The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-25 00:00:00

SECRETARY OF THE INrbRIOR.

The Report of the Secretary of the Interior is dated
Nov. 15, 1869, and opens with a statement of the public
lands disposed of during the fiscal year, as follows :
PUBLIC LANDS DISPOSED OF.

Acres.
Sales
Homesteads

Grants to Railroads, Sce.

"746;769.51

. .
Swamps to States 445,768.49
Military Warrants
College Scrip 352,664.86
Indian Scrip
Tt.tal increase over past year
Inert ase under the Homestead Act
Surveys in 15'distriets 10,822,896.00
Cash receipts, all sources 51,472,886.28
Increase, cash receipts over 1868 52,810,1.40.38
Total exp,nises Goner,l Land Office

and 737 )is trict Offices
PATENT OFFICE.
Applications for Patents

$153,816.43

19,360
3,693

(3:l%;eat3 filed

Applications for Extonsion

153
13,762
125
899

Patents issued
Patents extended
Patents allowed, not issued
Balance appropriation on hand Oct. 1,
1863
Appropriation since made 722,013 00
Total
Expenditures since Oct. 1, 1863
Balance on hand
Fees in excess of expenditures
Expenditure in excess of fees, 1868 ... 171 64
Apropriation asked for 564,420 00
The office now publishes a weekly list of claims, which
is furnished to subscribers at five dollars per annum. It
is believed that by the ensuing year the receipts will
cover the entire cost of the work. This list, published
simultaneously with the issue of the patents, serves all
the purposes of the annual report, which is not issued
until two years later. In order that the public and the
examining corps may have access to the drawings of the
office, I recommend kn appropriation for pr;nting copies.
The expense so occasioned can be reimbursed, if the Com-
missioner be authorized to make sale of them and apply
so much of the proceeds thereof as may be necessary. If
he could sell copies of the patents and of the drawings at
cheap rates to those who desire them, and place copies in
the State capitals and great commercial centres, more
complete informatiou of the action of the bureau than is
now furnished by the report would be promptly dissemi-
nated, and an annual expenditure of 8200,000 of the public
money avoided.
My immediate predecessor, in each of his annual re-
ports, urged the repeal of all laws which authorized an
appeal horn the decision of the Commissioner of Patents
on applications for letters patent and in interference
cases. The reasons he presented are, in my opinion, clear
and unanswerable. It is, indeed, believed that it was
the intention of Congress to abolish such an appeal by
the Act of 1861. No mention is made of it in the provision
for appeals, or in the new schedule of fees thereby estab-
lished. It has, however, been held that prior Acts which
authorised such an appeal are still in force, and that the
right thereto still exists. If their purpose was to secure
uniformity in the administration of the patent laws, it has
Signally failed. The appellants may select either of the
four members of the Supremo Court of the District to boar
and determine the case, and from his decision no appeal
lies to the court in bane. The Commissioner, in a paper
addressed to me, represents that, as a natural consequence
of the appeal and of the fee claimed for acting upon it, the
judges have, without authority from Congress, assumed to
extend their jurisdiction to his purely ministerial duties,
and to interfere with the discharge of them. Decisions
have been made on the proper date of letters patent, the
allowance of amendments, the issue of double patents to
an inventor and his assignee, and on other questions of a
like character. The practical working of this asserted
supervisory control over the doings of the Commissioner
has been upon the whole injurious. Consistency of deci-
sions and 3f administration has not been attained. Con-
troversies and litigation as to the extent of relative juris-
diction have arisen, and the usefulness of the office, in its
attempts to protect the public against imposition has been
essentially impaired.