Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-11-14
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT.
BY PROF. A. @. PAYNE.


This subject is attracting great deal
OF attention just now among the reading
and writing world, not emitting the pub
fishing, who, If possible, are more deep
ly interested than either. It is grow
ing question, and, large as are it's pres
ent proportions, it promises further and
more serious development. The result
sought to be obtained by this law is the
power of securing to himself by an au-
.thor, in this country for example, the
pecuniary profits arising out of his pro-
auctions in foreign countries as well as
at home. And Woe gers0, of course
And, as matters now stand, notwith-
standing strenuous opposition from
many quarters, the tide of opinion seems
to be settling toward the affirmative,
and, If something else OF great inpor-
tance does not retard or Getract atten-
ton, this law may be looked upon as
soon to be accomplished reality.
Let us glance into the matter little
and sift It's arguments pro and con. But
to do this Systematically, I shall lay
down the following propositions, follow
ing them by what conceive to be their
correct demonstration, VIZ:
Il free and perfect interchange OF
Thought and experience among them
selves is essential to the aOelfare and en-
teIIectstG5 advancement Of mankind.
Proposition first. (This is almost an
axiom.)
In primeval times mankind were en-
veloped in complete intellectual dark
ness and degradation. But in time. by
the survival of the fttest, and more IA
vorable surroundings, few became in
tellectually superior to the great mass
about them, becoming, as it were, pre-
ceptors-hghts at whose blaze the rest
alighted their darkened tapers, and
whose light, transmitted from father to
son, In the lapse of time illuminated the
world. Now, suppose that these SUI
perior intellects had confined their light
to themselves, Or the masses had been
debarred from approaching it, what
would have been theres5t, and where the
boosted enlightenment of to-day The
answer is obvious to every thinking
mind. The Egyptian priests adopted
this practice, and for ages, while they
were comparatively well Informed in the
sciences OF astronomy, philosophy, and
mathematics, the great horde of the
people were totally illiterate, off of whose
credulity and superstition the favored
few waxed fat. Suppose, too, that the
prophets and seers of old and the
apostles of later days had kept their
great revelation of light to themselves
on to their own race and country, what
would have been the moral state of the
world even now? Demonstration one.
The diffusion and Interchange OF
ideas assd experiences is ,,rsncipazly
effected. through the medium of wrSttesa
and printed language. Proposition
second.
This proposition there are few but
who will concede. Suppose that word
of mouth OK tradition had been our only
means of exchanging and preserving
knowledge. How puny would have been
It's benefits Even as it was with parch-
ments and stylus, how little diffused
was the lore of those days. Written
upon bulky and announcement material
at great labor and expense, few books
were to be obtained and those only at fab
ulous prices. Confined, as they necessarily
had to be, to a favored few in temple,
palace, or convent, all the rest of the
earth were enveloped in midnight dark
ness. Even the word of God was trans
mitted to them only by word of mouth,
and obviously distorted to suit the pur-
poses of the REALTORS. What wonder, in
view of these facts, that for nearly a
Thousand years all the known world was
relapsed into primeval ignorance, and
murder, Mpine, lust, superstition, and
misery only marked what we style truly
the Dark Ages.
Only with the advent of the printing
press was knowledge at all diffused.
With its appearance dates the begin
ming Of our millennium of enlightenment.
Seeing the inevitable result of diffu-
sion Of Bibles and general knowledge as
the humiliation of their supremacy.
most bitterly did priest and King oppose
its progress, demolishing it's forms and
putting its disciples to the rack, and
poisoning the minds of the masses with
superstitious horror for it as the prepare
ton of the devil, and its invention as an
emissary Of that dark monarch. But
truth and right are mighty, and printing
presses continued to be and to act, and
volumes of history, biography, philos-
ophy and theology were scattered among
the 1literate masses, and we behold q
comparatively enlightened world. I say
comparatively enlightened, for, with all
our boosted education, our present
knowledge is but as drop to the ocean,
an instant to eternity. Had there al
ways been the present medium of diffu-
sion of light, crippled though it be, how
would our present knowledge have COM
pared with what would have been ?
Demonstration two.
Copyright IS q restriction and barrier
to the dissemination and Interchange
Of thought and experience among man
kind in the form, Of literature. PROPOSE
ton third.
Those at all conversant with the ma
ture and workings of the Copyright law
cannot take candid issue with this asser-
ton. By its virtue the diffusion of liter
allure is SO restricted as to make pos
sible the combining Of it, virtually, to
one country, or the placing OF it beyond
the reach Of the great masses by an ex-
tortionate purchase price. 1t neces-
sarily makes scarce books and costly
books, by royalty to be paid to the
author or original publisher by all other
publishing firms, and an optionary esti-
mate of its purchase price necessarily fol
lows. The great mass of the people,