comprise what is called, "The Copyright Union." Under this Convention
Canadian authors enjoy in the other countries of the Union for their
works--whether published in one of those countries or unpublished--the
rights which the respective laws grant to natives. (Austria-Hungary has a
separate Convention with Great Britain on the lines of the Berne
Convention, _from the benefits of which Canada is expressly excepted_). A
book, therefore, first produced in Canada and registered at Ottawa,
obtains at once the same copyright advantages throughout the British
Dominions and the Copyright Union, that it would enjoy if first produced
in the United Kingdom and registered at Stationers' Hall in London.

Prior to 1891, books written in any part of the Empire were public
property in the United States, and, although there were many honorable
exceptions amongst American publishers of reputation, such books were as a
rule appropriated on the scramble system, chiefly to supply material for
the weekly issues of the cheap "Libraries," such as "The Seaside" and "The
Franklin Square." The "fifteen cent quarto" of the Libraries was not a
book; it was usually sold for railway reading, and thrown away at the end
of the journey. Canada was deluged with these productions.

In 1891, the Chace Bill was passed by Congress. One provision of this Bill
enacts, that any citizen or subject of a foreign country, which has been
declared by the President's proclamation to permit citizens of the United
States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as its own
citizens, can obtain copyright in the United States. The author obtaining
such copyright is protected from piracy in the United States, or from
importation of foreign reproductions into the United States. It is
popularly understood in Canada that, before the passage of the Chace Bill,
the Imperial authorities gave some concession, or made some change in the
British Copyright Law, or entered into some International Agreement