For my own work I have another particular thing, and that is one I share with somebody like Mr. Sandburg, there is a good deal of our work which has been done and our reputations have been made by what we chose to do the hard way; we have done it by a certain kind of quality writing, more or less regardless of what the result would be. If there have been rewards, they have been fortuitous and unexpected. For such people as us, the right to expect protection of that standard of work which we have maintained and which helps the general standard of our country and the general standard of those letters by which we are judged, is a frightfully important thing, and is quite obvious that that kind of writing, like any kind of writing, when it is not protected can be both distorted artistically and turned very easily to a rather deadly propaganda against us.

You gentlemen must be more aware of that, perhaps, than anybody else, of how swiftly and how quickly a piece of something can be distorted by being quoted out of context.

We have at the present moment little or no protection against that. We would like that, and feel it is only right that we should have it. That is really all I have to say.

Senator HICKENLOOPER. Thank you very much, Mr. LaFarge.

I only have one comment on your statement. You have said the authors are indignant. I thought that newspapermen and authors are traditionally indignant.

Mr. LAFARGE. Yes.

Senator HICKENLOOPER. They feel there is something that is wrong, and they ought to write about it, do something about it. So I would say that indignation may be called a tradition of the writing profession.

Mr. LAFARGE. Perhaps this is indignation squared then.

Senator HICKENLOOPER. Do not take my remarks too literally. Thank you very much; we are glad to have you.

Now, Mr. Schulman?

Mr. SCHULMAN. Mr. Chairman—

Senator HICKENLOOPER. I understand that Mr. Wouk has just arrived.

Mr. SCHULMAN. Mr. Wouk has just arrived, and I would like to introduce Mr. Herman Wouk, one of our prominent authors, whose recent work was The Caine Mutiny.

Senator HICKENLOOPER. We are glad to have you, Mr. Wouk, and I hope you will bring us up to date on the recent Navy developments, especially discipline. [Laughter.]

STATEMENT OF HERMAN WOUK, REPRESENTING THE AUTHORS' LEAGUE OF AMERICA

Mr. Wouk. In the words of the Navy, I seem to be the son-of-a-gun who didn't get the word, because I was a little bit late on the airplane flight; I am sorry.

I have come down to make three simple points for the Universal Copyright Convention. I hope I will not be repeating what has gone previously too much.

In the first place, on a purely selfish basis, taking care of No. 1 first, I am in favor of the convention because I would like to make as much

money as possible out of my work, and a substantial amount of income from my work comes from the foreign editions.

I understand that my protection now is, at best, rather uneasily based on a sort of token participation in the Berne Convention, which results from my book being published simultaneously in Canada with the United States publication, and that at any time conceivably this, which is a sort of gentlemen's agreement, could be disrupted, in which case I would lose substantially.

Beyond that, I would like to point out that from the selfish point of view of yourselves, as legislators, you might consider that there is substantial foreign income now for a great many American authors and the authors who do earn abroad tend to earn correspondingly well at home, so that most of what they earn abroad goes to the Gov

ernment.

I am very glad to pay that percentage which, over and above my domestic income, goes to the Government, and I am also very glad to keep that percentage which is due me, and I would like to hang on to it.

CHANGE FROM IMPORTERS TO EXPORTERS

I would like to point out in this connection that I believe an important change has taken place in the last few decades. We were importers of culture at one time, this country, when Dickens and Thackeray and Balzac, George Eliot, Shaw, and Oscar Wilde, and Gilbert and Sullivan were producing the most important and the most entertaining works of the time.

It made a little more sense for us to be outside the copyright conventions and copyright restrictions, to put it crudely, because we gained more than we lost by simply pirating when we felt like and not paying too much attention to the right of others.

I am being very crude now, but just on a money balance, if we could put Gilbert and Sullivan on here without having to pay, why, so much. the better, and in fact we did so, and if you overlooked the rights and wrongs of the situation and just struck a balance sheet, you would probably find we were ahead of the game as a country vis-a-vis the rest of the world.

I do not think that is any longer the case, gentlemen. I think that our country has grown up a great deal in the last half century, and that we are now, in large measure, exporters of culture, of entertainment and ideas. It is Rodgers and Hammerstein now, and our playwrights, and our novelists who dominate the world scene and who earn much of the money abroad.

I think that if the world now is willing to write a contract with us that they will respect our rights if we will respect theirs, I think we have got them at a very good time, and that we should sign them up, because, I think, that in the future increasingly we will be exporters of culture, and if our copyrights are not properly protected we, as individual artists, and the Government, as the collector of part of what we earn, will all be the losers.

AMERICAN PARTICIPATION IN FREE WORLD ACTIVITIES

Now, having put it on that very low and vulgar basis, I would like to put it to you on the basis that seems most important to me. I do not like the idea of being outside the rest of the free world in the

laws that govern copyrights and the exchange of ideas. I think it is the Russian idea to be self-sufficient, to let the rest of the world go hang, and to run affairs according to our own ways of doing things.

I think we stand as the leader of the free world now, and I think that there could hardly be a more dramatic token of our good faith and our willingness to participate in that leadership than to join with the rest of the free world in the exchange of ideas and in the exchange of those things which make ideas, plays, novels, and works of thought. I cannot imagine how we can underline more sharply the distinction between our attitude, and I think it is the American attitude toward the world at large, and that of the Russians toward the world at large, than by joining in the Universal Copyright Convention, as I understand it to be written.

I think if the rest of the world goes ahead with UCC, leaving out only the United States and Soviet Russia with its satellites, there will be strong aid and comfort to those who say, "A plague on both your houses. These are the two titans who are disturbing and troubling the world."

I do not think that is an accurate picture. I think there is one titan troubling the world, and I think we should join the rest of the world in this most important area, the area of thought and communication. That is why, gentlemen, I have appeared here today in favor of the Universal Copyright Convention.

Senator HICKENLOOPER. Thank you, Mr. Wouk. We are glad to have you here.

Senator Mansfield?

Senator MANSFIELD. Mr. Wouk, I want to compliment you on your forthright and practical testimony. I am delighted that you and Mr. LaFarge, and Mr. Dobie, and Mr. Sandburg have come down here to give us the benefit of your views, and I think that if more people in particular industries would show the type of interest you gentlemen have shown in their own industries, we would all be better off. I just want to extend to you my thanks.

Mr. WoUK. Thank you, sir.

Now may I say, since you have been so kind, that my wife took a very dim view of my coming down here inasmuch as I have a baby 11⁄2 days old, but I thought this was important. [Laughter.]

Senator HICKENLOOPER. That is an additional reason why, Mr. Wouk, you should be protected in your copyright.

Mr. WoUK. Thank you, sir.

Senator HICKENLOOPER. I understand Mr. Watt, of the Christian Science committee on publications has a very short statement and is anxious to get away.

Mr. Watt.

STATEMENT OF JAMES WATT, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Mr. WATT. I have a very short statement from the trustees of the will of Mary Baker Eddy and from the trustees of the Christian Science Publishing Society.

From the trustees under the will they state:

We are the publishers of Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, and of her other writings which have worldwide circulation. As these works are translated into foreign languages, they are available for copyright protection not only in the United States of America but in foreign countries.

After careful investigation and study, we are in favor of the ratification by the United States Senate of the Universal Copyright Convention which we understand has been submitted by President Eisenhower to the Senate for its advice and consent.

The ratification of the convention and the passage of the enabling legislationembodied in S. 2559 and in H. R. 6616 and H. R. 6670—

would give us the urgently needed adequate copyright protection in foreign countries. At the same time, this action would provide another step in contributing to the improvement of international relations which is highly desirable. These publications are printed and bound in the United States of America and their circulation is worldwide.

That is signed by Alfred Pitman, chairman of the trustees.
And the publishing society states:

We are printers and publishers of the Christian Science Journal, Christian Science Sentinel, Christian Science Heralds in English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese languages; also the Christian Science Monitor, the Christian Science Quarterly in English and foreign languages, and many religious books, pamphlets, pictures, prints and postcards. These publications are printed and bound in the United States of America and their circulation is worldwide.

After careful investigation and study, we are in favor of the ratification by the United States Senate of the Universal Copyright Convention which we understand has been submitted by President Eisenhower to the Senate for its advice and consent.

We also favor the passage of legislation which would enable the United States to participate in this convention as proposed in S. 2559, H. R. 6616, and H. R. 6670.

As pointed out in an editorial in the Christian Science Monitor of January 19, 1954, we believe the Universal Copyright Convention would be of great value to American authors, composers, publishers, and motion-picture companies. A copy of the Monitor editorial is attached and we ask that it be included in the record as part of this statement.

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING SOCIETY.

Senator HICKENLOOPER. It will be so included. Thank you, Mr. Watt.

Mr. WATT. Thank you.

(The document referred to follows:)

[Reprint from the Christian Science Monitor of January 19, 1954]

COPYRIGHT PROTECTION

One question before the current session of Congress will be ratification of the Universal Copyright Convention which was signed at Geneva in September 1952. Under this agreement some 40 nations would assure authors in other countries the same copyright protection they give to their own citizens. This would be of great value to American authors, composers, publishers, and motion-picture companies.

Before the United States can carry out such a ratification, however, it will be necessary for Congress to repeal or modify the so-called manufacturing clause in the copyright law. This clause requires that in order to obtain protection for more than 5 years on an English-language book from abroad an edition must also be printed in America. The United States is the only major country which has such a law.

One proposed change still would require American manufacture for books of American origin in order to comply with copyright requirements.

The American book-printing trade has fared very well against foreign competition even in the publication of literary classics which are in the public domain

so far as copyright is concerned. Actually, American copyright protection is less generous than in most European countries. It extends only for 28 years after publication, whereas most laws in Europe protect the rights of an author and his heirs for 50 years after his death.

Such international protection as American copyright holders enjoy arises from the Berne Convention of 1886, which the United States did not sign. Some of that protection has been called into question since 1948 as a result of the American manufacturing clause. Congress would do well to clear away obstructions and ratify the present compact.

Senator HICKENLOOPER. Senator Mansfield, any questions?
Senator MANSFIELD. No.

Senator HICKENLOOPER. Thank you very much, Mr. Watt. Your worldwide experience in your publications is very great, and we appreciate your opinion.

Mr. WATT. Thank you.

Senator HICKENLOOPER. Our next witness is Mr. Joseph A. Gerardi, representing McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. of New York. We are glad to have you, Mr. Gerardi, because of the experience in your organization in international publications.

STATEMENT OF JOSEPH A. GERARDI, VICE PRESIDENT AND TREASURER, MCGRAW-HILL PUBLISHING CO., INC.

Mr. GERARDI. Mr. Chairman, McGraw-Hill is engaged in publishing technical, scientific, industrial, and engineering magazines. We publish 36 different magazines and various related services.

We also maintain a subsidiary company for the publication of books, principally in the fields of pure and applied science, economics and business, politics, psychology, sociology, as well as books of general interest.

These books are largely for educational use by students in schools and colleges and by individuals in industries and in the professions.

At present, we are actively publishing approximately 3,000 different titles. I might say that during the last few years we have broadened greatly our distribution abroad of magazines and books. This has necessarily entailed a substantial investment in foreign fields.

Today we maintain offices or representatives in every important city in the world, except in countries behind the Iron Curtain.

Our total distribution of books abroad is about 10 percent of our total production. Our foreign distribution amounts in dollars to close to $6 million of business.

We unqualifiedly endorse the proposals to amend the United States copyright laws in the particulars set forth in S. 2559, and we also endorse the adoption of the Universal Copyright Convention.

Now, most of the points which we make in our statement have been covered here or have been touched upon, and I believe it probably unnecessary to repeat them, and in order to save the time of the committee I will merely file my statement, unless there are some questions on which you wish answers.

Senator HICKENLOOPER. Your statement will be filed in full, as your formal statement appears.

Mr. GERARDI. Thank you, Senator.