HIS LIFE AND WORK 



amazement. " They save the price of the Reaper 

 in a single harvest." 



McCormick lost his suit, as he did a second 

 time in 1859, and a third time in 1861. Not 

 one of his patents was at any time renewed. Up 

 to 1858 he had received $40,000 in royalties, 

 but it had cost him $90,000 in litigation. From 

 first to last he did not get one dollar of net profit 

 from the protection of the Patent Office. 



Many other inventors were fairly treated by 

 Congress. Fulton, for example, was presented 

 with a bonus of $76,300. Willmoth, who im- 

 proved the turret of a battleship, received $50,- 

 000. Professor Page, for making an electric 

 engine, was given $20,000. Morse was awarded 

 $38,000. The patents of Goodyear, Kelly, 

 Howe, Morse, Hyatt, Woodworth, and Blan- 

 chard were extended. The protection of in- 

 ventors had been a national policy an Ameri- 

 can tradition. In the phrasing of Daniel Web- 

 ster: "The right of an inventor to his invention 

 is a natural right, which existed before the 

 Constitution was written and which is above 

 the Constitution." 



