Of our patent system it has been well said:

"It is generally recognized by the most profound students of our institutions, both at home and abroad, that no one thing has contributed more to the pre-eminence of this country in the industrial arts and in manufactures than the encouragement given by our Constitution and laws to inventors and to investors in patent property."

The system is by no means perfect; but it is generally acknowledged that the patent laws of the United States are more liberal than those of any other country, and that the examination, imperfect though at times it be, gives a value to a United States patent not possessed by a patent issued by a country not having an examination system. It is undoubtedly true that the practice before the Patent Office lacks stability and uniformity by reason of the frequent changes of Commissioners, which prevents the establishment of definite policies. The salaries paid to the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner, to the examiners in chief, and to the examiners of the various grades are inadequate. It is also true that too many appeals are permitted, and interference proceedings are rendered onerous and complicated by the number of motions and appeals provided by the laws and rules. The most serious defect, however, follows from the power to keep applications in the Office for indefinite times through delays in amending the same. The act of March 3, 1897, was intended to prevent or check this evil; but it has failed of its purpose. At the present time about 75 per cent of the patents granted are issued within one year after being filed, and were it not for the fact that applications are unduly delayed at least 90 per cent would issue within that time. The rights of the public would be protected and very seldom would an injustice be done to an inventor if provision was incorporated into the patent laws providing that unless an application became involved in an interference it should not be permitted to remain in the Patent Office more than three years without abridging its life of seventeen years.

The records of the Office show that there were pending in 1900, 4,829 applications, filed prior to January 1, 1898. Three of these applications were filed in 1880, one in 1881. four in 1882, three in 1884, three in 1885, thirteen in 188G, seven in 1887, thirteen in 1888, nineteen in 1889, twenty-three in 1890, forty-five in 1891, sixty-four in 1892, one hundred and three in 1893, one hundred and fifty-four in 1894, three hundred and sixty-eight in 1895, nine hundred and ninety-two in 1896, and three thousand and eleven in 1897.

It will be seen, therefore, that an application may be kept alive indefinitely, if it be desired. While the list above given embraces only such applications as were filed under the law as it existed prior to January 1, 1898, yet ten years later a similar list will undoubtedly be given, provided the statutes are not amended, for the only difference lies in the fact that amendments now have to be made within a year after the official action instead of two years under the prior act. A law which permits this should be corrected.

It should continue to be the policy of the government of a nation whose inventors have given to the world the cotton-gin and the reaper, the sewing machine and the typewriter, the electric telegraph and telephone, the rotary web perfecting printing press and the linotype, the incandescent lamp and the phonograph, and thousands of other inventions that have revolutionized every industrial art, to encourage invention in every lawful way and to provide that, so far as may be necessary, the money paid to the Government by inventors be used for their benefit. The wisdom of the policy has been demonstrated.

The world owes as much to inventors as to statesmen or warriors. To them the United States is the greatest debtor, so much have they advanced American manufactures. Their labor-saving machinery does work that it would take millions of men using hand implements to perform. In this century the debt will be piled still higher, for inventors never rest. - Abstract of report for 1900.

C. H. Duell,

Commissioner of Patents.

The Copyright Law Of The United States.

Constitution, 1787.

Art. 1, Sec. 8. The Congress shall have power * * * To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by Securing for Limited Times to Authors and Inventors the Exclusive Right to their Respective Writings and Discoveries.

Acts Of Congress.

Sec. 4948. All records and other things relating to copyrights and required by law to be preserved, shall be under the control of the Librarian of Congress, and kept and preserved in the Library of Congress.

[The Appropriation Act approved February 19, 1897, provides for the appointment of a "Register of Copyrights, who shall, on and after July 1, 1897, under the direction and supervision of the Librarian of Congress, perform all the duties relating to copyrights, and shall make weekly deposits with the Secretary of the Treasury, and make monthly reports to the Secretary of the Treasury, and to the Librarian of Congress, and shall, on and after July 1, 1897, give bond to the Librarian of Congress, in the sum of $20,000, with approved sureties, for the faithful discharge of his duties."]

Sec. 4949. The seal provided for the office of the Librarian of Congress shall be the seal thereof, and by it all records and papers issued from the office, and to be used in evidence shall be authenticated.

Sec. 4950. The Appropriation Act, approved February 19, 1897, provides: "The Librarian of Congress shall on and after July 1, 1897. give bond, payable to the United States, in the sum of $20,000, with sureties approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the faithful discharge of his duties according to law."

Sec. 4951. The Librarian of Congress shall make an annual report to Congress of the number and description of copyright publications for which entries have been made during the year.

Sec. 4952. The author, inventor, designer, or proprietor of any book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, or photograph or negative thereof, or of a painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, and of models or designs intended to be perfected as works of the fine arts, and the executors, administrators, or assigns of any such person shall, upon complying with the provisions of this chapter, have the sole liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, completing, copying, executing, finishing, and vending the same; and, in the case of dramatic composition, of publicly performing or representing it, or causing it to be performed or repre-sented by others; and authors or their assigns shall have exclusive right to dramatize and translate any of their works for which copyright shall have been obtained under the laws of the United States.