AS A POLITICAL FORCE 119 



of the patent bureau in general was too favorable to patentees 

 and manufacturers, and bore too heavily on the consumers. 

 The reforms proposed were mainly of three sorts: the limitation 

 of the life of patents and the prevention of their extension by 

 renewals; the establishment of a fixed royalty with permission 

 to anyone to manufacture patented articles upon the payment 

 of such royalty; and finally, the protection of the " innocent 

 purchaser or user of a patented article/' making the manufac- 

 turer or vendor alone responsible for violations of the law. 

 Resolutions along these lines appear in the proceedings of 

 the National Grange and of the state granges of Iowa and 

 Wisconsin as early as 1874, and the usual method of bombarding 

 Congress with memorials and petitions was followed throughout 

 the decade, though without any considerable results. 1 The 

 National Grange seems to have concentrated its forces on the 

 third of the desired reforms, and a bill purporting to grant pro- 

 tection to innocent users of patented articles, but declared by 

 the master of the National Grange to be worthless, passed the 

 House in 1880 and was allowed to expire in the Senate. 2 Again 

 in 1882 another bill, more satisfactory to the Grangers, was 

 passed by the House, but this was held up by amendments in 

 the Senate. 3 Although the attempt to secure general reform of 

 the patent laws thus came to naught, the Patrons appear to 

 have been more successful in dealing with individual cases, and 

 the claim is made that the influence of the Grange prevented 

 the extension of patents on sewing-machines. 4 In various parts 

 of the country, moreover, and particularly in Michigan, the 

 Patrons made use of their organization to fight successfully the 

 various swindles, such as the patenting and collection of royalty 



1 National Grange, Proceedings, vii. 55, viii. 62, ix. 39, 72, x. 159, xi. 105, xii. 

 68, xiii. 40, 86, 120, 125, xiv. 69, 79, 91, 107 (1874-80); State grange proceedings: 

 Iowa, v (1874); Michigan, ii (1875); ^New Hampshire, vii (1880); New York, 

 ii (1875); Wisconsin, ii-iv (1874-76); Minnesota State Grange, Constitution 

 (1873). See also Congressional Record, xiv. 1694, 1759, 1942. 



2 National Grange, Proceedings, xiv. 27 (1880); Congressional Record, x. 768. 



8 National Grange, Proceedings, xvi. 11-13 (1882); Congressional Record, xiii. 

 3413, 3945, 39S2-39SS. xiv. 2263, 3684-3686. 



4 Darrow, Patrons of Husbandry, 50; Messer, The Grange, 18. 



