The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-10-20

W MAINTAIN us supremacy.
| 1t has ore fields and it has patents,
| and the patents held by Mr.. Carnegie
did more to build up his great indus
try and enable him to defy competition
than any other influence.
Thomas jefferson. that patron saint
| of the Democratic party.was the father
| of the patent office as he was the orig
| inal expansionist of this country. Mr..
Jefferson believed in encouraging in
vention by giving the inventor a mon
| opoly in the right to the use and profit
for term of years. He secured rec
| ognition of patents in the constitution
and he not only secured the adoption
of the first patent law, but as secre-
tary of state he was the first to issue
patents under the law. The patent
laws of this country have been recog-
nlzed the world over as the mother of
Invention, and at the same time they
produced the first great trusts in this
country by giving monopoly in the
use of valuable inventions for a term
of years, enabling them to charge ex-
travagant prices. The patent granted
to Elias Howe, jr., in 1916, for the eye
in the point of the needle, made the
sewing machine practical success
and it has been estimated that the
four-motion feed patent earned S32O00,-
900 for its owners. 1t was issued in
1850 for Il term of IA years. and twice
extended for terms of seven years.
making 2S years in all. 1t created a
monopoly in the manufacture of sew
ing machines and earned many mil
lions for the inventors, who were poor
men.
The Bell telephone patent is said to
have earned more for its owners than
did the sewing machine patents and
the telephone monopoly is still in ex-
istence, one of the greatest trusts in
the world so far as eXtortion goes. The
Bessemer and other patents did more
to create the first big steel trust than
any other power because they revolu-
tonized the iron and steel industry.
The patents on new inventions in agri-
cultural implements and machinery
created giant industry with millions
of capital, the power of combination
and the power to fix prices.
There are many extensive industries
which are entirely the creation of pat
ents. The manufacture of oleomargar-
inc and glucose and wood pulp and
high explosives like dynamite, the elec-
trical industries, the manufacture of
rubber goods. of monographs, of pho
Biography and typewriters. of bicycles
and motor-carriages, as well as of
sewing machines, are the creation of
patents secured by poor inventors as
reward for their genius. These in
clude some of the trusts that are most
Objectionable to the people and they
are in no way affected by the tariff for
the patents are registered not alone in
this country but all over the civilized
world where patents are recognized and
civilization calls for such improve
ment and development of manufacture.
Thomas Jefferson was worthy TO be
recognized as the patron saint of any
political party but the Democratic
party has given little recognition to his
genius except in adopting catch phrases
from his speeches and writings. AS
the father of our patent system Jeffer-
son gave the impetus to invention
which in the first century of this gov
eminent has revolutionized the indus
tries Of the world. In doing this the
patent laws have also created great
trusts but who will step forward and
insist on the repeal of our patent laws
and stopping the machinery of the
world or checking inventive genius be-
cause these laws and this system have
incidentally produced trusts?