Literary Theft

Literary Theft

The editors of the Era greatly regret that occasionally articles are sent to us for publication in the Era which are not original, though signed by the contributors as if they were their own productions, and making it appear that they are their own thoughts and words. A number of these plagiarisms have been discovered before publication and, of course, thrown out or prop- erly credited. In all cases such thefts are the cause of great chagrin to the editors, who, though looking out for them, have not always been able to discover the authorship before they appear in the mag- azine. In cases where correspondents send articles that are not all original, the source of information should be given, and also proper credit to the author or writer. Where quotations are used in any article these should be properly designated by enclosing them in quotation marks, and the author from whom, or the book from which, they are taken should be named. This applies also, of course, to thoughts and sentences chosen from books and interwoven with original matter. These also should be quoted or properly credited. Elder J. Vernon Adams, writing recently from Tokyo, Japan,

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calls attention to a short missionary letter which appeared in the Era some time ago to which the criticism last named applies. He says that the letter itself "carries a good thought, but loses its forcefulness when one realizes that the greater part of it including different striking sentences are copied from six to eight different pages of Marden's Pushing to the Front, 1911, enlarged edition." He then calls attention to an article in the Seventies' Year Book, 1907, pages 166-167, in which the pernicious habit of plagiarism is condemned, and the Seventies warned against it. It is there stated by the author, B. H. Roberts Let every speech, lecture, or discourse by a Seventy be an honest one. Let it be his own, good, bad, or indifferent. A poor speech that is one's own is more to one's credit than a good one stolen and repeated as his * * * Of all despicable characters in the literary world, the plagiarist is regarded as the most contemptible, and yet there have not been wanting among us in the ministry of the Church (due to their ignor- ance of the ethics of literature, of course) those who have advocated the appropriation of sermons and lectures prepared by others; and have advocated the repetition of those stolen sermons in the preaching of the gospel * * * It is as bad as wearing stolen clothes. It is asking one to shine not even by borrowed but by stolen light. It will result in mental laziness. It is a confession of one's own inability to think for him- self and work out from the mass of material that lies before him in the revelations of God, the deductions and conclusions that make for the establishment of faith and righteousness in the lives of others. A few ideas hammered out on the anvil of one's own thought, even though they be crudely and haltingly expressed, if they are one's own, that is a better beginning and more hopeful than the most glowing declaration of the sermon that has been stolen from another, or plagiarized from some book or tract.

Elder Adams continues : "I have quoted thus at length be- cause it is just what I wish to say, and Brother Roberts' words carry much more weight than any of my own could. * * *

Dishonest work can carry with it no compelling weight and it can have no object. Fellow missionaries, it is wrong. We should not plagiarise. Let us work out our own gospel of advancement and self-improvement, for, as Marden says, 'The world is looking " for the man who can stand alone.' Again we take this occasion to remind our young writers, and also the young men and young women who enter into the literary contests of the Mutual Improvement Associations, to be cautious in this matter, and in all cases to give credit where credit is due.