The Committee, in despair over these conflicting Morrill reopinions, presented the celebrated Morrill report of port, 1873 February 7, 1873, Senator Lot M. Morrill being the chairman, including a tabular comparison of the prices of American and English books. It said that "there was no unanimity of opinion among those interested in the measure," and concluded: "In view of the whole case, your committee are satisfied that no form of international copyright can fairly be urged upon Congress upon reasons of general equity, or of constitutional law; that the adoption of any plan for the purpose which has been laid before us would be of very doubtful advantage to American authors as a class, and would be not only an unquestionable and permanent injury to the manufacturing interests concerned in producing books, but a hindrance to the diffusion of knowledge among the people, and to the cause of universal education; that no plan for the protection of foreign authors has yet been devised which can unite the support of all or nearly all who profess to be favorable to the general object in view; and that, in the opinion of your committee, any project for an international copyright will be found upon mature deliberation to be inexpedient." This was decidedly a damper to the cause, and the Banning bill, movement lapsed for some years, a bill submitted to 1874 the House on February 9, 1874, by Henry B. Banning of Ohio, extending to authors the protection given to inventors, on a basis of international reciprocity, attracting meanwhile little attention. The question rested until 1878, when, under date of The Harper November 25, Harper & Brothers addressed a letter proposal and to William M. Evarts, Secretary of State, suggesting draft, 1878 that previous failures were due "to the fact that all such propositions have originated from one side only, and without prior joint consultation and intelligent A suggested basis discussion," reiterating "that there was no disinclination on the part of American publishers to pay British authors the same as they do American authors," and that "American publishers simply wished to be assured that they should have the privilege of printing and publishing the books of British authors"; indicating "the likelihood of the acceptance by the United States of a treaty which should recognize the interests of all parties"; and proposing a conference or commission of eighteen Americans and Englishmen three authors, three publishers and three publicists to be appointed by each side, by the American Secretary of State and the British Secretary for Foreign Affairs which should consider and present the details of a treaty. They also presented, as a suggested basis of action, what came to be known as the "Harper draft," a modification of the Clarendon treaty, providing that there should be registration in both countries before publication in the country of origin; that international registration should be in the name of the author: if a citizen of the United States, at Stationers' Hall, London; if a subject of her Majesty, at the Library of Congress, Washington; and that "the author of any work of literature manufactured and published in the one country shall not be entitled to copyright in the other country unless such work shall be also manufactured and published therein, by a subject or citizen thereof, within three months after its original publication in the country of the author or proprietor; but this proviso shall not apply to paintings, engravings, sculptures, or other works of art; and the word 'manufacture' shall not be held to prohibit printing in one country from stereotype plates prepared in the other and imported for this purpose. This draft was approved by fifty-two leading Amer draft ican authors, including Longfellow, Holmes, Emerson, Approval of and Whittier, in a memorial dated August, 1880. The the Harper American members of the International Copyright Committee, appointed by the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations, John Jay, James Grant Wilson and Nathan Appleton, also memorialized the Secretary of State, under date of February 11, 1880, in favor of this general plan, specifying "within from one to three months" as the manufacturing limit. It was also approved by the great body of American publishers, although the Putnam, Scribner, Holt and Roberts firms in signing took exception to certain of the restrictions, especially to the time limit of three months. George Haven Putnam set forth the views of his house in a paper before the New York Free Trade Club, January 29, 1879, afterward printed as Economic Monograph no. XV., "International copyright considered in some of its relations to ethics and political economy." In this he suggested simultaneous registration in both countries, republication within six months, and restriction of copyright protection here for the first ten years of the term to books printed and bound in the United States and published by an American citizen. An interesting series of replies from American authors, publishers, etc., as to methods for international copyright, to queries from the Publishers' Weekly will be found in v. 15, commencing with no. 7, February 15, 1879. The "Harper draft" was submitted in September, Granville 1880, by James Russell Lowell, then American Min- negotiations, ister at London, to Earl Granville, who replied, 1880 March, 1881, that the British government favored such a treaty, but considered an extension of the republication term to six months essential, and to twelve months much more equitable. In the same month Robinson and Collins bills, 1882-83 American the International Literary Association adopted a report favoring an agreement, but protesting against the manufacturing clause and time limit. This position was also taken at several meetings of London publishers, and F. R. Daldy was sent to America to further the English view. Sir Edward Thornton, British Minister at Washington, was instructed to proceed to the consideration of the treaty, provided the term for reprint could be extended, and both President Garfield and Secretary Blaine were understood to favor the completion of a treaty. With the death of Garfield the matter ended for the time. A bill dealing with the whole question of copyright, domestic and foreign, was introduced March 27, 1882, by W. E. Robinson of New York, and December 10, 1883, another copyright bill was introduced by P. A. Collins of Massachusetts, but neither emerged from the Committee on Patents, to which they were referred. The question came to the front again in 1884. A new copyright association, the American Copyright League, had been organized in 1883, chiefly through the efforts of George P. Lathrop, Edward Eggleston, and R. W. Gilder, and there was a general revival of interest in international copyright. On January 9, 1884, Dorsheimer William Dorsheimer, of New York, introduced into bill, 1884 the House his bill for international copyright, which provided for the extension of copyright to citizens of countries granting reciprocal privileges, so soon as the President should issue his proclamation accepting such reciprocity, for twenty-five years, but terminable earlier on the death of the author. This bill was the occasion of a general discussion. The Copyright League addressed a letter to Mr. Dorsheimer urging the modification of the above limitations, and it was particularly pointed out that the confining of copyright to an author's lifetime would render literary property most insecure. The League also addressed Criticisms a letter to the Secretary of State, urging the comple- and changes tion of a treaty with Great Britain, to which F. T. Frelinghuysen replied, January 25, 1884, that while the negotiation as to the Harper draft had not been interrupted, he thought the object might be attained by a simple amendment to our present copyright law, based on reciprocity, after which a simple convention would suffice to put the amendment in force. Mr. Dorsheimer's bill was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, and reported favorably, with amendments extending the copyright term to twentyeight years, without regard to the death of the author, with renewal for fourteen years. The amended bill also provided that such copyright should cease in case reciprocity was withdrawn by the other country; that there should be no copyright in works already published, and that the provisions of the domestic copyright law should, as far as applicable, extend also to foreign copyrights. On the 19th of February Mr. Dorsheimer moved to make his bill the special order for February 27, but his motion failed of the necessary two-thirds vote, 155 voting aye, 98 nay and 55 not voting. There was considerable opposition on the part of those who insisted upon the re-manufacture of foreign books in this country, and Mr. Dorsheimer privately expressed himself as willing to accept, although not willing to favor, amendments in that direction if they were necessary to insure the passage of the bill. sentiment A circular letter of inquiry sent out by the Pub- American lishers' Weekly early in 1884, showed a general de- publishers' sire on the part of American publishers in favor of international copyright. The replies were summarized in v. 25 from March, 1884. Of fifty-five leading publishers who answered, fifty-two favored and |