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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
- ^ . E D W A R D L.YMAN
Editor and Proprietor.
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NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 22, 1896
'•THE BUSINESS MAN'S PAPER."
NEW MEN AND NEW METHODS
NEEDED.
N another part of this paper we give the
general outlines of the bill introduced
in the House of Representatives last week
by Congressman Treloar, relative to bring-
ing order out of chaos in the copyright
department at Washington, as well as revis-
ing the present copyright laws.
Any measure that will place the affairs
of this important Government office on a
sound, substantial and business-like footing
and do away with the shameful misman-
agement and irregularities which have been
brought to light from time to time, will be
welcomed by all who have the interest of
good government at heart.
For years publishers have been afforded
innumerable proofs of the gross inefficiency
and repeated indifference to their best
interests which have prevailed in the copy-
right office. . The inquiry set on foot some
time ago, revealed the Librarian to be a
defaulter to the Government for a large
sum of money, and lacking in every essen-
tial necessary to the proper conduct of that
I
office; nevertheless, these officials, instead
of putting an erid to this disgraceful con-
dition of affairs, temporized, and in the end
accepted a compromise by the payment of
a certain sum of money.
Thus the old methods and the old style
of "running things" still obtain. The
legend "whitewashed"—so familiar to poli-
ticians—is inscribed on the flag which flies
over the copyright office.
To allow apparently dishonest and inca-
pable officials to control this important
public office in the face of the facts which
were brought to light, is a grave public
scandal, and we are pleased to note that
steps are at last being taken to inaugurate
a new order of things.
Congressman Treloar's bill, at least that
part of it relative to the appointment of a
new Commissioner of Copyrights, deserves
to become a law. It would place this office
on a business basis, and thereby help to
restore that confidence in the department
which has been lacking for some time. As
the matter stands to-day, hundreds of
thousands of dollars have been paid for
copyrights, and there is no guarantee that
the protection sought for by publishers has
been accorded.
The copyright office has been in the past
a regular gold mine. Every modest inquiry
necessitated the payment of a fee, and re-
plies, if they were received at all, were
only forthcoming after persistent inquiries.
Moneys paid were not acknowledged, and
no system of government supervision of the
accounts seemed to prevail. It is a well-
known fact that for twenty years up to the
recent inquiry, no investigation of the
accounts had been made.
This system of conducting a public office
is certainly unique.
The smallest country store is conducted
on business methods a century ahead of
those in vogue in the copyright office.
In a public matter like this there is no
room for sentiment. The present head of
the copyright bureau is personally a charm-
ing man, but as a public servant he is
a huge failure.
Mark you, in this matter we discriminate
between men and methods. Here the
methods are bad that will allow such a
condition of affairs to exist.
We maintain that the'trade paper and the
newspaper have a duty that is absolutely
compulsory when the interests of their
constituents are being injured; hence these
remarks.
The copyright office should not be subject
to political or personal influence, at least
when it is injurious. It should be con-
ducted in the interests of the people—of
the business men who look to it for pro :
tection and support.
Now to another phase of this bill. In
framing sections 13, 14 and 15, Congress-
man Treloar has been inspired no doubt by
the failure of the international copyright
law of '91 to compel foreign publishers to
"set up" or engrave their musical public-
ations in this country, as illustrated in the
celebrated test case of Novello, Ewer & Co.
versus the Oliver Ditson Co., decided last
year.
We fail to see, however, where he makes
his point. It affects "the citizen of the-
United States," but not the alien. Con-
gressman Treloar, who, by the way, is in
the music publishing business himself,
evidently overlooked this. Meanwhile the
bill will undergo many changes before it
takes on feathers and wings and flies—if it
ever will—as a full fledged law.
In writing on this subject, we cannot re-
frain from remarking that legislators gen-
erally make a great mistake in framing
bills, particularly such as the copyright bill,
without a general conference with the busi-
ness men vitally interested. An expression
of their views procured beforehand would
furnish material enough to construct a
good, impartial and flawless measure,
which would be of more value to the pub-
lishers than the lawyers.
Speaking of this matter a few days ago
to a member of the music publishing fra-
ternity, he said: "This country badly needs
a new copyright law that will be unambig-
uous; a law that will be fair to the domestic
and foreign publishers alike. The only
way it can be secured, in my opinion, is to
have book, music and other publishers
meet in session and agree upon the details
of a measure, and then hand it over to a
Congressman or Senator for introduction.
This would insure freedom from the usual
opposition and changes in and after its stay
in the committee rooms."
This sounds well, but is it possible to get
publishers to agree on such a measure?
That's the rub!
As we said before, many changes will
undoubtedly be made in Congressman
Treloar's bill. As it stands it has many
good points; many more are missing.
When they are supplied we may have
something further to say.
ENRY DREHER, president of the
B. Dreher's Son's Co., Cleveland,
O., has been in town this week on the im-
portant mission of making a selection of
Steinway pianos for immediate shipment.
When we saw Mr. Dreher he had just
completed his selection, and was in a buoy-
H