1819.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



101 



only, lint which shall pve comforts to the many. There are more 

 socialists and more social agitators than the Owenites or Fourrier- 

 ites; the effects of many c<intrihute to the movement — Louis 

 NaiHileon, Lord Ashley, and Lord John Manners, as much as 

 Proudhon and Cahet; the Tinip.i as much as the Nathmat: and 

 unless the work he taken up thoroufihly by existina^ jjovernments, 

 it is impossihle hut that it ivill he carried out in a much rougher 

 fashion by the strona; hands of the suffering masses. Emigration, 

 again, is only another e.\em]>lification, anothei' symptom of the 

 paramount disease. As the Tinicn said the other day, all classes 

 feel a want of room; it is not perhaps that there is a greater 

 competition tlian tliere was in the fifteenth or the tenth century; 

 it is n(jt perhaps tliat the ]>o])ulntion are really in a worse condi- 

 tion, but because they are better ac(|uainted with the evils of their 

 condition, and have a surer knowledge how far they are remedi- 

 able. If ignorance be bliss, they have lost it; but they have like- 

 wise lost ho|)e. 



In these islands arc six or seven millions of men able to work; 

 but of those, not less than two millions, more likely three millions, 

 and perhaps more, are for the greater part of the year without 

 work. We do not say they are not fed, but they do not do the 

 work which they are able to do, whidi most of them are willing to 

 do, and which under a good system they would do. The power of 

 work of two millions of men is greater than that which raised the 

 pyramids of Egyjit, laid out the Chinese canal and wall, covered 

 the Roman empire with roads and aipieducts, and saved Holland 

 from the sea. It is greater than that which has been bestowed 

 upon the public works of which we are so proud. So enormous a 

 waste of power, in a country which so much reciuires its applica- 

 tion, is the strongest condemnation of our system of government. 

 Politicians may soothe their consciences by saying that they keej) 

 the ]ieople from starvation; but while such vast means exist of 

 adding to the comforts of the people, no excuse can be admitted. 

 AVith the means we have, the "hole country could be drained as a 

 garden, the waste lands reclaimed, houses, schools, libraries and 

 churches be built. Fuel might be supplied to every household, 

 lime and agricultural manures be spread on every acre, oiir shores 

 be lined with harbours and jiiers, and the fisheries yield an abund- 

 ance of food. These are ([uite within the limit of the vast re- 

 sources available. Indeed, the power to be had is as great as that 

 now emjiloyed in growing food in the island of Britain. 



If we wanted to show how the material resources are wasted, we 

 need not go to Ireland, and follow Sir Richard Kane through his 

 enumeration; we need only jioint to the millions of acres of im- 

 provable land, now left untitled. Nay, in this great city, manure 

 enough to grow corn for a million of people is yearly wasted. 



All this shows that there is something wrong, and we have no 

 hesitation in putting it down to the laws affecting industry. 

 AVhether the economists did any great good by the abolition of 

 aiiprenticeships and of corporate restrictions, is open to question; 

 but they certainly left the main things undone, and if there he 

 any good in free trade, still tliat is but little. Freedom to trade 

 without may be good, but we want freedom within; and the more, 

 as we have to compete with nations abroad, who are now wiser 

 than ourselves. 



Two prominent evils in the legislation affecting industry are the 

 laws relating to patents and those relating to jiartnershijis; and 

 the two cannot be dissevered in any considei-ation of the question 

 in its bearing on those classes with which our readers are con- 

 nected. If we were discussing this simply as a political question, 

 we could show that the evils are not so limited; but as we want to 

 show its bearing on a class, its practical operation, and how much 

 it operates to the injury of every man, working either with his 

 head or his hand, we are contented so to limit it. A\'e have taken 

 the two subjects togetlier, moreover, as they are most intimately 

 connected, and work as efficiently for the injury of every indus- 

 trious man in the country, as if they were planned with that ex- 

 press and specific object, and not, as laws are generally supposed 

 to he, for the good of the commonwealth. 



We give a prominence to the patent laws, becaiise an agitation 

 is now going on for their amendment, and a commission of inquiry 

 into the fees of the government offices has been appointed, before 

 which evidence has been given. In Newton's Lomlmi Jouriiul for 

 February and March, will be found able articles on Patent Law 

 Reform, showing the interest which is excited among those en- 

 gaged in the promotion of useful inventions. In these articles 

 our readers will find many practical exemplifications of the ill- 

 working of the patent laws, as coming within the ken of the profes- 

 sional men engaged in their administration. 



None of our readers will, we believe, gainsay that the patent 

 laws and laws affecting joint-stock companies do not work well; 



and with this assumption we shall start, wishing to show the 

 national importance of the subject before we consider its details. 

 It has been sometimes said that the welfare of England depends 

 upon her keeping twenty years ahead of other nations in the 

 practice of mechanical aits; and in this there is very much trutli. 

 The Quarter/;/ Ifi'view (December) says there is no question that a 

 fearful proportion of our fellow-citizens hold their ]irosperity upon 

 no other tenure. Let us therefore see how this works. 



It is to the mechanical classes we naturally look for the best oji- 

 portunities of promoting the practice of mechanical arts. In 

 these classes we find great masters with great wealth, small 

 masters with small wealth, professional men well to do in the 

 world, and younger ones with their living to get; but above all, 

 thousands of working-men. The number of rich men is very 

 small, the number of poor men is \ery great; but their share of 

 skill has nothing to do with their share of wealth. A prinri it 

 must be looked upon as incontestable that the mechanical classes 

 cannot pay a heavy tax for leave to exercise their genius, and that 

 a heavy tax would'have the effect of preventing a great many men 

 from a])plying their inventive skill. 



M'e now trace a poor working-man in England. He lias what 

 seems to him, and what is, a valuable invention, and with great 

 difficulty from his scanty means makes a working-model, the re- 

 sults of which offer every inducement to go on with his undertak- 

 ing. One of liis first wishes is very natural — that he sh(uild reap 

 the reward of his ingenuity; and it might be supposed that in any 

 civilised country he has the property in his own labours. The 

 writer has so in his bo<iks, the painter in his paintings, and no one 

 may steal his work: the mechanic himself has a priqierty in his 

 trade-mark, or the name of his firm, but he has none in his me- 

 chanical discoveries or inventions. No one may take his name in 

 vain, or use his stamp; but they may freely use his invention^, 

 unless he can pay the heavy price of a patent. They may c(qiy the 

 whole tool or machine, except the words, " Fairbairn, Manchester, ' 

 or " Joseph Rodgei-s, Sheffield." The law is very tender as to this. 



Tliere is no reason <i priori why he should take out a patent. 

 The patent itself is no adequate protection. It may be said, th;;t 

 without a patent, other parties may claim the invention. They do 

 now; and they have to prove before a court of law, as they woulil 

 then, that they have a better title than the inventor: that it was 

 invented before, or known before. Other questions of copyrigl t 

 do not involve a jireliminary patent; neither should copyright of 

 mechanical inventions. Give a man the property in his oun 

 works, and grant him the same protection as he v\ould have for 

 other property. 



If a man cultivates a piece of waste land, or if he finds out a 

 mine, he acijuires in most countries the property, without expense 

 of patent, on the ground that he has done great good to the com- 

 monwealth. Some governments exempt such lands from taxation; 

 there are few that reipiire a heavy tax to he paid before waste 

 land is cultivated or a mine is worked; the utmost exaction is 

 commonly a royalty from the earnings. In England, a man is not 

 allowed to have the protection of the law for the property in his 

 mechanical inventions, until lie has paid a heavy sum, before he 

 has earned ime single jienuy, and witliout the certainty of earning 

 one single penny; wliile, if lie earns anything, he must pay in ad- 

 dition the ordinary taxes for tlie preservation of property. 



The author can assign his copyright to as many people as lie 

 pleases, can dispose of it for a time, can pass it by will. Tlie 

 author of a mechanical invention cannot assign his copyright as 

 he pleases, and if it can be worked only by a great company or 

 partnership, he must (ditain an act of parliament to enable him to 

 assign it. A flaw in the assignment of the copyright of a book 

 does not destroy the copyright; a flaw in the patent of copyright 

 of a mechanical invention does destroy the copyright. 



Prince Albert, or any other man, may have an injunction to 

 prevent any one man from publishing his writings and engravings, 

 which are unregistered and untaxed, but a mechanic has no jiro- 

 tection against the publication of his invention, unless registered 

 and taxed. 



The author of a book can reap the profits of his invention at 

 once; the author of a mechanical invention must wait six or nine 

 months for specification, during which he is liable to fraud, piracy, 

 and extortion, on the part of unprincipled adventurers, who 

 may avail themselves of the delay to specify part of his inven- 

 tion as their own. The London Journal well shows this. 



The author of a book, painting, or piece of music, the inventor 

 of the name of a firm or of a trade-mark, the cultivator of waste 

 land, or the worker of a mine, pays no special tax to give him his 

 pro]ierty. The author or worker of a mechanical invention does 

 pay a very heavy special tax for which hs gets no benefit. 



