The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1885-07-23
DIR. Holmes on International Copy.
right.

On the 26th and 29th of April an in
teresting and successful series of read
ings were given by American authors
at the Madison Square Theatre, New
York, in aid of the fund of the Ameri-
can Copyright League. George Will
lam Curtis, Esq, presided on the first
afternoon, and the Right Reverend
Henry c. Potter, Assistant Bishop of
New York, on the second. Both gen.
tlemen make striking and eloquent ap-
peals In favor of the establishment of
an International Copyright Among
those who took part were the Rev.
Henry Ward Beecher. Messrs. w. ID.
Howells. Edward Eggleston. S. L.
Clemens. r. II. Stoddard. Julian Haw-
thorue, Will Carleton. Ii. Ii. Boyesen,
II. e. Bunner. G. 2. Lathrop. and 9TH
ers. Mr.. Joel Chandler Harris and
MIR. Frank Stockton were represented
by proxy, the latter by q new story.
Two of DIR. Holiness poems were read.
prefaced by the following letter. which
we are permitted to print for the first
time.-EDITOR.
Boston. April %, 1885.
My DEAR SIR: regret deeply that
l cannot be present at the meeting,
where so many of my friends will be
gathered. 1t will be grand rally in
the cause of one of the hardest worked
of the laboring classes meeting Of
the soft-handed sons of toll, whose
tasks are more trying than those of the
toughest day-laborer. though his palms
might shame the hide of a rhinoceros-
How complex, how difficult is the
work of the brain operativei He en-
ploys the noblest implement which God
has given to mortals. He handles the
most precious material that is model
ed by the art of man; the imperishable
embodiment of human thought in lam
guage. -.T
Is not the product of the authors in
dustry an addition to the wealth of his
country and of civilization as much as
if it were a ponderable or a measura-
BILE substance? 1t cannot be weighed
in the grocer's scales, or measured by
the shop-keeper's yard-stick. But
nothing is so real, nothing so perma-
nent, nothing of human origin so priz-
ed. Better lose the Parthenon than
the Iliad; better level st. Peters than
blot out the Divina Commedia; better
blow up Saint Paurs than strike Para
disc Lost from the treasures of the En-
glish language. .f
How much a great work costst
What fortunate strains of blood have
gone for the formation of that delicate
yet potent brain tissuei Whist happy
influences have met for the develop
ment of its marvellous capacities! What
travail, what throbbing temples, what
tension of every mental fibre, what
conflicts, what hopes, what illusions,
what disappOintments, what triumphs,
lie recorded between the covers of that
volume ON the booksellers counteri
And shall the work which drained its
authors ife-blood be the prey of the
first vampire that chooses to flap his
penny-editiOn wings over his unprOtect-
ed and hapless victim?
This is the wrong we would put an
end to. The British author, whose
stolen works are in the hands of the
vast American reading public, may
possibly receive a small pension if he
come to want in his old age. But the
bread of even public charity is apt to
have bitter taste, and the slice is at
best but small one. Shall not our
English writing brother have his fair
days wage for his fair days work in
furnishing us with instruction and en-
tertainment?
As 10 the poor american autnOr, no
pension will ever keep him from dying
in the poorhouse. His books may be
on every stall in Europe, in their own
or in foreign tongues, but his only
compensation is the free-will offering
of some liberal-minded publisher.
This should not be so. We all know
it, and some among us have felt it, and
still feel it as a great wrong. / think
especially of those who are in the tiow-
er of their productive period, and those
who are just coming into their time of
intlorescence. To US who are too far
advanced to profit by any provision for
justice likely to be made in our day,
it would still be great satisfaction to
know that the writers who come after
us will be fairly treated, and that gen.
ius will no longer be an outlaw as soon
as it crosses the Atlantic.
Believe me, dear MIR. Lathrop, q
Very truly yours,
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
GEORGE p LATHRoP. Sec'y, etc.
From The Century for july.