l88ij 



ItLE^LNlXGS IK 13EE CULTUilE. 



999 



there seemed to be a little danger lliat ro:iie- 

 body's feelings would bi' liiirt, stout and 

 kind hearts at once rushed to the rescue, 

 and I am sure that no one went home feel- 

 \na: in tin; least l)it hurt by any thing that 

 was said or done during the two days' delib- 

 erations. I ha\c been' in the habit of say- 

 ing th'it it was very hard work tor me to sit 

 still during an tadinary lecture: but there I 

 sat from morning till niglit, again during 

 the evening, and again the iicxt day from 

 morning tiU night, and I felt sorry when the 

 convention was over. Perhaps one reason 

 why I enjoyed it. was because tliey very 

 kindly allowed me to get up and talk myself, 

 every little while. And now, friends, with 

 the above preface before us I am prepared 

 to take up the little text tiiat appears at the 

 head of my talk to-day. 



Some time ago. frit nd Abbott (originator 

 and former editor of the Jjritish Bee Jounud) 

 mailed me a sample of a new honey-knife he 

 had jast got out. lie said they were made 

 of tlie best Sheilield steel, but" that, by or- 

 dering large (juantities, just as we do here 

 In the Ignited States, he could get them at a 

 price that would enable him to lay them 

 down here in America so we could furnish 

 them to tlie bee-friends here at a very much 

 lowei- price than any tiling else on our 

 markets. As friend "Abbott has paid us 

 thousands of dollars already for bee-sup- 

 plies, we felt somewhat in duty boiuid to 

 trade with him when he offered something 

 we could use. England excels the world in 

 cutlery, 1 believe; and with lier resources 

 and cheap labor many things can bs furnish- 

 ed cheaper than we can possibly get them 

 up here. I did not, however, at once give 

 liim the order— not because the knife was 

 not a beautiful one for the money, but be- 

 cause it is a copy of the Bingham & liether- 

 ington knife, with the exception of the un- 

 capping part of it. Xow, friend Abbott has 

 not infringed on anybody's patent, because 

 tl;ie knife is not patented in England. I am 

 not well enougli versed in law to say wheth- 

 er I should be infringing or not in bringing 

 these; knives into the I'nited States; and 

 there is no infringing at all any anywhere, 

 unless the patent belonging to friends ]>. & 

 II. covered the plain knife without any cap- 

 catcher. A copy of their patent - claim, 

 procured later on, showed the patent was on 

 the cap-catcher and on nothing else. 



It did strike me at the time that it would 

 be an act of courtesy to forbear bringing in 

 an imported knife, evidently copied from an 

 American knife. On the other hand, 

 should the bee friends in America be asked 

 to pay a dollar for a knife which could easi- 

 ly be sold for two-thirds or less by getting it 

 made in England? In such cases it is cus- 

 tomary to say we should chouse the greatest 

 good to the greatest nundjer. Something 

 called my attention to other matters, and, 

 without thinking much about it, an order 

 was sent to frietid Abbott for thirty dozen 

 knives. The knives were advertised in our 

 last issue. Xow then: A part of my read- 

 ers will doubtless take sides with me, and 

 say that I did nothing out of the way. 

 Another party will perhaps be surprised 

 to hear a man like mvself. who teaches 



mor:'.Is to the people, publicly confess to 

 having yielded to such a temptation. I 

 think I shall join with the latter class. I 

 am ashamed that I allowed my better judg- 

 ment to be set aside in the "matter, iind I 

 pid)licly beg pardon of friends B. and 11.. 

 and promise that not a knife shall be sent 

 out (for not one has yet been sent out in an- 

 swer to the advertisement). If I can not ar- 

 range with friends B. »S: II. to pay a royalty for 

 the privilege of selling a copy of their knife, 

 or something in that line that shall have their 

 sanction, the knives shall remain on my 

 hands. The above course of action is very 

 plainly the only proper one, according to the 

 code of moral law laid down by my very self 

 not very long ago ; and even though it hits 

 me a terril)Ie clip right here, I think it will 

 be well to give it again : 



A. I. Root in re.ijanl to copyiri'j other peojj!e'8 inven- 

 tions or ideas. Written Sept , 1SS4. 

 I Rill very glad to note tlie disposition among' bee- 

 keepers, of torlicaring- to copy the works of each 

 other, patent or no patent. Tlie supply-dealer who 

 would unhesitatiuglyoopysomething- well known to 

 be the property of another, without getting the 

 privilege of so doing, by purchase or otherwise, 

 would very likely lose more than he made, so 

 strong is the disposition of our people to give hon- 

 or to whom honor is due. 



In the light of the above, it is not our bus- 

 iness to inquire what features the patent 

 covers, or, in fact, to inquire if there lie a 

 patent at all. If any of the bee-friends have 

 introduced something to the people that no 

 one had seen or thought of before, we should, 

 out of courtesy, forbear to copy it, no mat- 

 ter how simple it may be. Iloney-knives, 

 very much like those made by friends B. tlv: 

 II., were sold before on the market, except 

 that they were not ground all on one side 

 like a chisel, ^'ery likely the Patent-Office 

 would not grant a patent on making any 

 cutting tool with the above - shaped edge. 

 Hut friend Bingham had a particular idea in 

 view when he made his knife of a thick 

 piece of steel, and ground it in this manner ; 

 besides, he has for years had undisturbed 

 possession of the idea. NObody has even 

 claimed to have used the principle before, 

 that I know of. Now, the fact that I give 

 all my inventions to the world, and have no 

 patents, has nothing to do with the (luestion. 

 I publish a journal purposely to teach, and I 

 try hard to make the journal valuable, so 

 that it may have a large list of subscribers. 

 I get my pay by receiving a dollar from each 

 of you, instead of getting it by controlling a 

 patent. Friend Bingham does not publish 

 a journal. He has his own methods of dis- 

 posing of what belongs to liim, just as I 

 have my method. You may think it strange, 

 when I say I did not think of liaviug done 

 any thing wrong until I met friend Bingham 

 at the convention, and got acciuainted with 

 him. I did not say any thing lo him about 

 the honey-knife, because I had not consid- 

 ered the matter sufliciently to be able to de- 

 cide what to do. .Vs I view it, I have done 

 wrong, and thirty dozen honey-knives shall 

 not stand in the way one single moment. I 

 am satislied of what I ought to do. 



Why do I make this matter public, when 

 it might be settled in private? First, be- 

 cause the knives are already advertised in 



