I am informed that a substitute bill will be submitted to your committees in the nature of specific amendments to the existing law to cure any evils which may exist therein and, among other things, to give reasonable compensation to authors or composers for the use of their works by the manufacturers of automatic mechanical reproducing devices. I believe that it will be preferable to thus amend existing law, leaving the great bulk of the law in those words and terms and provisions which there is no necessity of changing and which have become well understood by years of judicial interpretation. I will however proceed to discuss the pending bill and point out the specific amendments which appear to be necessary in the interest of the public, both as to clearness and certainty of expression and as to the relative just claims of the author and of the public. Section 1, paragraph (f), should be amended by striking out the words "or for purpose" and the remainder of line 10 and to the end of line 13, and by inserting the words "or to make any variation, adaptation, or arrangement thereof." It will be seen that to retain this paragraph in the present form would be equivalent to retaining paragraph (g), because it was the intent in framing paragraph (f) to have the word "performance" cover the operation of an automatic mechanical device; and the words "arrangement or setting" were intended to include the production of a perforated music sheet. Paragraph (g) should be eliminated for the reasons already given. Paragraph (h) should be amended by inserting at the end thereof the words "amounting to a copy thereof." It is obvious that this paragraph is altogether too broad and uncertain. The paragraph should only protect against infringements which are copies, and it must be left to judicial determination in the future as it has been in the past to say whether or not any particular abridgment, adaptation, or arrangement is a copy within the meaning of the law. Section 2 appears to be substantially similar to section 36, and one of the two sections should be eliminated or they should be consolidated. Section 3 should be amended by striking out "the copyrightable" and the rest of line 4, and to the end of line 8, and substituting "matters copyrighted after this act goes into effect." So amended the section does not appear to be necessary in the bill, but on the other hand in its present form it will be seen at once that it is retroactive and very injurious, making in effect certain matters infringements of the copyright granted under existing law which are not infringements now and are within the public domain.