opinion, allowed his wit to play upon the thought, greatly to the delight of his hearers.
The copyright question was again brought forward, at the Wednesday session, by Mr. R. R. Bowker, editor of "The Publishers' Weekly," who read a carefully prepared paper upon "The Limitations of Copyright." We may also mention in this connection, as an illustration of the interest taken by foreign countries in the work of the Congress, that a representative of the French Syndicat pour la Protection de la Propriété Littéraire et Artistique placed in the hands of the Committee, for distribution among the members of the Congress, a pamphlet "Note sur l'Acte du 3 Mars 1891," especially prepared and printed for the purpose. After congratulating the Copyright League upon the successful outcome of its labors, the pamphlet adds: "Il ne saurait se présenter une occasion plus favorable que celle de la réunion du Congrès de 1893 pour exprimer les remerciements des interéssés à tous ceux qui ont eu confiance en l'esprit de justice du peuple américain." The special subject of the Wednesday session, "The Rights and Interests of Authors," was introduced by Mr. Walter Besant, who also presided over the session. Mr. Besant's paper summarized the history of the London Society of Authors, explaining also the reasons for its existence and the difficulties with which it has had to contend. A recent editorial in The Dial, upon the subject of the Society, gave the principal facts embodied in Mr. Besant's statement, and it is unnecessary to repeat them here. To the majority of those who heard them upon this occasion, they were doubtless new, and, as presented by Mr. Besant, they were given the added force that always characterizes a man's spoken words upon some subject to which he has devoted years of active thought. The following is one of the passages of more general interest contained in Mr. Besant's paper:
"We have made a careful and prolonged inquiry into the very difficult subject of the present nature and extent of literary property. A writer of importance in our language may address an audience drawn from a hundred millions of English-speaking people. Remember that never before in the history of the world has there been such an audience. There were doubtless more than a hundred millions under the Roman rule around the shores of the Mediterranean, but they spoke many different languages. We have now this enormous multitude, all, with very few exceptions, able to read, and all reading. Twenty years ago they read the weekly paper; there are many who still read nothing more. Now that no longer satisfies the majority. Every day makes it plainer and clearer that we have arrived at a time when the whole of this multitude, which in fifty years' time will be two hundred millions, will very soon be reading books. What kind of books? All kinds, good and bad, but mostly good; we may be very sure that they will prefer good books to bad. Even now the direct road to popularity is by dramatic strength, clear vision, clear dialogue, whether a man write a play, a poem, a history, or a novel. We see magazines suddenly achieving a circulation reckoned by hundreds of thousands, while our old magazines creep along with their old circulation of from two to ten thousands. Hundreds of thousands? How is this popularity achieved? Is it by pandering to the low, gross, coarse taste commonly attributed to the multitude? Not so. It is mainly accomplished by giving them dramatic work stories which hold and interest them essays which speak clearly work that somehow seems to have a message. If we want a formula or golden rule for arriving at popularity, I should propose this: Let the work have a Message. Let it have a thing to say, a story to tell, a living Man or Woman to present, a lesson to deliver, clear, strong, unmistakable.
"The demand for reading is enormous, and it increases every day. I see plainly—as plainly as eyes can see—a time—it is even now already upon us—when the popular writer—the novelist, the poet, the dramatist, the historian, the physicist, the essayist—will command such an audience—so vast an audience—as he has never yet even conceived as possible. Such a writer as Dickens, if he were living now, would command an audience all of whom would buy his works—of twenty millions at least. The world has never yet witnessed such a popularity—so wide-spread—as awaits the successor of Dickens in the affections of the English speaking races. The consideration must surely encourage us to persevere in our endeavors after the independence and therefore the nobility of our calling, and therefore the nobility of our work. But you must not think that this enormous demand is for fiction alone. One of the things charged upon our Society is that we exist for novelists alone. That is because literary property is not understood at all. As a fact educational literature is a much larger and more valuable branch than fiction. But for science, history—everything—except, perhaps, poetry—the demand is leaping forward year after year in a most surprising manner. Now, in order to meet this enormous demand, which has actually begun and will increase more and more—a demand which we alone can meet and satisfy—I say that we must claim and that we must have a readjustment of the old machinery a reconsideration of the old methods—a new appeal to principles of equity and fair play."
The remainder of this session was taken up by a paper on " ]Syndicate Publishing," sent by Mr. W. Morris Colles, of London, by "Some Considerations on Publishing," a paper sent by Sir Frederick Pollock, and by a discussion in which part was taken by Mr. Besant, Mr. Charles Carleton Coffin, Mrs. Mary Hartwell Catherwood, and Mrs. D. Lothrop. The general subject of "Criticism and Literature" occupied the Thursday session of the Congress. Over this session Mr. Charles Dudley Warner presided, and read the opening paper, his subject being "The Function of Literary Criticism in the United States." Mr.
