266 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[June r 1907. 



The list could be extended indefinitely, but the results 

 -would be incomplete, for the reason that in the case of 

 each company the expenses of the whole ])lanlalion arc 

 charged against the returns from the income producing 

 trees. Otherwise the value per tree, measured by its 

 earning capacity, would appear much larger. But our 

 figures will at least suggest a reason why siiareholdcrs 

 in the planting companies are so much 'interested in the 

 actual luimber (,f trees thev own. 



FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF COTTON. 



T( I most people, no doubt, cotton is cotton — all alike. 

 In these pages last month was discussed the dififer- 

 cnce l-.etwcen the products of different cotton plantations 

 and also in the growths from difi'erent seed, with a view 

 to pointing out, for instance, to rubber manufacturers, 

 that a wider choice in cciltun tiljcr lay before them tb;m 

 perhaps was generally recognized. But there is another 

 respect in which a difference in cottons exists. It is 

 based upon the treatment nf the fiber in its preparatimi 

 for market. 



The New 'S'ork Journal of Coiniiicrcc attributes a cer- 

 tain lack or backwardnes, so to speak, in methods and 

 processes of dealing with raw cotton among the planters 

 of the southern I'nited States to the fact that they have 

 bad for so long a ])ractical monopoly of the production 

 of this im])ortant commodity. With practically the whole 

 world depending upon them for a supply, and the possi- 

 bility of competition hardly deemed worthy even of con- 

 sideration, the American cotton planters have worked . 

 along the lines of a maxinnim of production with a mini- 

 mum of effort and care. The world was obliged to buy 

 their cotton, and to take it in whatever shape it might 

 happen to be put up. As the Journal says: "The way 

 American cotton is treated in its preparation for the 

 markets at home and abroad is a shame to the country, 

 a vexation to manufacturers, and a source of waste and 

 loss to all concerned." 



One of the objects of the prcjposed meeting together 

 of the cotton manufacturers and the cotton growers at 

 Atlanta next fall is to provide an opportunity for dis- 

 cussion of such details as imj^roved gimiing, compres- 

 sion, bailing, and the like, with a view to the future 

 avoidance of the real damage to the fiber that results 

 from existing careless methods. Whatever tends to im- 

 provement in these respects cannot fail to be of advan- 

 tage to an industrv in which so nnicb c(-tton is c died for 

 as in the rubber manufacture. 



PATENT LAW PROTECTION. 



AXL'MliER of tire patent infringement suits have 

 been filed in this country recently, most of them 

 relating to patents granted years ago, and now nearing 

 their date of expiration. Some of the patents have been 

 the subject of litigation before. Suits are pending now 



for the infringement of patents the validity of which was 

 supjiosed to b.ive been established by broad decisions long 

 ago. 



But the price of patent ])rotection is eternal vigilance. 

 Tt will be remembered that the Dunlop tire patent in 

 England, though defended successfully through every 

 court having jurisdiction, including even the House of 

 T.ords, coiUinued to be the subject of actions at law as 

 long as the patent existed. The same tendency appears 

 in this country, showing that the law "securing to inven- 

 tors the exclusive right to their discoveries" is less ef- 

 fective than one might think from the first reading of it. 



In truth, the law secures nothing to an inventor but 

 a certain defined standing in court which he might not 

 have otherwise, and unless he have money to ])ay law- 

 )-ers that standing will do him mighty little good. In- 

 ventors as a rule are not blessed with wealth, and we 

 have seen how Goodyear, for instance, would have been 

 unable to protect his vulcanization patent without the help 

 of his licensees, who tberebv became the practical owners 

 of the patent and the real beneficiaries under it. Could 

 Tillinghast have protected his "single tube" tire patent 

 in any court in the land? Could Grant, the patentee of 

 the solid tire, had he retained ownership of the patent as 

 an individual, have prevented the manufacture of the 

 tire from becoming open to the world? Only a man of 

 means can hope to be able successfully to oppose the un- 

 authorized use of an invention of wdiich he is the author, 

 the patent laws to the contrary notwithstanding. 



This situation is not new, nor is the general appre- 

 ciation of it new. But a different condition is not to be 

 attained by merely amending the patent law ; there must 

 be a radically different idea involved. Today an inven- 

 tor files specifications of an invention which he claims as 

 his own, after which he is entitled to defend his rights 

 to the invention, in the United States courts — if he be 

 able to pay for competent legal advice. 



What we wish to submit as being worthy of considera- 

 tion is the idea of having- a national tribunal, to which 

 an inventor, ]irotected by a patent, could appeal in the 

 event of his rights being infringed — the poor inventor 

 on the same terms as the rich one. It nnght be too 

 much to ask that the government protect without limit 

 every right claimed by an inventor under a grant of 

 letters patent : on the other band, is it equitable that the 

 inventor should have no protection from the government 

 bevond the right to sue at law whoever may seize his 

 propertv wi.thout compensation? 



How long would a condition be tolerated under which, 

 if A should steal B's watch, the only redress open to B — 

 and the only jirotection to society — would be for -V, to 

 retain counsel and ]n-osecute the alleged thief, without 

 relying upon the State for any assistance? 



With rubber oraduallv declining in price for a year past 

 little talk has been heard of speculation as a factor in the market. 

 Why? Docs the "speculator" work only to "bull" prices, and 



