reasonable time.

"If the bill should pass, its operation in this country would be to
leave the public, without any charge for copyright, in the undisturbed
possession of all scientific and literary works published prior to its
passage--in other words, the great mass of the science and literature of
the world; and to entitle the British or French author only to the
benefit of every copyright in respect to works which may be published
subsequent to the passage of the law.

"The committee cannot anticipate any reasonable or just objection to a
measure thus guarded and restricted. It may, indeed, be contended, and
it is possible that a new work, when charged with the expense incident
to the copyright, may come into the hands of the purchaser at a small
advance beyond what would be its price, if there were no such charge;
but this is by no means certain. It is, on the contrary, highly
probable that, when the American publisher has adequate time to issue
carefully an edition of the foreign work, without incurring the
extraordinary expense which he now has to sustain to make a hurried
publication of it, and to guard himself against dangerous competition,
he will be able to bring it into the market as cheaply as if the bill
were not to pass. But, if that should not prove to be the case, and if
the American reader should have to pay a few cents to compensate the
author for composing a work which he is instructed and profited, would
it not be just in itself? Has any reader a right to the use, without
remuneration, of intellectual productions which have not yet been
brought into existence, but lie buried in the mind of genius? The
committee think not; and they believe that no American citizen would not
feel it quite as unjust, in reference to future publications, to
appropriate to himself their use, without any consideration being paid
to their foreign proprietors, as he would to take the bale of
merchandise, in the case stated, without paying for it; and he would the
more readily make this trifling contribution, when it secured to him,
instead of the imperfect and slovenly book now often issued, a neat and
valuable work, worthy of preservation.

"With respect to the constitutional power to pass the proposed bill, the
committee entertain no doubt, and Congress, as before stated, has acted
on it. The constitution authorises Congress to promote the progress of
science and useful arts, by securing, for limited times, to auth