Evening star., 1942-01-14

Attorney Tells OF Opposition
To 'Do-kothine Attitude
Of Potent Office OfficioIs
70 the Editor Of The Star:
AS a former member of the examining
corps and as a member Of the local
patent bar, I have followed with great
interest the editorials and various news
items which have appeared in your paper
during the past several weeks unani-
mously opposing the removal OF the
Patent once from the District Of Colum-
bia. Allow me to express my apprecia-
ton and commendation on the frm
stand that your paper has taken.
There are several circumstances which
strike me as very peculiar, to say the
least. 1t is an undeniable fact that more
spontaneous public opposition has arisen
against removal of the Patent Once
than against the removal Of any other
bureau, or all the rest Of the bureaus
combined for that matter. yet the Patent
once o11cials have not publicly opposed
the proposed removal. Why? The story
goes that the Patent Once officia lDvere
told that the Patent Once would have tS
be moved under the terms OF an alleged
Executive Order. but the order applied
equally to the department heads Of all
other agencies involved, yet other de-
partment heads appeared before" con-
gressional committees to testify ageinst.
the proposed removal of their respective
bureaus. This do-nothing -against-the
removal attitude on the part OF the
Patent ONCE officials has led many
members of the personnel to express the
frank belief that they have been sold
down the river" for reasons unknown.
To make matters worse, the Patent
Once officials, in a dictatorial manner,
have admonished the personnel not to
oppose the proposed removal Activities
on the part Of the Patent once Society
have been sought to be curbed by orders
against anything in the nature OF op-
position to the proposed removal. Such
orders were plainly intended to intim-
idate the members of the society. Not
withstanding orders to the contrary,
the society held meeting on last Friday.
Much OF the bitterness which has de-
veloped between the Patent once
ofiicials and the personnel was orally ex
hibited at said meeting as will be pointed
out later.
Patent Once to Richmond instead OF
moving all of it to New York City is. in
my humble opinion. as stupid blunder
as the original removal order. 1t can
not be denied In view Of subsequent
events that no investigation Of suitable
and adequate housing facilities for the
personnel was made prior to the Rich
mond compromise" Even now there Is
no definite data upon which an answer
either way can be given. Several men,
bers of the personnel who have surveyed
the possibilities have expressed the view
that available housing in Richmond is
neither suitable nor adequate for the
needs of the hundreds who will be forced
to move. unless Congress acts to halt
the exodus. I feel convinced that an
"oficial' survey Of available housing
facilities in Richmond will merely verify
the many reports that have already
filtered through to the effect that they
are inadequate.
Incidentally. the Richmond COM
promise" was announced after the
Senate and House Committees on the
District of Columbia had begun to hold
hearings to determine the necessity for
- tI,A ,{A M
out Of the city. 1t therefore seems to
me that the compromise was most un-
fortunately premature and ill-timed,
The meeting of the Patent once So
ciety was called last Friday for the
purpose Of passing certain resolutions
opposing the proposed move to Richmond
and also to make 1t clear that the COM
missioner of patents did not speak the
sentiment of the personnel when he
publicly stated that they were recon-
ciled" to the move. The Patent Once
officials were represented at the meeting
by one Of the assistant commissioners,
who naturally opposed passing Of the
resolutions. However, he was loudly
booed and hissed when he tried to give
tllOoC Ill oItCAludLCC tLlC uSudl Vial icy
about accepting the move as a patriotic
duty. He also told them that they would
be moved to Richmond whether they liked
it or not and that there was nothing
that they could do that would prevent
it. This was followed by more boos and
kissing. Had the commissioner OF patents
personally attended the meeting the
demonstration and course of events
would have banished forever any mis-
apprehension on his part as to whether
the personnel was "reconciled" to the
move and would have compelled nothing
short of public retraction of an earlier
statement made by him to that effect.
Such statement has given the public an
entirely erroneous picture of the true
feeling in the Patent ONCE.
An interesting sidelight of the meeting
was the eviction of press photographers
who took pictures of the proceedings.
This was an extremely childish gesture
on the part Of the assistant commits
sioner, but it will further serve to give
the public some idea of the Patent
ONCE mystery and the extent to which
the patent oficials are going to stifie
publicity. WASHPATATTY.