Sketches New and Old

  PETITION CONCERNING COPYRIGHT

  TO THE HONORABLE THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESIN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

  Whereas, The Constitution guarantees equal rights to all, backed by theDeclaration of Independence; and

  Whereas, Under our laws, the right of property in real estate isperpetual; and

  Whereas, Under our laws, the right of property in the literary result ofa citizen's intellectual labor is restricted to forty-two years; and

  Whereas, Forty-two years seems an exceedingly just and righteous term,and a sufficiently long one for the retention of property;

  Therefore, Your petitioner, having the good of his country solely atheart, humbly prays that "equal rights" and fair and equal treatment maybe meted out to all citizens, by the restriction of rights in allproperty, real estate included, to the beneficent term of forty-twoyears. Then shall all men bless your honorable body and be happy. Andfor this will your petitioner ever pray. MARK TWAIN.

  A PARAGRAPH NOT ADDED TO THE PETITION

  The charming absurdity of restricting property-rights in books toforty-two years sticks prominently out in the fact that hardly any man'sbooks ever live forty-two years, or even the half of it; and so, for thesake of getting a shabby advantage of the heirs of about one Scott orBurns or Milton in a hundred years, the lawmakers of the "Great" Republicare content to leave that poor little pilfering edict upon thestatute-books. It is like an emperor lying in wait to rob a phenix'snest, and waiting the necessary century to get the chance.