Evening journal., 1890-06-30
BARGAIN COUNTER MORAL 8

BARGAIN COUNTER MORALS.
We have received circular from the
book publishers, Funk & Wngnalls, ask
ing fair consideration for their replies
to the atrocious attacks" Of the New
York Evening Post accusing them Of
publishing pirated copies Of valuable
English books.
In the first place, Funk & waguslls do
not make a defence They simply abuse
the Post for making the charges and
refer to other similar piracies, steallnga
aud frauds upon the public, to
palliate their oiTense in doing worse II
is the common trick Of thieves and
scoundrels to claim that they are un-
justly punished because some other thief
or scoundrel has escaped. IL isa common
defence Of the thief when caught that
he should not be punished because every
other thief has not been punished-that
because everybody who commits a crime
Is not punished nobody should be pun.
ished, We do not agree with special
pleas Of that sort 1t is right to punish
each law-breaker as often as he can be
caught without reference TO the case OF
any other law breaker.
The Evening Post has made the charge
of book piracy and Funk & Wagnalls
have neither denied nor palliated 1t They
have simply appealed for sympathy and
pocketed the profits OF re-publishing
another firms book without permission
The real defence begins and becomes inter
esting only when John Wanamaker takes
hand and adds tho weight OF his bar
gain counter honesty and Job lot moral
philosophy to the discussion. He sells
the books In reply to criticisms OF the
Philadelphia Press he says
You may differ with our opinion. but
no man nor newspaper has q right to
question our integrity OF motive so long
az We msintain decent mercantile
character and are sustained by the law Of
the land
"A decent mercantile character" may
be maintained by any merchant who
cheats, gouges and almost robs those with
whom he deals, but who still meets his
bank engagements promptly. He may
have piled all the atifces known to the
commercial thief for scaling the invoices
in quantity, quality and price and stil
pay the reduced amount promptly
enough to maintain decent character.
A merchant may keep out Of the clutches
of the law, and thus far be Sustained bv
the law of the land. who still deserves
to be within the penitentiary. The man.
who guages his morals by the low
standard Of the law, is capable Of being
thief aud a ascoundrel The law Is not
stsndsrd Of moral behavior or CONNER
eial honor.
Referring to the practice Of book
piracy Air. Men4maker says: 'rhe
cloth-maker and the book-maker are in
precisely similar positions" But he
surely viii not maintain that he would
manufacture and sell John Does cloth
under John Does name TO create the i'm
preston In the purchasers mind that he
was buying John Does clothg Then this
same morallst glides into the legal de-
partment thus What creates the prop
erty right2 The law. Perhaps this error
Is the root Of the whole misconception.
The law cannot create anything what
ever much less property. The law merely
assists In preserving and conserving
property. The law may adjust the rela-
tions Of different possessors Of prop
erty; It may state. define and connrm,
but it cannot create property.
Thus in two great branches Of know
ledge-ln the science Of morals, and In the
science Of law-the circular Of John
Wanamaker displays a very commercial
deficit. There IS hiatus between what
he maintains and what a moralist would
m maintain, which leaves much to be de-
sired There is nothing in his definition
Of property, which would merit a mo-
ment's consideration from trained law
yer or even an intelligent man.
Competition in trade is very keen and
the merchant who succeeds in thess days
must be intelligent active. alert, quick
and bold, but he need not be dishonest
he need not steal another merchants
trademark, he need not infringe on
another mans patent, and above all, he
need not steal the book which an author
has sold to another merchant. By ad-
mitting that there should be a copyright
law TO protect author and publisher from
piracy, IS he does admit, John wana
maker admits the moral obligation not
to steal, for if the laws to prevent it were
not founded on justice. right and good
morals, it should not be placed ON the
statute books
An upright merchant should not, need
the prohibitions Of the ''lag Of the
land" to teach the moral code. The laws
of God teaches man that he must not
steal II every man should await
special law in every case similar to the
copyright law to teach him not TO steal
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