The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1921-10-20
PATENT OFFICE
! LOSING EMPLOYEES
/. Higher Salaries Needed, If Dis
!; organization of Bureau Is
y To Be Prevented

The only money making department
Of the Government In Washington. the
UNITED States Patent Office, is in dan
ger OF being disorganized IL Congress
does not soon pass legislation author
1xing increase in salaries to the EN-.
fployees Of that Office.
This IL the situation in the gov.
i~rnment department upon which thu
business Of the country depends for
4ts patent and trademark protection.
as disclosed In report recently made
by the Committee on Patents to the
House OF Representatives.
The Patent Office last year Loot over
swenty-fivs percent of its employees.
send greater rate Of turnover now
obtains, according to the report.
Gi,ief1y because the salaries Uncle Sara
| (rays are all too small to keep the
fSorce from resigning to accept much
Garger incomes from private business
| con Germs.
The work Of tho ONCE is from five
| &c ten months behind. entailing great
hardship. It is stated. upon inventors
and manufacturers whose applications
txor patents and trademarks prompt
action Is necessary.
|, Crippled BY Lack OF Help
In one department. that of trade
tAaarks and designs. recent report rs
| f.. L. Mead, Jr., In charge OF that d.
| vision, shows that not only is the
work Of the division crippled by lack
| nf help but that there Is no room
| IN his division in which to work. Tho
| report states that the division has
| Two rooms with eleven persons in
| s.ch room; two rooms with one Win
| dow in each, in one Of which are eight
| persons and in the other three; AMI
| three rooms without any windows IL
Ill, in which six persons work.
| This division, in 1920, paid out in
| calariea $56,900 and took in total
of s234,456. making total profit for
| Uncle Sam Of $177.556.
| A bill which has been struggling
| tbiough Congress for over two years.
| known as the Nolan Bill, seeks to use
| some OF this surplus to make 1t p"s
~.ble to carry on the work of the Pat
| ent ONCE in a business-like way.
| Moreover, business organizations OF
enc country, such as the National Re-
search Council, the Manufacturing
| Chemists Association, the American
institute Of Electrical Engineers, tbs
| american Patent Law Association, the
! Rational Association Of Manafactar-
ssrs, the American Society of Civil
| Engineers, the National Automobile
Chamber Of Commerce. and many
L lncE udIlOu-WluS VI
| fhusiness men, have signified their
Willingness to stand an increase in
latent fees so that the tax payers e.
che United States shall not be called
upon to foot one dollar Of the add!-
tional expense proposed 10 be entailed
~ higher salaries to employees ~ tbs
Patent Office.
5000 Highest Salary Paid.
4 The highest paid man In the Patent
II Office Is the Commissioner. who gets
u $4,000. The Nolan bill proposes 20
increase his salary to $4,000. Other
.alaries range from $4,000 for tho
Il FIRST Assistant Commissioner. down
20 $3.50 a year for copy puilars."
} Tne $4,000 man Is to receive $1,000
pare under the bill now before Con-
1 ,',ss and the copy pullers'' who seS
'4*0 year would receive $3.50.
i Ger year ago the Detroit News
n . an investigation of conditions
y 1. = Patent Office. and it's CORES
-, mt in Washington summed M
U.e situation then in the following
Wort,s:
.'rhe United States patent system.
has collapsed.
after a century Of Slipping. IT
u was swept. in 1919, into chaos by
u the flood of postwar business.
1T Is at least eight months pe-
y hind in it's business with the public
Inadequate salaries have lost 20
II che Patent Office annually an aver
age "f IS per cent of it's employees.
} che Patent Office has become a
me training school to supply ex-
pertraced men to private businesses.
sufficient stating and increa 50
r. alsiness have resulted in ince'ts~
, pe-"st Observation-Disclosures.
'Nis-issued patents have tied -
var aus phases Of industry in litis..
tion which may last years anj
which Is costing manufacturers ani
. the public millions Of dollars
THE Patent Office equiMnen-.
much Of 1t a half century old. Is mr.
tiquated. unworthy and insufficient
Forty million patent copies arc
In disreputable confusion, Gust and
; dirt covered.
THE part OF the building holdil:-
the patent copies and originals 10
not fireproof.
THE system is barely kept &'ye
Il by the loyal wor'l-much Of il IN
4 paid overtime-of the staff"
The situation thus desc
much worse at this time :
the Patent Office declar The BY;