Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

their efforts to be forever thwarted by the ill-advised experiments of State legislatures, governing bodies which are removed from the city by every sympathy and interest? Nothing can prevent such a result, unless the municipal patriotism of the citizens has a parallel development, as the essential sustaining power to the new development of municipal leadership. The American city must be left to work out its own salvation, released from the meddlesome interference of the American State legislature; and the only means of attaining such a result is the development of an alert and even irritable patriotism in the city itself. When the time comes in which the citizen shall feel the same sense of personal outrage in the State's interference with his city government that he is prompt to feel in the nation's interference with his State government, the problem of the American city will be very far on the road to solution.

Human history seems to run in circles: new conditions are introduced, run their round of development, and bring the race back to a new phase of the old beginning-point. The tangible current of history began in the cities of the Orient. When fully developed Oriental despotism swept into Europe, individual liberty found its bulwark in the Greek cities; and these, in their decadence, yielded to the new type of individual power represented by the Eternal City. When this power had become a despotism, the individual still cherished his city as his main defense against the tyranny of the Cæsar. In the downfall of the great Empire, it was the cities that stood out like islands in the stagnant waters of tyrannical stupidity which over. spread the civilized world; and the cities, again, led in the rising struggle for individual freedom which has given modern history its character. We may not have all the incentives which led the Hollander to personify his city, to speak of it almost as of a mythological goddess, to count its buttresses and foundation-stones as even dearer than his hearth-stone, and to die on its walls or before its gates with all the patriotism which marked Marathon or Gettysburg. But, when one considers the importance of the American city, the increasing drift of American life into it, the magnitude of the interests, political as well as material, which hang upon its development, and the possible influence which the failure of the American city could exert upon the future history of the American people, he must believe that the field for municipal patriotism is even wider and more important in America than it ever was in Holland, and that nothing is more desirable for our political peace than the growth of an intelligent devotion of the citizen to his own city, and a personal dedication of himself to its healthy and honorable development.

The Seventieth Year of Our National Disgrace. WITH the 15th of February next we shall enter upon the seventieth year of the United States Government's official license of literary piracy. It was on that day of the year 1819 that Congress formally excluded the foreign author from the protection then first accorded to the American. It may be that at that time this issuance of letters of marque and reprisal upon the literature of other nations was thought to be the best way to build up that of our own, but the protests from business interests which were made against the attempts under the

leadership of Clay, Webster, and Everett to remedy the defect in 1837 and 1838, indicate that less patriotic considerations were at the bottom of this exclusion. However this may be, the failure to repeal the excluding clause has not only dwarfed the growth of American letters and given an abnormal impetus to the spread of foreign ideas among our people, but has exposed us for three-quarters of a century to the just reproaches of the civilized world; and to-day, when the intelligent opinion of the country demands the reform — as for years it has demanded it — the indifference of our legislators to the fundamental question of principle which is involved shows the moral callousness which gathers upon a long-existing wrong. Possibly we underrate the open-mindedness of Congress on this question, but the fact that it is thought absurd to expect on moral grounds the speedy redress of so manifest and grievous a wrong is an evidence of the dangerous disrespect with which the legislative office in this country is invested. The idea is certainly widely prevalent that a question of pure morality has little chance in Congress when there is any opportunity of protest from so-called vested interests. No doubt this conclusion does injustice to many upright legislators, but it is nevertheless a conclusion for which their supineness is largely and especially responsible.

But while Congress, by its inaction, is feeding this sentiment of distrust, it is much to be said of the tone of the literary classes in this country that their innumerable appeals in favor of this reform have been almost invariably on the line of the moral argument. They would be less entitled to the respect of their fellow-men, as in large measure conservators of the ideal, were they to take a less sincere position. Better a thousand times that a copyright law should be delayed another half century, than that this ground should be abandoned for that of mere political expediency. Justice is so necessary to the continuance of the race that it often occurs that there are many reasons for doing a just thing. But it may be questioned whether the moral tone both of him who demands justice and of him of whom it is demanded is not lowered by demanding it on any ground other than because it is right. Expediency has been defined as a lower kind of right, but even admitting this, it is confessedly a lower kind, and the acceptance of the lower motive is particularly perilous to a conscientious nature,-character being the attitude toward evil rather than the mere accomplishment of certain conventional acts called virtuous. For surely the habitual acceptance of a ground of expediency tends toward the abandonment or suppression of the higher point of view. And yet this higher point of view is the chief distinction in morals. Who would not be insulted to be asked not to lie because it may lose him consideration, or not to steal because he can make more money by being honest? Indeed, the comparative distances of men from the point of view of the criminal classes may be determined by their sensitiveness to the affront of assuring them that "Honesty is the best policy."

American authors, therefore, do themselves honor in holding out for a settlement of the question on the plane of justice rather than on that of commercial advantage, and in declining to take responsibilities in the matter of copyright legislation which do not appertain to them and which commit them to a line of policy in

which as authors they have little or no interest. Their position has been one of dignity and self-respect; they have contented themselves with urging upon Congress what they regard as the proper remedy — a pure and simple copyright law. They stand ready to give their frankest opinions as to the probable working of any other measure that may be introduced; individually many of them favor one or another of the proposed commercial conditions, but to expect them as a body to urge the particular schemes of other interests, which as a party to the compact they would be obliged hereafter to defend, is one more indignity added to those which they have endured for nearly three-quarters of a century. They are not "irreconcilables" in this matter, and will welcome the establishment of the principle of copyright, with any conditions which, after a full examination of the subject, Congress may impose. These conditions, however, should be proposed and defended by those who profess to believe them wise; and the responsibility of determining what, if any, conditions should be imposed should be made to rest where it belongs, with the legislative power.

"Constitution Day."

THE reflection that it would be wise to make a national holiday of the 17th of September is one which must have occurred to many who witnessed or read of the celebration at Philadelphia of the centenary of the Constitution. A venerable justice of the Supreme Court has pronounced this celebration the greatest public occasion of the kind in our history, and those who witnessed the pageantries of peace in which shone so conspicuously the public spirit of Philadelphia-a constant quantity, it must be said can pay no higher compliment than to say, as they do, that the celebration was worthy of the event commemorated. Its significance was enhanced by the fact that it was the first public opportunity for the whole country to unite in a reverential recognition of the supreme body of our national law, which now includes in a settlement not alone of force, but of reason and experience- the national decision upon those differences of interpretation which, like the dragon's teeth in the fable, sprang up into a harvest of armed men. It is not to be wondered at that so long as the Constitution meant one thing to one section and another to the other, there could be no real unity of appreciation of it: each section dwelt not so much on the grandeur of a common inheritance as on the wisdom of its own theory of government. Happily the danger in this condition of affairs is past, and we have learned from it that it is the part of statesmanship and patriotism not merely to admit but to cultivate kindly relations among all the sections of our diversified country. The serious uses in this direction of such an occasion as the Philadelphia celebration are not likely to be overrated. It has been wisely said that the quickest way to cure the quarrelsome tendencies of children is to provide them with some common ground of in*On the 8th of June, 1861, Mr. Charles Dudley Warner published in the Hartford Evening Press" an editorial article favoring the establishment of two new national holidays, namely.- Flag Day, June 14th, and Constitution Day, September 17th. This projectthe more appropriate by reason of the national crisis of that year received considerable attention in the press. September 12th of the same year Mr. Warner published another editorial on Constitution

terest, even the simplest, such as marching together; and the rule is not without value for the children of a larger growth. Merely to group about a national idea intersectional courtesies and social relations—the want of which kept us sorry strangers before the War-is an incalculable influence in making our people homogeneous and sympathetic. We cannot but think that this influence would be broadened and perpetuated by a formal recognition of the day as a national holiday.

In another aspect the day could hardly fail to have great value. We are not likely, from the nature of the Declaration of Independence, to have any serious differences over its axiomatic pronouncements of political principles; but the fact that the Constitution is likely to change with the needs of a growing country is a reason for cultivating a popular knowledge of its past benefits and an intelligent regard for its conservative influence. Future changes in that instrument- and the day would lead to the consideration of its defects — are likely to be made against the wishes of large minorities and after burning discussion, and it is well that they should have the sanction of the broadest popular acceptation per se — such as the later amendments could not have had without a war. Moreover the debates over such questions as the regulation of commerce between the States and the proposed national aid to State education indicate that our future political history is likely to deal largely with questions involving the powers of the legislative branch. Our people, who have the faculty of not crossing bridges till a long time after they come to them, are not less likely than heretofore to rely on chance to take them over future constitutional chasms. But we need the preventive of a broader popular study of the functions of government,an understanding of what it may and what it may not do. The use of such a holiday would be to aid in supplying from year to year that strength of intelligent sentiment which in national emergencies is the most practical support of all law.

It is easy to say that our national holidays have become occasions for mere rest and frolic. Even thus, since the national foible is not idleness, it would be better to retain them. But aside from the direct patriotic influence of their celebration, the mere existence of Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Independ ence Day, or "Thanksgiving" is the challenge of a great idea to the mind. The leaders of the "Labor Party" are shrewd enough to see the advantage to their cause of getting a recognition of it into the national calendar, and they are not likely to lose time in setting about it. The contrast in significance and value between "Constitution Day" and "Labor Day," as one imagines them, well exemplifies the uses to which a national holiday may be put. If the 17th of September needs any other recommendation to the favor of the American people, it may come from the fact that upon that day also was given to the nation one of the wisest and most notable of our State papers,-the "Farewell Address" of its great, unselfish First President. Day, and that year the day was celebrated in several places, especially in Connecticut and Ohio. On the 12th of June, 1862, Mr. Loomis of Connecticut introduced in the House of Representatives a resolution recommending the establishment of the two holidays. On the 13th, after brief debate, this resolution was laid on the table by a vote of 67 to 33. In 1877, the centenary of the adoption of the flag was generally celebrated throughout the North.

Cheap Books.

OPEN LETTERS.

T is one of the assumptions of those who oppose International Copyright, either ignorantly or willfully, that this reform will raise the price of books in the United States. We are all agreed that the American people must have cheap books, yet the ordinary answer to this plausible assertion is modeled on Mr. Lowell's memorable saying that "there is one thing better than a cheap book, and that is a book honestly come by." I think it is possible to make a broader answer than this by boldly denying the assumption. The passing of the bill proposed by the American Copyright League will not raise the price of any class of books in the United States, with one possible exception. To this exception I will return shortly; in the meanwhile I wish to repeat my assertion, that books will not be any dearer in America after we have passed the copyright bill than they are now. The absence of International Copyright makes books cheaper here only in so far as American publishers are willing to take foreign books without paying for them. A consideration of the present condition and annual statistics of the American book-trade will show that the legal right to pirate is not now utilized by most American publishers, and that those who are still privateers seek their booty chiefly, if not solely, among books of one exceptional class.

From the figures published annually in the "Publishers' Weekly," the following table has been prepared to show the different kinds of books published in the United States during the past five years. (The classification is not quite that of the "Weekly," but has been modified slightly by condensation.)

[blocks in formation]

Taking up these classes in turn, we shall see what will be the effect on each of the passage of the bill of the American Copyright League. On the first class, education and language, there would be no effect at all, as the text-books now used in American schools were written by Americans and are covered by copyright: it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the American school-boy never sees a book of foreign authorship in school-hours; - I know that I never did until after I had entered college, and then very infrequently. For

tunately for the future of our country, young Americans are brought up on American books. The foundation of American education is the native Webster's Spelling-book. In some respects the making of school-books is the most important branch of the publishing business, and the passage of the copyright bill would not influence it in any way; American school-books would be neither dearer nor cheaper.

In the second class, law, are included a tenth of the books published in the United States last year, and from the inexorable circumstances of the case most of these books are of American authorship and are already protected by copyright. All reports, and all treatises on practice and on constitutional law, etc., are of necessity national. Now and again an English treatise of marked merit may be edited for the use of American lawyers with references to American cases, but this is infrequent; and not often would the price of any work needed by the American lawyer be increased by the passage of the copyright bill.

Of books in the third and fourth classes -science

and theology-very few indeed are ever pirated. Once in every three or four years there appears in England or France or Germany a book like Canon Farrar's "Life of Christ," the American price of which is lowered by rival reprints. A large majority of these books are written by American authors; and in general the minority by foreign authors are published here by an arrangement with the foreign author tantamount to copyright. Although purely ethical considerations ought to have more weight with readers of books of this class than with those of any other, yet it would be only infrequently that the price of any book of this class would be raised by giving to the literary laborer who made it the right to collect the hire of which he is worthy. Taken together, the next three classes on the listhistory; literary history and miscellany, biography and memoirs, description and travel, humor and satire; and poetry and the drama — include nearly all of what used to be called Belles Lettres (except fiction), and they supply nearly a quarter of the books published in America. In these and in the preceding classes most of the books are of American authorship, and most of those of foreign authorship are published at just the same price as though they were by native writIt would probably surprise most readers who imagine that the absence of International Copyright gives us many inexpensive histories and biographies and books of travel and poems, if they were to consider carefully the catalogues of the paper-covered collections which furnish forth our cheap literature. Among the chief of these collections are the "Franklin Square Library" and " Harper's Handy Series." In 1886, there were issued fifty-four numbers of the "Franklin Square Library," one of which was by an American. Of the remaining fifty-three, forty-six were fiction, and only seven numbers could be classified as history, biography, travels, or the drama-only seven of these books in one year, and they were less than one-seventh of the books contained in this collection. In the same year there were sixty-two numbers in "Harper's Handy Series." Deducting four by American authors

ers.

we have fifty-eight books issued in cheap form owing to the absence of International Copyright. Of these fifty-eight books fifty-two were fiction, and only six belonged in other branches of Belles Lettres,- only six of these books in one year, and they were less than one-ninth of the series. In these two cheap collections then, there were published in 1886 one hundred and eleven books of foreign authorship, and of these all but thirteen were novels or stories. Not one of these thirteen books was a work of the first rank which a man might regret going without. It may as well be admitted frankly that these thirteen books would probably not have been published quite so cheaply had there been International Copyright; but it may be doubted whether if that were the case, the cause of literature and education in the United States would have been any the worse.

In the class of books for the young there are probaably more works of foreign authorship sold than in any other class that we have hitherto considered, but in most cases they are not sold at lower prices than American books of the same character. Indeed, I question whether many English or French books for the young are sold at all in America. At bottom the American boy is more particular and harder to please than the American woman; he likes his fiction home-made and he has small stomach for imported stories about the younger son of a duke. He has a wholesomer taste for native work; no English juvenile magazine is sold in the United States, although several American juvenile magazines are sold in Great Britain. We export books for the young, and we import them only to a comparatively slight extent.

I come now to the one class of books the price of which would be increased by the granting of International Copyright. This is the large and important class of fiction. Of course American novels would be no dearer; and probably translations from the French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian would not vary greatly in price. But English novels would not be sold for ten, fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five cents each. We should not see five or ten rival reprints of a sin gle story by the most popular English novelists. There would be but a single edition of the latest novels of the leading British story-tellers, and this would be offered at whatsoever price the authorized publisher might choose to ask, sometimes much, generally little. English fiction would no longer cost less than American fiction. The premium of cheapness which now serves to make the American public take imported novels instead of native wares would be removed; and with it would be removed the demoralizing influence on Americans of a constant diet of English fiction. That American men and women should read the best that the better English novelists have to offer us is most desirable; that our laws should encourage the reading of English stories, good and bad together, and the bad, of course, in enormous majority, is obviously improper and unwise. A well-nigh exclusive diet of English fiction full of the feudal ideas and superstitions and survivals of which we have been striving for a century to rid ourselves, is not wholesome for those who need to be strengthened and enlightened to do their duty as citizens of a free republic. The strongest argument against novel-reading just now is that the novel which an American is most likely to read is Brit

ish. "Society is a strong solution of books," Dr. Holmes tells us; "it draws the virtue out of what is best worth reading, as hot water draws the strength of tea-leaves." And in like manner society draws the vice out of what is least worth reading. Unfortunately under the present state of the law, society in America is far less likely to get what is best worth reading than what is least worth reading.

The passage of the Authors' Copyright Bill would tend to correct this evil: it would make English novels dearer, probably; but it would have very little effect on the prices of other books. Brander Matthews.

Occupations of the Blind.

(EDUCATION OF THE BLIND-CONCLUDED.)

ANY person of average endowments, if deprived of sight in the early part of life, before his habits of seeing have become too firmly fixed, will be able after a few years' experience to overcome all the actual difficulties directly occasioned by loss, and to do the same work that others do in his chosen vocation and do it equally well, though it may be at the expense of rather more time and strength and by somewhat dif ferent methods. He will not need or wish to ask for sympathy or special favors or partial judgment from his patrons, but will be glad to stand alone, fight his own battles and rely on his own resources; but he ought in justice to be allowed an equal chance with his seeing competitors, to be able to demand that no discrimination be made against him without a fair trial, that his work be valued wholly upon its merits, irrespective of his manner of performing it, or of the fact that the majority, failing to understand how he is able to do it, hasten to presuppose him unable by consequence.

In reality there are comparatively few occupations in which, so far as they are themselves concerned, the blind may not compete with a fair chance of success; though among those possible, some present far greater intrinsic difficulty than others, and the amount of public credence and support to be counted on in each depends largely upon the number of familiar precedents which can be cited in that particular branch.

It may be laid down as a general rule that those departments of activity which are purely intellectual, or in which the physical elements employed are within the reach of touch and hearing, are all feasible; while those will be the most advantageous in which special demand is made upon the faculties which the blind are forced to cultivate to an unusual degree, such as hearing and memory.

To begin with manual labor : Certain kinds of farming offer an excellent opening, like market-gardening, the raising of poultry and small fruits, dairy work, and like occupations which are carried on within circumscribed limits and all parts of which may be brought within arm's-length. Besides chair-seating and broommaking, upholstery and cabinet work might be undertaken with ease and profit. Great skill with tools is no uncommon thing with the blind, and the joining and polishing of furniture can be done as well by touch as by sight. The qualities and differences in woods and stuffs could easily be distinguished by their texture and weight, and their colors would be a simple matter of memory.

It is a popular fallacy, widespread and wholly baseless, that the blind can tell color by feeling. I regret to say that considerable humbug has been carried on in this respect at certain public institutions and in private, by persons who knew better and ought to have been ashamed of it, for the purpose of astounding and interesting the public. It is a very simple matter to keep beads or worsteds of different hues in different compartments, or to recognize each, when mixed, by size or quality or some slight peculiarity unnoticed by the casual observer, and thus to select with accuracy, as if by the color, and keep up the delusion.

Among the higher forms of skilled labor peculiarly adapted to the blind is that of tuning musical instruments, especially the piano,- an entirely creditable and quite remunerative occupation, in which their exceptionally fine sense of hearing is utilized to the full.

In the higher intellectual spheres the employment of teaching affords a wide and promising field, philosophical and metaphysical branches, as well as languages, furnishing probably the most favorable opportunities; the latter, in particular, giving fullest scope to a fine ear and exceptional memory. There is many a professor's chair in the country to which a gifted blind person might aspire, so far as his ability to fill it is concerned, though to secure the appointment might be another matter. The pulpit and the lecture-platform also offer opportunities and attractions, and have already been honorably represented by members of this class. But the realms in which sight may be most easily dispensed with, and which present the fewest barriers to the entrance and successful progress of those deprived of it, are music and literature. Given a fair amount of ability and natural aptitude, they offer an open, easily accessible plane of activity, with few disadvantages, save for some minor technical points, which may be overcome with scarcely a third more work than others would require. The intense inner life and strong personality, the habits of concentration and introspection, the accumulated imaginative and emotional power of minds in a measure cut off from natural outlets and forced in upon themselves, here find free vent and are brought into active requisition; while in music a superiority in the faculties of touch, hearing, and memory may be utilized to the full.

It may be asked why, then, have so few sightless persons attained preëminence in this branch, while so many who have attempted it have reached only mediocrity. Because, until very recently, few, if any, of their guardians and instructors have had sufficient faith in their capability to give them even a fair training and average opportunities. While their seeing competitors are spending years of time, and thousands of dollars upon their studies, at the art centers of Europe, they are kept at special schools, under the musical guidance, for the most part, of inexperience, indolence, and incompetency, any patient person who can be had cheap being considered good enough to fill the post of teacher at such institutions. I am glad to recall a few exceptions of teachers who are doing good work, and if their number can be increased till a really high standard becomes general, the results of the future in this regard will tell a different tale.

Though not, perhaps, within the limits of my theme, I would fain touch here upon one point, than which none is more erroneously regarded in connection with the blind. I refer to the probabilities for them of domestic relations and happiness.

The prevailing opinion of the world is, that a young person deprived of sight is necessarily doomed to a single and solitary existence; that for him the experiences of love and marriage are altogether out of the question, unless he be united with an unfortunate person suffering from his own or some equal infirmity, or, in very exceptional instances, chance upon a mate so imbued with the spirit of self-sacrifice as to espouse, from sheer pity, a person thus afflicted.

This seems at first a fair statement, and would, indeed, be a just conclusion, were it not deduced from unjust premises. That is, if the blind all were, or necessarily must be, the helpless, useless, whining objects of charity which they are generally-alas! often with reason— considered, there could be no two opinions as to the right of expecting any normal man or woman to be doomed to their society for life. But on the other hand, if a sightless person, by undue efforts, or unusual talents, or both, has succeeded in overcoming his misforfortune, and in placing himself on a par with others, I see no reason why he may not deserve and expect a fair share of life's happiness in this as in other respects. I have endeavored in these papers to treat the class under consideration with strict impartiality and candor as children, as students, as active self-supporting citizens and heads of families - and to prove, for the encouragement of fellow-beings similarly burdened, the comfort of their friends, and the enlightenment of the public, what has long been my own opinion, justified by facts and experience, that loss of sight, though always deplorable, is not necessarily the hopeless and overwhelming misfortune which it is universally thought to be. Edward B. Perry.

Re-Unions.

IT is desired to print in THE CENTURY a compact record of the various formal meetings which have taken place between the veterans of the Union and Confederate armies; and in order to make the list more complete, the Editor will receive with thanks information of the less widely known occasions of the kind, including place, date, and names of war-organizations participating, and accompanied, so far as possible, by printed reports of the proceedings. Address "Reunion," THE CENTURY MAGAZINE, 33 East 17th street, New York City.

The Frontispiece Portrait of Lincoln.

THE photograph from which the frontispiece to this number was engraved was taken in Springfield, Illinois, early in 1861, soon after Lincoln's election. A steel engraving of this picture was used on the original tendollar greenback and, later, on one of the issues of 5-20 bonds. This photograph belonged to the late F. W. Ballard, to whom it was given by Mr. Lincoln.

« AnteriorContinuar »