National Republican., 1878-07-10
THE sOvEREIGSTY or TIE BRAIN.

J. II. Josiin In Reply to 7. II. Bland, n. d.
To the Editor cfhs National Republican:
SIR: Tho long, roundabout way taken by
T. NJ. Bland, NJ. D., in The REPUBLICAN Of
the 9Th instant to deny the truth of a position
taken by me In addressing the workinsmen's
Assembly in this city shall not save him from
that exposure to ridiculc and ccnsure which
he so we'll has earned.
After stating several things relative to tho
makeup or nature Of man, all true enough,
but without bearing upon the matter he Is
driving at, which is to squelch me, he says:
A Mr.. Joslin, of Rhode Island. In lecture before
tho workngmcn Of Washington recently, said
labor-savlng machinery Is supplantng the work.
ingmRn and starving him. In this he but stated
potent fact; but tho remedy he suggests Is law
back to the dark agcs-to the slow and toilsome
processes still in vogue In China.
Nothing that T. NJ. Bland. NJ. D., could say
besides would better show the real purpose OF
his twaddle about the brain, matter. force, &C.,
than what have quoted from his writing
As I havo said, the effort, the herculeau labor
put forth for that wordy production, was to
squelch me. In his very attack he runs into
an error. have boon In several states, mem
tai and physical, in my time, but never In the
State of Rhode Island.
Then says Bland "The remedy he suggests
Is law suppressing inventions" No person
who heard my address, or any other, ever
heard me suggest anything Of tho kind. The
saying that did 50 Is q cheat, the samo as Is
generally rcsorted to when attempt is made to
sustain the wrong of q question. "And re-
manding society back to the dark ages, to tho
slow and toilsome process still In vogue in
China is humbug, and appeals TO passion aud
prejudice, with the intention Of cheating the
Judgment and understanding.
Lnfn h. IA 4.
now, and has boon for Thirty years and over,
that all patent laws throughout the world
should bo repealed. They are the curse Of
mankind, and. havo brought the people to a
condition which have warned them against
for quarter Off century and more.
Talk about the dark ages-about China. Did
the arts the sciences, aud the reincments of
the ancents, down to a hundred years ago. come
of inventions induced by patent laws? No,
they did not. Patent laws were not known
nor made use of till England led oif In the
dreadful death-dance now affecting all nations
and tongues, by granting patent to Har-
greavos for his invention OF the spinning jenny
in 1867 There were no poor people In tho
world, except from temporary causes till the
committing Of that most tragic act by England
Since then all have become poor aud per-
mniently 50, except an extreme few.
And why should tho condition not bo so,
when moro than nineteen twentieths Of all
labor of tho people has been taken from them
by contrlvances which patent laws have been
tho cause of?
The talk about going back" doing away
with all machinery, is but the clap-trap of the
ignorant or ryicious. No one proposes any such
thing. Without patent laws machinery was
invented and improved rs tho good of society
demanded, and no faster. But with them, ev-
cry man wants to invent q machine to do
whatever he secs other peoDlo doing because
the invention will be his by law, aud with 1t
he monopolizes for himself alone the work by
which tens Of thousands of people earnod
their bread.
Tho winding up in T. NJ. Bland. NJ. D.'s, ar
ticle Is as sensible as the most Of what he says
before 1t. He says: "Ihe only possible COM
plete remedy for the evils that now atliict soci-
city, and Of which workingmcn and philan.
thropists So justly complain, Is to abolish tho
monopoly Of brains by making thought uni
versal. This done, and the monopoly Of wealth
and power will pass away forever"
This Is throw in. suppose, to ridiculo the
idea OF disturbing the patent system. But a
starving world will not by devices Of the kind
be muS longer cheated. j. ii. JOSLIN.