512       National  Association  of  Retail  Druggists.   { A  okJo°ber,?mm' 
condition  upon  which  the  patent  is  granted  to  manufacture  the  article  within 
the  confines  of  the  country  that  grants  the  letters-patent ;  we  do  not,  and  the 
result  is  that  an  article  patented  in  this  country  may  be  manufactured  in 
another  country,  and  imported,  much  to  the  detriment  of  our  home  industries. 
Here  again  the  general  good  is  ignored  and  private  gains  augmented.  Protec- 
tion to  other  industries  has  produced  such  good  results  that  to-day  they  are 
exporters  instead  of  importers,  while  in  the  drug  industry  the  opposite  obtains, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  our  government  grants  by  the  present  patent  laws  more 
concessions  to  foreign  countries  than  they  will  give  to  us. 
[c]  It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  many  letters-patent  are  granted  on  drugs  and 
chemicals  that  cannot  substantiate  their  claims  of  conferring  additional  good 
on  mankind.  This  is  due  to  the  laxity  of  our  present  patent  laws,  and  owing 
to  the  failure  of  proper  investigation  and  experimentation  being  instituted  to 
attest  these  claims,  the  average  time  given  to  the  consideration  of  an  appli- 
cation is  not  sufficient  to  fully  establish  the  merits  or  demerits  of  the 
invention. 
The  remedy  we  desire  is  :  (i)  That  adequate  time  be  given  to  investigate  the 
merits  claimed  by  the  inventor,  so  as  to  demonstrate  that  it  is  novel,  and 
thereby  confers  additional  good  on  the  country  at  large.  (2)  Patents  should 
be  granted  on  the  process  only — not  on  the  product.  (3)  Articles  made 
according  to  the  process  patented  must  be  manufactured  in  this  country.  (4) 
No  foreigners  be  granted  greater  privileges  in  this  country  than  is  given  to 
them  by  their  own.  As  an  alternative  for  (2),  we  desire  that  the  revised  patent 
laws  forbid  the  granting  of  letters-patent  of  medicines  as  the  term  is  under- 
stood in  the  art  of  healing. 
Trade-Marks. — The  predominant  iniquity  of  our  present  trade-mark  laws  is 
that  they  secure  to  the  owner  a  too  exclusive  right  to  the  name  of  the  article. 
This  name  might  be  a  word  coined  by  him,  or  one  or  a  combination  of  two  or 
more  words  in  ordinary  usage  ;  they  allow  possessors  of  patents  to  continue 
the  life  of  the  monopoly  granted  by  the  letters-patent  by  claiming  a  perpetual 
protection  by  reason  of  their  registered  trade-mark  or  trade-marks. 
Remedy. — (a)  No  trade-mark  be  granted  on  a  name  or  combination  of  names 
coined  or  otherwise,  (b)  That  the  trade-mark  rights  be  confined  entirely  to 
brands,  symbols,  signs  and  devices. 
The  following  officers  were  elected  : 
President,  W.  C.  Anderson,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.;  First  Vice-President,  James  W. 
Seeley,  Detroit,  Mich.;  Second  Vice-President,  Jesse  L.  Nelson,  Jackson, 
Tenn. ;  Third  Vice-President,  Frank  Way,  Manchester,  N.  H.;  Secretary, 
Thos.  V.  Wooten,  of  Chicago  ;  Treasurer,  Chas.  T.  Heller,  of  St.  Paul,  Minn. 
Executive  Committee,  F.  K.  Holliday,  Topeka,  Kan.;  D.  B.  Prall,  Saginaw, 
Mich.;  Simon  N.  Jones,  Louisville,  Ky.;  Alfred  DeLang,  Cincinnati,  O.;  A. 
Timberlake,  Indianapolis,  Ind.;  Jas.  C.  Perry,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
