381 [Assembly 



Notlilng less than air.pic provision lo issue lo an Inventor a patent, 

 ns soon as l.e can show liia)r5elf entitled ihcrelo, is worthy of the in- 

 telligence of the age. Why should he be required lo crouch, in cor 

 roiling suspense, beneath the droppings of the patent office foi 

 months, before being allowed lo assert a legal title lo Lis rights'^ 



Standing on (nc porch of the patent office, afar off you may sec d 

 meagre, care-worn man, wending his way toward.j you. Unobscrvan' 

 of surrounding objects, and with eagerness and encouraged hope de- 

 picted upon his countenance, he advances with hasty step and enthu- 

 siastic air, until he passes the threshold of the building, he comes 

 with all the earnestness and anxiety of a messenger with momentous 

 tidings from a hostile camp. Who is he, where from, what has hap- 

 pened ? Is he the bearer of important dispatches ? Has he brought 

 intelligence of some mighty conquest ? Yes, even so. He comes 

 from our frontier army, stationed upon the boundary of human pro- 

 gress^ he has bcfn an old veterar^here, and hastens to announce a 

 victory won. He has at length forced nature's ramparts, and made a 

 rich conquest of her concealed treasures, and now brings with him the 

 booty lo enrich and embellish his country. Elated wi'.h hope, he 

 seeks the triumphant arch of the patent office, and anticipates the 

 warm reception and gratitude of his countrymen ; reaching it, 

 and speeding his way to the commissioner, he presents his credentials, 

 and impatiently waits a reply. But what now 1 Why, with cool 

 dignity he is told he may as well go home again — that the govern- 

 ment has no lime to attend to him then — that his papers will be filed, 

 and in the course of six months or a year, taken up and looked at. 

 Now, in the name of common sense, is this encouragement ? Is this 

 calculated to arouse the attention and nerve the energies of others to 

 go and do likewise ? In what school of philosophy must legislators 

 have been trained, to have brought forth such means to impart en- 

 couragement lo inventors? Through what mental optics have they 

 been able to discover, that disappoint7nent is e7icouroge7nentAh7L\.'injns' 

 tice and ingratitude multiplies benefactors, or, that withholding Ihe 

 protection of law to a particular kind of property, is an inducement 

 lo others lo invest their means, time and labor, in such property 1 



