ty, such as priority of
entry, names and residence of actual owners, transfers or assignments,
timely deposit of the required copies, etc., could be determined upon
inquiry at a single office of record. These inquiries are extremely
numerous, and obviously very important, involving frequently large
interests in valuable publications in which litigation to establish the
rights of authors, publishers or infringers has been commenced or
threatened. By the full records of copyright entries thus preserved,
moreover, the Library of Congress (which is the property of the nation)
has been enabled to secure what was before unattainable, namely, an
approximately complete collection of all American books, etc., protected
by copyright, since the legislation referred to went into effect. The
system has been found in practice to give general satisfaction; the
manner of securing copyright has been made plain and easy to all, the
office of record being now a matter of public notoriety; and the test of
experience during thirty years has established the system so thoroughly
that none would be found to favor a return to the former methods.

The Act of 1870 provided for the removal of the collection of copyright
books and other publications from the over-crowded Patent Office to the
Library of Congress. These publications were the accumulations of about
eighty years, received from the United States District Clerks' offices
under the old law. By request of the Commissioner of Patents all the law
books and a large number of technical works were reserved at the
Department of the Interior. The residue, when removed to the Capitol,
were found to number 23,070 volumes, a much smaller number than had been
anticipated, in view of the length of time during which the copy tax had
been in operation. But the observance of the acts requiring deposits of
copyright publications with the Clerks of the United States District
Courts had been very defective (no penalty being provided for
non-compliance), and, moreover, the Patent Office had failed to receive
from the offices of original deposit large numbers of publications which
should have been sent to Washington. From one of the oldest States in the
Union not a single book had been sent in evidence of copyright. The
books, however, which were added to the Congressional Library, although
consisting largely of school books and the minor literature of the last
half century, comprised many valuable additions t