Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-03-17
COPYRIGHTING SERMONS.

make points against preachers for copy
righting their sermons, and from the
peculiar nature of the case we are able
to see how some people would be in
clined, at first blush, to condemn the
practice as selfish and unchristian-
like.
The preacher is supposed to be in
the world for what good he can do.
He is supposed to be obeying the COM
mand of the Master TO proceed without
script and without staff, repeating the
message that is given to him in that
sa me hour from above, and that any
effort on his part to claim proprietor
ship of that message is wrong, unjust,
and unchristian.
We had a personal experience some
years ago. Rev. R. G.. Pearson was
preaching in Yorkville. His sermons
were interesting and powerful, and at
tracted such widespread attention, that
we thought it would be good idea to
print them. We requested that we
he allowed to send a stenographer to
take them down as he delivered them
from the pulpit. He replied that his
sermons were copyrighted, they repre-
sented his stock in trade, and although
he would he willing to sell them to US,
he could not afford to give them away
without price. Although we did not
complain through THE ENQUIRER, we
felt that the great preacher was very
selfish, and not much of Christian.
But since that time We have thought
of the matter very differently. The
basis upon which we made our request
of Mr.. Pearson was this: Here you
are preaching to do good. Your SER
mons, which are powerful, reach a
great many people, and they do good
in proportion. If we reproduce them
in The ENQUIRER, they will do that
much more good, and hence you should
be glad to have them published. There
was no thought on our part of any
selfishness. Our intentions were per-
fectly good. Upon more careful ex-
animation we find that we were selfish.
For instance, it was because those SER
mons were interesting and readable
that we wanted them. If they had
been dull, we would not have cared to
have used them. Had we used them,
lust to the extent of the interest they
created, there would have been de-
mand for THE ENQUIRER, and to the
extent of the pleasure they gave, The
ENQUIRER would have come in for
commendation from its patrons, and to
that extent would have been benefit
ted financially. In the purchase Of
the sermons according to Mr.. Pearson's
suggestion, the only thing we had to
consider was whether the probable re-
turns would yield profit to us over
and above the purchase price.
So Mr.. Pearson was right. 1t is
true that the more his sermons are read
the more good they will do; but the
multiplication of copies of his sermon
by publication costs money. No print
er is going to undertake TO publish
those or any other sermons, unless he
sees profit. An exceptional one might
spend bis means IN this way; but his
means will be exhausted before he
accom- plishes great good. He will find
that the public is suspicious of gifts,
aud that people do not accord the
same respect 10 gift publications as to
those they buy. If the publication of
the sermons were profitable to one
publisher, unless there was copyright
protection, there would soon be com.
petition from other publishers who
would take all the profit out of the
business, thus putting stop to further
distribution. Copyright protects the
publisher and author, and insures con-
tinued distribution so long as there is
any demand. When the demand
ceases, further distribution is useless.
In years past we have had great
deal of experience along this line. All
of the important newspaper work of
the county has been done by THE
ENQUIRER. Much Of it has required
labor, experience and intelligence.
Work by us is, or ought to be, our
property. 1t is regularly stolen, how
ever, as deliberately as if there were
no property rights in such productions,
without even a line of acknowledge
ment on the part of those who do the
stealing. We have had our represen-
tative a. scores of public meetings
where there was no other newspaper
representative, and where he secured
all the copies of the proceedings that
were in existence. After these pro-
ceedings were published, they would
ha stoIan hodacionsly line for line