Weekly national intelligencer., 1854-05-06

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which now envelopes the globe suppos, certain class
Of persons in every community should specially devote
themselves to the increase and publication oil this atmo
sphere thus formed Would they have the rig because
OF any addition to or improvement in this pos
session, to withdraw large volume from the Common
circulation Would they be entitled to become propry
holders in this atmosphere that no man could eer
breathe what had passed through their refining pre-
cesses without paying tax for the privilege? Thel
rest of mankind" would say to such assumption We
recognise, ye purifiers of atmosphere your right to
be remunerated for all the labor and skill you have
pended in the amelioraton of the medium in which we
live and move but, since this medium has been formed
by the joint contribution Of all who have gone before you
demand that you shall withdraw nothing from the free
circulation which existed before your abors If you add
elements and ingredients to present stores you
entitled gratitude and remuneration in proper
on the value of your services rendered but since you
would have had atmosphere which exercise your
skill unless mankind had generously bequeathed the
race its present supply, respectfully ask you to mi
tate the generosity OF your predecessors by whom you
have greatly profted Do not be the first to advance
a claim which you could never have made had all men
been like yourselves" Now, if atmosphere, with
its rains and dews" formed it would illus
trate the production oflanguage, which is the joint
tributon of the who have preceded In the Ian
guage Of people we have inheritance, which
has been slowly accumuating it may be, for centuries
and this accumulation has resulted from each avail
ing himself of stores nsomueh should
any one now undertake to lay perpetual embargo
any coocaton of words contribution of new ideas we
reply to him Nay; for oh, man! what would you have
been had all men acted your principle? You have
proed too much by the abors of others to claim on
elusive and perpetual right in your words and ideas You
something to the age and intellectual status which
have nurtured and supported you and what you owe
return for this nurture and support to contribute your
mite to the great treasury of thought from which you
have largely drawn, for it is by the contribution
of these mites that the treasury itself has been aassed
But since your abors have added to the knowledge i'm
provement and delight Of society," society owes you an
adequate reward for oil of service you have rendered it."
Our correspondents query this head involves beg
gng of the question for this we had argued in
the article to which he audes that author could not
be said to acquire the right in his labors as the
farmer in his farm and yet correspondents question
seeks to refue by ignoring the distinction had made
He overooks very important consideration The farm
the ingredients of the atmosphere and of its
rains and dews which he has incorporated by his labor
into the productions of farm" only condition that he
o'cns the farm ITSELF II he is only laborer ON farm
which belongs to the public at large is for the public
and the laborer agree between themselves upon the
disposition that shall be made of the fruits of his labor
Now, just such laborer is the author The soil in
which he incorporates and mixes his toll is not his own
and from the necessity of things never become his
exclusive possession The language which lie be-
longs to the public, and if he chooses to werk public
property he must not claim exactly the right in his
abors he the sole owner of the base in which he
mixes those labors We have former occasion COM
pared language to the ocean, which is common to all
The comparison does not fully illustrate the force of our
he mil Al
product Of men well their common Inheritance
Shall Lieut.. Maury claim the exclusive and perpetual
right OF navigating the better routes which he has dis
covered by exercising his intelligence on maritime affairs
Does he the paths the sea which he has marked
out? Nobody claims 1t. And why not? Simply be-
cause he has spent his labor his on but on public
property The right of way landed property be-
longing to any man or set Of may become excu-
siye and perpetual by original occupation, by pre-
scrption by purchase but that which demands for
its due enjoyment the condition Of being inappropriate
can never legitimatey become private property And
this is eminently the with thought and language
They who work with them laborers for the public
for the worth of their works only be realized by their
surrender to the pubc but for this surrender they are
entitled to ample recompense To take the fruit of
their labors without such reoompense is make galley
slaves Of societys nobest workmen; it is to expose
people who commit such niquity to the woe denounced
by the Hebrew prophet against him that budeth his
house by unrigheousness and his chambers by wrong
that aseth his neghbors service without wages aid gveth
him not for his work."
The other nerrogatorles OF correspondent admit
of easy answer. Suppose he says, ssyou have
written and printed oork Instead of distributing CO.
pies of this work among the public you retain it in your
private possession during the time allotted you by pub
lie enactment to it exclusively. Will you be bound
at the end Of the allotted time to give the pubcs pub
fishers access to the work. that they may copy and cir
cuate tS If not, then have the public one whit more
right to reprint and distribute the same work if found
upon your booksellers in the dwelling of your
neghbor I"
Now let it be observed that when the public guarantees
to author the exclusive copyright of his work for only
allotted period, it does not compel any man to be-
come an author If the literary laborer is not satisfied
with the stipend which the public permits him reap by
his toll he has the laborers right strike for higher
wages or to withdraw entirely from the public service
If he has written and printed" a work which he with
holds from the public because he thinks it worth more
purely question of morals with him whether he shall
surrender it to the ungraeful public 1t is exactly
though the dscoverer of anasthesa whom the Senate
proposes to reward should have balanced in his mind the
moral obligation to publish his discovery against the pro-
babe ngratitude with which the public would avail itself
of his services The principle which solves this question
clearly this In proportion to the worth of mans
literary services is his obligation to surrender them to
the public and it is the CO ordinate obligation of the
public to provide that for such surrender he shall be so
rcmunerated as not only to recompense him for his la
bors but also to act encouragement to future Ia
borers in the field Of public service But is in
quired suppose author agrees give his work the
public, why should he be limited to q term Of years
in the enjoyment of his right Of copy in that work
Have the public right reprint and distribute his work
after the allotted period of his exclusive possession in its
copyright?
Since an authors literary works are supposed to be