Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/571

Rh were a discreet man, he would confine his claim to its impregnable ground, and force his case in the direction where no resistance can be offered. But he stretches his claim until he destroys it, as may be easily pointed out.

The ideas and language, the soul and essence of a book—that which properly creates it—are contributed by the mind of the author. It is work, the product of toil and skill and time and capital, just as much as any other construction of industry. All civilized countries recognize and guard the right to this kind of property. We do it in this country in the case of our native authors, thus abundantly vindicating the theory and the practice. But we have the illiberality, the narrowness, and the meanness, to refuse this act of justice to foreign authors simply as foreigners. And for this course there can not be conjured up even a decent pretest; we simply want the works of these foreign authors, and outlaw them for the benefit of whomsoever can make money out of their productions. It is the duty of Mr. Collins and all others who are victims of this policy to protest against it as an outrage; and he should demand that his rights be admitted and his property defended by the authority of American law. Here his position is invincible.

Nevertheless, the case is not without its difficulties as viewed in the light of experience. There is no nation that recognizes an author's right in his book as absolute, indefeasible, and perpetual, like the rights to other kinds of property. Book-rights, like patent-rights, are limited, and expire in all countries after the lapse of specified though variable periods. Mr. Collins can not own his book for ever, even in England. It may be that this is unjust; but the demands of ideal equity are nowhere met. As a matter of fact, men have to be content with proximate justice; and the foreign author pushes his claim as far as is wise or expedient or practical, when he demands that the United States shall place him upon an equal footing with American authors as regards protection. Should he require that our Government guarantee his literary rights as interminable, he would so encumber his valid claim that it would be futile to urge it. We simply mean by this, that Mr. Collins has got to take circumstances into account if he proposes to attain a practicable end.

The book-manufacturer is his partner in business, whose office is to take the author's literary creation and give it a material embodiment for public use. The business partner makes copies of the work, publishes it, and manages the sales. He generally furnishes the capital required to produce the desired editions. He pays for the labor of typesetting, for paper, printing, and binding, and when the books are sold he gives the author a stipulated part of the returns. But there is this difference between the parts of a book contributed by the author and by the publisher, that while the author's portion is protected by public law in a qualified way or not protected at all, on the other hand the part contributed by the publisher is protected always and everywhere, and as absolutely as any form of property is ever protected. The American Government will not protect Mr. Collins's right of property in his book, but in every court in the land it will protect the rights of the man who pirates it. The publisher may steal the author's part, but no man may steal the publisher's part without incurring all the penalties of theft. Publishers, therefore, as such, are in need of no protection; they are everywhere abundantly cared for.

Yet it is a great thing for the publisher to get the advantage of that monopoly in the commerce of a book which the author's copyright confers. When he secures this advantage, he can put whatever price he pleases upon the stock which he has worked up into a