OCR Text |
Show Not Charity,-but Courtesy. . The tart letter of Mr. Gilbert, the com- ?)ser, to the Messrs. Harper, of New ork, in which he declined to receive a check for $50 tendered him by that firm as an honorarium in recognition of the fact that thsy had republished some of his comic operas, was doubtless the result re-sult of long meditation and bitterness on his part because there was no international interna-tional copyright Yet Gilbert and Sullivan Sulli-van have not suffered-here in America. Their compositions have been produced in all parts of the country, and they have received rich royalties upon them. The publication of their operas, in view of their general familiarity, could not be regarded re-garded as a very profitable enterprise, and m sending him a present of ten pounds, merely as a comDliment. tho Harpers probably gave away'as much as they made by the operation. t Until some international agreement on the copyright question can be reached by which authors in England can control the sale of their works in America, and vice I versa, they need not regard as' charitv a ten pound note given when there is "no obligation to give anvthing. Giltert could give no American publisher any property in his works, and the money thatwas sent him was complimentary rather than compensatory: If London publishers who print American works would adopt this sociable plan of doin business, authors on this side wonld frame their cheeks as curiosities. U |