The Press., 1890-05-08
NIB. SlMONDS UPON PATENT OFFICE MAT
 TIERS.

HA ' ERs. ri
 Congressional debate is hardly holiday exercise. All last week a battle ragged in the house of representatives over the legis- latiye, executive and judicial appropriar tion bill which ended at midnight on Sat- urday night. Just before the battle closed raid was attempted on the salaries of the patent office examiners. Mir. Simends took hand in it for five minutes. The Congressional Record gives It thus
 The chairman. The bgentleman from
 Ohio (Mr. Butterworth) is now entitled to the floor. 4 4 IA
 MT. Butterworth. I yield three min utes to the gentleman from Connectifut (Mr. Simonds).
 MT. Simonds. Mir. Chairman, the gen- tleman from Iowa fMrs1 Kerr1 1soaght to deter us from executing the law asl It stands upon the statute book by holding out before us the fear that we shall be re- tired from congress. l have not that par ticnlarsfear before my mind It does not strike me as the worst misfortune that can happen to man
 MT. Kerr, of Iowa. was not anxiope about myself being in congress, but abohk the party that will be in power here.
 MT. -Simonds. Very welL pr9su4e the republican paftylof the first district iof Connecticut can furnish an acceptable ie- publican representative if I happen to re- tire. But, sir, if had that fear before my mind thousand times stronger than the gentleman from Iowa has expressed 1t, that would not deter me from doing sins pie and absolute justice in this mater s. As i sat here I heard gentleman at my left calculating how many bushels of wheatsit would take to pay the additional amount which would be required to pay these sal aries as fixed by law. Gentlemen of this house ought to understand the truth about this matter. a4l < This is not an increase of salary. It, is an attempt to obey the law as it stands on
 the statute book. And there is> not dol lar of these salaries that comes out of the
 pockets of the people by taxation. Every
 year that passes over us the patent office
 turns into the treasury of the government
 quarter of million of dollars of surplus
 over and above all expenditures, and there I is now in the treasury of the United States
 to it's credit over $3,000,000. How, then, can gentlemen stand upon this floor and
 make suggestions or assertions to the ef- feet that this money comesout of the pock- cts of the tax payers of the country, out of the people when these vast sums come from particular fund derived from a par ticular source, paid by inventors for specific purpose under the law
 MT. Kerr, of Iowa. Does not the mon- ey belong to the people?9
 MT. Simonds.E It does belong to the people in a certain sense, undoubtedly. In a technical sense. but not in moral sense, it belongs to the people. It is not money derived from them by taxation. It originates from fees collected by the office. It was never intended to establish the pa- tent office as a means of revenue to the government. It was established for the benefit of the industries of the nation in general, and not, I repeat, as means of revenue. Considering it therefore in that light, it does not belong to the govern ment- MT. Williams, of Ohio On the theory of the gentleman's argument, why not give as salary to the officials of the office all of the receipts derived from it? 4s'''
 (Here the hammer fell sr
 The chairman. E The time yielded to the gentleman has exDired.& ,.5f. . Mir. Simonds. I understand I have two minutes more allotted to mo eof the time on this side. N @ 3f1I
 # Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Ten nessee (Mr. Washington) has risen in his place to eaysthat these examiners do not perform judicial functions that their of fee. .is mot "a judicial Sone. Now, I have had long, experience in connection with the office in years past, and know exactly what thesdutiess are that are performed by these examiners. There is no kind of du- ty that has more of judicial functions ih it's nature than the duties performed by the examiners of the patent office. iaaas
 Judge Story, than whom no man ever spoke upon this. matter with higher au- thority, repeatedly spoke of patent law as the metaphysics of the law, and these men are executing judicial functions of the highest kind in the performance of the du- ties devolved upon them. They deal with abstract and difficult questions habituAlly, which are involved in pending c4ses. They have. to examine into the state, of the1 art as to questions pending before them, countries, and including all of the litera- ture of the civilized world which treats upon the subject, and in the light of the whether acertain application before them presents in their judgment novel features and an improvement which is, within the law, patentahle. Theresis no part of the government, no departmentIof the gov ern- ment, which begins to De of the practical importance of this to the people of the country. @ l M A
 I am very we'll aware, MT. Chairman, that it has been the pfactice in this house, and in both houses of eongress, to think of this bureau as place chiefly where men of very eccentric habits of thought or ideas are employed, But the solid the substantial fact of the matter is that mo other department connected with the gov. ernment is more. closely identified with the people, more indissoiubiy linked with the prosperity of the people and their pre- gress, than is the patent office.n4 .ssa -.I
 The examiners that are. employed i'm the