The arguments against a measure of this kind are, in short, the arguments in favor of international copyright. A very conclusive statement of the case against the equity or desirability from any point of view of such an arrangement in regard to home copyright was made before the British Commission, in 1877, by Herbert Spencer. His testimony is given in full in the _Popular Science Monthly_ for November, 1878, and February, 1879. The recommendation had been made that, for the sake of securing cheap books for the people, the law should give to all dealers the privilege of printing an author's books, and should fix a copyright to be paid to the author that should secure him a "fair profit for his work." Mr. Spencer objected that-- First. This would be a direct interference with the laws of trade, under which the author had the right to make his own bargains. Second. No legislature was competent to determine what was "a fair rate of profit" for an author. Third. No average royalty could be determined which could give a fair recompense for the different amounts and kinds of labor given to the production of different classes of books. Fourth. If the legislature has the right to fix the profits of the author, it has an equal right to determine that of his associate in the publication, the publisher; and if of the publisher, then also of the printer, binder, and paper-maker, who all have an interest in the undertaking. Such a right of control would apply with equal force to manufacturers of other articles of importance to the community, and would not be in accordance with the present theories of the proper functions of government. Fifth. If books are to be cheapened by such a measure, it must be at the expense of some portion of the profits now going to the authors and publishers; the assumption is that book producers and distributors do not understand their business, but require to be instructed by the state how to carry it on, and that the publishing business alone needs to have its returns regulated by law. Sixth. The prices of the best books would in many cases, instead of being lessened, be higher than at present, because the publishers would require some insurance against the risk of rival editions, and because they would make their first editions smaller, and the first cost would have to be divided among a less number of copies. Such reductions of prices as would be made would be on the flimsier and more popular literature, and even on this could not be lasting. Seventh. For the enterprises of the most lasting importance to the public, requiring considerable investment of time and capital, the publishers require to be assured of returns from the largest market possible, and without such security enterprises of this character could not be undertaken at all. Eighth. Open competition of this kind would, in the end, result in crushing out the smaller publishers, and in concentrating the business in the hands of a few houses whose