New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-03-15
MORE EXcITENIENr In THE REICHsTAG.
NEWSPAPER COPYRIGHT.

NEWSPAPER COPYRIGHT
HENRY wATTERSON ADVOCATES REFORM.
WASHINGTON, March 14.-ln response to IN
vtaton Henry Watterson appeared before the JOINT COM
mittee the Library this morning to make argument anu
answer inquiries touching theprOpOscd Eight Hour News
| paper Copyright bill His interview with the committee
lasted nearly two hours All the members were present.
and by their questions evnced great interest in the sub
ject At the outset Mr. Wait rson said There haDeen
good dea of sanpehpnson az 10 the character and pr
OF This bill growing largely of the fact that the
original propositionsrst to take foryegnt hOuIs ana
sary The bin as it is drawn is simply des med to defeat
concurrent pirsted publication II IL universal IN its APP
picaton 1t embraces all associated newspapers ana az
separate newspapers. II cannot affect what IS caeu we
country press at all II simply provides that IRON ,n u;
hour OF going to press newspaper or an ass6cmo %
newspapers shall have the exclusive right to me us ana
profit OF the which they have bought and pad f9I
the eight hour term expires at H. This makes no par 70
9s pnSmSan G news snppoe enc publish paper in
NsWYork p and engage RngiaEo and send
d 5m to 's sd good he fGTtune
in furnishing me page Of matter describing gfeSe
newspaper right alongside OF me- published at one cent
simple cost Of type Getting defeat my enterprise"
| TIT MEANING OF THE BILL.
Senator Hoar~ Do you to protect the form or the
statement of Iacti A-You cannot copy
right fact The mere statement that the
| King of Prussia is dead could not be copy
rghted hut the full account which might he embraced
! II a hundred or more words should be protected.
.ecry for coaPoson The melol q statement Of
facts and not for the facts themseyeSi Al under
hundred words that the infringement shall en-
brace actual words. not the su6stanee 10 o,o,,c, %
prevent recasjing and telling those facts in different
Sisiory%some page which is crowded with facts-iet
some other man read that page ana repeal mos aUs IA
OF mankind although Mr. Bancroft may have spent great
labor IN discovering the facts AIhe time required 10
~ Inc 80
piracy for concurrent publication
| Mr. Shcrman-G would like to know TO what extent the
| news +, pirateI How can II he dOnel At l. done
every dav In the City Of NewlOIk and IN every other
hour later than the newspapers or instance o the As
ISOLATED Press-wlch are generally the nlgIIc'd news
| papers-copyng-fOr concurrent pubhcauon--Irom
hundred TO thousand words OF matter from Ihese seT
priced papers. Those newspapers haodaIy Issue matter
O.-IIow soon afcrwardl A-wth the greatly in
creased facilities press work and type setting II j.
And then thew would sell that edition Of the news
on the street at the tmei A.-Puctcally al the
same time. For mstanc under the present absence Of
laws. may open office III New-Iork at O'Clock IN
the morning having 10y assistants and type settlers a.! IN
readiness and may obtain early copies OF tue NeW-1ok
papers and may issue newspaper containing every
thing that good in all those papers and underse them
all Imay issue this stole property without one line OF
Q~Tha has been substantially done That is the evil
from which you desire redress A-Yes' Sir.
l. REDRESS POssIBLEf
Mr. Hoal-NIy question goes the possibility % giving
redress Suppose MI Smalley clogTaphs 10 his paper
column ofmatcr obtained at great expense describing
the a sebastopo at such hour yesterday afternoon
and how many fell each side etc Every fact in That
il public property. NOW could not many intelligent men
employed any city newspaper Office read that and IN
ten minutes after reading begin to diet ate as fast as it
material fac-compared and put together la their own
ways0 that they would have cvadcd every legal prom
| bitlOn while awaiting themselves OF every TACT O the
news You remember the Constitution eYcS Us only me
NH 10 protct he author and not the discovcrer Of
historical fact Al should say that that would be no
infringement OF copyright because You could never prove
fact is published the Enowledgc Of the fact is public
properly simply MAINTAIN mat the Nh e'g rcl OF 0n
! ing The fact which mas cost me great OUTLAY,
| lir Hoar-i ntcITupunC-NOw is it not true that the
real thing to be Totcceds INC d'goyeIy o. ac laI'
A-suppose Mr.. smallcy sends column Of matter 10 his
paper and inferior writer sends column OF matter
to another competing paper The hrs Is an expa'lt Hear
| accurate account. lis value Is enhanced by NJ
papers should protected against each other need Dc,
| In their peculiar methods o. stating the case
THE EFFECT oN HE COUNTRY PRESS.
| Mr. Voorhees, would not give rate that would
crowd the fellows. pres2 the smaller news
paper concerns Of the country don't understand that
thai i, any purpose OF this bill Yet there Is appre
hcnson all over the country to that effect Iroceived
three fcur dispatches yesterday received one this
morning from Mr connected with the small d4lics,
who had learned that mis- hearing was TO ishe place II
understand YOU, this measure would mainly apply TO
sho, Tn same 6oHr in the morning ALe me illustrate
Take case between the East and West There Is differ
| ence Of hour between Newlork AM Chicago. and
| three hours between NewYork and san Francisco
| There are five morning papers IN chicago when pay
atcd by then special correspondents Now let
Us say there are papers in Chicago which obtain
early copies OF the NewlOrk papers and transmit from
ewYOrk for the mere cost OF telrgraphng what has
those other papers largo sums IN obtaining from
origin sources. That Is undoubtedly stealing the prop
| eTty Of another.
Representative SinglctOn-NOu newspaper goes 10
press about o'clock; what Time do they ssuct Am
early copy paper may be bought or stolen i've
/ minutes after going 10 press.
| Q.-suppose a paper at Yicksburg New-Orlcans
comes out o'clock, would the sppndent OF
that paper be prevented from tecgrdphng that neWSOr
would II not operate 10 that extent A.ct us take an
illustration. publishes paper at NicksbuTg and pays
for the Associated Press matter for That Of any other
association. publishes newspaper ana does not pay
cent 10 anybody for his news. Now, should this
Q-ilntcTuptngI am not speaking OF the Justice OF
the matter Would II not prevent The papers publishing
al or OcOckl A-Few, II any, daily newspapers are
published as late that They usually to press at
Nick.brg al . o'clock That Il or o'clock IN New
York The difference IN time would enable newspaper
In Vcksburg which proposed to live by piracy 10 steal
and puish s matter for tine mere cost OF telcQraphug
and fypcscitlug II precisely the point al which tn,
bin is aimed. It would affect newspaper which didn't
propose obtain its matter by robbery II could not pos
sbly affect "a newspaper paying fOI IL news.
O-WhOdO understand 10y the Constitution sentlttd
take copy1ght Isl The author or the man VINO
purchases from the authOTi Alt the suggestion OF the
chairman OF the committee, struck ont section oi TINS
bl narrltng and specifying the mode ana persons VINO
should take out copyright
DIFFICULTIES OF ENFORCING LAW.
Mr.. sherman thought II would put additional duty
upon the Librarian OF Congress and upon the United
States Courts which were specified IN the section
o. suppose that the publisher who Is or who repre-
sents the Of the newspaper the person entitled
10 protection
Representative Woodarl-As defendant or plaintiff