The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-10-09
LITERARY PIRACY.

The place which it is not considered
polite TO mention is presumed to have no
fury like a woman scorned. This being
established, what might be the condition
of grown female laboring under an impu-
tation of gross fraud is left to the reader to
imagine 1t is "a condition of things quite
too sulphurous and tormentingto be placed
upon paper. If it were at all possible to
emphasize this latter status, 1t .could be
brought about by making the particular
fraud complained of one Of great and pre-
fair sex accused has brought forth some
production which she and the public at
conceived literary piracy after the one OF the
large hold to be unusually clever.
Some few months ago the theatre goers
of Salt Lake for three consecutive times
hung enraptured upon the pithy plot, apt
situations, clever dialogue and sparkling
sentences of Little Lord Fauntleroy." 1t
was thoroughly enjoyable play to our citi-
zens, and what is enjoyable here is apt to
be elsewhere, for be it known that piece
eP performance that passes muster here
has usually diploma of merit which en-
ables il to pass or is a certificate
that it has passed elsewhere. Well,
we all caught on" to the juve-
nile noble in excellent style and are
willing to give him another welcome when
ever he shall again venture this way under
the same circumstances as before. Herein
lies the substance of this article Any
person, publication or play that becomes
popular is at once an object of general as
sault and destructive criticism, just as
when mine becomes a paying one and
gives promise of future greatness, it is in
volved in litigation from one or more
sources as surely as that anybody besides
the owners ever saw it.
Returning to FauntlerOy: A claim has
been recently set up by Mrs. A. T. WIN
THRoP, an English lady, to the effect that
Mrs. FRANCES HoDGsoN BURNETT stole the
whole story from book which she Mrs.
WINTHROP wrote, and which was entitled
''Wilfred." The latter lady submits a
number of points and incidents from her
own production which are, singularly
enough, very much like some in the story
OF the little lord; this she will not permit to
be coincidence; it is, as she would have
US believe, plagiarism pure and simple.
by the New York World to take charge of
its youths department, which appears in
every Sundays issue. Naturally enough
that great paper comes TO her rescue, but
it does not exhibit special selfshness, if it
have any, as its animus, depending rather,
so far as may be judged from an exterior
view upon what appears to be facts and
self-supporting circumstances. 1t says,
which most of US will freely admit, that
Mrs. BURNETT is a woman of great and
approved ability in construction and in all
the literary arts that concern fiction. Her
work, apart from "Fauntleroy," has given
her a worldwide reputation. Mrs. WIN
THRoP has never been able to make her
name familiar to anybody, although her
story "Wilfred," according to her own
account, has been extant for long period.
Is it likely that the most popular and most
deservedly popular juvenile story Of this
century can owe anything of consequence
to story SO weak that it has made no i'm
preston whateverl Is it likely that a
novelist SO remarkably gifted as Mrs BUR-
NETT unquestionably is has felt tempted to
borrow from the poverty stricken store Of
a writer who is a confessed failure'
Our New York cont 9H porary asks, in
conclusion, why it is if the charge of Mrs.
WINTHROP be true that it was not made
public long ago. Is it conceivable, it asks,
that an author would for years have kept
silent while plag arism OF her work was
not only winning the applause OF the whole
English speaking race as literature, but
A.
shape of play! Mrs. WINTHROP asks US
70 believe too much; there is limit to the
most athletic credulity.
It is noteworthy that the work Of the
iooneclast is not confined to any age or
condition of society. 1t is also crafty
ing circumstance that the work of such is
so distributed that one object seldom has
% endure their combined assaults. While
the literary wolves are bowling around
Mrs. BURNETT, they are permitting the
bones Of the greatly revered SHAKESPEARE
to enjoy much needed repose. This is not
to say that all who detect or criticise are
wolves by any means, nor would we have
it for moment understood that anything
herein contained is defensive in any degree
Of plagiarism. Vastly otherwise. A
literary pirate, so far as the rights of prop
erty are concerned, is apt to be Us bad as
any other To use the ideas which another
has coined in his intellectual workshop
and upon which he relies for reputation,
and it may be for subsistence, is
as bad as it is To pilfer the
product Of his hands, and ought
to be punished in like manner. There is
always some allowance to be made for
adapting another's productions when proper
@redit is given, provided such use be
not specially forbidden, because such bor-
rowing is merely advertising the author
and contributing toward the extension of
his influence and popularity if the work be
worthy. It should always be borne in mind,
however, that absolute originality is con-
dition of things very seldom met with and
almost impossible to establish. We
scarcely,if ever, have thought that others
have not had before US. Some have ex-
pressed them better than we can, others
worse, and in many cases there has been
NO expression at all As there is nothing
new in a substantial way under the sun,
so can there be no absolutely original
thoughts, but those who give old
ones new clothing and bring them forth
into the world Of letters as recreation are
entitled to full credit for their work, and to
all the money that there is or may be in it.
THERE is one Democratic candidate for
governor in a red-hot Republican state
whom the latter party ought to watch with
FL =.