The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-08-02

UNCLE SAM AND THE INVESTORS
BY Frederic j. Haskin.


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The announcement by Secretary
of the Navy Daniels of the appoint
ment of a naval advisory board, COM
posed of men who have done things
in the world Of invention. has once
more conferred attention uponu the
fact that the United States is the
leading nation of the world with re-
spect to inventive ingenuity.
1t is not an empty boast that
Yankee skill" leads the world. but
fact easily proven. as q glance
at the records of the patent office OF
this and other countries will soon
show. The United States. with q
patent system less than a century
old. issued frs one-millionth patent
on August 8. 1911. France, our
nearest competitor. has issued only a
little more than half this number,
while Great Britain. Germany and
the other European countries have
still fewer patented inventions.
The war abroad has, OF course.
seriously impaired the business Of
creating and patenting new devices
in practically all the countries OF
Europe. while It has only stimulated
Americans to greater efforts. The
average number of patents issued
daily at the present time is larger
than ever before; and there are APP
parently no bounds to be placed upon
the creative genius of the American
inventor. for no sooner is one device
finished. patented and placed on the
market than someone devises some
thing just little better and a new
patent is issued.
Nothing Left"
In this connection it is rather anus
ing to note that there is on file at
the patent office in Washington the
letter of the superintendent of the
patent Office, written in 1884, re-
signing his position because there
was nothing more left to patent. +"
This man, who had never dreamed
of the telephone or telegraph, the
automobile or aeroplane. the electric
light or moving pictures, this man
who would have considered that a
person who spoke of sending mes
sages through the air was hopeless
lunatic, and that he who imagined
that gun could shoot a dozen miles
with accuracy sufficient to hit
target only few feet square should
be incarcerated lest he harm his
neighhbors, voluntarily gave up his
lucrative post rather than defraud
the government. One has only to
glance at the epocha1 inventions of
the last century to see how much the
world can and probably will change
before 2o15.
And 1t is because American genius
and American creative ability have
always been in the forefront of these
changes that the secretary of the
board, appointing thereto men whose
names are household words and
whose inventions are familiar to
to everyone
Thomas A. Edison. admittedly the
foremost inventor in the world, will
head the board. ana it is assuredly
within the bounds of modest ina
gination that his brain will evolve
some machinery of warfare which
will be comparable in destructive
energy to the constructive force
exercised by the incandescent lamp,
the moving picture camera and the
many other inventions which bear
the name of the American wizard.
The word Edison has been one to
conjure with in times of peace, it
is the opinion of Secretary Daniels
that it will be no less powerful in
time of war.
Signalling RELOCATED.
Alexander Graham Bell, the inven-
tor of the telephone. is another in
ventor slated for position upon
the naval advisory board and it is
necessary only to consider of what
tremendous advantage the control of
wireless telephones would be to
nation at war to realize the probable
sphere of Bells activities. Wireless
te1epgraphy has practically relegated
the old-fashioned system of signal
ing between warships to- the scrap
heap. The perfection OF the wireless
telephone would entirely do away
Jx-ffh s-i nj
tive purposes, and the commander
of fleet would have all the units
of his armada directly under his con-
troll and subject to his slightest wish.
Wireless telegraphy is rapid. but
wireless telephony would be instant
aneous.
Others who have been mentioned
for places upon the advisory board
are Wilbur Wright. the man who is
credited with having brought the
excellence and ca
aeroplane to its present state Of
excellence and ease of control, and
Simon Lake, whose work with sub
marines has placed him at the head
of the list with respect to the under
sea craft 1t is easily seen that, in
asnuch as the naval battles of the
future, according to military eH-
perts, will be fought largely under
the waves ana IN the ar, u oenooNeS
the United States to take advantage
of all the natural talent she posses
ses TO prepare for this kind of con-
fict. AT present the American navy
is rather deficient with respect to
submarines and Its aero-fieet is
smaller than that of any first-class
power in the world. But this con-
dition will probably not maintain
long after the naval advisory board
gets under way and it is almost GER
tain that the government will have
the exclusive use of a number of
remarkable achievements in the
cciepce of warfare