Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1894-1895, 1895-04-19

chances OF error are so many, the won
der Is that so few mistakes occur. But
this Is owing to the thoroughness with
which Investigations are made.
Receipts and Expenditures.
The receipts Of the patent office for
the year 1893 were 81 ,224, go. the cx-
penditures $1,141.O39 Excess OF re-
ceipts over expenditures, SOL ,S33.
Patents North and South.
1t is curious to note that in Northern
States, which have excellent systems
of free schools, and where high orde-
of intelligence Is general. the number
of patents issued per capita of popula-
ton is much greater than elsewhere.
In Alabama one potent was issued for
every 1906 persons Of the population,
and in Illinois one for every 1,911. In
Mississippi one was issued for every %,
ga of population, and i'm Massachusetts
one for every LII. In South Carolina
one patent issued for every "A. 1872, and
in Connecticut one for every 9I6. North
Carolina took one patent for every
1904 of population. and Rhode Isl
and one for every 1,542. Two thou
sand four hundred and seventy-three
patents were granted TO citizens Of
other countries, 324 of them to Canada.
751 to England, 271 for France, and
G73 for Germany CeylOn, China, Cape
Colony. Ecuador, Egypt, Natal, Peru,
Queensland, and Tasmania took one
each.
Patent Laws Are Modern.
Is Is within a period comparatively
recent that patent laws We're first en-
acted. 1t is only 200 years ago that
plan was devised in England for grant
ing patents, and in France the first
patent law was enacted In 1871. Such
regulations We're wholly unknown 10
the ancient world, and our own patent
laws rest not upon any rules or GUS
toms which preceded them, but upon
q statute of 1886 less than century
old, amended and altered from time to
time. The principle is that an inventor
who will tell the public all about his
discovery shall have vested in him, for
certain period. right to manufac-
ture and control his invention for his
own profit, but. at the expiration of
that period. the invention shall become
public property. In this manner inge-
NOUS persons are encouraged to exer-
else their ability by the stimulus Of
large reward, which even n limited
monopoly must yield for really valu-
able article.
Benefits of Invention.
As a people we. possess creative tai
ent in very high degree, and In this
respect the Aryan differs from the
MOngOl, who seems to be merely imi-
tative. The inventions of this century
have added enormously to the COLL
forts of the race. Three hundred
years ago titled personages in England
did not have the comforts now en-
jOyed by our labOring classes In sub
jecting nature to his uses, and, ~
means of mechanism, so largely in
creasing the possible work of his
hands, the inventor has been able 70
aid enormously in improving the food,
clothing, and shelter of his kind. 4
fragile woman can now attend to the
guidance of 5000 spindles in a cotton
mill, every one of these spindleS doing
more and better work than Ter grant
| mother did with spinning wheel.
One woman can now attend to knit
ting machines which will turn out GOO
pairs of socks q day, better far and
more evenly knit than those her grand
mother made by hand. at the rate of
one pair in fortnight. -Four times
the present adult male population of
the globe, serving as pOrterS every
day in the year, could not carry the
freight now moved by the railroads
of this country alone These are illus
tratiOns of the manner in which ma
chimes and devices for doing work
have emancipated the enlightened ma
! tons of the earth from physical bon
dage. China, representing one-third
of the whole human race, takes out
only one patent in this country during
1893. The MOngOl is industrious TO IA
| degree Of which we hardly dream. He
works $50 days in Il year, and 10 hours
n day for a scanty subsistence. He is
poorly clad and imperfectly nourished.
for he depends wholly upon his hand
labor. When he can adopt Western
science and Western inventions, as he
certainly will do, and is already doing
in Japan, he will easily increase his
products many fold and largely add TO
his comfort. The hope of wise men
among Oriental peoples is that they
may soon avail themselves of the in
ventive and directive talent of West
ern nations like ours. for in this way
alone will they be able to rise
"From their dead selves to higher
things"
With the rapid adoption of agricul-
tural machinery by the brown and
yellow races, as we'll as by the Aryans
of all Europe, we are confronted with
some grave problems. Cheap Oriental
labor, aided by our machinery, must
inevitably cheaper the products of the
soil, and, as prices are now determined
by the worlds markets, our grains
! must meet with such competition as TO
q.