The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-09
NOTED WRITER'S
 WHO WERE THIEVES Authors In All Ages Are
 Accused OF STEALING THOUGH IS There Were Only Three Jokes In the World originaIly-some Say Seven. From These Was Developed
 Modern Humor.
From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

veleped. It appears that along with the increasing disability to say anything re- ally new there has come an increasing tendency to punish the writer who fails to do so. The inconsistency of the whole matter is that in the present view of lit erature as of all other art, the manner is held to be of more moment than the matter It is not what one says, but how he says it, that tells.
 Plagiarism Las become fine art along with murder and the gentle art of mak- ing enemies. And out of it has been de- veloped the science of critical explana- tion and classification of plagiarism. We know now that Homer was not written by Homer, but by another man of the same name. This classic explanation ex- plains much WI en rightly apprehended. And after all we need not be in too much terrcr of the man who is ready to accuse us of borrowing, for we can show that we are in excellent company. But some of our critics are so captious, an1 insist strongly on originality-as IT that in itself were merit-that 1t would seem that they invented not only the English language but the very alphabet itself, and are trying to get 1t copyright i ed or at least are grieving over thelr lack of foresight to do so when the world was younger.
 It is not only in Holy Writ that we may learn that there is nothing new under the sun We have the testimony of other writers more often and more attentively read in this age. Pliny the Elder, who died at the eruption of Vesuvius, in the year 79 A. D.. makes the sage remark:
 "Il comparing various authors with one another, have discovered that some of the srdvest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former orlra Nuit acknowledge ments.''
 A rather naive remark, surely, and made as if it recorded discovery. Per- haps it was really news to many, If It may be said that many of his own day ever saw what he wrote. For, consider what the probabilities were that more than a few would ever see his writings at that time, and the ease with which plagiarism could be successfully accom- plished Books were few; readers were still fewer The man who could read be- longed to the small class of professional scholars, and books, whether few or many, existed in only a few copies each. True, the scholar Eed to familiarize him. self with only I number of books, but that did no le him to detect theft the sooner T. unless he travelled toilsomely all over Europe he could not know what was in existence. Men couli not run the risk of Tending their precious manuscripts when there were no safe transportation methods
 We must malxe sharp distinction be- tween stealing and borrowing, in litera- ture To steal is to borrow without cred- t and without quotation marks. To DPr- row is to steal and tell where we did 1t. We are hlameless if we go openly about cur theft, as the violence of an army is justified, while private pillage is a crime. And. having stolen openly, we let the ornaments relieve the dullness of our own thought We let the beautiful bridges of our quotation span the insignificant stream of oul fancy that runs beneath. So long ago as the third century, Diog- enes Laertius said that If any one were to take away from the books of Chrysip- pus all the passages which he quotes from other authors, his paper would oe left empty" Quotes, mind you-not steals Yet the line between the two Is still shadowy and uncertain Sheridan. 100 years ago. said: Steal to be sure they may; and, egad, serve your best thoughts as gypsies do stolen children disflgure them to make 'em pass for their own" Can one hold property in ideas? It is an interesting question. And when one is honestly the originator Of thought and produces something ne mas never heard before, how can he be as-
  chance is a thousand to one that it IS old. For it was long ago said that there is nothing new, except that which has become antiQuated In the matter or mechanical inventions the need of the time calls for d certain device: the prog ress already made indicates in general way the manner of meeting the need, and dozen men work at the problem In the only way open for it's solution. There fhA Tan charges of theft. In literature, reflect .ine life. men and women make the same shrewd and searching observations, in re- mote countries, in divers tongues, and all unwittingly and without thought or copying Human nature Is much the same at all times and in all countries. "In fine. nothing is said now that has not been said before
 Emerson said: By necessity, by pro- clivity and by delight. we all quote" often unconsciously, too. And he added: Next to the originator of good sen tence is the first auoter of it." It is the hackneyed quotation that gives all enuui. Just as words wear out from much han ding and become blurred in their out lines so striking phrases become trite and dull For this reason alone there is demand for men who can at least say old things in new ways, recoin the
 
 else is left to us? Either all of the good things have been said or else we are not as alert and keen as the older writ ers And our vanity will not let us believe this We are forced back on the other alternative. And surely, if good things of broad and universal applica- tion were still left unsaid. some one of us all would find them. No, the older writers could not have been better than the moderns They merely came into a new world. where unsaid things wore lying all about them. John Kendriclr Rangs voiced the lament for us all when he said that he coulA have written as good things as Shakespeare said if l.e had had a chance at them. And Shake sneare has not escaped the charge of pla giarisrn-not at all He has been ac- cused of more theft than almost any other writer, and not alone by those who now go to the theatre and come home disgusted because the classic drama is so full of familiar and worn-out quota lions Yet of Shakespeare Emerson says that "when he is charged with debts to his authors, Landor replies: Yet he wac more original than his originals. He breathed upon dead bodies and brought laegn into life.
 There is more than one justification for certain kinds of plagiarism, aside from the perfect defense that the writer had not before seen the original, but. barring that other defense, which we all need, that we stole unconscious Wye had so long been familiar with the thought that we knew not where we first got it. The first and best ex- cuse is fhat the ideas are not accessI-