New-York tribune., 1908-03-01
Ghe Netu'Nork 01ibmmt.
SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 1908.

themselves with schemes for ,nternatonaI mar
mony in matters bearing upon the publication
of their books Something has been accom-
plished and to-day an authors rights are not
necessarily and automatically abrogated the mo-
mert his work travels from his own country into
another Yet there is still much to be done
before the writer of a book may feel as secure
about the integrity of his property abroad as at
home The other day an English firm acquired
the right to translate the book OF German
professor When its version came out the latter
was scandalzed to observe that divers passages,
in his opinion absolutely essential, had calmly
been omitted He made complaint in letter to
'"The Athenaum" and in that periodical we find
an explanation offered by the man Of letters
who had supervised the job. 1t appears that in
the series in which the book appeared the pub
fishers had resolved to abide by "a certain
standard Of uniformity as to the amount Of
PACED matter" Obviously there was nothing
for the editor to do but to adjust the work of
his helpless German author to an arbitrary
scale. 1t must be great comfort to him to be
told that the omissions which SO disturbed bis
soul were entirely made from exigencies of
space and not from any want Of appreciation or
sympathy" How pleasing it would be to IN
artist to see elaborate composition Of his
copied somewhere with generous cuts and
capped upon a wall with no explanation to
what had been done to the child of his brain
1t is not often that scholars banded together
purely scholarly grounds find themselves
interested in q poignantly human situation The
members of the Gypsy Lore Society have had
this experience. few weeks ago they were
confronted in the morning papers by the follow
ing grim announcement:
Negotiations have been in progress between
France and Switzerland with the object Of ex-
pelng the gypsies from Europe, and inter-
fCrf hot
purpose at Berne during next summer.
Against the charge that they are thus EN-
barking upon "a narrow minded and stupid
policy" the European powers will no doubt
have a great deal to say which cannot be lightly
disregarded Modern nations do not undertake
a campaign like that amazing one which ex
PEELED the Jews from Spain without good rea-
son or without weighing all the possible results
of their action. We dare say that when the
conference at Berne is opened even the Gypsy
Lore Society Will feel obliged to revise of
its ideas Nevertheless the outlook is full Of
interest for the detached observer.
Reference was made In this place last week
to the reported sad declension Of the Partisan
Decadents We passed on the depressing news
that apollo no longer haunts the Latin Quar-
ter" Evidently the grayness of the French
world Of letters is spreading. writer in the
IOluOu OdluTUtty hGYleH ulScCufSeS WIFI an
air of inaty on what he calls 1.-The Decay Of
Bohemia" Times have changed The old
happy -go-lucky life Of the artist and author
has been Overtaken by profitable respectability
and with the transformation of external condi
tions the typical Bohemian has himself been
transformed. The historian in 'The Saturday"
thus tells the tale:
Gradually real BohenianisIn extinguished
The Could -nots swamped the Would-nots; the
ancient realm of Bohemia became the habitat OF
- the mere refuse of advancing civilization. Who
does not remember Alsatia in SCOTS Fortunes
OF Nigel'? Its SQualid frOWSy, boozy thieving
lazy, dirty and greasy order OF BohemanS was
known to reat-grandfatherS by something
than hearSay and diSrepute Amongst the
better of the later specimens there Thack-
eray's Captain Costigan and the founders of the
Pail Mall Gazette" (nOt the present respectable
journal: the sheet written by gentlemen"-in a
debtors prison-"for gentemen'-presumably
out Of it, But the fine qualities of Bohemian
ism disappeared many long year ago-good
fellowship, generosity unselfstlness good nature
Has not something likewise disappeared from
the work of Bohemia? For we have, of course, |
men who pretend to the old Bohemian ways, |
but they know nothing of 'the real thing" and
what they do is very different from what was
done "once upon a time," as the story books put
it. 1t is amusing to read the fiction in which. |
nowadays, effort is made to reproduce the
atmosphere Of q supposedly gay and debonaiT
world. The result is often prodigiousIy clever
and even charming. A writer like Mr.. W. ]. |