The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1853-03-09
THE INTER NATloNAL cory RIGHT.

THE INTER- AI iONAL LII -NiuHI
II is asserted, in some of the New York jour
nails, that treaty is on foot, respecting an inter
national copy iii ilt, between Great Br tam ane
the United States It is also sad that thi'
treaty will, if executed at all, BE- probably exec
cuted before the fnur h If March.
II any such design is seriously entertained
Justice demands that the provisions of The treaty
in the main a, least, sh ,uld 1e laid before tas
public. We have high respect for the oiiic'a
persanages eng, ged in the treaty, but i !:
scarcely 10 be pre- sumed that they are omnis-
Client, and acc ordingly nothing would be ease
than England to impose on their ignorance
nothing mare ctr;ain than that she does SO II
diplomacy wilenevt she eau. Now, unless the
interests of American papcr-makers, book bind
ers, printers, and other parties engaged IN book
making, are pr psfly protected in such a treaty
a very serious blow i'll be dealt, by the mere
fact Of treaty, to these mechanical interests
or all men, perhaps. Seniors and Cabinet OH
GERS are those leasi likely 1, be aware OF this
because of all agn they are those probably iur
thest removed from such crafts. 1t would be
well, therefore, for them to be on their guard. =
We Americans were bat lately over-rcached BY
Bulwer; let not MIR. era Rpton also over-:eaci
u.s.
If an international. copy right is ever intro
duced, prominent feature of the treaty, or law
the book should be printed, not published mere
ly, in each country whore the copy right is taker
out For example, if an English author seek:
a copy right here, he must have his book actu-
allv printed here. II this is net done, every
English book will be printed in England, and
afterwards sent out TO this country and this will
destroy, al one blow, much of the paper-making
printing and book binding done in America
When an international copy right was under
discussion, few years ago, we published an ar
ticle on this subject, in which we showed, by
statistics taken from English authorities, that
any book could be manu- actured in London, ex.
ported to New York, aud sold cheaper, after
paying all charges, including the American duty,
than the same book could be sold for, if got up
in the same style in this country. Capital is
cheaper in England, labor is cheaper, even paper
is cheaper in London than here; and no Amerl-
can publisher could const quenty stand the COM
petition. Besides, the English publisher would
save the cost of the stereotype plates; the en-
cravings, if there were any; and all the other ct
cetera which constitute the invested capital, SO
to speak of a book. On works Of large circu-
lation this would be, indeed, but small consid'
Grafton, but in books for which the demand was
small, il would be very serious matter. When
only thousand or two copies of book are sold,
he cost of the stereotype plates and embellish-
ments is the chefpart of the expense.
person might suppose, on hasty reflection,
that the injury done to America in this respect,
would be compensated for by the monopoly OF
American books in the London Market. But
better acquaintance with the subject soon re-
moves this error. The maj 'rity Of books read
in this country are books written in England
The disproportion in the number of volumes
sold is even greater, and this dispropor,ion is
largely in favor OF England. The plea, there
fore, urged by Great Britain, that an interna-
tional treaty does not require provision to pro
tect American mechanics, for that both coun-
tries would have fair share Of book making, is
really cheat; and reminds US forcibly of the d.
vision, which an old fisherman is said to have
proposed to a new hand and partner, ga shad for
me and q herring for you, herring foryou, and
a shad for me"
But this is not the worst. The tendency of
all business il towards concentration. In time
the American author would find that, by going
to London, he could get his book printed cheap
er than here that if he and the English pub
Usher divided this saving between them, the pep
pie would still pay no more for the book, while
he would be all the richer: and the result would
be that the great English booksellers would mo-
nopolizs eventually not only English, but Amer
lean books also. We know of nothing that
would sooner destroy what little independence
in literature we have. If we are provincial
now, we would be more provincial then Bal
Sun.