80 Journal of the Mitchell Society [Nov. 



earned from all tliose issued seems a sad commentary either 

 on the morals of the nation or on the efficiency of the patent 

 system. With a natural unwillingness to admit the first 

 alternative we are forced then to ask Avherein lies the de- 

 ficiency of the patent system? 



Primarily, and of greatest importance, is the failure of 

 our people as a whole to understand the purpose of a patent 

 system and its value as a national asset. Its purpose is to 

 foster a creative spirit throughout our citizenry by giving to 

 intellectual rights that legal protection in ownership which 

 is aiforded property rights, such ownership carrying with it 

 the right to profit therefrom. He who creates is entitled to 

 remuneration, for by his originality he places the nation in 

 his debt. Such indebtedness is no hardship, for the patentee 

 takes nothing away, but makes his entry in advance on the 

 credit side of the national ledger. That such entries may 

 represent maximum creative ability, it is essential that they 

 be made in an atmosphere of good-will and in full confi- 

 dence of due and prompt guardianship of the account. 



Too often the attitude of the public is one of antagonism 

 to the patentee, and too often manufacturers, pursuing a 

 short-sighted policy, endeavor in every way to evade his legal- 

 ly conferred rights. Is it a worthy thought on the part of 

 "business," that, since inventive genius so often lacks busi- 

 ness qualifications, it offers a fair field for commercial 

 piracy? Let us shake off such thoughts and by cooperation 

 seek to promote that creative spirit, the fostering of which 

 lay in the minds of those who founded the patent system. 



The value of the patent system as a national asset lies 

 not only in the constant additions to daily welfare, but also 

 in the eventual public ownership of the new ideas underlying 

 these contributions, for the life of a patent is only seventeen 

 years, during which time expenditure both of brain and of 

 funds is necessary to bring the idea to its highest practical 

 development; then the idea legally becomes the property of 

 the nation for unrestrained use. Are we willing that this 

 national asset should be depreciated by an unending tax on 



