No. 199.] 383 



their energies and display tlieir ability on a policy originating in in- 

 telligence, founded on science, progressive in importance, and destin- 

 ed to carry its blessings to every civilized land, and through all ages 

 to come 1 



Bui let us now approach the subject with some more particularity, 

 with a view of determining to what extent this policy of the Patent 

 Laws has been carried out by Congress. 



Acting upon the power given by the Constitution, they have under- 

 taken to provide that inventors, through the instrumentality of patents, 

 shall have the exclusive right to their inventions for 14 years. Pur- 

 suant to this, the first thing requisite after the inventor has completed 

 his invention, is to know whether he can receive a patent. If he can, 

 it is important to have it without delay ; and if he can not, it is 

 equally important for him to know it ; and in either case, it is of 

 equal importance to public interest to have the matter speedily dis- 

 posed of. 



But how have Congress met this first demand of the case ? It 

 seems to me that they have met it in the best possible manner to de- 

 feat the very object of the system. For a number of years the 

 amount of business in the patent office has so far exceeded the pro- 

 vision made to dispatch it, that the inventor, on applying for a patent, 

 has been compelled to wait for 5, 6, 8 and 9 months before being 

 able to procure an answer. 



After appropriating years, and by expending all the means he had 

 in completing the invention, he must then wait, with no means of sup- 

 port for himself or family, and feed upon suspense for several months, 

 because government is short a hand or two in the patent office. Is 

 it the encouragement to inventors contemplated by the Constitution, 

 to keep his property unprotected by law for several months, because 

 the government have work for a few hands more than they have pro- 

 vided '? Shall he be deprived, on such paltry excuse, of the common 

 protection of law to his property, and then be told that this is his en- 

 couragement 1 



