The Republican., 1894-02-15
THE AUTHORS SAFE DEPOSIT,
n Library Where All Writers Find Recog.
nition-Copyrights Increasing.

The copyright records in the con
gressional library show that this hs.
. been the most prolific year in the his
tory of the country in the production
of copyrightab matter. Each yea
shows slight increase in the number
of books and other publica tions ovel
the year before. This year the in.
crease, since the 1st of January last,
has been over three thousand. Each
year there are issued by Librarian
Spotford between fifty and sixty thou
sand copyrights. This department of
the government service is one of the
most interesting of those in Washing
ton, as indicating the trend of public
thought, and, when you come to think
about it. in the addition of from fifty
thousand to sixty thousand publica-
tions of various classes to the litera-
ture, art and music of this country,
there is disclosed a record of a marvel
GUS amount of work. The records of
copyrights there are most interesting
in indicating the development of liter
ature and the change of tastes and
modes of thought from year to year.
The popular idea that the holiday
seasons produce Christmas and Thanks
giving stories and that springtime
starts the fountain of poetry, is not
verified in these records. The great
deluge of holiday stories which appear
at this season were probably copy
righted in the spring or during the
sultry month of August, when the con-
temptation of the cold winds of winter
and the snow-clad hills presented a
VISION OF particular attractiveness to
| the perspirhg and exhausted author.
And as to tie poets, it is found that all
seasons are theirs. The capacity for
, poetry OF the American men and wo-
! men is something astonishing, and
there is no season, month nor week in
the year that The application for copy
rights don't come tumbling in.
Librarian Spofford says that the in
ternational copyright law has operated
very well, and that large number of
the very best class of foreign works
have been published and copyrighted
in this country under its provisions. 1t
has not, however, oeen nearly as widely
avalled of as was anticipated.
Authors of wide reputation producing
works of merit We're quick to avail
themselves of the American copyright,
but the great average writer's who pro
duce most of the foreign literature of
the day have apparently found it prof
liable to have their books reset and
republished in this country for sake of
the copyright. In this country the
1Nt,iy lara Of ln =
more wloely availed of each year, and
it has come about that there is scarcely
anything produced that is not patent
able for which copyright is not
sought. The average American, when
he thinks he has discovered new idea,
hastens at once to secure the exclusive
right to 1t, and hundreds of applica-
tions are received constantly which
have to be rejected on account of their
being ridiculous or lacking in original
ity. Copyright applications are re-
seeived for copyrights on methods of
doing Untnsy7, ,dlsftLlr Of s.dvertTsfng, on
stamps, impressions and pastors, and
thousand and one little trifes. The
practice of copyrighting newspaper
articles has become almost universal,
and few newspapers in the country
have their daily editions copyrighted
throughout. Since the camera craze
has been having a run there is an i'm
mense amount of copyrights secured
on photographs, and the increase of
copyrighted musical compositions is
very large.
In literature fiction far surpasses all
other work in the number of COPY
rights and the number of short stories
produced is constantly on the increase.
The tendency of the short stories pro-
duced is largely toward psychological
and character study, mere adventure
appearing less prominently in the pro-
ductions. During the past year or two
there has been a marked increase in
the number of historical and scientific
publications. The increase in histori-
cal publications is especially marked.
They range from short historical
sketches and pamphlets to the longer
national histories. A great number of
copyrights are issued for histories of
states, counties and towns. In the
northern and eastern states every
county or town or, in fact, everything
that has a history seems to have in
vited the talents of authors. In the
south the attention to these historical
writings has been less, but the literary
fad seems to be spreading now in that
direction.
The pathos, or really tear-starting
part of the copyright records relates
to poetry. There are more books of
poems in the library than the most
careful and diligent student of Ameri-
can literature can imagine, and the sad
thing about it is that by all odds the
greatest number of these books are
published By the authors themselves.
In every other class of literature the
copyrigh ted publications are mostly by
large publishing houses, and the wri-
ters appear to have more or less the
support of the reading public; but the
poor poet, who appears to be the most
persistent of all producers, appears to
have to feed upon his own fancies and
pay his own bills. BE the publishers
as discriminating as they may, the
copyright law has no favOrites, and
permits all who produce to claim the
right of exclusive publication; and in
the congressional library the vOlumaS