate plates or limited editions to the exclusion of American labor. "As far as the printing and binding are concerned, the manufactur- ers of books in this country need fear no competition ; and, as far as composition is concerned, such a law would admit into this country duplicate plates only of books which would have been under the present law imported, though they would be without the protection of copy- right. It is only short-lived, unimportant books of which the Ameri- can publisher would care to import plates, and whether or not protected by copyright the more important books will be set in this country rather than that the publisher should use duplicate inferior English plates." 20 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 8. Snift//* Min/ mi I'd <& Co., Boston, Mass.: "We beg leave to submit the following as our opinion in reply to the questions asked by you regarding international copyright: " 1. Has the international copj^right law been detrimental or bene- ficial to publishers or book manufacturers ? "In what respects? "Answer. Beneficial to such publishers as adhere to the better stand- ards of their trade and, therefore, of some benefit to such printers as they employ. It enables such publishers to venture with more safetj' upon the publication of American editions of foreign books by pre- venting piracy. "2. Same questions in regard to compositors, bookbinders, press- men, employees generally. "Answer. The present law, which compels American manufacturers to secure copyright for a foreign author's work, certainly can not act detrimentally upon such operatives since every book thus copyrighted must furnish employment for them. " 3. Same questions in regard to authors, foreign and American. "Answer. Beneficial, since the author (foreign and American) is more fully protected in his rights to compensation for his work and in the control of their publication. "4. Same questions in regard to the book-purchasing public. "Answer. Beneficial if it is beneficial to buy honestly. Also bene- ficial because books published by such houses as recognize ideals in respect to their dealings with authors usually also have higher stand- ards of accuracy and artistic perfection in book making. "5. Has the law increased or reduced the selling price of books'* About how much per cent ? "Answer. It is difficult to answer this question accurately. The price for a well-made standard book would probably be about the same in either case, since scrupulous publishers have been quite generally in the habit of making some compensation to a foreign author, even in the absence of copyright. But even if the price were slightty higher the public would get more value for their money in such books as were issued under the law than they would from the cheap and slovenly printed reprints which would tend to crowd out the better books were there no such protection. "6. Was piracy as practiced prior to the enactment of the present law beneficial to printers? Or to publishers? "Answer. We have had no experience except under the present law. "7. Do American and English publishers exchange plates? "Answer. English publishers sell plates to Americans and vice versa. Probably more American plates are sold to England than vice versa, not only because of the manufacture provision in our copyright law, but also because the electrotype plates manufactured in America are INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 21 better in many ways than the stereotype plates which are still gener- ally used by English publishers. "8. Give general opinion as to operation and effect of the interna- tional copyright law and in what respects it should be amended. "Answer. International copyright should be extended as far as pos- sible. The laws of all countries in respect of copyright should be made as simple as possible and in general as much alike as possible. In the matter of simplification it is hard to see why, if Governments are not afraid of innovations, a step in copyright might not be secured by allowing American publishers to send to Washington not only the two copies of a book for the Library of Congress, but also the additional copies required in Great Britain for transmission to the British reposi- tories. This operation, duly receipted for, might serve to secure an " ad interim ' copyright in Great Britain pending the proper entry at Stationers' Hall, which might well be allowed to be made within a certain definite period, long enough to allow greater freedom of choice to the English publisher in selecting his date of actual publication. The present cumbersome methods of cabling and simultaneous sales (often entirely fictitious) would thus be done away with, and much trouble and possible danger of failure of cop} T right would be pre- vented. But a more vitally important change would be to permit copyright in this country to publishers or authors abroad on as liberal terms as is allowed in their country to American publishers or authors. If copyright is a just principle, it is right that it should be applied without any such restriction as this of American manufacture, which, while it may to some extent furnish work for printers in the making of plates, undoubtedly deprives them of a considerable amount of press work which they might gain were the restriction removed. It is doubtful, also, whether the loss in plate making would be serious, since American publishers prefer electrotype plates to the stereotype process, and in the case of such books as warranted the expense would probably quite generally manufacture their own plates in conformity with American tastes." 9. The MaWiews-Northrup Company, Buffalo, N. Y. "We are heartily in favor of the international copyright act, and believe that its operations have been beneficent to the printing trade, as well as to the general public. The wages have been changed since the law came into effect, not by increasing the rate per diem, but by giving a nine-hour day for 10 hours pay. We would not claim that this change was the result of the act, but it followed it, and would seem to dispose of any contention that the journeyman had been injured by its enactment." 10. The Blakely Printing Company, Chicago, III. "We would say that we have been in the printing and bookmaking business for nearly thirty years, and during the past dozen years have 22 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. had constantly employed from 250 to 300 people. A large branch of our business consists in printing books for publishing houses; and we have had the printing of many copyrighted works, for various pub- lishers. "As to the general effect of the law in question, we believe that it has been beneficial to publishers and bookmakers, for the reason that it has given them protection against the immoral practices of piratical establishments who would otherwise issue cheap editions of popular works as soon as their popularity is demonstrated, thus robbing the legitimate publisher of his profits and market. "It has been beneficial to compositors, because it has enabled pub- lishers to bring out hundreds of books, under its assured protection, that no publisher would have taken the risk of bringing out without it, thus affording work to compositors that they would not otherwise have been given; and it has enabled the payment of higher wages to first-class compositors than would have been possible under conditions of unrestrained competition. It has thus been productive of the pub- lication of a larger number of books, and the payment of higher wages than under conditions as they existed prior to 1891 when the law took effect. And for the same reasons it has been distinctly beneficial to binders, pressmen, and employees generally. "That it has been beneficial to authors is a self-evident propo- sition. Foreign authors can now be assured of remuneration, if their works can be sold, where formerly they were systematically deprived of the just rewards for their labors. "The purchasing public has been benefited in that it has been given opportunity to purchase books that otherwise would not have been printed, and it has been supplied with better books, considered from a merely physical standpoint, than would be issued under conditions of indiscriminate publication. It is true that the public pays a slightty higher price for copyrighted books in general, but, except for books of very great popularity, the selling price has not been increased more than 15 or 20 per cent, the increase covering the compensation of the author and the superior quality of workmanship in the books. In regard to the books of great popularitj 7 , of which many thousands of copies may be sold, it is of course true that the copyright law pre- vents issuance of cheap, poorly executed editions by pirate publishers that would be sold for prices only fractional of those charged for the same works when copyrighted. It may be said, therefore, that the effect of the law has been to increase the price of books issued by legitimate concerns 15 or 20 per cent, and it has prevented the issuance of cheap editions of popular works that, but for the law, would be placed on the market at prices ranging from 15 to 20 per cent of prices at which such works are sold under the law. "In our opinion 'piracy,' as practiced before the enactment of INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 23 the law, was never permanently beneficial to either printers or pub- lishers. Jt is true that in a few cases works of very great popularity would be brought out by several publishers at practically the same time, thus giving work to the employees of all such establishments and temporar}^ profits to many of them, but such advantage can only be ephemeral, and is more than offset by the larger number of books issued under the copyright law, the popularity of many of which is only ascertained after they have been published. Many extremely popular works would never have been published at all were it not for the protection given by the law of international copyright. "In our opinion the general effect of the law has been altogether beneficial to publishers, printers, authors, and the reading public. Its requirement that the works of foreign authors shall be printed from type set or from plates made from type set in the United States, insures the employment of American workmen in their production in this country, and inflicts hardships on no one, and we have no sug- gestion to make as to advisable changes or amendments in the law. We are satisfied with it as it now stands." 11. George M. Hill & Co., Chicago, III.: ki So far as we have had any experience with the workings of the law, and so far as we have observed its effect upon books of all classes, we would be decidedly opposed to any measure that would tend to lessen the protective features of this law. That the Americans have the long end of the law is evident, and we believe that any effort to cut down the privileges which the law bestows would be detrimental to the interests of the various classes affected. We are highly in favor of the protection which this law accords to authors and publish- ers, and we believe that it has no effect upon the selling price of books. We are both manufacturers and publishers and believe we are competent to judge of the influences which affect the market price." 12. A. C. McClurg<& Co., Chicago, 111.: '"The written inquiries concerning the operation and effect of the so-called international copyright law, coming from you in your official capacity as statistician in the Department of Labor, must be taken, we suppose, to pertain principally to the financial and material effects of the law, and not to its broader international and ethical aspects. In that case it would be practically impossible from our own point of view to answer the inquiries with any certainty or accuracy. We do not believe that it 'is possible rightfully to ascribe to the copyright law changes that may have taken place since its passage in either the prices of books or the remuneration of those engaged in the manufacture of books. " We are heartily in favor of an international copyright law which shall secure to foreign authors and publishers the same privileges which foreign countries accord to American authors and publishers. 24 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. and from the broad-view point of international justice and equity we regard the present United States law as falling far short of perfection in its provisions and its practical working. "In the first place, the requirement of simultaneous publication imposes a very heavy and unjust burden upon foreign authors, espe- cially upon new authors who still have their reputation to make. The new author, whose success with the public is wholly uncertain, is put to heavy expense at the outset of his career, in order to protect him- self against American piracy, if his book should ultimately prove popular. "Second. The requirement that all foreign books shall be printed from plates manufactured de novo in the United States works very great hardship to American publishers, as well as to British authors and publishers, and necessarily increases the cost of reprinted books to American readers. "Third. Under the present law a foreign author is wholly unable to prevent the issue in this country of unauthorized translations of his works, unless he copj^rights his books in the United States, in the language in which they are written. He may, if he chooses, copyright some particular translation, but is absolutely powerless to prevent the appearance of any number of other and independent translations. This is a great injustice to foreign authors, and a hardship to their authorized American publishers. " Fourth. We recommend a longer duration of the copyright period, and would suggest that the term of copyright should be for the life of the author and thirty j^ears afterwards." 13. Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago, III.: "Referring to certain questions as to the effect of the international copyright law, which became operative on the 1st of July, 1891: "In our opinion the law has benefited all connected with the making and vending of books authors, publishers, artisans, and retailers. "The effect of pirating the new works of foreign authors is to create for the product, to the full extent of the piracy, a competitive market wherein prices are scaled down so low as to allow but a minimum of profit; to correspondingly reduce the ability of publishers to pay as high wages to artisans as could be paid were the product sold at the higher prices obtainable for copyright books; to drive native authors out of the home field by supplying to readers the cheaper product of piracy; and to leave to the trade so small a margin of profit as to make the business of handling that class of books undesirable in view of the inevitable losses on unsalable remnants of stock. " It may be true that piracy temporarily increased the volume of business and thus of work for artisans; but the tendency is to ulti- mately contract it by calling out excessive competition and thus caus- ing a constant reduction of profits which must inevitably fall below INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 25 the remunerative point and so extinguish the business. This applies in measure to the standard competitive lines of books, but more largely to the new books not yet graded as standard, in the piratical repro- duction of which there is to be considered the element of uncertainty as to their ever holding the market as standard literature. "The effect of the law on the book market has been to reduce the selling price of the competitive lines in standard literature from one- third to one-half, and to increase that of copyright books from 25 to 50 per cent. "In our business of late years we have bought but few English plates. They are generally inferior in workmanship, and we prefer to make our own. "With our present understanding of the subject we can suggest but two changes in the international copyright law: (1) that instead of a limited it provide a perpetual protection, so that the copyright on a valuable book would secure to both publisher and author and to their heirs a perpetual benefit; (2) that it be made an actionable offense to publish a foreign author's book, even when it is not copyrighted, with- out having first secured his consent. "It is safe to say that under the law as it is authors derive a larger remuneration from their works than they did before it came into effect. This is emphatically true of the vear 1899. "The above is our conclusion after an experience in publishing extending over a period of 40 years, and at present employing over 800 people." 14. The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, Ohio: "Replying to your inquiry as to the effect of international copy- right law on publishers in the United States, we would say that after our experience in business of some 27 to 28 years, and employing a staff averaging from 125 to 150, we are pleased to say that in every way we think the international copyright law has been beneficial to American producers, both in encouraging and developing our own authors, and the better production of literary work, as well as in rais- ing the general standard of literature and the form in which it has been presented. "Under the old state of affairs so much foreign material was pro- duced by pirate publishers in the very cheapest form that the low price at which this material was able to be marketed greatly hindered or entirely discouraged American authors from producing strictly American literature, novels, and history. It has only been within the past five to seven years that purely American fiction or history has had any extended market in this country. This is largely due to the fact that with copyright works which have to support both pub- lisher and author the price must necessarily be higher than that of a volume upon which virtually speaking there is only the printer's profit 26 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. necessary. As it is now, English and other foreign authors are able to secure copyright in this country, consequently are able to secure royalty upon such copies of their books as are marketed here, and in this way the price of English books generally, with the duty added, becomes considerably more than the price of similar American pro- duced volumes. For this reason, with very few exceptions, the sale of English books in this country has been comparatively small during the past years. "In so far as the international copyright law affects the printers, binders, pressmen, and, generally speaking, bookmakers generally, it has undoubtedly worked much to their interest. Instead of the cheap, poorly made books that were produced in the past, at the present day the printers and binders in this country are producing far superior work to almost any in the world, except a few notable exceptions of famous presses, which, however, can not be ranked except on a par with similar institutions in this country, as, for instance, the De Vinne Press, the University Press, etc. "So far as American authors are concerned the international cop3 T - right law has in every way been beneficial to them by excluding pirated editions of modern English and foreign books from this market, the.reby making a field for American works which more nearly appeal to the reading classes in this country. This is being shown in the remarkable success in the past year or two of Richard Carvel, Pris- oners of Hope, To Have and To Hold, Janice Meredith, etc. " The purchasing public are undoubtedly better served under the existing law than they could ever be served without it. In the first place, literary work is produced of purely American interest which would not have received sufficient patronage while cheaper and pirated editions were on the market. The law through its protection of Amer- ican authors has greatly increased the grade of paper produced by our domestic mills; American ingenuity has been brought to bear on machinery, which now outranks any produced in the world in the book- producing trades, which gives to a reading public far superior volumes at in most cases no higher, or but slightly higher, prices than hereto- fore. "The law has considerably increased the selling price of foreign works by anywhere from 100 to 200 per cent, taking the duty also into consideration, whereas the selling prices of domestic books have been but slightly affected. If anything, there has been a reduction on account of the larger reading public to be found for the works. "We should say without a doubt that piracy as practiced prior to the present law could not have been in any way but detrimental to printers, in that the whole plan was to produce books as cheaply as possible, thereby badly affecting wages, and greatly deteriorating the materials used in their production, and in a great many cases imper- INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 27 feet and inaccurate reprints were thrown upon the market. Neither could piracy be beneficial to publishers, from the fact that such simple copying or stealing of published works took out of the business entirely the opportunity of publishing original works and of promot- ing literature of our own country. "It is customary with works having considerable sale in both coun- tries for the publishers to make duplicate electrotypes and print on both sides of the water. "In the matter of wages the international copyright law has cer- tainly been beneficial in that the grade of work produced has been very much improved, thereby necessitating better and more skilled help, and consequently higher wages. "In the matter of changes or improvements in the international copyright law, as it now stands, we would strongly recommend the omission of the clause necessitating actual setting of the type in this country, or the books being printed from plates made from the actual type set in this country. As this clause is now no longer needed for the protection of printers in this country, owing to the fact that composition is cheaper here than abroad, this clause now simply necessitates a good deal of unnecessary trouble and delay, which is rather hurtful to our own book manufacturers and its allied interests generally. "So far as other changes are concerned, while there are other points which from time to time we have noticed that could well be amended, we would like largely to leave this to the suggestions which undoubtedly will be ofi'ered by Mr. Putnam, who, more than any other man in- this country at the present time, is alive to and has studied the general best interests of this country in this matter." 15. The Cleveland Printing and Publishing Co., Cleveland, Ohio: "An experience of more than a decade in the manufacture of books for publishers, and an observation of the workings of the publishing business both before and since the enactment of the international copyright law, convince us that on the whole it has been beneficial to publishers, manufacturers, and the public. "A system that breeds literary piracy and affords to authors and their publishers no protection for the fruits of their intellectual toil is bad in morals and pernicious in practice. Such were the conditions before the international copyright law was put into effect. Now, by rea- son of the protection afforded, the stability given to publishing enter- prises, and the inducement to activity in the production of the best books, the good effects of the law have extended not only to the per- sons above referred to, but also to all skilled workmen engaged in the productive industries. " We have no suggestions to make touching the better working of the present law, and our only advice would be, ' Let it alone. ' ' 28 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 16. The Helman Taylor Company, Cleveland, Ohio: " In reply to your inquiry as to the influence of the international copyright law, we would answer as follows: '' 1. It does protect author and publisher. It must, therefore, help those who make the books paper makers, type founders, printers, et al. "2. It tends to maintain prices on books. Therefore, fewer copies of foreign books are sold, or rather this would be the natural tend- ency. The transfer of the right to publish and the growth of American literature are great factors tending to equalize. " 3. The numerous cheap reprints are cut off and the number of readers decreased and reprint publishers eliminated, but there js doubtless a benefit to literature in general. The best survives and takes a permanent place. "4. As soon as a good book is ready to market abroad, the right to produce it here is sold to some American house. There may and may not be a sale of plates. They publish it and doubtless can do it in any form they wish, so cheap editions are not eliminated. If it is wise to make these and when it is wise to do so, they are made. " 5. The public can depend upon the integrity of a good book. Competition before led to the cutting out of many pages. This need not now be done. Piracy that profited only those interested directly could not greatly help literature. "The law as it is has not hurt the consumer, the dealer, or the pub- lisher. No one asks about the law or complains of it, so it can not be very burdensome. It should not be changed. In general the effect of the law is good." 17. American Book Company, New York, N. Y.: "In reply to your series of inquiries as to the operation of the international copyright law, we submit the following observations: "1. It is beneficial to publishers and book manufacturers of the United States, who now handle the entire volume of literary matter used in our country, except such foreign works as do not promise a degree of success to warrant their being set up anew, and which are consequently imported in small quantities. "2. All classes of laborers and employees connected with the pro- duction and handling of books benefit by the increased output. They also get better wages because protected publishers can afford to pay more liberally. "3. Authors in both countries derive royalties from the entire sales of their works, whether reprinted or imported. Besides, the sales are likely to be much larger in a country other than the author's own, if the foreign publisher has a remunerative interest in pushing them. "4. The advantage to the public is found in wider dissemination of the best literature in its best form. The harassing competition of INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 29 cheap reprints formerly discredited original works, burdened with a royalty to American authors. Now there is a fair field for all alike, and on the same footing. More good books will be published, and these will be more vigorously circulated than before. Although materials have advanced, from causes not connected with the copy- right question, the prices of standard books and good editions remain practically unchanged. "5. More books of the better class will be sold and fewer cheap reprints. It is impossible to estimate the percentage. "6. 'Piracy' never benefited anybody. It robbed the authors, tempted publishers to wrong-doing, reduced printers to starvation wages, and demoralized the reading public. Nobody respected the cfignity of literature when it was served so unworthily. "7. In our own practice there has been as yet no exchange of plates with European publishers. The feature of the law requiring that type for books reprinted in this country, under license from foreign authors or publishers, must be set up anew, is in conflict with the natural laws of trade and largely defeats its own purpose. Many books which would in the aggregate enjoy a very large circulation are prac- tically shut out of our market by this provision. Publishers should be permitted to purchase plates from the original type, wherever set up. " 8. We believe the international copyright law to be a long step in the right direction, but a little amendment would greatly improve it. We suggest: "(a) For reasons given above, elimination of the requirement that plates should be made in this country. "(J) We deprecate the necessity of holding up an edition in the country of its first production until copies can be sent abroad for simultaneous publication, entailing loss of valuable time and much pub- lic discontent. Copyright should be obtainable in a foreign country within sixty days after publication at home. "(c) Further, it would be well to extend as rapidly as possible the zone of copyright protection. In several countries, notably Japan and the Spanish-American countries, the rights of our authors and publish- ers are scandalously disregarded. , It appears that our copyrights are not respected even in Cuba, and we know of no law to protect them there. " So bold have become the Japanese reprinters that a large shipment of reprinted American schoolbooks from that country has recently been seized by the customs authorities in Portland, Oreg. These books were made standard in the schools of Japan by the enterprise of American publishers. Their adoption introduced the English lan- guage into the Japanese system of education, with large advantage to American influence, but reprinters made the trade impossible and the American agencies were withdrawn. The reprints, however, are still 30 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. the standard texts of Japan. As that country is favorable to the Con- vention of Berne if it has not alreadj 7 subscribed to it it would seem to be more progressive than the United States." 18. American Copyright League, New York, JV. Y. : "In response to the questions regarding the operation of the inter- national copyright law which you have done me the honor to asK me to answer, I beg to hand you the following replies. In regard to the amendment of the law, 1 think that new legislation is needed to abolish the manufacturing clause on books in foreign languages, which has been of no benefit to anybody, and upon which, from what was said to me by the official representative of the typographical unions just after the passage of the law, they set no store. As the law stands it is not clear whether a German author can obtain copyright by printing her*e the original or the translation, or whether he must print both. As things stand he prints neither. Although I am secretary of the American Copyright League (as I was at the time of the passage of the law), I do not now speak for it, but on my individual responsibilit}' only. "1. Has the international copyright law been detrimental or bene- ficial to publishers or book manufacturers, and in what respects ? "Answer. In my opinion the law has been both morally and mate- rially of much benefit to the entire publishing business. It has first of all substituted, so far as foreign books, music, and art are con- cerned, a stability of secure ownership instead of a precarious chance of obtaining returns from the publication of books which anybody might publish. I believe it would be found that not one publisher would relinquish this condition of stability and security in reaping what he sows to go back to the old scramble of pirated editions. I believe that not only has the publishing output been largely increased by the law, but that the quality of the work done is better, all of which have resulted in benefit to the reading public. " 2. The same question in regard to compositors, bookbinders, press- men, and employees generally. "Answer. As the business of the publishers and book manufacturers has increased the amount of work and the amount of wages to com- positors, bookbinders, pressmen, and employees generally have also probably increased. This would be the natural law. I know that during the past season there has been the greatest difficulty in getting out books of which new editions were called for. The leading pub- lishing houses, in New York at least, have had much difficulty in get- ting their work done on time. " 3. The same question in regard to authors, foreign and American. "Answer. Both the American and the foreign^authors are now get- ting more for their work than before the passage of the international copyright law the foreigner because he has rights in this market which he can sell, which before he did not have; the American because INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 31 he has no longer to compete with stolen goods. 1 believe there is not an author of any note in America who is not getting more for his work than he did before. This is largely due to the increase of cheap magazines and to the larger editions, which enable the publishers to pay more to the author. At the same time the publisher is receiving a smaller proportion and the author a larger proportion of the returns of the book. "4. The same question in regard to the book-purchasing public. "Answer. I believe that the book-purchasing public is better served, with editions better in quality and cheaper in price than before. This is particularly true with regard to American fiction and history, which now seem to be ruling the market. The development of our own literature, which was prophesied at the time of the passage of the copyright law, has in due time come to pass. "5. Has the law increased or reduced the sellling price of books? By how much percentage ? "Answer. This is a question which a practical publisher would be better qualified to answer than I. "6 and 7. The answer to the fifth question applies also to these questions. I do not think it was ever beneficial to printers or to pub- lishers to engage in the piratical business, although no doubt some grew rich at it. I think public sentiment has got past considering this aspect of the question. To abolish the copyright law would be to plunge back into moral chaos. "8. This question is too large in its scope and too vague for me to say more than that I believe everybody, except a few piratical houses, is better off for the passage of the international copyright law. I believe it was the poet Longfellow who said that justice is a good principle that works well in all directions. I ought to add as a special point that when the question of pecuniary advantage to the laboring man is considered one should take into account the enormous increase in the amount of money spent in advertising books and for advertis- ing in magazines and other periodicals which have indirectly grown out of the securer state of affairs. A comparison of the amount of advertising in the leading magazines for the five years before the law was passed with that for the last five years will show an enormous increase, and the increase in the number of magazines has been very large. This advertising and these magazines have been set by labor- ing men and printed and bound by laboring men, and in many other ways direct as well as indirect the laboring people have been largely benefited by the law." 19. Wm. W. Appleton (of D. Appleton & Co.}, New York, N. Y.: "I think that your questions regarding the effects of international copyright may be answered briefly as follows: "1. The law has been beneficial because publishers have been ena- bled to have a market for the books of their authors, and there has 32 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. been an increase in the amount of book manufacturing done in this country. " 2. Foreign authors have been obviously aided by the fact that they have received large payments for American book and serial rights which were formerly of comparatively slight value on account of expos- ure to piracy. American authors have profited largely, as shown by recent successes and by the increased demand for works by American authors in all departments of literature. "3. The public have gained in securing a wider range of accessible books and a very much larger number of books dealing with their own country. " 4. There has been an increase in the number of books sold, notably in American books. Percentage impossible to determine. On the whole the law has not affected the selling prices of books. ' ' 5. On the whole, probably not. Some piratical firms secured large returns, but in some cases the competition of pirates among themselves proved injurious to them. This is a difficult question, and it is impossible to answer it definitely. It is certain, however, that the printers have gained enormously in both quantity and quality of work since the passage of the law. " 6. American publishers constantly endeavor to sell duplicate plates to England, and frequently do this. Books published in combination with English publishers are set up here, and plates supplied to Eng- land. While plates are occasionally bought from England, the loss of copyright attendant upon this would make it obviously unprofitable save in the case of unimportant books, which would never be manu- factured here. "7. The law has been advantageous to authors, publishers, and printers. The most needed improvement would be in the clause requir- ing simultaneous publication. There should be a small time allowance. The term of copyright should be extended as a matter of justice. Also copyright should protect books in French, German, etc., when trans- lations are published here simultaneously." 20. The Century Company, New York, N. Y. : " First. We think that this law has been beneficial to the publishers, as it has enabled them to arrange with foreign authors on a business basis for the publication of their works in this country. The removal of the indiscriminate and piratical competition has put them in a posi- tion to publish these books in good editions at reasonable prices, which realize a fair profit, not only to the author, but also to the publisher. "Second. These results have operated to the advantage of composi- tors, bookbinders, and employees generally. We think there never was a time when so many really good books were sold at more reasona- ble prices than those which now prevail, prices which insure a fair return to all parties concerned in their production, manufacture, and sale. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 33 "Third. This law has benefited authors, both foreign and American. Its first effect was to increase the sale of authorized editions of the works of foreign authors, and also to increase the royalty or copyright paid to the foreign authors. But the effect was almost immediately felt by the American authors as well. Their royalties have been steadily advanced until now they average higher than ever before. Some of the greatest successes and largest sales of the past year have been of books by American authors, notably David Harum, Richard Carvel, Janice Meredith, and Hugh Wynne, some of which have sold almost half a million copies. "Fourth. The book-purchasing public has been benefited by the elevation in the standard of the books supplied. Instead of being read hastily and thrown away, as was the case with the very cheap paper editions, books are now much more generally preserved. The habit of purchasing good editions and accumulating libraries in every house- hold has been enormously stimulated within the last few years. "Fifth. This elevation in standard has been without any increase in the price of really good books, which are now sold at practically the same prices as heretofore. There may be fewer of the very cheap paper-covered books sold; but on the other hand there has never been a time when such enormous quantities not only of good novels but of standard books and works of reference in good editions have been sold as now. " Sixth. We do not think that piracy as practiced prior to the enact- ment of the present law was beneficial to anyone. " Seventh. So far as we know, the American and English publishers do not exchange plates to any great extent. We ourselves do very little of it, and we are inclined to think that there are more American plates sent to Europe than English plates brought here. "As will be seen from the above, our general opinion as to the operation and effect of the international copyright law is that it has been beneficial to all concerned." 21. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, N. T.: "These questions can hardly be answered specifically. We do not know of any sufficient data available upon which an authoritative opinion can be founded. Since the international copyright law was enacted nine years ago material changes have occurred affecting many conditions in the publishing trade, and international copyright has undoubtedly had a share in bringing about these changes, but its influence can hardly be separated from other influences and clearly defined. We venture to say, however, that it can not be shown that the operations of this law have proved adverse to any of the interests above enumerated. In considering its beneficial effects it should be borne in mind that international copyright has essentially ethical S. Doc, 87 3 34 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. characteristics as well as economic, and that its true basis is in justice and equity. "Contrasting the conditions existing to-day in the publishing and book manufacturing trades in this country,, with those of ten yours ago, we observe "First. Greater literary activity and productiveness on the part of citizens of this country. "Second. A marked increase in the number of books written by American authors, some of which have attained unprecedented popu- larity and immense sales. "Third. An increased production and distribution of books gen- erally and of magazines, great numbers of them at prices lower than at any previous period. "Fourth. Authors, both American and foreign, better paid as a rule than heretofore. "Fifth. A considerable development and improvement in the mechanical processes connected with typernaking, typesetting, print- ing, and binding. "Sixth. Compositors, electrotypers, and printers receiving higher wages with shorter hours. "Seventh. A growing tendency with publishers in this and foreign countries to set up and print copyright editions of the same book, each in his own country, instead of exchanging plates. "How far these conditions have been the result of or influenced by international copyright we can not say and leave others to determine, but we believe that the general effects of the law have been altogether beneficial, whether regarded from an ethical or economic standpoint. "We think that the term for which copyright, both domestic and foreign, is granted, could be wisely extended and brought into con- formity with that of Great Britain and other European countries, and that international cop} T right should be made to protect completely in this country the work of an author (resident in a foreign country hav- ing reciprocal copyright arrangements with the United States) written in another language, but published here in an English translation only. "Under the existing law a translation set up and published here simultaneously with the original work in a foreign country is pro- tected by copyright, but the original work is not protected, so that other unauthorized translations can be made and published subse- quently, thus often depriving the author of the benefits the inter- national copyright law is supposed to have conferred upon him." 22. Doulleday, Page & Co, New Yoi^k, N. Y.: This establishment expresses the opinion that the law in question has been beneficial in eveiy way to publishers, book manufacturers, compositors, bookbinders, pressmen, and employees generally; also to authors, foreign and American, and to the book-purchasing public; INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 35 that it has increased the price of good editions, or has caused good editions to take the place of poor ones; that piracy was beneficial to printers only, but not to 'good printers'; that very few American plates are sent to Europe and that practically no European plates come to America; and that the law would be improved by striking out the manufacturing clause, by extending the period of copyright, and by amending the law so as to do away with the requirement for simultaneous publication. 23. A. P. DiMon & Co., New York, N. Y.: This establishment believes the law to have been beneficial in its general operation and effect, but has not submitted a formal expres- sion of its views." 24. Theo. L. DeVinne c Co., New York, N. Y.: "In answer to questions we have to reply that the international copyright law has been beneficial to master printers. We can not speak for publishers, but believe that the law has been of benefit to them. All operatives who have to contribute to the manufacture of books share in the general benefit. Yet the number of books first made in our house but written by foreign authors is small as com- pared with those of American authors. Under the operation of the old law most of the books of foreign writers would not have been made for the first time in this country. " We rarely have any direct dealing with foreign authors and can not answer too confidently, but we believe they are content. The American author makes no complaint of the new law. . " The book-purchasing public as a class do not complain. The desire for foreign editions of ordinary books is abating, for American work- manship is much better than it was during the past, and is generally satisfactory. The buyer of limited editions of books on art or tech- nology of any kind (limited not by the luxury of workmanship but by its small demand everywhere) has a right to complain of the inordinate duty exacted. The taxing of books of instruction that can not be reprinted in this country, and that have few buyers at best, is a damage to education. "Books have been selling at low prices too low for profit but decline in price may be attributed more to cheap paper and improved machinery than to the operation of the copyright law. It is not prob- able that prices will be less. With advance in cost of paper and the shortening of hours of labor, there must follow an advance in cost of bookmaking. " Piracy never benefited any interest. The competition it provoked brought with it severe penalties. Unauthorized reprints have been a loss, as a rule, to publisher as well as author. ' ' Electrotype plates of books made here are sold abroad. They are not lent or exchanged. Foreign plates of new type work are now seldom seen in any New York printing house. 36 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. "We have no recommendation to make concerning the existing copyright law except in one feature. The law that compels the reen- graving of expensive plates in this country for books saleable to a very small class is not just to the buyer." 25. It. F. Fenno & Co., New York, N. Y: " Replying to your inquiries in regard to the international copy- right law, would say that our experience has been confined almost entirely to fiction, and we presume that the law has affected this line more than any other, as most of the scientific and heavier classes of literature are imported manufactured complete, as thpy were before the days of the international copyright law. "The law, in our opinion, has been especially beneficial to publish- ers, as they are now enabled by the payment of a royalty or certain stipulated sum, to obtain sole right of publication in this country, whereas formerly all of the popular books were issued in many edi- tions. This benefit to the publisher is also shared by the bookbinders; the pressman is not benefited in the same way, because the sale is more restricted and thus less editions printed. The compositor, however, we do not think suffers, because the practice in the old days was to set one set of plates and sell duplicates to the other publishers. "The foreign authors have been especially benefited, because they are now receiving compensation, where before it was seldom or ever that they were paid. The American author of the first class is also undoubt- edly benefited by the protection he receives abroad, but the American authors of the second and third class have been, in our opinion, seriously injured, because the market to-day is supplied for magazine and periodical purposes to a large extent by foreign authors, whereas before the passage of the bill this field was occupied almost entirely by the American author. "The book-purchasing public are paying to-day two to three times as much for their new books as they were before the passage-of the bill, and thus the sale of the new book is restricted to a class that are able to pay this advanced price, whereas on the other hand the large series which formerly contained all of the new English fiction have had few or no additions made to them in the last nine years, and con- sequently the old books that were in these series are to-day sold on the market for half the price that they were formerly, thus placing within the reach of the book-purchasing public about 3,000 titles of noncopy- right fiction at prices far below what they formerly were, and this we believe was occasioned by the series not being able to keep up to date with the new matter. "We believe what you term piracy prior to the enactment of the present law was beneficial to the printer and pressman and to the gen- eral public, but not to the publisher. " We believe that there are few American plates sent abroad, whereas INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 37 there are a large number of English plates (though inferior to Ameri- can ones) imported into this country. " We believe the law as it now stands is in most respects satisfactory to the general public, and should not seriously be changed, and espe- cially do we believe that copyright should not be perpetual." 26. Henry Holt & Co., New York, N. T.: "The international copyright law I have found in an eminent degree beneficial to publishers. Now a man who has made a set of plates is protected in the enjoyment of such profits as they are capable of pro- ducing, and his author is protected with him. Under the old dispensa- tion a few publishers of capital and enterprise tested the foreign books. As soon as one turned out successful some pirate made another set of plates to participate in the profits, and frequently several pirates made sets of plates, often with the result of the profits being divided among so many that they aggregated less than nothing at all. It is plain that in such cases, where authors generally could receive only volunteered profits, none were volunteered by people who published illegitimately, and those who published regularly were not able to volunteer any rea- sonable portion of what otherwise might have been possible. "In regard to 'compositors, bookbinders, pressmen, and employees generally,' 1 can only say that we undertake a great many more books now that we are sure of reaping where we sow, than we did where we were equally sure that somebody else would come in to reap while we had the whole expense of sowing. "The question regarding foreign authors is already answered. . Regarding American authors, it is perfectly plain that when the works of foreign authors could be had for nothing, nobody was going to pay very much for the works of American authors. "In regard to the book-purchasing public, an indication suggestive of the whole field, and conclusive regarding its most important part, is contained in the fact that for many years before the passage of the international copyright law, and even for some years after it, although the country was flooded with cyclopedias to a vastly greater extent than ever before, there was not a single cyclopedia meeting the require- ments of average American writers. The variety of foreign cyclo- pedias, prepared only to meet the needs of foreign writers, so filled the market that American publishers refrained from starting new ones or even keeping old ones up to date. Johnson has been brought up to date since the law was passed, and others are only waiting for the census of 1900. "The question whether the law has increased or reduced the selling price of books is very complex. I should say, on the whole, that it has tended to make the difference inevitable between goods that are paid for and goods that are stolen, but it has not shut out the public from cheap editions "of good books. After a good profit has been 38 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. realized from a good edition the publisher is generally ready to sup- ply a cheap one. Instance: as foreign, our edition of The Prisoner of Zenda, and as American, our edition of The Honorable Peter Stirling. In each case we and the authors reaped handsome profits from the cloth-bound editions, and after the crop was gathered, we published editions of 100,000 each in paper for popular circulation. "'Was piracy as practiced prior to the enactment of the present law beneficial to printers or to publishers ? ' Even before the enact- ment of the law the pirates had virtually all failed, some of them several times. Whether they paid their printers' bills or not I am unable to say. You can probably judge as well as I. "American and European publishers do exchange plates. The plates of brief books like novels are generally made in both countries; the plates of larger books are generally made only in the country of their origination, because such books are not generally worth copy- righting; the temptation to steal them is too small, the expense of doing so too great. If anybody expected that the restriction of copy- right to books whose plates were set in America was going to make any very material difference in the printing industry, I can not quite see how it has been accomplished. "My 'general opinion as to the operation and effect of the interna- tional copyright law ' is contained in the foregoing. "As to the accompanying question, in what respects it should be amended or changed, I would say: "(I) It is an open question, apparently not even of enough impor- tance to have been presented for adjudication during the nearly ten years in which the law has been in operation, whether sole right of translating a foreign book can be secured in the United States unless the original has been published in America from type set here. As the question has never been adjudicated, it is of course of little or no public consequence; but it is of consequence to a few authors and publishers, for the reasons already given why copyright is of con- sequence. The law should be amended so as to put beyond all ques- tion the sole right to translate without the necessity of setting the original here. "(II) The demand for simultaneous publication in two countries works much inconvenience without any apparent compensation. We have constantly to postpone books beyond the propitious moment for publication, or to hurry them at undue cost of money and convenience and undue sacrifice of workmanship, for the sake of publishing on the day appointed in England, and obstacles and accidents met by a publisher on one side or the other are constantly upsetting the reasonable calculations of the publisher on the other side. The apparent motive of this demand for a simultaneous publication was to prevent a book being copyrighted in America, a*nd either kept out of the market by a failure to issue an edition here, or the market sup- INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 39 plied by the English edition. The results could probably be met, and all the difficulties obviated by a provision that a notice of intention to copyright should be filed here, and that after the filing of said notice, the American edition should be published within some reasonable period, say two or three months, to allow time for manufacturing, etc., during which period foreign copies could not be imported. "(Ill) The manufacturing clause, so far as I can see, has been of little or no particular use to printers^ for the reasons already given in regard to large works. So far as it is of use, it is a tax on the public in general by making this country needlessly bear the entire expense of composition and stereotyping. Without such a clause, this coun- try could share this expense with England. I don't know how practi- cal it is to advocate the repeal of the clause, and, of course, I don't look upon it from the point of view of one solely interested in manu- facturing, to whom it might appear of more importance than it does to me. "(IV) Legislative or judicial aid is needed to guard an author's control (through his publisher, of course) of the form and price of his book. These are most important elements of success, and tax the best judgment. Often, for example, an edition for 25 cents can run beside an edition at a dollar and a half at a good profit on both. So far as decisions have yet gone, under the present law, an unauthorized person can buy up a large quantity of the 25-cent edition, bind it cheaply, and sell it, say, for a dollar, in opposition to the regular dol- lar and a half edition. In such a case an author gets only his royalty on the cheap edition, and even that at a specially low percentage quite probably but 5 instead of the 10 usual on a fine edition, which, in the case in illustration, would be but 1 cents, instead of the 15 cents he would get on the dollar and a half book whose sale is killed by the unauthorized bound copy of the cheap edition. In such a case, of course, the unauthorized binder claims that the copy he sells 'has paid royalty.' He ignores the question, 'What royalty?' "(V) Our present limit of copyright is, I believe, the shortest in the civilized world, and certainly should be extended to cover the life- time of the author and those dependent upon him. The profession is poorly paid at best, and very frequently those who deserve most are paid least. ''These points and others which are constantly arising, really demand for their settlement much expert knowledge, and I think it is the universal opinion of those best qualified to judge, that we, like England, should have a permanent copyright commission to make all needful investigation and recommend all needful legislation." 27. Funk & Wagnalls Company, New Ywk, N. Y. : "1. We believe the international copyright law has been beneficial to publishers. Among the reasons for this belief are these: Publishers can arrange for the productions of foreign authors noW with a certainty 40 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. as to copyright protection; the danger of piracy is eliminated. This feature of the law enables publishers to broaden their line of publica- tions. The reciprocative feature of the law makes it possible for pub- lishers to undertake enterprises in which reference works of the highest grade are produced, requiring vast outlay of capital, because they can have an enlarged foreign market. "2. We also believe the law has been beneficial to compositors, pressmen, bookbinders, and employees generally in that line of manu- facture, for the same reasons that enable publishers to enlarge their lines of publications, as all works of foreign writers must be set up, plates made, printed, and bound here. The same reason applies for all large enterprises of reference works, which seek not only a home "market, but a widening foreign market. "3. That the law is beneficial to foreign authors goes without sa}^- ing; but we believe it is beneficial to American authors because of the enlarged field of copyrighted protection afforded them in foreign coun- tries which reciprocate the provisions of the law. "4. We believe the law has been a benefit to the book-buying pub- lic, because the protection the law affords and the enlarged foreign field which reciprocity makes possible, encourages the launching of publishing enterprises in which reference works of the highest grade of practicable scholarship are produced. Thus the book-buying public receives more useful and valuable reference works than would be probable under the loose, uncertain conditions that existed before. "Referring to our own experience, we would say, such a costly work as the Standard Dictionary, requiring an outlay of over one million of dollars, would not have been undertaken; nor would such a large, exhaustive work as the Jewish Encyclopedia, now in progress, requir- ing the collaborations of nearly 300 of the most eminent scholars from all parts of the globe, at an expenditure of some hundreds of thou- sands of dollars, be considered for a moment were it not for the ben- eficial protection and reciprocative possibilities of the international copyright law. "5. We do not believe the law has any effect on the selling price of books, neither increasing nor reducing prices, when the material and mechanical qualities are compared. "6. We believe piracy as practiced prior to the enactment of the present law was beneficial neither to printers nor publishers. When- ever a publisher would reprint an uprotected book, he had to consider the danger of rival publications of the same work. If such a book fell flat on the market, his loss was obvious to other publishers, and the printer received no more orders to print. If the book was regarded as a ' hit,' rival publishers, especially those who were inexperienced, would rush into the market with their competitive editions. There would be a seeming increase in the sale and manufacture of the pirated INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 41 books, but invariably overproduction would soon be the result and the consequent demoralization in the trade would be inevitable. This would hurt the printer as well as the publisher. "7. In response to the suggested inquiry, 'Do American and Euro- pean publishers exchange plates ?' we would observe that if by the exchange of plates is meant an exchange for the purpose of evading some of the requirements of the law, then we would saj r we know of no such instance and doubt if ever such would take place. If by the inquiry it is intended to find out if American publishers purchase book plates in Europe, and vice versa, we would answer, they do. But it is only in such cases where a book is not copyrighted here, and as the importer of such has no protection from piracy, naturally he would purchase plates of such works which are not popular enough to encour- age piracy. "8. In general our opinion is that the operation of the international copyright law is beneficial to all parties concerned. We are of the settled conviction that it would be injurious to repeal the law. "As to the amendment of the law, we would not favor any ill- advised changes. We rather would let the law stand as it is. Our greater concern is to have our Government secure reciprocity in copy- right with all other countries, no matter how dissimilar the language of the people may be. For example, Japan is a country whose inhabi- tants have customs and language so greatly varying from our own that the demand for books in English is regarded by the book trade as insignificant. Yet, if we may refer to our own experience, in that very country a piracy of no less magnitude than that of the entire Students' Standard Dictionary, by a native Japanese printer, has been effected within the past three months. Naturally a book war of dictionaries is raging at prices so low that they distance the record of American piracy. The fact, then, that such a costly book as a dictionary in the English language is reprinted in Japan, is evidence of the possibility for American books in the land of the Mikado. Surely the extension of international copyright, rather than curtailment or repeal, should be the policy of the American people." 28. Harper Brothers, New York, JV. Y. : "1. Has the international copyright law been determined as bene- ficial to publishers or book manufacturers ? If so, in what respect ? "It has been beneficial to American publishers in the following respects: "() It has opened the market for American books, which are not now handicapped by inferior reprints of current foreign books. " (b) It has made the publisher's investment in foreign books more secure, and not given them simply a few days' priority. In the absence of international copyright, the works of foreign authors were printed at low prices, with a view to discouraging competition. Prior publica- 42 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. tion and the arrangements made with foreign authors were respected by the leading houses, but there was always the probability of an unauthorized and poorly manufactured edition making its appearance. "The American publisher, being now protected by copyright, can make his price for foreign works correspond with their importance and place the works of American authors on an equal footing commer- cially with foreign works, and thereby build up American literature. "In regard to compositors? "Compositors are benefited by the international copyright law, as all foreign books must be set up here, and it is not an uncommon thing now to manufacture plates for both markets in this country, the English copyright law not requiring the composition a.nd manufacture of the book in Great Britain. "Bookbinders, pressmen, and employees are not materially affected' by the international copyright law. What they lose in the discon- tinuance of some of the very cheap issues of noncopyrighted English works they gain in the growing popularity of American authors and in the superior quality of books manufactured. ' ' As to foreign authors ? " The most prominent writers do not have such an extended sale as under the old regime; but being protected, their market here is more secure, and new authors have a better opportunity to dispose of their works. ' ' In regard to the book-purchasing public ? '" Although libraries such as the Franklin Square and Seaside have entirely disappeared, other forms of cheap publications have taken their place, so that uncopyrighted volumes are still manufactured and sold at lower prices than ever before. "Taking cloth-bound novels as a standard, the selling prices of cop3 T righted works, including American and foreign productions, are lower than they were. This is partly due to the large discounts allowed by publishers to booksellers, and on their part shared with the public, which has been rendered necessary by the increased com- petition between well-made books. ' ' 2. Do American and English publishers exchange plates ? "It is unusual for English publishers to send plates for the Ameri- can market on account of the law requiring a book to be set up and printed in this country ; but, on the other hand, the custom is growing to supply the English publishers with American plates. "3. In what respects should the international copyright law be amended or changed? "There are modifications and improvements which could be made in the present international copyright law. One of the most desirable is to indicate clearly that a foreign work in its English translation is protected against an unauthorized translation." INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 43 29. J. J. Little & Co., New Tori; N. Y: 44 1. The results of the law have not been uniform. That class of publishers who depend largely on reprinting foreign works have undoubtedly suffered by the international copyright law, while others have been benefited because they were not interfered with b} r the first-mentioned class. Many of the latter class have not been honest with the Government. It was undoubtedly the intent of the law that foreign books protected here by copyright should be manufactured here, but that has been evaded by many publishers importing dupli- cate sets of plates and then making but a few of the first pages of the book in this country and securing a copyright on those few pages, thus making it appear to cover the whole work. 44 2. It has benefited the printers to some extent, but not as much as it was hoped or as it should have, for the reasons stated in answer to the first question. "3. We do not think it has been of much benefit to American authors, perhaps on account of the abuses mentioned in answer to the first question. It has undoubtedly been of service to the foreign ' author. 44 1. No benefit has accrued to the book-purchasing public, but decidedly the reverse. 44 5. The law has tended to increase the selling price of books. 44 6. Piracy was undoubtedly beneficial to printers and bookbinders, as many publishers reprinted the same book. 44 7. Do American and European publishers interchange plates? Are books partially copyrighted and the uncopyrighted portion printed on foreign plates? ' 4 Undoubtedly this is done to a large extent, and it should be stopped, and could be without much trouble. ' 4 8. The present law should be strictly enforced before it can be properly determined what changes are desirable or necessary to protect not only the Government but all parties concerned." 30. Longmans, Green & Co. , New York, N. Y. : 44 We should say that the operation of the law has been beneficial in every respect, in that it has made it possible for the producers of books to have security of tenure with authors, and has settled conditions of doing business upon a fair basis, such as exists in all other civilized countries. 44 We should say that this benefit also applies to printers, binders, and their employees, inasmuch as a copyright has made it possible and desirable to produce many books here which would otherwise not be produced, and this because of the desirability and convenience of original production in this country rather than because of any com- pulsory regulations as to typesetting. Whatever the requirements of the law in this direction may be, the simple fact of security of tenure will induce a larger amount of printing and manufacturing. 44 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. "While the international copyright law has undoubtedly been of great advantage to foreign authors, it has been of still greater benefit to American authors, inasmuch as it has given them a fair field, and has protected them against the great handicap they formerly had to meet in competition with foreign material which could be had without pa3 T ment of any kind. "The book-purchasing public has not been seriously affected by the act, inasmuch as the ordinary law of supply and demand is sufficient to protect the general public against unfair prices. The effect of the law has not been to innate prices unduly, the larger security afforded to authors, tending to larger legitimate sales, counteracting any tenden- cies to marked advances. Prices of individual books being ruled rather by the conditions of the market for such books than by any genera] consideration, it is hardly possible to estimate changes upon any basis of general percentage. "The absence of copyright did not, in our opinion, tend to the advantage of any legitimate manufacturing industry. Both printers and publishers are better off under the more settled conditions which now exist in connection with this question. " We have little information as to trade in plates between British and American publishers. We ourselves seldom import plates, pre- ferring to set the type of all our copyright books, for reasons of sim- ple convenience and facility of business. "Copyright has brought the business of publishing, in which term we include the writing, manufacturing, and selling of books, upon a stable basis which affords the author, printer, binder, and publisher alike the opportunity for that legitimate competition in trade by which the interest of the general public is best served. It has removed, so far as modern literature is concerned, the uncertainty as to continued ownership which interfered with enterprise in all depart- ments, and there seems to be no question that it has already resulted in a substantial increase in the number of works profitably issued by American'authors. " 31. The F. M. Lupton Publishing Company, New York, N. T.: "The international copyright law has been decidedly beneficial to the majority of the publishers and book manufacturers in the United States. It is questionable whether it has been of benefit to com- positors, bookbinders, pressmen, and employees generally, from the fact that in former years, when we secured English books without pay- ment for same, there were several sets of electrotype plates made of each book, whereas now there is but one. On the other hand, where there was one set of plates made of an American author there are now ten. "The law has been of decided benefit to American authors. This is seen in the fact of the large number of new American authors that INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 45 has sprung up since the law went into effect, and the enormous sales of their books breaking all records in this respect in the history of the publishing trade, either in this country or in Europe. The law has increased the selling price of books. As far as our knowledge goes, we do not think the American and English publishers exchange plates, as it is impossible to secure a copyright in this country from a dupli- cate set of plates, and we doubt very much if publishers would run the risk of printing from English plates. In our opinion, the law is perfectly satisfactory as it is, and we have no suggestions to make for exchange." 32. The 8. S. McClure Company, New York, N. Y.: "The international copyright law has been beneficial to publisher and book manufacturers, for the reason that both are able to do busi- ness on a business basis, and know exactly where they stand, so far as their rights in publication are concerned. It is probable that com- positors, bookbinders, pressmen, and employees generally have been benefited, for the reason that all the reprint work is required by law to be done in this country, and the business is an established one, whereas formerly it was exceedingly hazardous and nearly every per- son engaged in literary piracy went into bankruptcy. To my mind there is no doubt that both x foreign and domestic authors have been greatly benefited by the law our own authors, because they have not been obliged to compete against pirated books, and foreign authors, because they have received some reward for the sale of a book in this country. I think that American authors receive far more from foreign sources than they ever did before. " I do not think that the book-purchasing public has been affected one way or another by the copyright law, and the selling price of books has not been affected by it either to any extent. Piracy, as formerly practiced, benefited neither printer nor publisher, for the reason, as above stated, that most of them went into bankruptcy. " Very few American or European publishers exchange plates at the present time, and, in so far as they do, it is a matter outside of the copyright law. Some printed sheets are imported, particularly for scientific books, but this is a very small consideration. " In my opinion, the present law is an exceedingly good one, though it could be simplified somewhat. I think the time wherein copyright of a foreign book may be secured in this country should be somewhat extended, as it is often very difficult to accomplish what is wanted in the desired time. It places a burden upon the publisher which is sometimes very onerous, and an extension of the time could by no possibility injure anyone." 33. The Macmillan Company, New York, N. Y.: "The international copyright law has been advantageous to the publisher in giving him more freedom of action; he can afford to take 46 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. greater risks, feeling, when he has secured a successful book, that a heavy stock will not be rendered valueless because of cheaper compet- ing editions of the same work. It has made the publisher's invest- ment in foreign books more secure, and has brought him into closer touch with the authors on both sides of the Atlantic. It has been especially beneficial to the manufacturer of the better class because of the necessity of manufacturing plates on this side. It has been bene- ficial to the compositor and electrotyper for the same reason. The standard of work is higher, and there is more work for good men in first-class establishments. Good business and confidence tend to raise wages. The authors on both sides of the Atlantic are benefited most of all; the reason is obvious. "In regard to the general public, there is room for much differ- ence of opinion. The public may not get the best books quite as cheaply, but they get better books, and the security of the publisher enables him to publish inexpensive but very attractive editions of copyright books. The circulation of the best books is undoubtedly increased, but just how far this increase is due to international copy- right would be somewhat difficult to determine. Piracy helped the pirate publisher, and some printers were greatly benefited financially by it, but we should question whether these printers added much to the reputation of American publishers or printers. ''Plates are not exchanged to any great extent, though the tendency to manufacture duplicate sets of plates in America and forward one set to England is on the increase. "In general, the law operates well and the effect is wholesome, and we think it is generally wise to leave well enough alone." 34. Methodist Boole, Concern, New York, JV. Y. : This concern, without giving a full and formal expression of views, states that it considers the general effects of the law to have been bene- ficial, but that great benefit would accrue to publishers if foreign books could be copyrighted in the United States without requiring them to be manufactured in this country. 35. New Amsterdam Book Company, New York, N. Y. : "Answering your query as to whether the present international copy- right law has worked to our advantage, we would say ' yes.' We are protected from cheap English reprints of our books being imported in competition with the American-made books. "The clause requiring copyrighted books to be made from Ameri- can plates and printed here protects the American compositor and pressman. " The exclusion of the cheap reprints protects the American book- seller who has bought stock of the American edition. "If the clause requiring a simultaneous publication were changed so that a notice of proposed publication would answer and then on INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 47 publication day the usual formalities were gone through, it would be a benefit, as often unforeseen contingencies arise preventing a simul- taneous publication, and thus a valuable copyright is lost through the fault of nobody. "Taking the law as a whole, we are satisfied with its present shape." 36. James Pott & Co., New York, N. Y.: This establishment believes that the law has been beneficial in every way to publishers, authors, and employees, but thinks it should be amended so that simultaneous publication in America and Great Britain of copyrighted works by English authors would not be required. 37. The Publishers' Printing Company, New York, N. Y. : "The law has been beneficial to popular-priced and high-class pub- lishers, but not to those who publish very cheap books, nor to the publishers who are known as pirates.^ The international copyright law has enabled honest and conscientious publishers to be properly pro- tected, and it allows of the authors being properly remunerated. "Second. It has been very beneficial to compositors, pressmen, electrotypers, and bookbinders, and in our own establishment we have, during the past three years, manufactured a great many books which would otherwise have been manufactured in England, and either the sheets or the bound volumes been imported to this country. "Third. The American author has been benefited, as his writings are more sought for in Europe, and he is on a better footing with foreign publishers, for the reason that they recognize that foreign authors are protected by the same law. "Fourth. The book-purchasing public has not been at all benefited by the international cop} T right law, as they are certainly obliged to pay a larger price for copyrighted books than they paid formerly when pirate publishers were able to produce books at a much lower rate than that at which they are now sold. On the other hand, however, the book-purchasing public are receiving a much better book at the increased price. "Fifth. The law has reduced the sale of books in this country, but has increased the sale of books by American authors in Europe, as man}' of our publishers are sending editions of the most successful books to Europe, where formerly only a very limited quantity was exported. Before this law was enacted the work of every first-class American author was republished in England by English publishers, consequently neither the American author, the American manufac- turer, nor the American employee received any benefit therefrom. "Sixth. Piracy, as practiced previous to the enactment of the pres- ent law, was only beneficial to a small class of cheap publishers and a very small class of cheap printer*. "Seventh. American and European publishers do not now exchange plates to any very great extent. 48 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. "Eighth. I believe that the present law fills every requirement, and I can not suggest any amendment thereto." 38. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, N. Y.: " In so far as the completion of international copyright arrangements between the United States and Great Britain and the United States and continental countries has served to develop (as it certainly has devel- oped) the literary relations of such countries and to place American publishing trade on a more assured and wholesome foundation, it has been of service to publishers and has also furthered the business inter- ests of all concerned with the manufacturing of books. "Under the conditions which obtained prior to the international copyright law American publishers were not in a position to purchase the control of any literary material produced on the other side of the Atlantic, whether the production of such material had been undertaken at their own initiative or not. As a result, American publishers were debarred from entering into contracts with European authors either directly or through their European publishers for the production of books which were really required by American readers and students and which would have proved of service to such readers. It was impossible to pay the compensation required by an author of the first class and, in addition to such payment, to incur the risk and expense of the production of the book, possibly with illustrations or designs, unless there could be some assurance that when the investment had been made the market for the book would be controlled by the investor. Experiments were from time to time made in arranging for books by foreign authors, but whenever such books secured for themselves any preliminary attention with prospect of remunerative sale unauthorized editions were promptly issued which, being cheaply put together and often incomplete, and which being free of any burden of payment to the author, and being also in a position to take advantage of the adver- tising done for the authorized edition, were able to compete effectively with such authorized edition. The unauthorized reprinters did not themselves make much profit from such ventures, as, in their close competition with each other, they brought their selling prices down below the margin of safe profit for speculative publications. They were able, however, to prevent the original publishers from securing profit, and in so doing with the books which were thus pirated they naturally discouraged future similar undertakings. "Under present conditions American publishers make the necessary international arrangements either directly with the authors or through foreign publishers or in cooperation with foreign publishers, under which they are able to secure the preparation by experts in each division of knowledge of the best and most authoritative works in such division. The amount of the payment to the author being divided between two or more markets, becomes a proportionately smaller INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 49 charge upon each edition produced of the book. A similar division of cost can be made in the matter of the illustrations. Such division of cost between the several markets enables books of the highest class, carefulry manufactured, and adequately illustrated with designs or maps, to be offered to American buyers at very much lower prices than would otherwise have been practicable. In connection with the development of the business of selling in the United States authorized American editions of works by English and continental authors, there has also been a development in the sale in Great Britain and on the continent of authorized editions of works by American authors. The larger results of such sales have naturally gone to the authors, but in certain cases the publishers who have themselves become the owners of the copyrights have benefited directly, while they have also secured benefit from time to time in dividing with an English edition the cost of the typesetting of the book, sending to England the American - made plates, and in dividing with the English edition the cost of the illustrations. "All the trades having to do with the manufacturing of books- compositors, bookbinders, pressmen, paper manufacturers, etc. have benefited through this wholesome development of American publish- ing interests. My individual opinion is opposed to the conclusion that any substantial advantage has come to the American book manufac- turing trades as a result of the provision in the law making American manufacture a condition of American copyright. There is, in any case, under present conditions a sufficiency of work for all the work- men engaged in the production of books. Irrespective of the manu- facturing condition included in the copyright law, the importation of English editions of books for American buyers would not have become considerable enough to interfere with American book manufacturing interests. American book buyers have their own special tastes and requirements, and the style in which books are manufactured in Eng- land does not, as a rule, meet these requirements. There is also, under the present conditions of duty, no sufficient advantage in the importa- tion of English editions or of English plates as compared with the cost of typesetting, making plates, or printing the books on this side. There is some advantage, of course, in the English-market cost under the heading of paper, typesetting, and binding; also in the wages paid to higher class pressmen. On the other hand, electrotyping it cheaper and better on this side, and higher class presswork is cheaper in pro- portion to the results secured. It is my opinion that if there had been no manufacturing conditions in the copyright law, there would have been no reduction in the amount of book manufacturing done on this side. There might have been a little larger business in the exchange of plates between English and American publishers. American pub- lishers are, however, in the present condition of bookmaking, now in S. Doc. 87 4 50 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. a position to export for sale in England books and plates, and such sales are increasing. "The interests of authors, foreign and American, have been fur- thered through the development of the markets to be controlled by them, and there has been a very material increase in the amounts that could be earned by the more distinguished of these authors who had won for themselves a world-wide popularity. This field is open to Ameri- can writers, as to English, and under present conditions it constitutes a 'fair field with no favor,' and American writers have secured their fair share. Under the conditions obtaining prior to international copy- right, foreign authors secured at haphazard an uncertain remuneration from their American readers, American authors secured but trifling returns from English readers, and American authors did not have a fair competition in the office of American publishers or with the Ameri- can book-buying public, at least in regard to fiction or other light lit- erature, with books which had to compete with the low-priced piracy editions of volumes by foreign authors. "This advantage to the authors has been gained without any detri- ment or disadvantage to the book-purchasing public. In one particu- lar line of literature copyrighted books are higher in price than was the case before the law, namely, fiction. It is now necessary to pay from $1 to $1.50 for books by English authors which in the piracy edi- tions could have been purchased at 50 cents, and sometimes even for 25 cents. It is to be borne in mind, however, that the book as now sold presents an authorized, complete, and correct text, and is decently printed and suitable for preservation. The previous piracy editions were flimsy in make, inaccurate in text, often seriously incomplete, and were fitted but for one reading, and often not properly for that. Even in fiction the $1 paid to-day may easily secure better final value than the 50 cents or 25 cents paid in 1890. In classes of literature other than fiction there has been no increase, and in the all-important division of higher class educational books, scientific literature, popular histories, etc., the larger quantities printed, the division above referred to between several markets of the cost of authorship and of the cost of illustrations, have enabled the publishers to give to the buyers bet- ter material for a lower price. The new conditions have also enabled many international series to be produced, of which under the earlier conditions the public would never have had the advantage at all. ' ' There has been a normal and wholesome increase in the amount of books sold, an increase which is indicated partly by the steady increase in the amounts paid in Washington for copyright entries on books. I have at hand, however, no data which will enable me to estimate the percentage of such increase. "The piracy conditions as practiced prior to 1891 were beneficial in a measure only to the very cheapest grade of printers. Even these INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 51 printers have since found satisfactory business in other channels of bookmaking. Such piracy was for a short time profitable to a small group of unscrupulous publishers. The firms in this group, however, in fierce competition with each other, soon brought their margin of profit down below the safety point. Even before the passage of the copyright law the piracy publishers were largely going into bank- ruptcy. The enactment of the copyright act brought the business of a number of them to a close, while others, more intelligent and more enterprising, changed their methods, and have since secured under copyright conditions a more assured position and more substantial returns. "There is some business done by American publishers, as above stated, in the sale of plates to Great Britain. It is also occasionally still advantageous, particularly in the case of illustrated works, to pur- chase from English publishers the plates of works the typesetting of which has been done in Great Britain. By reason, however, of the fact that English typesetting is often not suited to the requirements of American book publishers, purchases of plates do not constitute a very considerable item. It is also the case that in printing an American edition from English plates the possibility of securing American copyright is forfeited. The practice obtains, therefore, usually only in the case of larger and more costly works which it would not pay an unauthorized reprinter to reset. u The provisions of the present <-op3 r right law should, in my judg- ment, be changed in the following respects: "First. There should be an increase in the term of copyright. The present American term (28 years, with the right of renewal for author, for widow, or for child, of 14 years) is the shortest term of copyright in force in any book-producing country. The term should be extended as a minimum to that in force in Germany the life of the author and 30 years thereafter. This is the term recommended in the copyright act now pending in the British Parliament. An author should be given the opportunity of accumulating through his labors property for his children and, for that matter, for his grand- children. The latter condition is recognized by the eop3 T right term of France and of Russia the life of the author and 50 years. "Second. The manufacturing condition should be eliminated from the law. It is entirely illogical to couple with the recognition of the right of copyright a condition forcing the producer of the copyrighted property to do his manufacturing with one set of printers or another. As far as it is necessary to guard American manufacturing interests, these should be cared for under the tariff system. G. P. Putnam's Sons are printers and book manufacturers as well as publishers. It is their belief, however, as above indicated, that in the present conditions of American expansion and of American skilled labor, book manufac- 52 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. turing interests in this country need not dread European competition. In case the manufacturing conditions should, for any term of years, be left in the law, steps should be taken as promptly as practicable to remove the special grievance now existing on the part of European authors whose works require to be translated. France, Germany, Italy, and Spain have extended to American- authors the privileges possessed by their native writers, while the United States has given to the authors of these countries no privileges which are really equiva- lent. It may not be practicable for a number of years, in connection with the continued approval given by the majority of our citizens to the so-called protective system, to remove from our copyright act the condition of manufacturing within the United States. It will also probably be necessary to retain in the act, in connection with the manufacturing provision, the condition of simultaneous publication. The act should, however, provide that an exception to this require- ment for simultaneous publication should be made in the case of a work originally issued in a foreign language. Such a work could be registered for copyright in regular course, with a title page in English, and with two copies of the original text submitted for purposes of identification as preliminary deposits, with the provision that, within a specific term (say 12 months) after the date of such registration, publication be made of an English version, an edition of which should be printed, according to the manufacturing condition, from "type set within the United States." If, within that date, no edition should be produced, the producers of which had complied with the conditions of the American act, the right to reproduce the work in English might then fall into the public domain. A provision to such effect, while by no means sufficient to do full justice to European authors, would secure to such of those authors as really had an American reading public awaiting their books the substantial advantages of American copy- right. I do not see any other way in which foreign authors can obtain the benefits intended by the act as long as the manufacturing condi- tion and the provision for simultaneous publication are retained. Such a provision would be in line with the arrangements now in force between the European states (under the Berne convention) covering the similar requirements for translated works. '"Finally, I venture to repeat a suggestion which I have more than once had occasion to put into print, that the framing of a satisfactory copyright act, which shall have for its purpose an equitable and ade- quate protection for the producers of intellectual property and which shall be so worded as to carry out that purpose effectively, should be intrusted to a commission of experts. Such a commission should comprise representatives of the several interests to be considered, pro- ducers of works of literature, producers cf works of art, publishers of books, and publishers of art works. The commission should also INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 53 include at least one skilled copyright lawyer, and it may be in order to add some representative of the general public who would have no direct property interest in the results of such a bill as may be framed. All existing copyright systems of the world excepting that of the United States have been the work of such commissions of experts. The members of these commissions have had authority to summon witnesses and to take testimony, and after having devoted sufficient time to the mastery of the details of a subject which is of necessity complex and which certainly calls for expert training and expert experience, they have presented their conclusions in the form of a report containing the specifications of -the legislation recommended. The copyright laws of the states of Europe have, without an exception, been based upon such recommendations. The Government of the United States stands alone in having relied for its copyright legisla- tion solely upon the conclusions that could be arrived at by Congres- sional committees. However intelligent the members of such committees might be, and however conscientious the interest given by these Congressmen or by some among them to the subject, experience has shown that it is not practicable to secure wise and trustworthy^ copyright legislation in this manner. Whenever we may be able to overcome that prejudice which declines to take advantage of the expe- rience and the example of the states of Europe in connection with the solution of problems and questions similar to our own, we shall doubt- less decide to try the experiment of instituting a commission of experts for the reforming of our copyright law." 39. Paul E. Reynold*, New York, N. Y. : "Has the international copyright law been beneficial to the publish- ers or bookbinders and manufacturers? I should say that it had been distinctly beneficial, because it has enabled them to use judgment in purchasing such foreign books as seem to them likely to succeed in this market and to publish and- push them with all the energy they could. It gave an inducement to a man to use care and discrimination in selecting books and abilitj" in putting them on the market, because he knew that he would be protected ^and would be able to secure the profits of his ventures if they were successful. In short, it made a stable business of what had previously been an unstable and cut-throat one. As to its benefits to compositors and bookbinders and printers, I should think it ought to benefit them. The fact that a publisher is protected to a large extent in his business enables him to pay his employees better wages and gives them more certainty of maintaining their positions than if he were maintaining an uncertain business into which other men continually cut, which is always hazardous. u Of course, before the international copyright law, when a book became popular it might be reprinted by many houses and as many sets of plates might be made. This would give work to a large num- 54 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. ber of men. In answer to this it is to be remembered that very often where a man intends to reprint an uncopyrighted book he will go to a publisher who is to issue the book and say, 4 1 intend to reprint such and such a book. Are you willing to sell me a duplicate set of plates at a price which would allow you a reasonable profit for the making of such plates? If you are not, I shall reprint the book; and, though it will cost me a little more, you will also lose some money that you might make on the venture.' As a rule, the first man yields and sells him a duplicate set of plates. In this way there is not so much money for the compositor. "With regard to authors, of course foreign authors have benefited very much by the copyright law. As to American authors, I think they have probably been benefited too, for they do not have the competition of numerous cheap English books, sold at very low prices because they did not pay any royalty to the author, while on the American book of course a royalty had to be paid to the author. Of course American authors have also benefited by the fact that the law enables them to seek foreign markets and reap the advantages. 11 ' With regard to the public it is very hard to say. There can be no question that it is of great advantage to the public to get literature as cheap as possible. Of course they do not get foreign books that are copyright as cheap as they did before the copyright law. This, how- ever, is partly mitigated by the fact that the popular novel is almost always reprinted in cheap paper form after a while. After the pub- lisher has become convinced that he has got all the sale possible out of the book, say at $1.50, he reprints it at 50 cents, or possibly at less, so j that the poorer class of people, who can not afford to pay a large price, have access to the book, only they have to wait some time before they get it. I do not think, however, it can be denied that the noncopy- right books are sold much more cheaply on the whole. Of course a book generally has to be a good many years old before it can be con- sidered a standard book, and on this basis most of the standard books are noncopyright, and can therefore be obtained by the public at very low prices. Where the public loses is probably on the popular novels of the day. They do also, I think, lose to a certain extent on scien- tific books of a popular character. Undoubtedly numbers of people who read such a book as Robert Elsmere would never have read it if it had been a copyright book. It is also certain that a great many . people would read a book like Brice's American Commonwealth if it ; were noncopyright and were printed in cheap form. (I think I ami right in stating that Brice's American Commonwealth is copyright.) I think the law has increased the selling price of books. "I have already said that I think in the days of piracy, as prac-l ticed before the enactment of the present law, there were probably;; INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 55 more copies of a book printed and more sets of plates in use than now, but I doubt if the wages paid were as high or the work as steady, because the profit to be made was small at best, and was of an uncer- tain and feverish nature. You had got to print and sell your book in a hurry, and all the time there were a number of other men trying to undersell you. This of course had its efl'ect on the wages of the employees. "As to the publishers, I think there can be no doubt that piracy was not beneficial in the mass. ''I am asked whether American and European publishers exchange plates. Of course where the book is copyright it has to be printed in this country; where it is not copyright, plates are sometimes sold, not, in m}^ experience, very commonly, however, partly because American publishers do not like English plates and partly because, in the case of noncopyright books, editions are often purchased rather than the plates. The main reason for not purchasing plates is that English publishers commonly use stereotype plates and American publishers commonly use electrotype plates. When the copyright law went into effect English publishers thought there would be a great saving to them in buying a book printed in this country and having two sets of plates made, one to be sent to England and the other to remain here. It was found, however, that so much trouble was involved by having proofs shipped back and forth to the author in England and by the objection that the American printers made to locking up their type while they waited for proof from the author, and there was so much difficulty with the English authors that I do not think the practice prevails very commonly. It may, however, be done to some extent by English houses having branches in this country. It is also the case that the English publishers can set up a book in type and the printer will keep the type standing for a year or so, thus enabling the publisher to see whether the book is going to succeed or not. If it does not succeed, the type is broken up; if it does succeed, plates are made. In this way an Englishman can print his book, at least as far a.s the plates are concerned, so cheaply that it does not pay him to buy plates of an American publisher. English publishers do, to a certain extent, buy plates from the American publishers in the case of Amer- ican books. "As to my opinion on the American cop} T right law, I am hardly prepared to answer the question without giving it more thought than I am able to at this time. It seems to be the general opinion, how- ever, among American publishers that the law ought to be amended so as to strike out the simultaneous clause; that it does not do any good, and that it simply increases the difficulties of copyrighting a foreign book." 56 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 40. diaries ticribner's Sons, New York, N. Y.: ' ' In our opinion the law has been beneficial to all concerned pub- lishers, book manufacturers, and others. "It has benefited publishers in that it has enabled them to reprint recent English books in America and make a profit on them, which had become almost impossible when there was no protection. And it has also benefited them in the publication of American books. Upon American books publishers must certainly pay the author in some form, and when these books competed with similar books of foreign authorship upon which no payment was made to the author the situa- tion was manifestly unfair. "We are not manufacturers ourselves, but of course w.e have a great amount of manufacturing done directly for us. We have not the statistics at hand, but we believe it will be found that the law has benefited all those engaged in the manufacture of books by giving th*em more work and better prices. We know that the cost of compo- sition has risen since the law was passed. "The benefit to the foreign author under the law is too plain to require argument. The American author has been benefited, in our opinion, in that there is more encouragement for the publisher to pay the American author when he can not take for nothing the works of English authors. It is an interesting fact that since the law was passed books which have the greatest sales in America are by native authors, such as Churchill's Richard Carvel, Wescott's David Harum, Major's When Knighthood was in Flower, Ford's Janice Meredith, Page's Red Rock, etc. , whereas a few years ago such a list would be made up almost entirely of books of foreign authorship. "The book-purchasing public are furnished with better books, of higher class and better made, and at a low price. It may be that they are deprived of the old 10-cent paper quarto, like the Franklin Square Library and the Seaside Library, containing almost exclusively novels, but in our opinion that business could not have continued in any case, for there was no profit in it. ISow they are furnished with the best literature in 10-cent magazines, which might have been impossible if those magazines had to compete with the old libraries. "The number of books sold has undoubtedly increased. We have not the statistics at hand to give the percentage of increase. "We can not answer this question concerning the effect of piracy on printers and publishers further than it has been already answered. Undoubtedly some pirates made money, and many of them failed. The same is true of the publishers. We think the printers are busy now and are getting fair prices. "The effect of the law has been that more plates are made in Amer- ica than before. In order to secure copyright a book must be set up in America, and this frequently causes the foreign publisher to have INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 57 his typesetting done here, and after an edition is printed the plates are exported. "In our opinion the international copyright law is somewhat defect- ive in so far as it applies to books in foreign languages. The effect of the law is at present somewhat uncertain with respect to such books and the protection is insufficient. We think that a copyright obtained here for a translation published simultaneously with the original work (which of course requires American resetting) should give the author and his agents the exclusive right of translation. At present, in order to secure that exclusive right, it is necessary to set up the book here in the original language, and the sale for such a version is not large enough in most cases to make it desirable. There is also the additional complication that if the book is set up here in the original language the importation of the book in that language for sale here is forbidden by law. We think it should be possible to secure a valid copyright for the exclusive right of translation without interfering with the importation of the work in the original language, and at present this is impossible." 41. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, N. Y.: " The international copyright law has been decidedly beneficial to publishers and book manufacturers, as a whole. "It has been so chiefly because it gave certainty in the place of the previous uncertainty, and enabled publishers to put in operation lib- eral plans for the manufacture of editions and for advertising, etc. , on the basis of their knowledge that the ground would not be cut away from under their feet. "As a result of this new condition, enterprising publishers have exploited copyrighted books more fully than ever previously and have increased their sales enormously. Incidental!} 7 , the publishers of newspapers and periodicals have benefited by the new state of affairs, because of the increased amounts of advertising given them by publishers. "Compositors, bookbinders, pressmen, and employees generally have shared in the results of the increased manufacture and sale of books under the new regime, because of the greater number of copies of books made, and consequently the greater amount of employment given. "Authors, both foreign and American, have benefited greatly, both directly and indirectly. Directly the foreign author has secured the royalties to which he was justly entitled on the sales of his books in this countiy, and the American author has in a similar way secured his royalties abroad. Indirectly both have shared the prosperity caused by the greatly increased output of books since the passage of the law. ' ' The book-purchasing public has certainly shown its appreciation 58 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. of the new conditions by buying more books than ever previously in the history of the American book trade. "In our opinion this is due to some extent to the knowledge on the part of the public that it was safe to purchase a book when it first appeared without fear that at any time one or more competing editions might be issued. American publishers have shown consideration for that part of the public desiring cheap books by issuing low-priced editions of most of the popular books of the day within a few years of first publication. "The taste for reading has been fostered under the new conditions, and the public has certainly been a gainer because of this. "We do not think that the prices of books have been changed materially either way by the new law. "'Piracy,' as practiced prior to the enactment of the present law, was not beneficial to printers, because the unsettled state of affairs then existing did not result in their getting as much work as the} r now secure. "Piracy may have been beneficial, and probably was so, to a certain number of low-class publishers. Many of these publishers, however, still find sufficient material for their uses in books whose authors do not incur the trouble and expense of copyrighting in this countiy, and in the vast amount of literature whose copyright has expired. "American publishers, as a rule, sell electrotype plates of inter- national cop} 7 right books to British publishers, but buy none of these from them. "In our opinion, the law should be amended by removing the manu- facturing clause, although this company is benefited by this clause in that it frequently sells duplicate plates to British publishers that would not be sold if the latter did not know that it is impossible for us to purchase such plates from them. The manufacturing clause benefits electrotypers in this country, but should be removed as a matter of right and justice. "A serious objection to the present law, in our opinion, is the requirement that publication in this country shall be made on or before the time of publication of any work in question in foreign countries. "The law should be amended so as to give a period of at least a year within which publication can be made to secure copyright in this country after publication abroad. The result will be to give copy- right to many deserving works that now lose it because their authors are unknown at the time of publication, and to remove the great annoyance caused American publishers, compositors, electrotypers, and printers by the necessity for simultaneous publication." 42. J. F. Taylor & Co., New York, N. Y.: ' ' This establishment believes the law to have been generally benefi- cial in its effects; that ' it is fair and advantageous for the majority on the present basis.'" INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 59 13. D. Van Nostrand Company, New York, N~. Y. : "The law has been beneficial to the American publisher in so far as the tendency may exist thereby for foreign authors to ayail themselves of the protection of a copyright in this country under the law as it now exists, and thus induce them to arrange to have their works pub- lished here. This tendency is, in my view, likely to increase. " Compositors, printers, etc., are thus indirectly interested, inasmuch as the law requires that the books copyrighted by foreign authors must be made in this country. "Without question it is my idea that foreign authors, perhaps in some lines of literature more than in others, are interested in the ques- tion in so far as it gives them a protection. With writers other than the English the question may be of no moment, for a translation of a French or German work (or other than these, of course) is protected by the domestic law. So far as rival translations may exist, the ques- tion of law is open to more considerations. My idea is that the for- eign author should be protected in the matter of translations of his works in some way. "To the book-purchasing public the question may not be one of moment, in so far as the law may interfere in the production of cheap reprints of foreign works. This ' piratical ' view is one not enter- tained by the educated or higher-toned class, and my view is that it should have no weight at all in the matter. The moral tendencies of the better class of American publishers before the existence of the present international law induced them to pay foreign authors for their works, in the face of no protection from the ' pirate.' "It is doubtful if the law has had any effect either way upon the price of literature at large. To some extent it has prevented cheap reprints of many of the more popular books, especially fiction. The question of percentage of increase in price may be of difficult solution. My idea is, however, that it will be found to be small. "'Piracy,' so called, could not be beneficial. My ideas, however, are based purely upon the moral aspect of the whole matter. Doubt- less much profits were made in the past on reprints in this country of the works of Dickens, Bulwer, etc., the same as in Europe on Mrs. Stowe's, Longfellow's, and some other American-written books, but in my view of the case that is no argument. The conditions of com- petition between rival 'pirates' prevented any substantial business benefits to them, and I feel convinced that the present conditions are more satisfactory to both the English and American publishers. "I am not in a position to say whether any exchanges of plates are made. It is quite possible duplicate sets of plates of English authors have been made in this country and one set sent to England, but to what extent this may have been done I have no data to formulate an opinion on. If such conditions should exist now or at any time, it 60 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. would naturally be thought to be favorable to the manufacturing- interests here. "My opinion has been that the law was working satisfactorily. That it may not be perfect in all its details goes without saying, nor am I at all clear how it could be changed for the better. That some 'piracy' continues I am quite aware of, and in view of this fact the question of whether the manufacturing clause in the law should be eliminated is one for careful consideration. My opinion in this matter is, however, that it would open the whole question in an undesirable way, from the fact that the manufacturing interests would oppose any such elimination. "In conclusion I would add that if at any time the question of any material change in the present law should be agitated, the pertinent course, in my judgment, would be that a competent committee be appointed who could take full and unbiased testimony, and in this way to formulate an opinion that would carry weight with it, based on the data and the facts presented, and could thereby recommend in their report such action as in their view would be desirable." 44. American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pa. : ' ' On the whole the law has been beneficial both to publishers and book manufacturers. Before the enactment of the law there were some publishers who were doubtless greatly benefited; but the pub- lishers of American books by American authors were put to consider- able disadvantage, as those publishers who were issuing editions of foreign books unprotected by copyright were floating the country with cheap books which interfered greatly with the general trade. The international copyright law has steadied the market and protected home interests. "Generally speaking, the international copyright law has been beneficial to the classes of employees mentioned in these questions. It has stimulated home production; it has offered protection against the flooding of the country by cheap editions of foreign books. "There can be no doubt, I should say, that all authors have been greatly benefited by the international copyright law. Probably foreign authors have been more benefited than American, as American books generally have not very much vogue abroad. Still, American books are rated very much higher to-day in the English market than they were ten years ago. " It is almost impossible to answer these questions from our point of view. We publish mainly denominational and religious books, and with these, except in rare instances, the international copyright law does not amount to much. I think, however, that the book-purchasing public is rather benefited by the law than otherwise, as publishers have been protected by the law, and have thus been enabled to give the public better and cheaper books. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 61 "Whether it is on account of the law or not, it is a fact that the selling price of books is about 20 per cent less to-da} T than it was five years ago, generally speaking. It may be that this is due to the stimulation of production growing out of the fact that protection is given both to authors and publishers in the general markets of the world by the law. "To some printers and publishers piracy was doubtless beneficial. To publishers like ourselves or to printers employed by houses like ours it was very far from beneficial, as it flooded the markets with cheap books, and greatly hindered the publication of standard books, especially by American authors. "Occasionally American and European publishers exchange plates. The more general plan, however, is to purchase or sell in flat sheets. "It is our judgment that the law as it now stands is an excellent one, protecting both publishers and authors throughout the civilized world, and that it would be a mistake to repeal it or to essentially change it It might be well to change the law so as not to require simultaneous issue of books in countries where copyrights are taken. This sometimes interferes with the immediate issue of books for which the public has been waiting, and which publishers of this country wish to get upon the market at once in answer to the demand. Still, communications are now so rapid between Europe and America that from ten days to two weeks are all that is required to comply with this provision of the law, and I am of the opinion that no very great hardship is suffered. On the whole, we are in favor of the law as it now stands, with this possible exception." -to. P. Bl&cki$ton?8 Son cfe Co., Philadelphia, Pa.: "The international cop^a-ight law has been of benefit to us as pub- lishers and to the manufacturers of books, as it has thrown into the hands of the workmen of this country the manufacture of certain books that would otherwise have been imported. "It has been of advantage to compositors, bookbinders, pressmen, the employees of paper manufacturers, etc., as it has allowed of the manufacture of certain books in this country which would have other- w.ise been imported, and in at least one case of a very large book, the manufacture of which cost many thousands of dollars, it has allowed of our manufacturing a foreign book in this country to supply both the American and foreign markets. "It has been beneficial to the foreign author, without any doubt. In our special branch of publishing we can not say that it has been of great advantage to the American author, because the American author's book would doubtless have been published anyhow. In other words, a scientist of high standing can always find a publisher for a practical scientific book. "It has been of advantage to the purchasing public to a certain extent. 62 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. "The law in question has not increased the selling price of books. We fix our prices now upon the same general rules as we used before the law went into effect. These prices are largely dependent upon competition. "The advantages and disadvantages of piracy before the enactment of the law about met each other. We think, however, that we were influenced to import more foreign books, rather than to reprint them, owing to the supposed danger of cheap reprints being issued by unauthorized parties. ' ' We occasionally purchase plates of foreign books, chiefly of books that we could not afford to set the type of, and which we would other- wise import. In our branch of the business we very seldom, if ever, sell plates abroad. The foreign market for American scientific books is not large enough to warrant the exportation of plates to any large extent. "Our general opinion of the operation and effect of the interna- tional copyright law is that it has worked to the good of all parties concerned. We firmly believe in the clause requiring books to be manufactured in this country. We believe that the law could be altered to advantage in regard to the clause requiring simultaneous publication. This is especially true of translations." 46. Drexel Biddle, Philadelphia, Pa.: "The international copyright law has been of great benefit both to publishers and to book manufacturers. To publishers because it cre- ates a value on the works of foreign authors, and allows one certain publisher to acquire and own works which would otherwise be common property to all, and hence of no value, save from the point of the small profits obtainable by close competition in the cutting of prices, which latter is not necessar} 7 in view of the copyright law which allows ownership and protects against 'piracy.' "The copyright law is a benefit to the book manufacturer because he can get better prices, being unhampered by close competition, in that he has articles which others are not allowed to duplicate. "The international cop3 T right law is of benefit to compositors, book- binders, pressmen, and empWees generally, in that their employers, the book manufacturer or the publisher, or both, obtain better prices, and hence pay better salaries. "The international copyright law is of benefit to foreign authors, in that it allows them to command prices for their work which before the law's enforcement was valueless in the United States, and hence could be taken by publishers without either the asking or payment therefor. ' ' The law is of benefit to the American author because the work of the foreign author can not be bought at a lower price, it being of equal value to its publisher. The works of the American authors INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 63 were handicapped in their sale before the enactment of the law when works of foreign authors undersold them. "The copyright law has been of great benefit to the book-purchas- ing public, who since its enactment are now able to secure the works of foreign authors from American publishers in as good and often h' nor editions, from the book-making standpoint, than as the original for- eign editions. Expensive types, good paper, and de luxe editions for works by foreign authors are now profitable for publishers, and hence obtainable by the book buyer. And yet competition among publishers, created by the enactment of the law, for each successive work by worthy foreign authors enables various publishers to secure different [editions] of the works, hence creating competition for their sale and keeping prices down and fair to the buyer. "The law has increased the selling price of books, each book being a monopoly in that it can not be published by more than a single pub- lisher invested with the care or proprietorship of its copyright. The cost for the American editions of the works of foreign authors, while being advanced some 60 per cent above the cost at which said editions were obtainable before the law's enactment, has been productive of the result that the workmanship in the books has improved some 60 per cent. " ' Piracy,' as practiced prior to the enactment of the law in question, was detrimental to printers, in that its keynote was the competition in cheapness of the manufacture, and hence in the low rates obtainable by printers for their work. " Piracy ' was detrimental to publishers because it allowed unlimited competition in cheap production, which necessitated small returns. Since foreign authors have been able to obtain prices for their work in America, publishers have been enabled to secure sole rights to publish, and hence to secure better returns. " The exchange of plates between American and European publishers is discouraged to America by the heavy duty required on importation. "The exchange of plates to the European publisher is discouraged because labor is cheaper abroad, and hence plates can be made cheaper there than in this country. "The international copyright law is, as a whole, highly beneficial, and in fact a necessity for the advancement and enlargement of Ameri- can book-publishing business. "The method by which American copyright of works by Americans as well as foreign authors that are to be published abroad must be secured is ofttimes of great inconvenience as well as expense to the American publisher. And it sometimes happens that under the pres- ent requirements of the American copyright law American publishers lose copyrights for themselves and for their authors, American as well as foreign. The reason for this is the impatience of the foreign pub- lisher who publishes when he is ready, being unrequired to await the 64 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. convenience of the American publisher. And the latter is required by American law, if he would secure copyright, to have deposited com- plete printed copies with the Librarian of Congress on or before the date of foreign publication. "Now, where he has insufficient time in which to type-set and print he loses the copyright. A clause in the law putting the American publisher to such disadvantage seems unfair. "Now, the law requiring simultaneous publication dates might be maintained and yet the law might be modified. Type-written title pages deposited with the Librarian of Congress copyrights the title of a work. Why could not an amendment be made whereby the type-written copies of the text or body of the work could be deposited with the Librarian of Congress and made to secure ownership and copyright? This single technicality seems to be the only flaw in an otherwise perfect inter- national copyright law, and it is a flaw which causes many a loss of copyright. "I should like to add a word regarding the subject of dutv on the import of foreign books. "The charge of this duty does not in the long run seem to benefit the American manufacturer, for there are many uncopyrighted books which are not imported on account of this duty and for which there is hence no American demand created. With the import duty on books dispensed with, small quantities would find their way to America, which would create a demand and result in additional work to the manu- facturer, for it would be cheaper to meet the increasing demand by manufacturing large editions on this side than by buying them abroad. " The business of the importer of foreign books is greatly curtailed by the risks he must run and the expense he must go to before he can secure his stock for exhibition to American buyers. He can open no consignment accounts abroad but is obliged to buy outright, and hence can not carry the variety of stock which might otherwise be within his grasp to secure. " The educational interests of the country are at stake, and were there no duty on the importation of foreign books volumes would find their way into the public and private libraries of this country, which are now excluded from American shores and must be sought for reference in foreign libraries and of foreign publishers by Ameri- cans of research, whose self-appointed duty it is to write works of education and instruction." 47. Charles Foster Publishing Company, Philadelphia, Pa. : "The international copyright law has been beneficial to publishers and all allied trades and professions, as it has encouraged home pro- duction. "Compositors have been directly benefited, as the law has put an end to the photo-reproduction of the type of English books. Book- INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 65 binders and pressmen are busier than at any time since I have been in the publishing 1 business, and produce more books, hence I should say they were benefited by present conditions. "Authors in the United States benefit by the protection afforded them by the international copyright law in the same measure that dealers in merchandise benefit by laws protecting them from competi- tion by dealers in stolen goods. "The public in America now benefits by the encouragement given native talent, which is building up a national literature. Literature stands in the same need of protection as any other industry. "The international copyright law has had no effect whatever on the ] trice of the hooks made in the United States. With the exception of lowest grade, cheap, paper-bound books, publishers in the United States have always paid authors, printers, binders, and paper makers fair prices for their product. This governs the price of books. Publishers of the low-grade, paper-boon*} books, on the other hand, never pay an author a cent, as they depend on copying foreign books free of charge. They pay the paper maker, printer, and binder as little as possible for the poorest and lowest grade of labor and mate- rial. Not satisfied even yet with these cutthroat methods they suc- ceed in getting transportation practically free by calling their books 'libraries 1 or 'serials' and entering them at the post-office as second- class matter carried at the rate of ' 1 cent per pound,' whereas publish- ers of honest books pay '8 cents per pound.' "'Piracy,' as practiced prior to the enactment of the international copyright law, was most beneficial to the publishers of the class of 'books' just referred to. Grist was required to keep their mills run- ning, and they found it by printing everything in sight not protected by law. Since personal property , in literature has benefited by enlightened laws, which recognize that it is not to be stolen with impunity, any more than merchandise, their mills have run a little- short of grist. Labor has not suffered, as printers, paper makers, bookbinders, etc., have their hands full of higher grade work. The only sufferers have been a few pirate captains, who for years have swept the seas clean of unprotected literary treasures and trash. "'Plates are not exchanged to any extent, so far as I know, by pub- lishers in this and foreign countries. "The operation of the international copyright law benefits and elevates the profession of book making, and in my opinion has right and justice on its side. The world and its people are constantly grow- ing closer together, and place of residence should not extenuate rob- bery. What belongs to a man in America, England, Germany, or France, should belong to him in all these countries and mutual inter- change on a basis of fairness and justice will benefit all. "If any change should be contemplated in the present international S. Doc. 87 5 66 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. copyright law, I think the clause relating to simultaneous publication should be altered, as it does no good and requires one or the other side to lose three or four months' time in bringing out a book."' 48. Tlie Curtis Publishmg Company, Philadelphia, Pa.: "Replying to your several inquiries with regard to the present international copyright law, I beg to say that I believe it works greatly to the advantage of both authors and legitimate publishers. The fact that American books were never so much read in Great Britain as they are to-day would seemingly tend to show that the copyright act has been of distinct advantage to writers on this side of the water. " Its effect on the reading public has been to keep off the market a great number of pirated editions of popular authors, but as authorized editions of books by these writers may be obtained at reasonable prices I do not think that the book-buying public has suffered any wrong, and except in a few instances so few as to be negligible I do not think that the selling price of current books has been materially altered by the act in question ; nor do I think that its effect on labor has been other than good. 44 What seems to me to be the principal defect of the law, as it stands at the present time, is the requirement of simultaneous publication. In order to compty with this clause of the law the publication of a timely article or book must often be delayed from ten days to two weeks, and publishers are put to considerable expense and inconven- ience thereby. If the law was so altered that duplicate copies of copy- righted books might be entered at Stationer's Hall any time within sixty or ninety days after actual publication in the United States, it would be a distinct advantage to both writer and publisher." 49. George W. Jacob* <& Co., Philadelphia, P.: "'The law has been beneficial to publishers for the reason that it has enabled them to control the sale of books by foreign authors; and to book manufacturers for the reason that it has raised the standard of book manufacturing, in that the tendency under the old order of things was to cheapness, and this we think detrimental to any business. k4 It has been beneficial to compositors, bookbinders, pressmen, and employees generally for the reason that the law requires all books by foreign authors to be manufactured in the United States. "It has been beneficial to authors, foreign and American, for the reason that foreign authors receive a royalty under the international copyright law which they did not receive previous to its enactment: beneficial to American authors for the reason that they do not now havo to enter into competition with cheap reprints of foreign authors. 44 It has been detrimental to the book-purchasing public to the extent that the book-purchasing public undoubtedly pay more for the copy- righted works of foreign authors than they did before; but beneficial in view of the fact that they have not now foisted upon them books of INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 67 questionable merit which were reprinted in a great many cases simply to retain the 'library' feature in order to obtain second-class postage rates. "The law has undoubtedly increased the price of copyrighted books by foreign authors published in America, possibly from 50 to 100 per cent. This increase in cost is accounted for from the fact that such books are now published by first-class houses who will have nothing but first-class work, and in a great majority of cases special cover designs, binders' dies, illustrations, etc., have to be provided, and this additional expense in connection with the royalties paid to the foreign authors accounts for this apparently large percentage of increase. " We should sa} r that piracy was detrimental to both printers and publishers; to printers for the reason that it was a question of how cheaply they could produce a book, to publishers for the reason that previous to the enactment of the law it would have been unprofitable for them to have ' published' an edition of any foreign book. "American and European publishers exchange plates, but in the case of American publishers importing plates the copyright privilege does not of course follow. On the contrary, however, plates are fre- quently made by American publishers, and duplicates made therefrom and sent to European publishers. "The international copyright law has on the whole been beneficial, and the only change that we could suggest is that American publishers be granted 90 days at least between the date of foreign publication and the date for perfecting American copyright. We also think the law should be amended so as to provide copyright protection on all translations of the works of authors in the countries where the inter- national copyright law is in force, the author or original publisher to have the sole right to determine who shall make or publish such translations." 50. Keeler-KirltpatrickManufacturing C<>n}< HI, I\i.: " This law, in my opinion, has had very little, if any, effect upon the publication of medical books. "The law requiring that the typesetting, printing, and binding be done in this country should be beneficial to printers, compositors, etc. "Authors, of course, benefit by the law, as it protects them from unauthorized publication of their works. "I can not see that any material increase in the selling price of books is necessitated by the law. " Piracy, as practiced prior to the enactment of the law, was, in my opinion, beneficial chiefly to the piratical publishers. "In the medical line the exchange of plates between American and European publishers is very rare, owing partly to the difficulty of reproducing the half-tone illustrations so extensively employed nowa- days in medical books." 55. P. W. Ziegler & Co,, Philadelphia, P I believe that an open market would lead to more business for these people, and that their wages would certainly not be less, and probably more. However, the clause in the international copyright law which says, ' In order to obtain copyright a foreign book has to bo manufactured in this country.' has had the effect of not hurting these people 1 as much as it would otherwise have done. ""Third. In regard to authors, foreign and American. "'I think there is no question that the foreign author (and by the foreign author I mean particularly the English author) has been largely benefited to the detriment of our own authors. Giving the English author, of course as this act does, the same rights as the American author has brought them into competition, and as I think a fair proportion of authors is about 25 to 1 in favor of the English, you can readily see that this competition is detrimental to the Ameri- can author. Of course this does not apply to the American author that had already obtained a reputation before this law went into force: but it does apply to struggling authors, and those who have attempted to become authors since the law went into effect. In other words, the output of the English authors gives the larger American publishers about all they want to issue, and therefore they are not anxious to bring forward our own authors if their imputation has not yet been established. "I believe that the framers of the international copyright law had intended the effect of this law to help the American author. I held the opinion when the law was passed (and I see no reason to change it) that it did exactly the reverse. ''Fourth. In regard to your question, "Has the law increased or reduced the selling price of books '. ' "I should say that on the newer works the price has been raised from 10 to 20 per cent. On the books that were not covered by the law, or books, of course, which are older, the price has been slightly reduced, I should say about 10 per cent. "Fifth. 'Was piracj^, as practiced prior to the enactment of the present law, beneficial to printers or to publishers?' "I should say in answer to this question that it was undoubtedly favorable to printers and to publishers, generally speaking. "Sixth. 'Do American and European publishers exchange plates V "I can not inform you. The} T probably do to some extent. "Seventh. In regard to the general opinion as to operation and 74 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. effect of the international copyright law, in what respects it should be amended or changed. "1 think you will gather from what I have said that my opinion of the best way to amend it would be to annul it." 3. Ginn cfe Co., Boston, Maxx.: ' ' The question of international copyright law is one which we have not considered very much, as it does not materially affect the school- book business. It has almost wholly to do with general literature. Each country has its own methods of teaching, and the school books of one country can not be pirated in another to advantage. u The law has, however, enabled foreign publishers to come into this country and compete in our own markets to better advantage than they could have done before. They have been given a standing here which they could not have had but for this international copyright law, and on that account it has operated, I think, to the disadvantage of the publishers of our country. "The law has been detrimental to publishers in this country also in bringing in certain conditions which pertain in other lands. For instance, in other countries most publishers send out a very limited number of agents and incur a very small expense for gift copies of books. It is therefore possible for them to pay a higher royalty than we are accustomed to pay here. When these foreign houses come over here and continue this same large royalty it causes the authors of this country to feel that the American houses are unwilling to share as lib- erally with them as they could afford to do. It will be several years before the foreign houses learn that they can not afford to spend an unlimited amount in advertising their books through agents and gift copies and at the same time pay larger copyrights than the publishers of this country are accustomed to paj\ In the meantime the book trade will be a good deal disturbed by this complication, and more or less injuiy will result. " There is also a kind of courtesy generally prevailing in this coun- try among publishers which does not permit them to interfere with each other's authors or agents. Such courtesy, it seems, does not pre- vail among the publishers of other countries, as we have notable examples of quite a different practice." 4. W. B. Conkey Company, Chicago, 111. : "The international copyright law has been detrimental to publishers and book manufacturers generally, but likewise has been beneficial to a very limited number of publishers and book manufacturers, mainly because previously any foreign publications that proved very success- ful abroad was published in this countiy by a number of publishers instead of only one, as at the present time. This necessitated, of course, the book being set up in t} r pe and electrotyped for each pub- lisher, whereas at the present time it requires only one composition on INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 75 account of being handled by only one publishing house. This previ- ously required more work for the printers and electrotypers, and as the competition between publishers was generally very spirited, it resulted in the book being put upon the market at the very lowest retail price, resulting in a very increased sale for the work, which meant more presswork and binding and increased consumption of paper, and while it is true that the margin of profit to publishers on account of the competition was small, yet it enabled a number of pub- lishers to issue the work on account of the small cost for them to enter the field, whereas now there are high bids made to the author by a very few publishers for successful works that are written abroad to-day, which compels the publisher who gets the American edition to charge a very high price for the book, so as to enable him to offer a very large consideration to the author. '"This, of course, shuts out small publishers, as they are unable to enter the field, and reduces the sale of the work that it might other- wise have on account of the high retail price which is asked by the publisher in this country. A comparison of this is shown in the price asked for Trilby as compared with She, and likewise a compari- son in the number of copies issued. "As for the author, as it now stands, a foreign author gets more money than he used to prior to the international copyright act, but it would seem to me if a law could be made whereby the foreign author received either a certain per cent or possibly a flat price per copy roy- alty for each and eveiy copy sold in this country, and if said price was made so as to enable the publishers in this country to retail the book at a low price, permitting any or all publishers to issue the work, as before the international copyright act was passed, it would seem as though the increased sale of the work on account of the energy that would be put into it by the various publishers who wish to publish the work in this country would offset the increased royalty, given by only one publishing house to the author, and would protect the paper makers, printers, electrotypers, and binders by their getting their full share of work. A protection, however, should be furnished a foreign author that would insure him, in a measure at least, that he would receive the proper returns for the sale of his work in this country perhaps a clause compelling each publisher issuing such work to make a sworn accounting semiannually of the number of copies issued and sold, and compelling each publisher before issuing any foreign work for a foreign author that is copyrightable in this country to give a bond in some sum sufficient to protect the author, said bond to be approved by some United States official, either a clerk in the United States court or some proper person. The rough general plan out- lined above would then seem to overcome the reduction in labor that the international copyright law has effected and its turning away the 76 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. issuing of foreign publications from the channels that they used to occupy." 5. Henry Alternm Company, Philadelphia, Pa. : 'The international copyright law has been detrimental to the inter- ests of the American people for the following reasons: "'First. It has placed in the hands of four or five American book pub- lishers a complete monopoly. These few houses, to the exclusion of all others, now issue all the popular English books of the day. In this manner this law practically fosters a trust. "Second. It has raised the price of popular books by English authors to $1 per copy and over which prior to 1891 were sold at 10 cents per copy and upward, according to style. In this way current works of popular English authors are placed beyond the reach of the average reader, who doesn't now, for this reason, enjoy the same opportunities for education and culture as was possible prior to the passage of this law, July 1, 1891. 'Third. It has encouraged English book publishers to open branch offices in New York City, thus diverting to England profits from sale of books in this country. "Fourth. It has prevented the establishment of new book-publish- ing houses, and has thereby discouraged competition and increased prices to the consumer. "Fifth. Numerous small book-publishing houses have been pre- vented from increasing the number of their publications by English authors, as same are now monopolized as stated above. In many instances small publishers have been compelled to go out of business for the lack of opportunity to obtain new books at intervals as fre- quont as was possible prior to passage of this law. "Sixth. It has operated to the detriment of the American author, artist, engraver, book manufacturer, bookbinder, printer, paper manufacturer, and all the allied trades. "American authors. The works of English authors are popularly preferred in the United States to the works of American authors. On this account, as long as English authors are protected here American authors will find it more and more difficult to find publishers willing to exploit their books. On account of the popular preference for the English book, the American publisher will prefer it to the American book, as chances of loss are less in publishing it, and the market for it is more certain than is the case with the book by the American author. " Before the international copyright law went into effect the few American book publishers favored by this law found it unprofitable, owing to competition, to largely exploit books bj r English authors, and gave preference to the work of the American author, which could be copyrighted. Statistics will show that the number of new books by American authors now published each year is less in proportion to INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 77 population than was the case prior. to July 1, 1891, when the inter- national copyright law went into effect. With few exception* the American author has been driven out of the market by his English competitor. '"'American artists ami <>n i' !<[ge, New Yirrk, N. Y: "In my opinion the international copyright law has been detrimental. An American publisher could formerly publish any of the foreign books without paying the author or publisher any royalty. This was an incentive to publishers to make books, and provided more labor to the unemployed than at present. k ' The publisher, being now curtailed in his selections of works to publish, necessarily employs fewer compositors, binders, pressmen, etc. "An American author under the old law could always copyright his work in America. This country is the author's great field. Foreigners are not so apt to go to the expense of making plates and publishing the edition abroad as the Americans are at home. The copyright law, as I look at it, has benefited the foreign author to a very large extent, but has not benefited the American author to any perceptible degree. "The American publisher, now having to pay fhe author for the manuscript, must necessarily charge the purchasing public an increased price for the publication. Since the new law went into effect in 1891, there has been an advance of at least 25 per cent in the cost of books to the public. " Under the law prior to 1891 the publisher was at liberty to pub- lish whatsoever he chose of foreign matter. This was an encourage- ment to the publisher to print foreign works, and of course made labor for the unemployed. "I do not think American and European publishers exchange plates, but European publishers sell to the American publisher duplicate sets of their plates, at the cost of about 25 per cent of what it would cost to produce the same here in America with American labor. " In my opinion the copyright law has very many defects. It should be amended so as to definitely fix as to simultaneous publication; it INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 85 should also state and fix the time between filing of copyright and pub- lication of work. The courts have held that two years is a reasonable time. This is too long. A foreign publisher can get a work out in London, copyright it there and in America, send sheets over here to be bound up, sell the work for a year or two until he has. exhausted the demand. "Another evil is : A publisher here will purchase a set of plates from a foreign publisher and import them as old metal, paying a very small duty. The plates are worth to the American publisher just what they would cost to be made here. He puts them to press and issues edition after edition. He saves three-quarters of the cost of making the plates after paying the foreign publisher his price and the Government its tax. This should be remedied in the custom-house here. The law as it stands is all right. The trouble is in the appraisement as to value. If the publisher had to pay full duty, it would not pay him to import the plates. A ratio of value on plates could be made by an intelligent appraiser one who could fix the value of an ordinary novel or a set of standard works, etc." 13. Street & Smith, Nwv York, N. Y. : "The international copyright law has been general!}' detrimental to publishers; e. g., when She, by Rider Haggard, was written and pub lished some years ago, before international copyright, there were no less than 22 American editions of the book. The resulting competi- tion between the publishers of these editions increased the sale enor- mously beyond what a single edition would have realized. Result, a gain to the publishers through absence of American copyright. ''It must be self-evident that the multiplication of separate editions involving the making of new plates must aid our compositors; the greater sales resulting from competing editions will in like manner aid bookbinders, pressmen, and employees of the printing craft. Inter- national copyright is directly opposed to these benefits. u Internationa] copyright results in a gain to the foreign author in that if he chooses to avail himself of the law he secures the American rights for his brain children in competition with the native author, whereas formerly he had nothing. '"International cop} T right works a great loss to the book-purchasing public. Our firm, for example, is putting out unabridged editions of the chief works of foreign authorship, where no American copyright exists, at 10 cents retail. These are paper editions, from new plates principally on a good quality of paper. The average price of the saiW works under international copyright would be not less than $1.50 15 times as great. "We claim that the international copy right law increases the selling pride of books 1400 per cent; e. g., we have issued unabridged editions of all the uncopyrighted books of Henry Seton Merriman at 10 cents 86 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. retail. The works of the same author issued under international copyright are sold at a list price of not less than $1.50. "This question, 'Was piracy as practiced prior to the enactment of the present law beneficial to printers or to publishers?' must be answered in the affirmative as to both printers and publishers. Mil- lions of books were published then in cheap form as against thousands now, with a resulting gain to printers and publishers alike. "We do not believe that plates are exchanged to any extent between American and European publishers. "The effect of international copyright in practice is distinctly dis- couraging to American authorship, bad for American publishers (with the exception noted below), a great loss to the printing and allied trades, and to the great reading public. International copyright is beneficial to three classes only, the foreign author, who gets valuable rights where formerly he enjoyed none; the foreign publishers, who tire establishing American branches at an alarming rate to take advantage of the international copyright law; and a few American publishers who have an English trade and make up there in increased busi- ness what they lose in America through foreign competition. The Harpers and Scribners, who have large sales for their respective maga- zines in England, are examples of this class of American publishers. The international copyright law should not be amended or changed, it should be abolished as a business proposition for Americans. We have nothing to say as to the ethics of the case/' 14-. The Tucker Publishing Company, New Yvrk, N. Y. : "In my opinion it is impossible for any one, however familiar with the book trade he may be, to estimate even approximately the effect of the international copyright law on the prosperity of authors, pub- lishers, printers, and book manufacturers generally. So many influ- ences are constantly at work to stimulate or depress the book market that one can not distinguish and isolate the particular effects that result from copyright legislation. Speaking for myself, I simply say, on a priori ground and as a result also of general observation, that all copyright legislation is a curse to literature and detrimental to the highest interests both of authors and their public, though it undoubt- edly fills the pockets of those authors (and their publishers) who suc- ceed in gauging most accurately the popular taste and in conforming' most closely to it. " The object of copyright legislation is to secure to a certain class of workers exemption from competition and thereby enable them to reap an undue reward for their labor. This reward goes mainly to those who are willing to bid for it at the sacrifice of their ideals, and there is a corresponding tendency to deprive of reward authors who refuse to prostitute themselves. Such a tendency, by tempting authors from INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 87 the path of honesty and the heights of art, is bound to be degrading in its results. The effect of legal monopoly in literature, as in every other field of human activity, is to create a trust that stands in the way of growth and progress." 15. William Wood & Co. (medical publishers), New York, N. Y. : "In regard to our observation we believe, except to a few prom- inent American publishing houses, it has been of very little advan- tage. To those English publishers having branches, principally in this city, it has been of very material advantage. It has enabled these to control the market for their reprints of English publications. A few prominent English publishers have been the ones chiefly to take advantage of the law, as they are in a position to most readily comply with its provisions. "We believe it has been a disadvantage to compositors, bookbind- ers, pressmen, and employees generally. "The advantages of the law have been almost wholly on the side of foreign authors. The works of comparatively few American authors are republished abroad under the law. "We believe that the consumption of foreign books, copyrighted in America, has been greatly restricted by the law. "The selling price of books to the public has been greatly increased - from 25 to 50 per cent. "For reasons which we believe to be good, we consider the word ' piracy ' does not give a correct understanding of the acts to which it refers. Such reprinting was always beneficial to the laboring class not always to the publishers. "American and English publishers do occasionally sell such plates to each other, but the practice is not very common. "Observation has not given us sufficient data upon which to suggest any changes in the law. "From our personal experience our publications are limited to medical books; the sale of such works is so limited that it is extremely rare that the protections of the 'international copyright law' has been availed of either in America or England. We very much doubt if a score of English medical books have been copyrighted in this country since the law went into effect, or half that number of American medi- cal books have been copyrighted in England. American, scientific authors are so little appreciated in England that the sale of a few hundred copies is quite adequate for their market, and it would not pay to reprint the books there for so small a number. " With now and then an exception such as Gray's Anatomy med- ical works of English authors have but a limited sale in the United States, and even when, with rare exceptions, a book of this class is found to prove unexpectedly popular, the cost of manufacturing such 88 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES, books is so great as to deter one publisher from reprinting on another, with it absolutely understood that the first party would reduce his price so as to make any competition ruinous. Excepting, then, the branches of the English publishers we have referred to, and a few publishers of fiction and works of a popular character, we believe that American publishers, and all the various mechanics employed in the manufacture of books, have derived no benefit whatever from the present 'international copyright law.'" APPENDIX. THE COPYRIGHT LAW OF THE UNITED STATES. [Such portions of the present law as were in force up to July 1, 1891, are printed in long primer type the amendments and additions made by the act of March 3, 1891, and by subsequent acts are printed in italics, and the omissions are indicated by brackets and footnotes.] CONSTITUTION, 1787. ART. 1, SEC. 8. The Congress shall have power : To pro- mote the progress of science and useful arts, BY SECURING FOR LIMITED TIMES TO AUTHORS and inventors THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO THEIR respective WRITINGS and discoveries. ACTS OF CONGBESS. REVISED STATUTES, SECTION 4948. All records and other or s pyright rec " things relating to copyrights and required by law to be preserved, shall be under the control of the Librarian of Congress, and kept and preserved in the Library of Congress. [ l ] [The Appropriation Act approved February 19, 189Y, <,**$$** provides for the appointment of a "Register of "Copyrights, who shall, on and after July first, eighteen hundred and ninety -seven, under the direction and supervision of the Librarian of Congress, perform all the duties relating to copyrights, and shall make weekly deposits with the Secre- tary of the Treasury, and make monthly report* to the Secretary of the Treasury and to the Librarian of Congress, and shall, on and after July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-set'< -n. f 'hi* duties according to law.''"' to Al congr^ p of SEC - 4951. The Librarian of Congress shall make an pubii- annual report to Congress of the number and description of copyright publications for which entries have been made during the year. S EC - 4952, as amended by act of March 3, LS'.'l. g .- o rrn ~l j_l i shall have sole [ " . _______ IncJ author, inventor, designer, or proprietor Ingalid veiuUng" of any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, or photograph or negative thereof, or of a painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, and of models or designs intended to be perfected as works of the tine arts, and the executors, administrators, or assigns of any such person shall, upon complying with the provisions of this chapter, have the sole liberty of print- ing, reprinting, publishing, completing, copying, execut- ing, finishing, and vending the same; and, in the case of a dramatic composition, of publicly performing or repre- senting it, or causing it to be performed or represented Authors shall by others. And authors or their dsxign* x/mU lij>i/ of the record, under the seal of the C<>inmixx!<>n<'r of Pat- ents, to the party entering the same. [ ________ * ]. copyright S EC . 4953. Copyrights shall be granted for the term of term 28 years. . , ^J > . & twenty-eight years from the time of recording the title thereof, in the manner hereinafter directed. 1 Section 4950, replaced by the above paragraph from the appropriation act of February 19, 1897, reads as follows: " The Librarian of Congress shall give a bond, with sureties, to the Treasurer of the United States, in the sum of five thousand dol- lars, with the condition that he will render to the proper officers of the Treasury a true account of .all moneys received by virtue of his office." 2 The words of the original law omitted are: "Any citizen of the United States or resident therein, who shall be." 3 The words in italics are substituted for ' 'And authors may reserve the right to dramatize or translate their own works." * This paragraph is section 3 of the act approved June 18, 1874. (43d Congress, 1st session, chap. 301: 18 Statutes at Large, pp. 78-79.) INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 91 SEC. 4954, as amended by act of March 3, 1891. The author, inventor, or designer, if he be still living-, [ ------ *], 14 years. or his widow or children, if he be dead, shall have the same exclusiv right continued for the further term of fourteen years, upon recording the title of the work or description of the article so secured a second time, and complying with all other regulations in regard to original copyrights, within six months before the expiration of the ., r ? . i i i n _ ?.i_i_' j. ii_ Publication of first term. And such person shall, within two months renewal. from the date of said renewal, cause a copy of the record thereof to be published in one or more newspapers, printed in the United States, for the space of four weeks. SEC. 4955. Copyrights shall be assignable in law by any co A f r f ^"i. " 1 OI instrument of writing, and such assignment shall be c recorded in the office of the Librarian of Congress within sixty days after its execution; in default of which it shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee for a valuable consideration, without notice. SEC. 4956, as amended by act of March 3, 1891. No ^Pgg^gJ^ 1 * person shall be entitled to a copyright unless he shall, on or before the day of publication, in this or any foreign country, deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress, or deposit in the mail within the United /States, addressed to the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, District of Columbia, a printed copy of the title of the book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, photograph, or chromo, or a description of the painting, drawing, statue, statuary, or a model or design, for a work of the fine arts, for which he desires a copyright; nor unless he shall also, notl day qftnepubli- Deposit of two cation thereof, in thisor any foreign country, deliver at the copies ' office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, District of Co'tinihin. or deposit in the mail, within the Unitnl States, addressed to the Librarian of Congress, at Wash- ington, District of Columbia, two copies of such copyright book, map, chart, dramatic or / '/nix !<ook. photograph, chromo, or the united lithograph, th -t 'two copies of 'the same required to he d#livered si&ies ' or deposited as above shall be printed from type set witJiin t/i<< I! nt its of the United States, or from plates made there- from, w* from negatives, or dron'ings on stone made within the limits of the United States, or from transfers made therefrom. During the existence of such copyright the infpo^aUon" f importation into the f nited States of any hook, chromo, lithograph, or photograph, so copyrighted, or any edition or editions thereof, or any plates of the same not made from tyjpe set, negatives, or drawings on stone made within the. I in i its of the United States, shall be, and is hereby prohih- J The words omitted are: "and a citizen of the United States or resident therein." 92 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. prohibition 118 $ ''fed, exc&pt in the cases specified in paragraphs 512 to 516 ', importation. inclusive, in section two of the act entitled, An act to reduce th" revenue and equalize the duties on imports, andforoth&t' purposes, approved October 1, 1890; 1 and except in the case <>f gefrsons pur chasing for use and not for sale, who import Kiihject to the duty thereon, not more than two copies of such an^^aagwtaes^*^ a ^ any one time; and, except in the case of newspa- miiy be import- yv,^ an d magazines, not containing in whole or in part matter copyrighted under the provisions of this act, unau- t/i<>rized by the author, which are liereby exempted from pro- // ! bit ion of importation.: eign "languages" Provided, nevertheless, That in the case of hooks in foi^- pf which oniy^Vm languages , of which only translation* in English are translations are ' . -, y ,\ J 7 -7 , y / , . , ,, ^ cop\ -righted, copyrighted, the profl^o^t^on of importation shall apply may b? import- O)t ]y j. Q ^ translation of the same, and the importation of tin* hooks in the original language shall he permitted. SEC. 4957. The Librarian of Congress shall record the name of such copyright book, or other article, forthwith in a book to be kept for that purpose, in the words follow- Entryof <>opv- ing: " Library of Congress, to wit: Be it remembered that on the "day of A. B., of hath deposited in this office the title of a book (map, chart, or otherwise, as the case may be, or description of the article), the title or description of which is in the following words, to wit: (here insert the title or description) the right whereof he claims as author (originator, or proprietor, as 1 The paragraphs cited above are from the list of articles allowed to be imported free of duty, and are as follows: 512. Books, engravings, photographs, bound or unbound etchings, maps and charts, which shall have been printed and bound or manufactured more than twenty years at the date of importation. 513. Books and pamphlets printed exclusively in languages other than English ; also books and music, in raised print, used exclusively by the blind. 514. Books, engravings, photographs, etchings, bound or unbound, maps and charts imported by authority or for the use of the United States or for the use of the Library of Congress. 515. Books, maps, lithographic prints, and charts, specially imported, not more than two copies in any one invoice, in good faith, for the use of any society incor- porated or established for educational, philosophical, literary, or religious purposes, or for the encouragement of the fine arts, or for the use or by order of any college, academy, school, or seminary of learning in the United States, subject to such regu- lations as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe. 516. Books or libraries, or parts of libraries, and other household effects of persons or families from foreign countries, if actually used abroad by them not less than one year, and not intended for any other person or persons, nor for sale. (51st Congress, 1st session, chap. 1244: 26 Statutes at Large, p. 604.) 2 The section previous to amendment read as follows: "Sec. 4956. No person shall be entitled to a copyright unless he shall, before publication, deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress, or deposit in the mail addressed to the Librarian of Con- gress, at Washington, District of Columbia, a printed copy of the title of the' book or other article, or a description of the painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, or a model or design for a work of the fine arts, for which he desires a copyright; nor unless he shall also, within ten days from the publication thereof, deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress, or deposit in the mail addressed to the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, District of Columbia, two copies of such copyright book or other article, or, in case of a painting, drawing, statue, statuary, model or design for a work of the fine arts, a photograph of the same." INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 93 the case may be), in conformity with the laws of the United States respecting copyrights/ C. D., Librarian of Con- gress. 1 ' And he shall give a copy of the title or descrip- copy of n-roni. tion, under the seal of the Librarian of Congress, to the proprietor, whenever he shall require it. SEC. 4958, as amended by act of March 3, 1891. The Librarian of Congress shall receive from the persons to whom the services designated are rendered the following fees: 1. For recording the title or description of any cop}^- Fee for m-ord- right book or other article, fifty cents. 2. For eveiy copy ^f^for copy of under seal of such record actually given to the person record, claiming the copyright, or his assigns, fifty cents. 1 \3. For recording and certifying any instrument of writing for inga^n'me'nt. 1 " the assignment of a copyright, one dollar. 4- For every Fee f,r )].>- of . ./ j. y y ' . < assignment. copy of an assignment, one dot tar. \ All fees so received shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States: Pro- i'if tlie entries of titles of all books and other articles wherein the copyright has been completed by the deposit of two copies of sucri book printed from type set within the limits oj the United States, in accordance with the provisions of this act, and by the deposit of two copies of such other article made or produced in the Un ited States; and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to prepare and print, at inter- vals of not more than a week, catalogues of such title entries for distribution to the collectors of customs of the United States and to the postmasters of all post-offices receiving for- eign, mails, and such weekly lists, as they are issued, shall be furnished to all parties desiring them, at a sum not exceed- "^ '" '"' wgfive dollars per annum; n and the Secretary and the Post- T jjJUJJJJ^ . m j master- General are hereby empowered and required to make Postnmster-cen- 7 / 7 7 7 7 / 7 77 til ^*1 +" .,^.-, .-, - czmt enforce such rides and regulations as shall prevent the importation into the United States, ea'cept upon the condi- tions above specified, of all articles prohibited by this act. SEC. 4959, as amended by act of March 3, 1891. proprietor of every copyright book or other article shall tion. deliver at the office of the Librarian of Congress, or deposit in the mail, addressed to the Librarian of Congress, at 1 The clauses in section 4958 inclosed within brackets are made to accord with sec- tion 2 of the amendatory act of June 18, 1874, which reads as follows: "That for recording and certifying any instrument of writing for the assignment of a copyright the Librarian of Congress shall receive from the persons to whom the service is ren- dered, one dollar; and for every copy of an assignment, one dollar; said fee to cover, in either case, a certificate of the record, under seal of the Librarian of Congress; and all fees so received shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States." (43d Con- gress, 1st session, chap. 301: 18 Statutes at Large, pp. 78-79.) 2 The subscription of $5 the year must be made to the nearest collector of customs. 94 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. Washington, District of Columbia [.. , *], a copy of of N iwJign d books evei T subsequent edition wherein any substantial changes may be copy- shall be made: Provided, however, That the alteration*, revisions, and addition* made to book* by foreign authors, heretofore published, of which neiv editions shall appear subsequently to the tcuemg Affect of this act, shall be 1<'1<1 and deemed capable of being copyrighted as above provided for t/i tli IN v whom it was taken out. thus: "Copyright, 18, by A. B/' That manufacturers of designs for molded decorative Notice of copy- articles, tiles, plaques, or articles of pottery or metal Bttb-8ve article^ 01 ject to copyright may put the copyright mark prescribed by section forty-nine hundred and sixty-two of the Revised Statutes, and acts additional thereto, upon the back or bot- tom of such articles, or in such other place upon them as it has heretofore been usual for manufacturers of such articles to employ for the placing of manufacturers, mer- chants, and trade-marks thereon. SEC. 4963, as amended bv acts of March 3, 1891, and False duim of -M i o .,>- 77- " i 7 77 copyright (pen- Marcn 3, 189*. Every person who shall mxt-rt (rr impress&itytoT). Xllrlt notice. <>!' ll'OI'll* (if tin Xl/llte j >U I'j >< U'l . Ill or Upon a, it/ book, ni/iji. <-liart. dramatic or mnxical composition^ print, cut. engraving or photograph* or other article, whether XKC/I art !, subject to copyright or otherwise, for ndiieb lit- I, ax not obtained a copyright, or xhall knowmgly i**", or K,-ll an a article bearing ft notice of a United States copy- rigid icliicli Iia* not been copyrighted in tlii* country; or x/tal! import ant/ look, jtJiotograpli, c/iromo, or I itliograjdi or other article bearing such not^ceof copy rnj lit or n'onfxof t](, ifiitni- p>tfj>ort. ir/itdi /.s- not copyrighted in tliix roimtri/. }>< liable to a penalty of out- 'finndred dollars^ recover- PeniUt>-,ioo.oo. l, mi,'-/i(ilffi>r the ]>< rxon ti'lio x/Ki/f xii< fur XIH-/I pr/nfff;/ nne-lmlf to tlie use of the United Statr*; n in the United States, is prohibited; and the circuit court* of fin rniird St,it,x xitting in equity are hereby authorized to enjoin tin- truing. pubUshtng, oi* selling of a i, if article marked or imported in isolation of the t 'nited State,* copyright laws, at the suit of any person complain ing of such riolation: Provided, That this act shall not "j'pli/ to anij importation of or Wr of such goods or arti- cteK brought into the United States prior to tl jxixxage //' re of. 1 SEC. 4964, as amended by act of March 3, 1891. Every Jgjj^' *^ p< r*on who, after the recording of the title of any hook o^abook without the depositing of tir<> conie* of xnch hook as provided by this Edbited. on 1 The text of section 4963 is that of the amendatory act of March 3, 1897 (54th Congress, 2d session, chap. 392: 29 Statutes at Large, pp. 694-695), section 2 of which provides "That all laws and parts of laws inconsistent with the foregoing pro- vision be, and the same are hereby, repealed." The original wording of section 4963, as amended by the act of March 3, 1891, was as follows: "Every person who shall insert or impress such notice, or words of the same purport, in or upon any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, print, cut, engraving, or photo- 96 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. act, shall, contrary to the provisions of thix act, within the term limited, and without the consent of the proprietor of the copyright first obtained in writing, signed in presence of two or more witnesses, print, publish, dramatize, trans- late, or import, or. knmving the same to he so printed, pub- lished, dramatized, translated, or imported, shall sell or expose to sale any copy <>f *ncli book, xhall forfeit every copy thereof to such proprietor, and shall also forfeit copyright of pho-s^cA ^nfr^ngement of the copyright of a photograph made from any object not a work of fine arts, the sum to he recov- ered in any action brought under the provisions of tl> /* section shall he not less than one hundred dollars, nor more fringe ment r ^f ^ an fi ve thousand dollar*, and: Provided, further, That copyright of am case of any such infringement of the copyright of a WOT n * painting, drawing, statue, engraving, etching, print, or model or design for a work of thefin-e arts, or of a photo- graph of a wo'rk of the fine arts, the sum to he recovered in any action brought through tin- provisions of this section shall be not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, and not more than ten thousand dollars. One-lialf of all the fore- going penalties shall go to the proprietors of the copyright and the other half to the use of the United States. 2 graph, or other article, for which he has not obtained a copyright, shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars, recoverable one-half for the person who shall sue for such penalty, and one- half to the use of the United States." 1 For forfeiture in case of illegal importation, see Revised Statutes, section 3082. 2 The text given of section 4965 is that of the amendatory act of March 2, 1895 (53d Congress, 3d session, chap. 194: 28 Statutes at Large, p. 965). The original INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 97 SEC. 4966, as amended by act of January 6, 1897. ^^pJSing f ol person -publicly performing or representing any dramatic representing f 7 -j.- JF i -i 1 j I 7. dramatic or mu- or musical composition for which, a copyright has oeen s i c& \ composi- obtained, without the consent of the proprietor of said dra- tjon without con- matic or musical composition, or his heirs or assigns, shall be liable for damages therefor, such damages in all coxes to be assessed at such sum, not less than one hundred dollars for the first and fifty dollars for every subsequent perform- ance, as to the court shall appear to be just. If the unlaw- ful performance and representation be willful and f br profit, suck person or persons shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon, conviction be imprisoned for a period not exceeding one year. Any injunction that way be granted upon hear- injunction. ing after notice to the defendant by any circuit court in the Imited States, orbyajudge thereof, restraining and enjoin- ing the performance or representation of any such dramatic or musical composition may be served on the parties against whom such injunction may be granted anywhere in the United States, and shall be operative and may be enforced by proceedings to punish for contempt or otherwise b>/ any other circuit court or judge in the United States: but the .suit for injunc- defendants in said action, or any or either of them, may iwn ' make a motion in any other circuit in which he or they may be engaged in performing^ or representing said dramatic or musical composition to dissolve or set aside the said injunc- tion upon such reasonable notice to the plaintiff as the circuit court or thejudgebeforewhonisaidmotion shall be made shall deem proper j service of said motion to be made on the plain- tiff in person or on his attorneys in the action. The circuit courts or judges thereof shall have jurisdiction, to enforce said injunction and to hear and determine a motion to dis- solve the same, as herein provided, as fully as if the actwn were pending or brought in the circuit in which said motion is made. The clerk of the court, or judge granting the injunction, of ^ e a r p|s. d copy shall, when required so to do by the court hearing the appli- cation to dissolve or enforce said injunction, transmit with- out delay to said court a certified copy of all the papers on text of section 4965 reads as follows: "If any person, after the recording of the title of any map, chart, musical composition, print, cut, engraving, or photograph, or chromo, or of the description of any painting, drawing, statue, statuary, or model or design intended to be perfected and executed as a work of the fine arts as pro- vided by this chapter, shall, within the term limited, and without the consent of the proprietor of the copyright first obtained in writing, signed in presence of two or more witnesses, engrave, etch, work, copy, print, publish, or import, either in whole or in part, or by varying the main design with intent to evade the law, or, knowing the same to be so printed, published, or imported, shall sell or expose to sale any copy of such map or other article, as aforesaid, he shall forfeit to the proprietor all the plates on which the same shall be copied, and every sheet thereof, either copied or printed, and shall further forfeit one dollar for every sheet of the same found hi his possession, either printing, printed, copied, published, imported, or exposed for sale; and in case of a painting, statue, or statuary, he shall forfeit ten dollars for every copy of the same in his possession, or by him sold or exposed for sale; one-half thereof to the proprietor and the other half to the use of the United States." S. Doc. 87 - 7 98 INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. which the said injunction was granted that are on Hie in T ' /y i " fits office. Penalty for SEC. 4967, as amended by act of March 3, 1891. Every printing MS. 1111 -^ 1.1 i . withoutconsent. person who shall print or publish any manuscript what- ever, without the consent of the author or proprietor first obtained [ -------- 2 ] shall be liable to the author or pro prietor for all damages occasioned by such injury. be N matat > ai S ned ^ E 9* 4#68. No action shall be maintained in any case of after two years, forfeiture or penalty under the copyright laws, unless the same is commenced within two years after the cause of action has arisen. ma e f lead a the ^ EC- ^969. In all actions arising under the laws respect- general issue, ing copyrights the defendant may plead the general issue, and give the special matter in evidence. trS r cSrte d mav ^EC. 4970. The circuit courts, and district courts having grant in junc- the jurisdiction of circuit courts, shall have power, upon bill in equit} r , filed by &ny party aggrieved, to grant in- junctions to prevent the violation of any right secured by the laws respecting copyrights, according to the course and principles of courts of equity, on such terms as the court may deem reasonable. SEC. 4971. [ ________ 3 ] courS^copy- [Revised Statutes, title 13, THE JUDICIARY, provides as right cases. " follows: Chap. 7 (sec. 629). The circuit courts shall have original jurisdiction as follows: ..... ___ Ninth. Of all suits at law or in equity arising under the patent or copy- right laws of the United States. (Rev. Stat., 1878, pp. 110, 111.) Chap. 11 (sec. 699). A writ of error may be allowed to review any final judgment at law, and an appeal shall be allowed from any final decree in equity hereinaf- ter mentioned, without regard to the sum or value in dis- pute: First. Any final judgment at law or final decree in equity of any circuit court, or of any district court acting as a circuit court, or of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, or of any Territory, in any case touching pat- ent rights or copyrights. (Rev. Stat., 1878, p. 130.) Chap. 12 (sec. 711). The jurisdiction vested in the courts of the United States in the cases and proceedings hereinafter mentioned, shall be exclusive of the courts of the several States: ____ ____ Fifth. Of all cases arising under the patent-right or copyright laws of the United States. (Rev. Stat., 1878, pp. 134, 135.) Chap. 18 (sec. 972). In all re- 1 The text of section 4966 is that of the amendatory act approved January 6, 1897, (54th Congress, 2d session, chap. 4: 29 Statutes at Large, pp. 481-482) . The original text of section 4966 reads as follows: "Any person publicly performing or represent- ing any dramatic composition for which a copyright has been obtained, without the consent of the proprietor thereof, or his heirs or assigns, shall be liable for damages therefor; such damages in all cases to be assessed at such sum, not less than one hun- dred dollars for the first and fifty dollars for every subsequent performance, as to the court shall appear to be just." 2 The parenthetical clause "if such author or proprietor is a citizen of the United States, or resident therein," is-stricken out by the act of March 3, 1891. 'Section 4971 of the Revised Statutes, repealed by the act of March 3, 1891, reads as follows: "Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit the printing, publishing, importation, or sale of any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical com- position, print, cut, engraving, or photograph, written, composed, or made by any person not a citizen of the United States nor resident therein." INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 99 coveries under the copyright laws, either for damages, forfeiture, or penalties, full costs shall be allowed thereon. (Rev. Stat., 1878, p. 183.)] The act approved March 3, 1891, in addition to t amendments, noted above, of sections 4952, 4954, 4956, provisions. 4958, 4959, 4963, 4964, 4965, and 4967, provides further as follows: "That for the purpose of this act each volume of .* in two or more volumes, when such volumes are published entry. separately, and the first one shall not have been issued before this act shall take effect, and each number 0/ a periodical shall be considered an independent publication, subject to tJieform of copyrighting as above" (Sec. 11.) "That this act shall go into effect on the first day of July, anno Domini eighteen hundred and ninety -one" (Sec. 12.) "That this act shall only apply to a citizen or subject a foreign state or nation when such foreign state or nation 3, i89i, apply to > . y ... /> , T TT i 7 cij i ^> A -L z foreigners. permits to citizens of the United states oj America the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as its own citizens j or when such foreign state or nation is a party to an international agreernent which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agree- ment tJw United States of America may at its pleasure become a party to such agreement. The existence of either of the conditions aforesaid shall be determined by the President of the United States, by proclamation made from time to time as the purposes of this act may require" (Sec. 13. )* [An Act providing for the public printing and binding publications and the distribution of public documents (January 12, shaiinotbecopy- 1895,53d Congress, 3d session, chap. 23, sec. 52:. 28 Stat- 1 utes at Large, p. 608) provides as follows: The Public Printer shall sell, under such regulations as the Joint Com- mittee on Printing may prescribe, to any person or persons who may apply additional or duplicate stereotype or electro- type plates from which any (jfovernment publication is printed, at a price not to exceed the cost of composition, the metal and making to the Govwnment and ' ten per centum added: Provided, That the full amount of the price shall be paid when the order is filed: And provided further, That no publication reprinted from such stereotype or elec- trotype plates and no other Government publication shall be copyrighted.^ x The United States have established copyright relations with the following coun- tries, on the dates indicated: July 1, 1891 Belgium, France, Great Britain and her possessions, and Switzerland. ( Statutes at Large, vol. 27, pp. 981, 982. ) April 15, 1892 Germany. (Statutes at Large, vol. 27, pp. 1021, 1022. ) October 31, 1892 Italy. (Statutes at Large, vol. 27, p. 1043. ) May 8, 1893 Denmark. (Statutes at Large, vol. 28, p. 1219. ) July 20, 1893 Portugal. (Statutes at Large, vol. 28, p. 1222. ) July 10, 1895 Spain. (Statutes at Large, vol. 29, p. 871 .) February 27, 1896 Mexico. (Statutes at Large, vol. 29, p. 877. ) May 25, 1896 Chile. (Statutes at Large, vol. 29, p. 880.) Oct. 19, 1899 Costa Rica. Nov. 20, 1899 Netherlands (Holland) and possessions. o RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date. DUE AS STAMPED BELOW APR18200Q 12,000(11/95) 494u UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY