CAUSES OF MANUFACTURERS' SUCCESS 291 



hood of an action at law for infringement put forward by- 

 some other inventor or firm. Having it decided in the law 

 courts, whether a thing is a patent or not, is expensive. I 

 can well understand British manufacturers hesitating to 

 make a mighty plunge with a new idea, because of the dread 

 of having to defend an action for infringement. There is, 

 however, no such trouble in America. The administration 

 of the law in the United States is almost as dilatory as in 

 Turkey — and there are other points of resemblance — but as 

 regards the law on patents it is effective and decisive. A 

 man sends his invention to the patent office at Washington. 

 It will take anything from six months to two years to get it 

 through. It is the staff of the patent office which finds out 

 whether there is an infringement or not. If it decides it is 

 a new idea — that, indeed, it is a patent — a document to that 

 effect is issued, and then no small firm which takes up the idea 

 need be in any dread of having to fight a big firm in the law 

 courts. 



Neither the British employer nor the British workman 

 is so alive as the American to the practicability of an inven- 

 tion. The British manufacturer is sometimes suspicious of 

 a new invention brought to him. In considering it he focuses 

 his criticism on possible drawbacks; he says he will think 

 about it; that perhaps he will give it a trial; that he will see 

 how some other firm prospers before he spends any money on 

 it! When there is a mishap he rather prides himself on his 

 sapience, and reminds you of his original opinion with "I told 

 you so." The American manufacturer is hardly ever an ad- 

 verse critic to a new idea simply because it is a new idea. 

 He doesn't want to see how other firms get on with it before 

 he ventures; if there is anything in it, he wants to get right 

 away ahead before anybody else has a chance. He sees 

 quickly enough where faults are. He doesn't, however, throw 

 a thing on one side because of the faults. He sets about try- 

 ing to put them right. It is the idea he is after, and, as a 

 practical man, he will work out the ideas. Let me give a 

 remarkable instance. Nikola Tesla is regarded by many 

 electricians as a visionary, a flamboyant expounder of the 

 impracticable. They do not see beyond his theatrical posing. 



