Jailtarv, ?ro8
this reason, if no other, the page has well paid for
itself.
"The page seems to reach every class. Taking
three ads. as examples last week, the page sold over
75 dollar-watches, two high-grade pianos and ten
parrots-the sales of three different specialties ad-
vertised by three different merchants. It's a good
page on which to start the man who doesn't believe
in advertising. If his goods are right, he's bound
to make sales."
A Slight Copyright Amendment.
Claude Macdonnell, M.P., for South Toronto, has
introduced a bill in Parlianent to amend the Copy-
right Act. The change suggested is without signi-
ficance, beiig merely intended to simplify the form-
ula required to be printed in each copy of a copy-
right book. instead of requiring the words, "Enter-
ed according to Act of the Parliament of Canada,
in the year-by A.B., at the Departmeint of
Agriculture," the amendclment seeks to substitute the
simple statement, "Copyright, Canada, o--, by
A.B.""
This sim?plification is commendable and it is un-
likely that there will be any opposition to the adop-
tion of Mr. Maacdonnell's bill. The whole question
of Canadian copyright law needs simplification. At
present it is in a very unsettled and unsatisfactory
state. However averse the Government may be to
opening up the Act, it is unlikely that they will
refuse to adopt the amendment.
An Important Meeting.
This year's convention of the Canadian Press
Association will mark the fiftieth anniversary of
the foundation of that important organization'
Very few business organizations in this country
can point to a career as long and as successful.
At best, most of them only date back ten or twentv
years. But the C.P.A. is a pioneer among them all
and, as such, is worthy of all honor and support.
We wish to make a strong plea for a big repre-
sentative convention this year. The postponement
of the meetinlg from the customary dates in Febru-
ary to corresponding dates in March gives ample
time for every one to arralnge his affairs to suit.
The fact that the gathering will be of unusual
historical interest adds weight to the appeal. It
will stand out pre-eminently in the annals of the
association and the list of those present will be
preserved with more than usual interest.
The scope of the gathering also has been en-
larged to embrace newspapermen from the whole
Dominion. Whether or not a Dominion organiza-
tion will be the outcome, remains to be seen, but
even without taking such a possibility into account,
thlie meeting will be of sufficient importance to make
it worth while for journalists from Atlantic to
P'acific to attend.

Printer and Publisher
On another page President Clark contributes
an official article on the subject of the meeting, to
which we direct our readers' attention. And again
we repeat, let nothing prevent you from attending
tiis ann?versary convention.
An Unjust Attack.
The British Whig of Kingston, having been
attacked by the temperance people for running ad-
vertisements against local option in its columns,
takes the ground that public journals must give
freedom of expression. It considers the criticisnl
of the prohibitionists as most unfair. "The law says
there is such a thing as a license," says the Whig,
"and that its acceptance or rejection shall be left
to the free-will of the people. The prohibitionists
have been given gratuitous use of the papers
throutgh letter appeals, but they club the newspapers
anld declare they shall not allow the victuallers to
even buy a space in advertising colimns to make
their defence. To talk aboutt feer th free-ill of the
people under such conditions is absurd. British fair
play demiands a presentation of arguments, and
surely jtudging bv denunciations, the prohibis. have
overwhelming advantage."
We quite agree. with the attitude of thle British
Whig. The licensing question is a debatable one
and(l the columns of a public journal should be open
for a discussion of both sides of the question. To
suppress one side will not do any good to the other
sile, for the public are going to decide the question
oi its merits anyway.
Duty Abolished.
A serious blow was inflicted on magaine pub-
lishers shipping copies of their magazines into Aus-
tralia, when the Commonwealth Government im-
posed a duty on ail such periodicals "containing
advertisements being more than one-fifth of tht
printed matter contained within the outside covers."
For the first fortnight after its introduction, this
tariff item worked out disastrously to many maga-
ines, but on October 17 last, pending the legaliza-
tion of the clause, a temporary arrangement was
made whereby the importers could tear out at the
Customs Offices ahy advertisements in excess of the
one-fifth allowed. In the case of many of their
magazines, particularly the American ones, which
contained an enormous quantity of advertising mat-
ter, this represented a serious mutilation of the
publications affected and, naturally enough, the
advertisers began to complain. As a consequence,
the British publishers were placed in the position
of being able to accept only a limited number of
advertisements.
It is now announced that this extraordinary duty
has been abolished, much to the satisfaction of the
nublishers.

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