Evening star., 1898-06-03
FOR LONGER HOURS
Patent Office Clerks Must Stay Until Five
O'Clock
The Work Is Behind-The Need of q
Larger Force Appar-
ent.

During the month Of June all clerks en-
ployed in the patent office will be required
| to work from 0 o'clock am. till o'clock
pm. with half an hour at noon for lunch.
An order having the above in view was
issued yesterday by the Secretary of the
Interior and went Immediately into effect.
This increase in the working hours was
made necessary because of the continued
falling back of the patent office work In
ventors complained bitterly of what they
| considered unnecessary delay on the part
OF the government
Many of these complaints reached the
Secretary Of the Interior and he addressed
letter to the commissioner of patents,
asking whether, in his judgment. an ex-
tension of the hours of service of the en-
ployes of his office would be necessary to
bring up the arrears of public business
commissioner Duell. in reply, said it
would be very difficult, If not impossible,
to bring up the arrears of public business
unless there is material decrease in the
amount of work hereafter coming to the
ONCE, even though the hours of service be
extended.
Commissioner DueI called attention to
the bill pending before Congress for an in
crease of the force for the patent office
and expressed the hope it would become
law.
1t is said there are some members of the
House who oppose the early consideration
and passage of the bill, which has already
received the approval of the Senate. Three
objections, 1t is said, are made against the
bill. 1t is urged that the force of the pat
ent once should work more than the hours
fixed by law. This objection is considered
by Commissioner Duell without force in
view of the fact that 1t would be unjust to
compel the employees to give more hours
OF service than required from employees OF
other bureaus. The commissioner points
out that many of the examining corps of
the patent office have worked for years
over time.
pioyes abuse what has been known as the
sick leave regulation. Commissioner Dueil
answers this charge by referring to the
office records. which show that during thu
year 1897 the average number of days of
Sex leave taken by the examining corps
was only eight instead of thirty, which
might have been.
The last objection is the amount of money
required to carry out the terms of the bill.
reference is made in answer to this OBJ
lection to the fact that the patent office
is the only branch of the government that
is more than self-supporting turning into
the treasury for ncny years large sums of
money aggregating something like S., ,OOO,-
GEO.
The work performed by the patent office
is paid for in advance by those having
business with it, and in common justice
II is argued that they are entitled to have
their work promptly and properly taken
care of. especially since they pay more
than its costs to do the work 1t is also
argued that the delays caused by lack of
a proper force annually costs the govern
ment more than the amount called for in
the bill The records of the patent office
are mute witnesses of this argument Dur
Ing the year 1897 4,S09 patents were with
held for non-payment of final fees If
these final fees had been paid the govern
ment would have received in round num-
bers sos 900.
Commissioner Duell, like his predecessor
is heartily in favor of the bill, and has
written several letters to influential Con-
gressmen upon the subject. Every day
finds the office going farther and farther
behind in its work. The inventive mind of
Americans seems to have received a stimu-
lus Of late, and applications are piling up.