The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1849-07-17
THE ARTS OF PEACE.

We published, day or two since, an
extract of letter from this city, giving
an account of visit of President TAYLOR
to the Patent Office, and expressing the
interest felt by the Chief Magistrate in the
progress of invention, and in the protec-
ton of the rights Of patentees. This sub
ject is one of such great importance that
we hope to find it especially regarded by
the present Administration. General TAY-
LoR has reaped all his military laurels.
His fame and that of his Administration
must rest, as he has himself simply and
beautifully expressed it, on "the cultiva
ton Of the ennobling arts of peace" The
constitutional protection of American in
dustry, in its competition with the pauper
labor of exhausted Europe the improve
ment of our too long-neglected rivers and
harbors; aid to the great enterprises for
facilitating communication by railroad and
telegraph between our Atlantic and Pacific
possessions and the just, liberal, and be-
nefcent encouragement of men Of genius
and science in every department Of inven-
ton, by the prompt adoption in the public
service of their really valuable improve
ments all these subjects, we have no
doubt, will meet with the considerable at
tention of an Administration that can pros
per and establish itself only by sympa-
thizing with the progressive spirit of the
age. II was, therefore, with no little inte-
rest that we read the letter to which we
have above referred, as an index to the
views and feelings of the Chief Magistrate
of the United States.
There is no class of men who deserve
more and receive less from their contem-
poraries than those who devote themselves
to the invention and introduction of i'm
provements designed to diminish the la
bors and increase the comforts of the hu-
man race. The Whitneys, the Fultons, and
the Woodworths of our own country only
serve to swell the long catalogue which
the history of English invention has pre-
served, of men who have themselves been
left to starve amid the opulence which their
mechanical genius and science have Gre
ated. Saving and accumulating millions for
their countrymen, they have been them
selves the victims of shabby tricksters and
mean conspirators, who have combined to
defraud and rob them of the fruits of their
toll and just remuneration of their genius
And too often has it been the case that
Government itself has joined in the war
against them, and, after appropriating
their labors, has listened to their appica-
ton for relief with culpable Indifference.
We believe that this contempt of indi-
vidual rights will never be Justly charged
on the present Administration. We be-
lieve that they will always be ready to
extend liberal encouragement to merito-
rious inventions, and that they will never
disregard, in any department of the pub
lie service, the rights that have been guar
antied by the Patent Office of the United
States. In the ordinary employment of
its annual appropriations, opportunities
frequently occur in which the several Ex-
ecutive Departments can extend most de-
sirable and effective aid, not to untried
experiments, not to half-hedged inven-
tons, but TO Improvements whose utility
has been placed, by reduction to practice,
beyond all reasonable question. From the
indications we have met with of President
TAYLoR's personal views in this behalf,
we have no doubt.that the policy of his
Administration will be shaped according
ly; and we trust that one of the brightest
pages in the annals Of his political career
will be that which records the results, un
der his genial encouragement, of "the
cultivation Of the ennobling arts of peace. :"