Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1922-06-23


Washington in an endeayor to interest
oiilcialdom in things which they have
invented 4and propose to put into
operation.
Once on a time things we're diff
erent. a man who perfected an in
vention, an, engine # war which IS
now in use by nearly every government
on the face of the earth, which by
its subsea operations nearly gave vlc7
tory in the war to Germany, once told
Of his troubles to secure a hearipg
when he wanted the officials of the
United States to give him ear. he
said; t,.. a, s,,, II.
LET every man Know if he has an
Invention in WHICH be believes and
in which he trusts the government VIII
find merit, that he must prepare him
self at the outset to be treated In
turn like, an lpbecile,i lunatic andsa
criminal by the department officials
to whom ne tries. TO present his ideas !
After speaking of two stages of the
inventors, progress with the othcials
of another time, this great inventor
who had his troubles continued:
. occasionally influence, which the
real inventor hates to bring to bear,
enables him to get an audience with
the highest official in the department.
He has reached the criminal stage by
this time, for he has taken to the
chief that which courtesy and custom
require should have been taken TO the
underling.
1.-THE three stages of suspicion are
gone through again blythe persistent
inventor - imbecile, lunatic. ana
criminal occasionally his persist
ence wins out, for In passing through
the degrees he may happen to hit
upon some official. also regarded as a
lunatlc by his. colleagues who is will
ing to give consideration to that which
another lunatic has produced"
! Willing to. Hear Them Now.
These words, as has been said, were
spoken by man whose efforts helped
largely to change the nature of sea
warfare. He was trying to give to
the American government that which
would serve 1t in time of need. He
won out, but others in the olden days
did not win out.a,.a ,od.lusu43s !.
Today, however, q man who has an
| invention can get hearing. SUCH
amazing things have happened In the
| Inventive field recently that nothing
Is regarded any longer as-sitnpossible
by the men whose duty Ii Is to look
into merits of proffered inventions. On
1 the continent of Europe things were
i different before the war. There the
inventor was not treated as II ne
were fresh from an asylum for the
feeble minded, but was, turned over at
once to an official whose duty
i it was to examine such things as were
/ offered and to examine them quickly
1t was not always like this on the
other side of the water. Every In
ventor whs came to Washington In
pre-war Digs and after the publica-
j ton of. CHARLES. Dickens Little Dor
rit" probably had in his mind the
Experience of one of the characters IN
Ithat book. Charles Dickens helped
British inventors to get quick hear
ings from their government officials
/ How 1t Used to Be in England.
It was Daniel Doyce, one of Mr..
1 Meagle's friends In the story of Little
Dorrit, who had an experience with
officialdom much like that of the Amer
lean inventor which has been recorded
above. OF Doyce Mr.. Meagfe said:
"This Deyee is a. smith and engineer
A dozen years ago he perfected an in
yention Involving a very curious Sc
cret process) of great importance tc
his country and his fellow creatures
| would not say how much money II
cost him, or how many years of his lif'
he had been about it, but-he. brought
it to perfection dozen years ago.
"He addressed himself to the gov
eminent. The moment he, addresses
hfmseIf4to the government ne becomes
a public offender n He ceases to be al
innocent citizen aRdsbecomesya culprit
He is treated from that-ihstant as I
man. who has done some internal &C
ton He is a man to be shirked, pu
toff, brow-beaten, sneered at, HANDED
over byAthis highly connected young o
old gentleman to that highly connect
ed young or old gentleman, and dodge'
back again he Is man with no right
in hts own time OF. I'm his property
mere outlaw whom 1t Is justifiable I
! get rid Of anyhow s mansto be wor
: out by any possible means.
: Soft was once in England and so
9 was once In this country. They re
3 formed on the other side of the waite
a before they reformed on. this side {
a it. The flying machine, the radio an
q few other things have made eve
: suspicious officials of government s.
Y up to look and listen.
1919 Fought With Devilfish.
! His fight for life with giant devi