"The provisions of the statute requiring the court to assess damages of not less than $250 against this defendant for an infraction of the law under the extenuating circumstances disclosed in this case is abhorrent to justice; here the court is wholly deprived of the exercise of discretion in the imposition of a fine commensurate with the wrong alleged to have been committed."

The author's moral right in the United States is now a common-law right only, regarding which there exists full freedom of contract. There is every reason to believe that this would continue unchanged by the treaty in the absence of legislation.

(3) That adoption of the treaty without first amending the statute would raise problems for American users of copyrighted works which could not be settled until judicial decisions should have accumulated.-This sort of argument is always applicable when a legal change is proposed. It would apply measurably even if the statute were also changed. It should not be allowed to prevail over the need for reform. Within the year before the treaty would go into effect, users could undoubtedly arrange their affairs so as to avoid violating it as well as to take advantage of the helpful opportunities for which it makes generous provision.

(4) That the convention might have a retroactive effect in respect of liability for the use of copyrights hitherto unprotected in the United States.-There is nothing in the convention to indicate that it could be effective for any purpose prior to the date, at least a year after adoption, when it is proposed to put it into operation in the United States. Within that period users of the works of authors in other countries parties to the convention should be able readily to ascertain what are and are not their rights with respect to such use, in other words what particular works of literature and art are and what are not included within the scope of the convention. Careful definition of the application of the convention, such as is contained in legislation now pending in both House and Senate would be very useful. But even in its absence little or no confusion or loss need occur.

(5) That, by first revising national law, the United States could provide a statement of its desires, and be in a better position to obtain their acceptance at the next conference of the countries parties to the convention.-It is difficult to see wherein the enactment of the desires, if any, of this country looking toward changes in the convention would render such program more acceptable to other countries than would be a simple statement by the United States delegation. No date has been set for the next conference. For the Senate to be guided by the prospects of such event would be simply to deprive American copyright owners and the general public of the benefits of the convention for an unpredictable future period.

The foregoing brief review of characteristic reasons advanced against action on the convention prior to the enactment of legislation confirms your subcommittee in its opinion that action should be taken now.

F. RYAN DUFFY, Chairman.
WALLACE H. WHITE, Jr.
FREDERICK VAN NUYS.

DRAFT RESOLUTION

IN EXECUTIVE SESSION, SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein), That the Senate advise and consent to the adherence of the United States to Executive E, Seventythird Congress, second session, the Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, as revised and signed at Rome, June 2, 1928. In accordance with article 25, paragraph (3) of the convention, it is further resolved that the date of the entry into effect thereof as respects the United States shall be one year after the date of the adoption of this resolution.

EXHIBIT 2

COUNTRIES PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF LITERARY AND ARTISTIC WORKS

(According to the records of the Department of State, November 24, 1937)

Australia

Austria
Belgium

Gold Coast (including Ashanti, Northern Territories)
Hong Kong

Jamaica (including the Turks, Cacos, and Cayman Islands)

Kenya (colony and protectorate)

Leeward Islands (Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Christopher, Nevis,

and Virgin Islands)

Malta

Mauritius

Newfoundland
New Zealand

Norway

Palestine and Transjordania (under mandate of Great Britain)

South West Africa (under mandate of the Union of South Africa)

Spain, including colonies

Sweden

Switzerland

Syria and the Lebanon (under mandate of France)

Tanganyika (under mandate of Great Britain)

Togoland (under mandate of Great Britain)

Tunisia

Turkey

Union of South Africa

Yugoslavia

EXHIBIT 3

PARTIAL LIST OF ADMINISTRATIVE BUREAUS AND COMMISSIONS IN WHICH THE UNITED STATES PARTICIPATES BY TREATY OR OTHERWISE

Aerial Legal Experts, Technical Committee of

Agriculture, Institute of

Arbitration, Bureau of the Permament Court of

Childhood, American International Institute for the Protection of
Customs Tariffs, Bureau for the Publication of

Hydrographic Bureau, International

Industrial Property, Bureau of the Union for the Protection of

Interparliamentary Union, Bureau of

Labor Organization, International

Lighthouse at Cape Spartel, Commission for the Maintenance of the

Liquor Traffic in Africa, Central Office for Collecting and Preserving Information relating to the

Map of the World on the Millionth Scale, Bureau of

Meteorological Committee, International

Navigation Congresses, Association of

Pan American Union

Postal Union of the Americas and Spain, International Office of the

Postal Union, Universal, Bureau of the

Prison Commission, International

Public Health, International Office of

Railway Committee, Pan American

Sanitary Bureau, Pan American

Scientific Unions, International Council of

Seed Testing Association, International

Statistical Bureau, International

Telecommunications Union, Bureau of the

Trade Mark Registration Bureau, International

Weights and Measures, International Bureau of

EXHIBIT 4

TEXT OF THE CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF LITERARY AND ARTISTIC WORKS AS REVISED AND SIGNED AT ROME, JUNE 2, 1928

[Text of the convention appears on pp. 4 to 15 in this record]

STATEMENT OF HON. BRECKENRIDGE LONG, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE

Senator THOMAS of Utah. We will first hear from the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Long.

Mr. LONG. Mr. Chairman, this convention has been pending for a number of years. It was drafted and developed out of a meeting in Rome held about 12 years ago. It has been from time to time considered by your committee, and the Department has intermittently from time to time, as occasion developed, urged favorable action by the Senate.

You have had timely communications from the President and from the Secretary of State on the subject, and I come before you this morning to present to you quite briefly the Department's attitude, which is one advocating a favorable report by your committee to the Senate.

Dr. Wallace McClure, of the Department, is much more familiar with the history and details of the proposed convention and of the existing copyright arrangements, the differences between them, and the reason for adherence by the United States to this one, than I am, and I hope you will do me the favor to direct any specific questions and technical subject matters to Dr. McClure and to Mr. Trueblood, who is connected with the Cultural Relations Division of the Department of State.

For several reasons the Department is interested in the favorable recommendation of this committee, and respectfully urges your approval, without further delay, of the convention for the protection of literary and artistic works. Throughout the decade that it has been before the Senate the Department has, of course, given unremitting attention to the problem of copyright and has intermittently sought from the Senate the assistance which would have been provided by the adherence of the United States to this convention.

In the war against literary piracy which, like other warfare, is being waged all over the world, this pending convention is the best and most modern armament. It is the duty of the Department of State to protect American interests abroad. We ask you to give us the instrumentality that we most need to do this job efficiently in the field of copyright.

It is not, however, merely upon this reason for approving the convention, increasingly valid and compelling as it is, that I wish to emphasize. I want to ask the Senate to approve it now because it has a distinct and a distinctive relation to a major policy of the present emergency.

Among the important and fundamental means of building solidarity among the peoples of the Western Hemisphere is the development of closer cultural ties. For the purpose of becoming better acquainted with one another's literature, music, art, science, and inventive genius, in short with the intellectual life and thought of the peoples who are our American neighbors, treaties and agreements have within the last few years been entered into and governmental machinery has, on a considerable scale, been set up for the purpose of facilitating orderly cultural interchange and generally promoting better knowledge and understanding among the peoples of the Americas.

Obviously efforts such as these will be severely retarded if, for lack of generally applicable means of restraint, works of literature and art may be disseminated in distorted or perverted form. This is, however, precisely what is known to occur, often on a considerable scale, when, without the authorization of the creators of these works, piratical copies are brought out and distributed to the public. I am not now discussing the wrong to the author, but the wrong to the public. We want our ways of life honestly and correctly interpreted to other peoples. We want other peoples' ways of life honestly and correctly interpreted to us. This is a question of public policy which lies close to the foundation of any policy that has for its objective more friendly and peaceful international relations.

The pending treaty, by giving to authors copyright, without the necessity of observing any formality, throughout the countries parties to it, gives practicable control of the creators of the works of culture and enables their governments to protect them in the exercise of this control. It fulfills these functions in a more complete and effective way than any other available instrument. We wish it to protect our authors against pirates in other countries and, if there are any pirates in our own country, to protect creative genius from them in order that there may be better cultural relations with our neighbors.

The convention before you recognizes the universality of culture because it is open to universal adherence, but it is equally applicable to whatever groups of countries may desire to improve their group relations by becoming parties to it. Its universal potentialities are likely to recommend it to groups who wish to see culture develop naturally and not in any sense to be regionalized.

We hope you will give your approval to the pending convention for another reason pertinent to the present crisis in affairs. As Secretary Hull said in a communication to the chairman of this subcommittee some time ago, it "fits definitely into the program of endeavoring to build up, step by step, better international relations in general. I am convinced that thus to take advantage of opportunities for the betterment of details is a particularly appropriate way for democratic peoples to make their influence effective, and that, in a world torn by destructive efforts, we should let pass no occasion which offers a chance to achieve constructive results. Failure of the United States to become a party to this convention has not only left the door open for injustices to its citizens and for obstacles to the right kind of cultural progress, but for ill feeling on the part of literary and artistic workers in other countries, notably the English-speaking countries."

The present is not a time when we can afford to neglect any opportunity, even in a limited field, to overcome disorder by order, replace chaos with law-set up a regular order of procedure.

Senator THOMAS of Utah. One question in general, Mr. Secretary. Of course this is a chaotic time in many countries, many countries which are parties to this convention. Does the State Department know whether the law is fundamentally being respected in those countries today?

Mr. LONG. I personally do not know that it is respected in every country, nor do I know that it is not respected; but I can get information for you on that question and shall be very glad to furnish it to you by tomorrow and have it inserted in the record.