p. 9 | Rights of Property by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 23, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 33.

Rights of Property

By Editor

THE Sunday School Times enters a protest against “the thoughtless practises” of stealing, and tells us how Sunday-school superintendents send to publishers and obtain sample copies of Sunday-school exercises free, exercises that cost the publishers, many times, a great deal of money; multiply the best of these free copies in the school, and thus defraud the publishers. The Sunday School Times says: “The appropriation of another man’s horse or of a peck of tomatoes from the grocery on the ground that no idea of profit entered into such use, but it was for one’s own needs only, would not have great weight in clearing one of the charge of stealing. So in the matter of duplicating for any purpose whatsoever the copyrighted words or music belonging to another without securing permission from the one to do this. It is ordinary theft, and thoughtful Christian people must recognize this if they would have regard for the standards of common honesty.”

What led to the discussion was a question by a Sunday-school superintendent who said that there had been more or less discussion in his Sunday-school as to their right legally and morally to reprint hymns found in the various hymnals, for various services. One publisher of Sunday-school and other religious music writes to The Sunday School Times that those outside of the publishing line probably have little idea of the extent of this practise; and he also tells us that sometimes requests are sent to different publishers, and then the best selections are made from each or all of the sample copies thus secured, and consequently all the publishing houses involved meet with loss.

One publisher says: “There are other cases where Sunday-schools of perhaps one hundred to two hundred members will send fifty-five cents for one dozen services. They find at the top of the second page of our services a strong notice calling their attention to the fact that the entire service is the copyright property of the publishers. They seem to assume that the publisher is willing to spend his money for the poems, the copyrights, the plates, the stock, printing, advertising, office rent, and help hired, simply for the sake of securing an order for fifty-five cents’ worth of the goods thus produced, so that when they have purchased their one dozen copies they feel at liberty to write to the publisher, saying, ‘Kindly send permission for our school to reprint the words of the songs in your service which our school has purchased a supply of;’ and many of these people become indignant when we frankly but courteously advise them that we can not afford to grant the permission which they have requested.”

Now these principles have a great deal broader application than the Sunday-school or the publishers of Sunday-school literature. One very important lesson to instill into the minds of children and older people is a proper regard for the rights of others.