The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-08-19

pie with their innate love OF per
! sonal liberty and the enjoyment OF
private rights. had seen the Ireai
White Light, They had demanded
that II there must be any further
monopoly of any good thing born OF
British brain. such monopoly should
lie enjoyed by the Individual who
brought IL forth. and not by some I'M
deserving faNorite or the KING
That Statute sof James Was a grand
stride of civilization. More or less
ignored BY despot after dvspot, and
especially by the naughty Elizabeth
the stand had been taken by the
people, the ultimate rulers Of them
selves, and no ruler has ever since
been able 10 wrest from them the
hard earned rights Nouchsafed by the
statute against noaopones. Before
that happy contamination 1he pub
ljc heuetactur. along he line of tnye en-
1iuu. had 10 crawl 10 the king TO
implore his favor. NoN the inveu-
tor has to run the gauntlet first Of
official safeguards. then Of bIackmail-
Ing opposition. perhaps. ii his idea
Is very valuable. and then fight to
keep what his patent grants him.
Our law Was a great Improvement
over the English patent law in this.
Here free officl4 examination pre-
ceeds the patent. and now you may
get free expert examination before
you formally aFsIy for patent, not
only az 10 whether your invention Is
patentaAie, hut also as to what ex-
tent your idea has been applied up
To date This greatly decreases the
likelihood OF failure and litigation.
But even with such safeguards any
epoch making invention IL likely to be
contested, some times honestly but
SFs ~ III ", sts.tN
to be bought off"
No protective Legislation seems able
10 prevent such wrongs to the in
yentor Besides that, many d yalu
able invention supposed to be under
the protection OF the patent law IL
openly used by those who have only
the right that might gives. trusting
that the poor inventor will fear cost
~ litigation. or. IL he risks that, he
can be beaten or forced to COM
promise beneficial 10 the pirates.
That is true of copyrights also.
The Master said. Tho poor ye have
with you always" He might have
added, and The pirates
Unfortunately, there are too many
lawyers on The hunt Tor business " no
Nt{l take such obstructive patent
cases on contingent fees and even
advance the cost. thus often wrongly
fostering destructive litigation in this
line also But sometimes that very
Heterogeneous for legal clients proves
a God send to the poor inventor OF a
valuable patent which has been at
tracted by the pirates The law OF
compensation applies even To abuses,
But whenever the people suffer
from monopoly now. either in Eng
land or the United States Of Amer
lea, il is by their own act, directly
or Indirectly. when the civic Frank
cHsteiu has created some commercial
monster which il would not TN It
could not control
1t required only twenty two words
III the Constitution to make possible
this wise patent law. hich has f9s-
tered the infant industry of Invention
,tUi Its benefits 10 mankind are al
most iucaicuiubIe II has produced
hundreds OF millienaires bat the peo-
pie prohted even more than they. Yer
unless the people Needed what was
invented, there coHId haze been no
millionaire inventors OF promoters of
millionaire making Inventions
Tho people have derived more prac-
teal good and enjoyed more splendid
benefits from petroleum than have
MIR. Rockefeller and tho whole army
OF standard OIL" whether in one
- corporation or IN as many corpora
lions as the late supreme Courts
decision may demand
g 1t is not so much the enc arts rs
the mechanical arts that have con
tributed most 10 The civilization OF
! mankind tn his long struggle upward
; from savage to seer.
, Is a statue more beautiful than
I a machine :" asked Connecttcutt's wise
| Senator Platt--Connecticut, from
| whose viriie hills and fertile valleys
have come more Ingenious and use
| full inventions, per capita. than from
! any other State in the Union, or than
| from any other area Of equal size
| perhaps. in the world.
| The statue may copy nature The
| machine compels nature Now they
have machine for carving statue
| from block OF marble, II machine
that seems something more than 3
tool
Machinery without books could do
more for humanity than books with
out machinery There has ever been
oral instruction for the listening ear
and the attentive brain.
The primary object or invention may
DO stated in four words. more pro
dg4s }~se sv5ssEa sFf,o 2is4s- sasg B4a. y,ss.
''less work" covers H.
Invention has ever seemed an In
jury to labor II FIRST INJURIES then
ruins then reViVes. after labor has
ragged and then reVolutlonl2ed. But
at last labor has realized that inven-
ton finally enthrones labor as king
, till the trusted agents OF labor shall
sell out its throne 10 capital. Then
We. too, often see The spectacle OF
the created ruling its apathetiG ere
ator, or, az the wisdom of many ex-
pressed in the vii OF one the tail
waggipg the elephant
The real wealth is in the laborer
himself lie always carries it with
him. Its use or pervcrsion depends
upon himself. When told th;k some
acquaintance had travelled great
deal 10 no PURPOSE, Socrates remark
ed. because he carried himself with
him all the time
s. Potts the modern Socrates OBJ
served To his apprentice. Daniel"
that To benttit by travel one must be
blessed with an india rubber mind
THIS great question 3%.th labou Is
that of use-of abpl'sls what the
laborer has TO what is needed to he
done In the hands of labor is the
key 10 that problem. and the wlsest
use of 1t would be to first open vide
in labor and capital unite all their
forces for the common veal.
Hon William r, Harris while
United States commissSner Of edu-
cation, said Man Is always hampered
by three needs. food, clothing and
shelter"