AMERICA CRITICISED.*
AFTER Mr. Trollope, Charles Dickens; after Charles Dickens, " Rita " ; and the last of the three critics is the most severe. Possibly she had the greatest provocation. Did she not call on an American publisher to whom she had submitted a book and receive a discouraging answer? It was complimentary ; indeed, it would "make us think," he said, but for that very reason it would not snit. It is, indeed, in the matter of literary delinquencies and defects that she makes her most serious accusations. This is as well, because here it is not difficult to ascertain facts ; and in respect of facts "Rita " is not always accurate. She tells us, on the authority of a noted publisher, that four thousand novels are annually published in the States. In a footnote she corrects this to two thousand "as nearer the mark." But is not this number greatly in excess of the truth ? It is more than double the number given in the return of " Books Published " in this country. As to the literary value of these works " Rita" seems somewhat vague. She does not appear to have heard of some of the best authors —Mr. Winston Churchill, for instance, and Kate Douglas Wiggin. On the copyright we have a somewhat ambigu- ous statement. The Americans "have framed a strong copy right law for the author's protection, to the exclusion of such English and foreign interlopers as object to literary piracy." The simple fact is that about twenty years ago the Americans gave copyright to foreign authors on the condition that the book was manufactured in the States. This was not generous; but it was nothing more than our own Tariff Reformers would have done. As to the buying of books, we believe that the experience of English authors who have double copyright is that the American public is the better customer. Of course, " Rita " hits some blots in American life. No one doubts that there is a want of civility among the minor officials, and that the interviewer is the most unscrupulous of his class. On the other hand, she is not without appreciation of the great qualities and great achievements of the American people. But, on the whole, the book seems to us something like a mistake.
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