230 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



not be expected from any individ- 

 ual. 



I am in favor of discnssing the 

 wisdom of tlie patent-system. I 

 am fiirtlier in favor of all legal and 

 honorable efforts to do away vvith 

 the system and office ; bnt while it 

 is in power b^' the will of the ma- 

 jority, 1 am not in favor of any 

 careless statements that may be 

 construed into admonitions of reck- 

 lessness and lawlessness, in cheer- 

 fully abiding by its edicts. 



Let us give tlie system credit for 

 the good within it. It has much to 

 do with blessing mankind by way 

 of calling forth important and val- 

 uable discoveries. It has given 

 support to men who were intellect- 

 ual giants, and physically almost 

 incompetent. It has been a source 

 of revenue to the government. It has 

 opposed another class of monopoly. 

 It is a law in nature for which no man 

 is responsible, that the more goods 

 a man manufactures, the cheaper 

 he can make them ; a law which 

 brings about capitalists and mon- 

 opolists, allowing the rich man to 

 get richer, clearing him from the 

 competition of his poorer fellow- 

 man. Now, if the poor mau has a 

 patent on the article of manufac- 

 ture, that exclusive right to make 

 it protects him until he can get 

 ahead so as to compete with his 

 more wealthy brother, thus prevent- 

 ing that unjust natural condition 

 of industry, that the big fish shall 

 eat the little ones. 



I think, among no other class is 

 the idea that a patent is a wrongful 

 monopoly, a radical injury to all 

 except the patentee, and said pat- 

 entee a criminal, so prevalent as 

 among beekeepers. I have care- 

 fully watched the general result 

 and the effect of the existence of a 

 patent upon numerous articles of 

 manufacture, several in our own 

 line, and in very many instances 

 have I seen this exclusive right of 

 manufacturing prove a great bless- 



ing to the consuming public. I will 

 mention one well known to our 

 brother beekeepers. All have heard 

 of Rev. L. L. Langstroth, also of 

 his valuable inventions, and a vast 

 majority of you have tasted the 

 fruits thereof. Nearly all who have 

 held correspondence with him, or 

 made his personal acquaintance (of 

 which I am one who has had those 

 honors), have been strongly iin- 

 pressed, not only with his deter- 

 mined path in the line of exact 

 justice, but his keen perception as 

 to what constitutes justice. 



Mr. Langstroth obtained a pat- 

 ent, and a valuable one it was. 

 After fourteen years' experience 

 with it he applied for seven years' 

 extension, which w^as granted by 

 the commissioner. The money re- 

 ceived for rights was the means, 

 and I think the only means, at his 

 command for educating the people 

 to the superiorit}' of his system of 

 honey-producing. I paid $10.00 

 for my individual right, only two 

 years previous to the expiration of 

 the patent; that $10.00 brought 

 the agent to my place. It not only 

 was the incentive to his coming, 

 but alone made it possible for him 

 to come. His coming blessed me 

 hundreds of dollars. 



The principle of a patent is ap- 

 plied to books under the head of 

 copyright. Mr. Langstroth's val- 

 uable work on beekeeping is coi)y- 

 righted. Prof. Cook's valuable 

 Manual is also copyrighted : and 

 you, Bro. Root, told us plainly that 

 the names of your subscribers were 

 a secret ; that you could not afford 

 to sell them to us at the cost of ar- 

 ranging and printing them, with a 

 margin added. You were quite 

 right. They are an aggregation of 

 your labor, extending through 

 years, and you cannot give them 

 away and do justice to yourself and 

 those dependent upon you. We do 

 not ask you to. We do not wish 

 you to. We are aware that you 



