Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1888-03-31
INVENTIVE GENIUS.

Has the inventor any right to exploit
his fellow men? According to those who
defend the capitalist system of society
he has. Without the inventor, it is CON
tended we should be unable to use the
great forces of steam and electricity, to
travel, to manufacture, to communicate
with one another. Without the inventor
the printing press would not be at our
disposal and our literature would con-
sist of manuscripts. Nay, we should not
have any literature at all for even writ
ten characters are due to the inventor.
Those who argue thus, however, only
regard one side of the matter-what the
inventor gives to society. They do not
notice what society gives to the inventor.
Almost every invention has its origin in
the work of those who have preceded its
inventor in research, discovery and ap-
plication. Take an example that useful
little machine, the type writer, by means
of which we are enabled to write with
the legibility of print. 1t is said to owe
itf existence to an apparatus, intended to
supplant the compositor, which was ex-
hibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1861.
The exhibit was failure, and prob
ably never brought its constructor a
penny, but it embodied a principle which
another man was able to turn to prac-
tical advantage. Then again, the imme-
date predecessor of the inventor of the
typewriter owed the ability to contrive
his particular piece of mechanism to the
study, experiments and discoveries of
those machinists who had preceded him.
lie had simply continued their work.
Had Edison lived in the fourteenth CEN
fury he would never have invented the
photograph or the electric light. He
accomplished those feats because the
way had been prepared for him. He
had special opportunities to study, as
well as a special aptitude; and, having
acquired knowledge of what had been
done before him. experimental and ad-
ded his share to the common work.
Inventors are also helped to a great
extent by the suggestions of friends and
assistants. Over and over again have
the principal inventors of the present
century been indebted to men and
women whose names are unknown to
the public for ideas which have had
fruitful result. Photography may be
taken as an instance of this. Without
in any way disparaging the work of Mr..
Isaac Pitman, it must be admitted that,
before he invented Phonetic Shorthand
he studied the systems then in use, and
borrowed from them whatever he thought
useful lie has, however, done more
than this. 1t is in the natural order of
things that those daily writing his system
should best be able to see how it could
be improved, and Mr. Pitman has wisely
availed himself of the suggestions for
warded to him by thousands of those
who use photography. BY this means
the system has been so much improved
that it would be difficult for good read,
er of phonetic shorthand as written to-
day to read the system as first written,
and rice rersa. In the same was those
engaged in working machines are the
most likely persons to see wherein they
can be improved or simplitied. 1t is
probable that at least two thirds of the
improvements in machinery which are
patented every year are due to opera
tlves who IN many cases reap not the
slightest personal benefit from their sug-
gestions.
Inventions are, in fact, due far more
to society than to the individuals who
claim them as their own. They are
based on the common knowledge of the
people at "a particular period and their
benefits ought to be shared by the whole
community. The records of the Patent
once show frequent instances of several
persons obtaining patents for similar in
Ventions, and it is a standing grievance
wi h patentees in this country that we
have no examining body who would
prevent this by granting a patent only
to the first applicant. This is convinc-
ing proof that different individuals
studying the same process or piece of
mechanism are likely to make the same
improvements. Now, suppose everyone
had the opportunities for study which
are to-day possessed only the few; sup
pose the patent laws were abolished and
all Inventions were common property:
suppose the Improvement of machinery,
the perfection of chemical processes the
simplitication of methods of manufac
ture, benefited instead of injuring the
workman; what would be the result?
Myrlads of new ideas would lie at the
disposal of the community; new labor
saving inventions would be brought into
use at remarkably rapid rate: civiliza-
ton would advance by leaps and bounds;
and the men and women of the next
generation would be mentally and phys
ically lar superior to the men and women
OF to-day.-J. BldckaceH. ia Lon. Justice