Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-15
PIRATES OF THE PRESS.
HENRY WATTERSON AGAIN
CHAMPIONS HIS BILL.

Make Theft Their Most EnterprisiDe
Feature.
| WASHINGTON, March l4.-In resDOnse
to an invitation Henry Watterson ap-
peared before the joint Committee on the
Library this morning to make an argu-
ment and answer inquiries touching the
proposed eight-hour newspaper copyright
bill. His interview with the committee
lasted nearly two hours. All the
members were present, and by their
questions evinced great interest in
the matter. AT the outset Mr.. Watterson
said that there has been a good deal of
misapprehensiOn as to the character and
purposes of this bill, growing largely out
| OF the fact that the original propOsitiOns.
| First to take 48 hours and then "a were
wholly untenable and unnecessary. The
Dill as 1t is drawn is simply designed to
defeat concurrent pirated publication. IT
IS universal in its application.
1t embraces all associated newspapers
and all separate newspapers. 1t cannot
! affect what is called the country press at
all 1t simply provides that from the hour
OF going to press newspaper or an asso-
citation of newspapers shall have eXclu-
slYe right to the use and profit of matter
| which they have bought and paid for
FOR instance, If newspaper goes to press
at 8 O'Clock the eight-hOur term expires
at IL O'Clock. This does not bar the pub
HcatlOn OF news from morning papers by
afternoon papers.
suppose, tor instance" said Mr.. Wat
tefsOn, Il publish paper in New York
ana engage kinglake and send him to
Soudan. He by enterprise. great outlay
ana good fortune succeeds in furnishing
| me page of matter describing a great
battle in that country. That is skilled
labor That is forecast. 1 publish this
matter at O'Clock in the morning and the
newspaper published right alongside ofme
gets one copy in the present absence of
any law and may for the simple cost OF
! type setting defeat my enterprise"
BY Senator Hoar-DO YOU mean to
protect the form or the statement of
facts?
Mr.. WSttersOn-You cannot copyright
| a TACT. The mere statement that the King
! OF Prussia is dead could not be copv-
! rlghted, but the full account which might
| De embraced in a hundred or more words
should be protected
Senator HOar-You understand that Won
! get by this measure security for the com
! position OF the method OF the statement of
facts and not for the facts themselves?
MI. WattersOn-I understand that the
clause IN this bill which refers to one hun
| area words means that Infringement shall
embrace actual words, not substance.
Mr. Hoar-YOu think that would be
enough to prevent recasting and telling
| those facts in a different way? For in
| stance you take a page of BancrOft's
! history, some page which is crowded with
1acts; let some other man read that page
| and repeat those facts in his own Way.
Historical facts are the universal properly
OF mankind, although Mr.. Bancroft may
nave spent great labor in discovering the
| facts.
| Mr. Waf+orcor u,I,o 4:,,o ., .
recast the page of Mr.. Bancroft would |
! practically defeat piracy for concurrent
newspaper publication.
| Mr.. Sherman-I would like to know to |
! what extent news is pirated. How can
| it be done?
Mr.. Watterson-It is done every day.
| In the city of New York and in every |
other city you find newspapers published |
nall an hour or an hour later than other |
! newspapers, for instance, of the Associated |
! Press, which are generally high-priced
! newspapers, copying for concurrent pub |
hcatlon from hundred to a thousand |
words OF matter from these higher priced |
! papers. Those newspapers habituallv |
| issue matter which is paid for by others. |
Mr.. Sherman-HOw soon afterward?
! MIR. w atterson-With greatly increased |
! facilities for press work and type setting |
! 1t is mere matter Of a few minutes.
| Mr.. Sherman-And then they would |
/
! at the same time?
Mr.. w attersOn-Practically at the same |
time. For instance, under the present |
| absence oil the law | may open an office in |
New ork at . O'Clock in the morning |
having my assistants and type settlers ali |
IN readiness, and may obtain early copies |
| OF New York papers, and NAV Issue n |
| newspaper containing everything that is |
! good in all those papers and 1nderselI |
| them all. may issue this stolen property |
without one line of original matter.
Mr.. Sherman-That has been substale |
| TALLY done. That is the evil from which |
! YOU desire redress?
MIR. WattersOn-Yes, sir.
Mr.Hoar-My question goes to the possi- |
bility of giving redress. Suppose Mr.. |
Smalley telegraphs to his paper column |
| of matter, obtained at great exDense. de- |
| scrlbing the fall of SebastopOl at such an
hour yesterday afternoon, and how so |
many fall on each side, etc. Every fact in |
Ihat Is puDlic property. Now, could not |
many intelligent men employed i'm anv |
city newspaper office read that and in ten |
minutes after reading it begin to dictate
as fast as 1t could be written down or set |
up statement of every material fact |
composed and put together in their
own way, so that they would have
eVaded every legal prohibition while
aVallIng themselves of every fact of news?
ou remember the constitution gives us
only the right to protect the author and
not the dIscoVerer of a historical fact.
Mr. Watterson-L should say that that
would be no infringement of a copyrioht
because you could never prove where
those facts were obtained. / admit that
after the fact is published the LnOwIedge
OF the facts is public property. | simply
MAINTAIN that the method of obtaining the
fact which has cost me a great outlay
Mr.. Hoar (interrupting Now, is it not
true that the real thing to be protected is
the discovery of the fact itself? That is
what newspaper man has IabOred at,
Mr.. WattersOn-SuppOse Mr.. Smalley |
sends column Of matter to his paper.
and some inferior writer sends a column
OF matter to another competing paper.
The first Is an explicit, clear, accurate
account. Its value is enhanced by Mr..
omalley's character as writer. Now |
thlnk that both papers should be protect
ed against each other, if need be, in their
peculiar methods of stating the case.
Mr.. voorhees, would not give a vote
that would crowd the little fellows, or
seem to press the smaller newspaper con-
Germs OF the country. do not understand
that that is any purpose of this bill. Yet
there is an apprehension all over the
country to that effect. L received thfee or
lour dispatches yesterday; received one
TINS morning from men connected with
small dailes, who had learned that this
hearing was to take place. If |
understand you, this measure would
mainly apply to big cities, where
a good many newspapers are published
nearly about the same hour in the morn
ing.
Mr.. Watterson-Let me illustrate.
Take the case between the East and West.
There is difference of an hour between
New York and Chicago, and three hours
between New York and San Francisco.
Ihere are five morning papers in Chicago
which pay large sums for news teie-
graphed to them by the Associated Press.
and by thier special correspondent, Now
let us say that there are other papers in
chicago which obtain early copies of the
New ork papers and transmit from New
1ork for the mere cost of ftelegraphing what
has cost those other papers large sums in
obtaining from original sources. That is
undoubtedly stealing the property of
another.
Mr.. Watterson then, using Indianapolis
and Terre Haute for illustration. showed
how the bill would protect morning pa
pers and impose no obstacles to evening
papers, and, using New York and Vicks- /
burg and New Orleans for illustration.
how it would prevent a newspaper at 4
more distant point from obtaining its
news wholly by piracy for the mere cost
Of telegraphing and type setting, as is
possible at the present day by reason of
the difference in time and the early hour
of issue in New York and the excellent
telegraphic facilities. Mr.. Watterson
said that this was precisely the point at
which this bill is aimed. 1t would affect