[FYI, I just posted this to the NYT's article site. /DDD ]


Since we can't reach Henry Rogers of Standard Oil to help out Mr Clemens
one more time, I see two sustainable routes to resolving the capital and
cash flow issue with this national treasure. (And possibly a third, a
blend of the first two.)

A) Nationalize it. Allocate responsibility for the MT House to the
National Park Service. If there is an American author who better merits
this honor, I don't know who it is.

B) Acquire patrons for a sizable capital fund. For example, solicit
living American authors for "planned giving" committments to come out of
their estates at the time of their deaths. (Asking them for money now
wouldn't be a bad idea either, but we have to solve this problem, not
patch it). Names like Roth, Updike, Kingsolver, Oates, Barry, King,
Irving, Wolfe, Halperin and O'Rourke come to mind. Corporate sponsors
who have benefitted from Twain's works in the public domain - Disney,
for one - ought also to considering stepping up.

C) Do both. There's no reason the approach needs to be all private or
all public.