174 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[June, 



the money-grubbing school, which no sound thinker has ever con- 

 sidered to want extraneous help in this country; and it must fro on 

 tlie assumption, that a patentee being poor is thereby a worthless 

 and hurtful member of the commonwealth, who ought to he kept 

 down by confiscation. The fair remuneration for capital is one 

 thing — the oppression of a patentee is another, which has no ne- 

 cessary connection with it; and we do not therefore feel called 

 ni)ou to uphold on any fanciful grounds the claim to plunder the 

 patentee. 



As matters now stand, the patentee must give up the working of 

 his patent altogether to another, or he must give up a large share 

 of it, if he is able to get it worked at all. This is overlooking the 

 very great difficulty the inventor of a new process has in bringing 

 it into use, from the inveterate prejudices or vested interests of 

 those engaged in old processes. Thus, as said by the Ed'mhurcjh 

 liuview, although a watch is a very imperfect i)iece of mechanism, 

 the perfection of the economical processes of its manufacture are 

 such that an improved watch could scarcely be made to sell against 

 it, for above a hundred different trades would be called upon to 

 change their tools and acquire new processes. These circum- 

 stances always act more or less against the inventor, and to our 

 minds they constitute quite hindrance enougli in the way of any 

 useful invention, without the necessity of having those other 

 shackles which are clung to so strongly by the upholders of the 

 present system of evil. Some might think, if they were laying 

 down laws for Atlantis or Utopia, that the inventor should be 

 lielped to stem the tide of prejudice. 'We dare not say anything 

 about that. 



So long as the inventor is restricted to a few persons for obtain- 

 ing capital, his chances are less, and the price he must pay is 

 greater, for a virtual monopoly is created. At the same time, he 

 is hindered in the hel]) he might get from the great capitalist or 

 the small capitalist; and therefore these two latter classes are 

 injured, by being prevented from investing their money. It is, 

 indeed, the necessary result of evil laws, that while they give a 

 worthless monopoly to a few, they do a great injury to the 

 many. 



A great capitalist who is willing to encourage a useful inven- 

 tion, and who as he has the greater means has likewise the greater 

 inclination, is frightened from doing so, — for if he lays down 

 only one hundred or one thousand pounds for a new locomotive 

 factory or a new spinning-jenny factory, he thereby perils his 

 hundreds of thousands or his million. The statement of this peril 

 is answer enough to all applicants, and the fact itself works so 

 effectually that our merchant princes are, under a heavy penalty, 

 ))re^•ented from encouraging any useful invention which has not 

 the immunity of an act of parliament, shielding against individual 

 responsibility. Thus, instead of the English mechanic thinking it 

 a blessing that he lives in a country where there is capital to over- 

 flowing, and where there is the energy and enterprise of Lord Ash- 

 burton, Baron Rothschild, Baron Goldsmid, or Mr. Morrison, he 

 can only grieve at their prosperity, for the advancement of any 

 man renders him less able to promote useful undertakings. 



If anything could help the inventor, it is the munificence of 

 men such as we have named, wlio uphold largely our public insti- 

 tutions, who engage in our great public undertakings, and who 

 want not the will, if they had but the option, of encouraging what 

 tlieir own intelligence points out to them as useful and praise- 

 worthy. 



The small capitalist is equally injured, for instead of being 

 allowed to put his few pounds in a joint-stock company, he is 

 driven to tlie savings-bank. 



All this results from the unlimited liability attaching to partner- 

 ships, and the want of efficient means of establishing companies 

 free from such liability. 



Some persons may think this works well, and if we look only at 

 home we may bless ourselves that we are no worse off; hut we have 

 already shown that we are so much dependent on the pi-ogress of 

 other rivals, we dare not nurse ourselves with any such delusions. 

 M'herover we look abroad, whether on our side of the Atlantic or 

 the other, we are struck by the progress of manufactures, mining, 

 and material wealth, by means of joint-stock associations, whereby 

 such jioor countries as Saxony, Flanders, and New England, are 

 able not only to enter the field against our manufacturers, but to 

 drive them out. It lias therefore ceased to be optional with us, 

 whether we shall uphold a vicious and oppressive system, or whe- 

 tlier we shall do justice. 



In all those countries where the Code Napoleon prevails, there 

 are the greatest facilities for establishing not only ordinary part- 

 nersliips, but socktes en comtimndite, and socict<'s aiioiii/mes. Tlie 

 sockti en commandite consists of sleeping partners who are not 



liable, and managing partners who are so; the societe anonyme is a 

 joint-stock comi)any witli limited liability. 



Here, perhaps, may be the fitting place to answer the objections 

 of those who, relying u))on their imaginations, and not on the 

 evidence of facts, choose to consider limited liability and joint- 

 stock undertakings as injurious to private enterprise and the 

 public. 



It is a very favourite objection, that joint-stock companies 

 would drive out private enterprise in any branch of business in 

 which they embarked. The answer is simply this, that they can 

 only do so when the business is one unsuitable for private enter- 

 prise. The trader, looking after his own afl'airs, has such immense 

 advantages over any joint-stock company, that it is he who would 

 beat the joint-stock company, and not the company which would 

 beat him, in any fair career. This has been too long established to 

 be gainsaid, even if we knew that joint-stock glass companies, 

 joint-stock copper companies, or joint-stock ironwoi'ks had driven 

 single traders out of the field. The truth is, private enterprise 

 wants no such protection as is tendered to it, — it can do well 

 enough without. 



Another objection is, that great frauds would he practised on 

 creditors. Perhaps there might be such, — but creditors are best 

 able to protect themselves, and are perfectly cognisant how they 

 give credit. Here, again, is the opening for the competition of 

 private enterprise, for a creditor considers whether it is better to 

 trust a company, which is not personally liable, or a firm, which is 

 personally liable. Perhaps the best answer is, that there are nu- 

 merous corporations and companies in this country with limited 

 liability, that transactions to the yearly extent of one hundred 

 millions are carried on with them, and that persons are found to 

 transact business with them. 



Indeed, no valid reason can be brought forward against the in- 

 troduction of the societe anonyme and the societe en commandite into 

 this country, while there are the most urgent reasons why they 

 should be introduced fortliwith. The Manchester cotton-spinner, 

 the Derbyshire silk- weaver, and the Nottingham framework-knit- 

 ter have now to compete with joint-stock establishments abroad, 

 and they want every resource that can be got. Indeed, nothing is 

 more striking than the progress of the joint-stock system abroad^ 

 Even in the bleak regions of Vermont or Maine, the newly-born 

 towns are crowded with buildings and works, erected by the joint- 

 stock contributions of the traders and workmen. Thus is enter- 

 prise stimulated, industry rewarded, and frugality upheld; and 

 thus are our own kindred preparing for a rivaky in which we seem 

 doomed to be beaten. 



If we look at home we find many reasons, even among ourselves, 

 for a reform of our system. The copper and tin mining interests 

 of this country, the value of which has never been under-rated, 

 are wholly upheld by a joint-stock system. Either the cost-book 

 system, which is that of a societe anonijme, or a scrip system, which 

 is that of a societe en commandite, for the directors are responsible 

 on the bills they draw, constitutes the machineiy by which the 

 administration of our mines is carried on. Indeed, were it not 

 for the companies our mines would have been closed. AVe might 

 refer to many other instances in support, but the greatest is this — 

 that a sufficient case of evil cannot be made out from our experi- 

 ence against joint-stock companies. 



To say that speculation and jobbing would be extended by an 

 extension of joint-stock companies, is about as wise as to say — 

 and there may be found people in the House of Commons to say 

 this — that cheating and lying are extended by the extension of 

 our liome trade. 



V/e can see no reason at all why we should not enjoy all the 

 advantages of the United States or of France; but we should be 

 contented in the first instance, if any lingering doubts remain, to 

 take what may be considered a safe instalment. Among under- 

 takings to which we would at once give the advantages of joint- 

 stock companies with limited liability, by simple registration of 

 the deed with tlie clerk of the peace and the Registrar of Joint- 

 Stock Companies, are the fcdlowing: — A\'aterworks, gasworks, 

 baths, bridges, docks, marine-slips, warehouses, granaries, halls of 

 commerce, markets, slaughter-houses, manufactories for agricul- 

 tural imjilements, works of iriigation and drainage, canals, rail- 

 ways, mining, smelting, schools, libraries, sanatoriums, deaf-and- 

 dumb asylums, blind asylums, lunatic asj'lums, museums, observa- 

 tories, botanic gardens, zoological gardens, galleries and exhibitions 

 of arts and manufactures, telegraph companies, manure companies, 

 mining, fisiiing, fish-curing, salt-works, and river improvements. 

 Such companies might be allowed for any new processes, as gutta 

 percha, gun cotton, electric light, iSlC, and for any establishment 

 where none of the kind exists in the neighbourhood. The Privy 



