The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-08
MARK rWAIN.N WHITE ATTIRE.
ONE or AZ GALAXY OF GENTUSES
AT TIE lNATIONAL CAPITAL.
They Come 10 Discuss the Bill Ia Amend and
CodIfy the Copyright Law-Mark Dis
courses H-umeveusiy,o m the way 90 Dress
and ON the Woes ~ Poor Authors.

Nf
WASHINGTON, Dec.e7.-Literary. musical
and Legal talent Of aEhigh order wero rep
resented to-day at the hearing before the
Joint Committee on Patents OF the Senate
snd House on the billeto amend and oodify
the copyright laws. The hearing was
held in the Senate reading room Of the
Congressional Library. and among those
who were present were Mark Twain, Will
lam Dean How,slls, Thomas Nelson Page,
Edward Everett Hale. Joh Philip Sousa.
Victor Herbort, Albert Bigelow Payne,
: Herbert Putnam, and a lumber OF promi-
'nent librarian s .snd lawyers from different
: cities.
Conspicuous in this galaxy OF genius
was Mark Twain. conspicuous not only
! because Of his same as an author, but ee-
: pecially an obiect OF interest because OF his
unique winter attire. Despite the fact
> that the mercury was lowering about the
freezing point all day in Washington aud
the cold west wind was blowing across the
broad plaza in trout Of the Capitol, where
81 blows with more intensity than any
where else in Washington, the author Of
-Innocents Abroad was CARRIED in an
immaculate suit of white flannel Of the
style and texture affected by the gay young
man at the se.shore in July. IL was fault
less in appearance. and this. together with
his heavy shock OF bushy white hair, made
his appearance most striking.
Mr.. Clements came up TO the Capitol
shortly after poon and had a few minutes
/, chat with Speaker. Cannon, Uncle Joe
; n Mark are warm personal friends and
each is an admiTer of the works Of the
other. They make an excellent pair to
draw to, and, one OF the characteristics
common to both is that neither ever par
q. takes of noonLay lunch. They sat in the
Speakers room and snapped stories for
half hour or moSe and then Mr.. Clements
came up and tookTa seat in the
reserved gallery. The proceedings were
800 dull and prosaIc to interest him long.
however, and after remaining for a few
minutes he strolled tower into the press
gallery. where the atmosphere was more
c%ongenial and where he could smoke one
of the good cigars which the Speaker had
passed out to him. Seated in a comfortable
chair in the lounging room Of the press
gallery Mr.. Clements pulled on smoke
and conversation for an hour to "A party
of newspaper men. Some one was rude
enough to commentupon his attire and this
started the humorist,of in a happy vein.
Oh find this flannel suit comfortable. !"
he began. You see illustrating | wear
heavy underclothing. This suit 1 may say
is the uniform Of the Ancient and-Honorable
Order of Purity and Perfection, of which
organization | am the president secretary
and treasuI er and sole member. | may
add that | don't know of any one else who
Is eligible. You see. when "A man Rets to
ibe II, az | am. the world begins to look
sombre and dark, and | believe We should
AA all MN "A IN brighton things nm and
make ourselves look cheerful, You can't
do that wearing black, ~funereal clothes. And
why shouldn't a man wear whittier IL be-
tokens purity and innocence. I'm in favor
of the Deekaboo waists and the decOllet6
costumes. The most beautiful costume ~
the human skin, but since it isn't conven-
tional or polite TO appear in public IN that
garb alone, l believe in wearing white. |
don't know Of anything more hldeous and
disgusting in mems attire than the black
clawhammer coat. A group of men thus
adorned remind me more Of a flock OF crows
more than anything else. About the most be-
coming Retup | ever saw in my life was out
in the Sandwich Islands thirty years ago,
where a native who wanted 10 appear AZ
his best usually appeared in a pair OF eye
glasses.
They tried to get me to wear a plug hat
when | started 20 come down 10 Washing
ton, but l rebelled abainSt il. or oil styles
of ~headgear l think the plug hat IL about
the limit, and I'm glad TO see that IL has
become ODSOsete. lou might Walk up anu
down Broadway all day and you would never
see any of the best dressed men wearing
plug hats. 4 always suspect q man l see
wearing a plug hat these days. Coming
down here the only man j saw wearing one
was William Dean howells."
"Did you suspect Mr.. How ells?" some one
asked.
Yes, I suspected him Of being an ass,
replied the huInorlSt. just let
some one persuade him into caring that
plug hat, and any man who will let another
do that is an ass. OF course Howells is a
mighty fine old fellow-he IL 10, and there
fore old enough not 10 be bamDoozled into
wearing a hat of that sort"
From a disauisitiOn upon the subject OF
wearing apparel and headgear MIR. Clemens
drifted gracefully into a discussion Of the
copyright laws and the necessity for re-
vision.
We poor authors who are giving the
world the benefit VI ou. bramwork at d
royalty Of so much per volume want pro-
lection, and / believe that il we can properly
Impress and interest members of Congress
we will yea il. Under the present laws an
author oht1ins a copyright for twenty
eight years, with the privilege of renewing
IL within sx months before IL lapses Tor an
other fourteen years. There is no reason
why it should NOT be perpetual. but all we
are asking h that il shall continue during
The life Of the author AMI fifty years there
after. That viii give him and his family
all the protection Required. Why, under
Vic INrrt WV = y ' W u" 49, - " ="
few years before my children will lose noy
royalties and he going hungry, and the pub
fishers will be- getting the benefits which
should accrue 10. them,
THE copyright on my first book ran
out while I was following the equator
and l failed to get il renewed. Now the
publisher ia drawing the royalties which
should be coming in TO me. Of the 1000
books copyrighted every year now there
are not more than ten which outlive their
copyright, so it ann be contendeh that
the reading public obtains any benefit
from the lapse OF a copyright. The bene-
ft accrues only to the publisher and the
author suffers. Several years z when
the copyright on some 5000 books expired
there were only two ont OF that number
which were renewed-Mrs. Mary Baker
Fddy's Science and Health and 'Innooents
Abroad the name Of whose author j am
too modest TO mention Several years ago
through the assistance Of the late Sunset
I Cox and ex-senator Long, then a member
of the House, ! was in bring
ing the necessity Of an international copy
right law to the attention of Congress, with
the result that We have the present law on
that anhipCt II IL gOod ns far IA II 0paa