property of which books are made up, and so misuse his privilege as to
impose upon his readers the payment of too heavy a tax, other persons may
use the same facts and ideas, and enter into competition with him. In no
other case, however, than in those of the owners of patents and
copyrights, where the public recognizes the existence of exclusive claim
to any portion of the common property, does it permit the party to fix the
price at which it may be sold. The right of eminent domain is common
property. In virtue of it, the community takes possession of private
property for public purposes, and frequently for the making of roads. Not
unfrequently it delegates to private companies this power, but it always
fixes the rate of charge to be made to persons who use the road. This is
done even when general laws are passed authorizing all who please, on
compliance with certain forms, to make roads to suit themselves. In such
cases, limitation would seem to be unnecessary, as new roads could be made
if the tolls on old ones were too high; and yet it is so well understood
that the making of roads does carry with it monopoly power, that the rates
of charge are always limited, and so limited as not to permit the
road-makers to obtain a profit disproportioned to the amount of their
investments. In the case of authors there can be no such limitation. They
must have monopoly powers, and the law therefore very wisely limits the
time within which they may be exercised, as in the other case it limits
the price that may be charged. In France, the prices to be paid to
dramatic authors are fixed by law, and all who pay may play; and if this
could be done in regard to all literary productions, permitting all who
paid to print, much of the difficulty relative to copyright would be
removed; but this course of operation would be in direct opposition to the
views of publishers who advocate this treaty on the ground that it would
add to "the security and respectability of the trade." They would
_prefer_ to pay for the copyright of every foreign book, because it would
bring with it monopoly prices and monopoly profits, both of which would