The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1905-01-14
JAPANESE PIRATE BOOKS.
Little Brown Polyglots" Are Adopts
In the Art of Appropriating
Modern Fiction.

The first western novel translated
into Japanese was Ernest Maltravets,"
by Bulwer Lytton. This was i'm 1879.
1t was published under the poetic title:
"A Spring Story of Flowers and Will
lows" The latest fiction over which
Japan is poring-in stores, banks, COM
mission houses, railway and steamship
houses-is "The Letters of Self-Made
Merchant to His Son." and pirated at
that! The lack of an international
copyright law and the lax literary
morality of the Japanese has robbed
Mr.. Lorimer of royalty on more than
200,0 900 copies which have been sold in
the Sunrise Kingdom. But Mr.. Lorimer
has some revenge; the Japanese clerks
have to read it as text book! In the
japanese appraisement of the book"
says Harold Bolce, in his article, What
the Japanese are Reading" in the Book
lovers Magazine. 'its humor was en-
tirely overlooked. The production was
accepted solely as serious gospel to
overconfident young manhood. And
yet Japan is not so far astray in its esti-
mate of the book, which does preach
first-rate business gospel in homely
language. But piracy and even plagiar-
ism are not considered more than venial
offenses in Japan. Many hard-worked
preacher or editor will sympathize with
the literary workers of Japen who make
no bones about appropriating good
thing when they see it, without the
formality of using quotation marks.
Only we Occidentals are not so honest
about it.
| The Japs-''the little, brown poly
glots," as Mr.. Bolce appropriately and
picturesquely calls them-look upon
plagiarism las an indication of extern
sive and tenacious memory" and re-
gard the use of quotation marks as IAN
exhibition of questionable taste.
American fiction is not popular in
Japan, but science, philosophy and
poetry are The writings of Ira Rem
sen, Simon Newcomb, Edward Holden
| and David Starr Jordan are we'll known,
and appreciated. Emerson, Whittier
and Longfellow are enjoyed. Mark
Twain, SO far, has failed in laughing
his way into Japan" whereas in Rus
STA he shares the honors with Grover
Cleveland, Japan is an empire OF
poets.''
The present Mikado has written near
ly $4,000 odes. but as a Japanese ode
consists of only 81 syllables. and as
rhyme, reason and metre are alike ig-
nored" the imperial output may be
reverently discounted. The mass of the
people, however, like western nations
are great newspaper and magazine
readers. More than thousand news
the empire. The Imperial Public Ii
brary at Toxic has 100000 volumes
nearly 1000 of which are printed in the
languages of Europe" Notwithstand-
ing this avidity to read, the daily press
is not enterprising. 1t does not push
its circulation or sell it's wares on the
streets. To get copy you must go to
the Office of publication.
But Japan is ahead of the west in that
nearly every newspaper has a prison
] editor, whose duties consist in going u
| Jail and standing trial for any offenss
committed by the journal. This repre-.
sentative of some of the more indie
pendent papers spends a large portion
of his time in prison. either awaiting
the hearing of his case or in serving out
4 the term of his sentence. Even wher
out of the tolls, he has no editoria
duties to perform. His salary is large
than that of most of his colleagues, ant
his position is in demand He enjoys
the sonorous title of editor-in-chief
and when he is behind the bars thu
actual editor is classed by the journa
in question as merely contributor!
No wonder the makers of comic operi
go to the east for their IDEAS The ives
cannot match its serious whimsicalit!
or its sophistical subterfuges!