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123. / 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 ADVOCATE OF THE PATENTEES, 
 
 INVENTORS OF USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 ARTS AND SCIENCES; 
 
 PETITIONERS TO CONGRESS, FOR REDRESS OF 
 GRIEVANCES. 
 
 DELIVERED DECEMBER 19TH, 1806, 
 
 BEFORE THE HONORABLE COMMITTEE TO WHOM THEIR 
 PETITION WAS REFERRED, 
 
 IN DEFENCE OF MENTAL PROPERTY. 
 
 AN ATTEMPT TO SHEW 
 
 The good policy ef securing to authors and inventors, the exclusive Tight 
 
 to their writings and discoveries, for a sufficient length of time to 
 
 make it their interest to employ their talents in discovering, 
 
 AND BRINGING INTO OPERATION, 
 
 USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 jvjsHiNGfoif cifr: -p 
 PRINTED BY DUANE & SON. 
 
 1806. 
 
 -6 
 
 Wp^i 
 
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Mr. Chairman, 
 
 I APPEAR before this honorable committee, as aii 
 advocate for the patentees, inventors of useful improve- 
 ments, who have petitioned Congress for redress of 
 grievances. 
 
 It had been contemplated to engage counsel learned 
 in the law, and of known and acknowledged abilities, who 
 would have been able to do justice to such an important 
 subject. The expense was to have been defrayed by a 
 small contribution, from each individual patentee ; but 
 we have found them} like the oppressed in all nations, 
 sunk into despair, and their spirits broken ; for although all 
 believe they are justly entitled to what is petitioned for^ 
 yet they have not come forward with the necessary means 
 to attain the end. Therefore necessity has prompted me 
 to undertake a task, for which I am highly sensible I am 
 incapable; I shudder at the apprehension Of the im- 
 portant cause being marred under my feeble hand ; yet 
 relying on the candor of this honorable body, I shall pro- 
 ceed according to the best of my abilities, begging the 
 indulgence of your honors, and praying that zeal, in a 
 good cause, may be accepted instead of mental abilities 
 and oratorical powers, 
 
 I conceive the subject to be the greatest^ and most 
 important, that ever engaged legislative attention. The 
 happiness of millions unborn is to be effected by my 
 feeble exertions ; because as I shall be able to draw the 
 attention of your honors to this important subject, so will 
 genius be fostered, the arts and sciences flourish, the 
 power and the wealth of the nation increase for ages to 
 come. Yes, I may say the very existence of millions de- 
 pend on the measures that will be pursued on this occa- 
 sion ; for it is easy to demonstrate that the population of 
 every country is proportionate to the state of the artsji 
 and the state of the arts, to the protection of mental pro- 
 perty. This requires no demonstration before such an 
 enlightened body ; it is one of the self evident truths^ 
 genius produces science and arts, science and arts pro- 
 duce agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, and they 
 {support population. 
 
 If a husbandman knows that there is one essential 
 plant, which, only, can supply him with she means of epl= 
 
C * ) 
 
 ■titrating and propagating all other useful plants, and yet 
 he abandons it to the blast of every storm, without a 
 hedge to guard it, subject to be trodden down or rooted 
 up by every beast of the forest, suffering it to seek 
 nourishment in a rude uncultivated soil, its branches to 
 aspire under the oppressive shade of every noxious weed, 
 which extracts the sap from its roots, and yet, notwith- 
 standing, if its natural power shoots forth one luxuriant 
 branch, he lops it off, for immediate use, ere it has time to 
 be matured by age : Would this man be thought pos- 
 sessed of common sense ? 
 
 It is in defence of this essential plant that I appear. 
 Genius, the heavenly gift sent by the God of nature to 
 make mankind happy, is abandoned to all the risks and 
 dangers already stated ; yet it is an acknowledged fact, 
 that from genius rises the sciences and arts, without which 
 nothing that we need could be produced. When this 
 plant then, is suffered to wither, and decay, the whole farm 
 is depopulated, and becomes a barren waste ; so that to 
 refuse or neglect to foster, nourish, and cultivate it, 
 must be extreme folly ; but to lop its branches while 
 young, should be esteemed madness. 
 
 Men of genius, in this country, are of all others least 
 protected; they are slighted, embarrassed, and abused, 
 yes, I may say, plundered of the fruits of their labor be- 
 fore they can enjoy them — for the law makes their pro- 
 perty common at the end of fourteen years. 
 
 You will perhaps ask, how this can be, that we suffer 
 such grievous oppression, and the community be insensi- 
 ble of it? We answer, because we are few, not one a- 
 mong ten thousand ; we have no weight in the political 
 scale, self interest never operates, to engage any in the de- 
 fence of our property, because they have none such to be 
 defended ; no one is alarmed at the loss of our mental pro- 
 perty, because they have none to lose ; we are at the 
 mercy of the rest of the community — 'an enslaved, op- 
 pressed, dependant class, amidst a free, enlightened, and 1 
 independant people ; held dependant on the will of the 
 legislature of the nation, for the privilege of enjoying 
 exclusively the fruits of our own labors, who deal those 
 privileges out with a sparing hand, for limited times 
 only, as a gift to us what others hold as a right, is a state of 
 dependance which destroys the very energy of the soul, 
 sinking the mind below the level of dignified humanity* 
 looking forward with anxious dread to the time when the 
 staff of our life is to be broken — willing to end our 
 

 ( 5 ) 
 
 career with the expiration of our patent privileges. 
 We often think it prudent to deny ourselves, and fall 
 easily in with the crowd that are running down the fool 
 who is so imprudent as to attempt to do what no man on 
 earth has ever done, and what all think impossible, because 
 they cannot understand it. Who would incur the envy 
 of men, by attempting to act beyond their capacity to' 
 comprehend? 
 
 Were we in any other country, we would entertain no 
 hopes of obtaining complete redress ; because no nation 
 ever did act justly towards men of our class, and none 
 ever will, excepting those who are possessed of true 
 wisdom and foresight; but this we do hope to find in en- 
 lightened America, where so many political improve- 
 ments have already been made. Our government, if once 
 drawn to reflect on this subject seriously, may be ex- 
 pected to deviate from all others in this point also, and 
 be induced to try the experiment of doing justice to us, 
 as well as all other classes, by securing to us for a suffi- 
 cient length of time our mental property, which we ac- 
 quire at such dear rates. If they do not, our labors must 
 cease. The act, entitled 'An act to promote the progress 
 of useful arts,' will no longer induce us to spend our time, 
 study, and labor, in the acquisition of property, which 
 that act makes common, even to our persecutors, at the; 
 end of fourteen years. 
 
 How mortifying must it be, for a man to know that he 
 has conceived distinct ideas of improvements, that would 
 tend to lessen the miseries, and increase the comforts of 
 the whole cummunity — even saving the lives of thousands, 
 and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property, 
 from sinking at sea — but to accomplish which requires ex. 
 pense and exertions greater than prudence will permit 
 him to risk, or he is able to bear, under the existing 
 laws - r therefore he must let them lie dormant, and confine 
 himself to ordinary business for support, instead of doing 
 ten thousand times as much good for his country— and see 
 the talents, received from the God of nature to serve 
 his country, buried in earthly rubish. For what is the 
 labor of an individual to the world I a mere drop in the 
 ocean, a grain of sand in a mountain ; while the produce 
 of a real inventive mind would be a lake of navigable 
 water, a mountain of rich mines. 
 
 When such presents as these, sent by the giver of all 
 good, are rejected by a country, we may suppose that 
 they will be withheld in future. When it becomes fash- 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 ibnable, in any country, to despise the knowledge of the 
 arts and sciences as mean* and unworthy the attentiun of 
 elevated minds, the rising generation refuse to learn what 
 their forefathers had acquired; thus in a few generations 
 the whole may be lost. 
 
 How many instances have there been of nations sink- 
 ing into ignorance and barbarism, without a trace of ge- 
 nius being left ? the memory of their ancient splendor is 
 perpetuated by a few monuments only, of the arts, which 
 have withstood the depredations of time, and remain to 
 be seen in dreary deserts. 
 
 While genius and talents ai*e respected, rewarded, and 
 promoted in a country, the arts and sciences improve, and 
 the wealth and power of the nation increase, but no longer* 
 What are the reasons why Great Britain, with a popu- 
 lation of nine millions, in a territory so circumscribed, has 
 become so powerful? Why does the productive labor of 
 her subjects exceed that of a neighboring nation, with 
 more than treble the population? Why is she enabled to 
 send her manufactures into every market of the known 
 world, making every nation tributary, and dependant on 
 her, while her navy rides triumphantly in every sea, 
 committing what depredations she pleases ? It is owing 
 totally to the flourishing state of the arts, and the use of 
 labor-saving machines, by which one man is enabled to 
 perform as much as ten or twenty; and this state of the 
 arts, is owing entirely to their sound policy in offering 
 greater encouragement to men of genius, than is held 
 forth by other nations. What stronger proof of this can 
 there be than the emigration of men of genius from other 
 countries, even this, to theirs ; other countries become the 
 nursery of geniuses, who are transplanted for the bene- 
 fit of Great Britain. Although Great Britain secures in 
 the first instance, to inventors of useful improvements* 
 the exclusive right for fourteen yea* s only, yet she has 
 never refused to extend the term, according to the nature 
 of the case, to fourteen, eighteen, twenty, twenty-one, 
 twenty-five, or thirty years, as will appear in her statutes 
 at large. Fourteen years in that country is worth accept- 
 ing, while it is understood, that if the patentee survives* 
 he may have the addition of fourteen, or perhaps thirty 
 years. Now what has this pre-eminence in power cost 
 the nation? What have her subjects paid for all the luxu- 
 ries which they enjoy above those of other nations? We 
 answer, not one cent! She has refrained a little longer 
 only, from lopping the branches, and plucking the flowers* 
 
\ 
 
 N 
 
 ( ' ) 
 
 of!he essential plant, allowing it to grow, to gain strength, 
 and produce fruit. Her subjects, and others, of inven- 
 tive genius, have elevated her to the high ground on which 
 she stands. An equal encouragement from this govern- 
 ment to its citizens of inventive genius, will turn the 
 tide, and enable us to deliver ourselves from her tyranny 
 and oppression. 
 
 Why are not the savages as thickly settled, as well fed, 
 cloathed, and sheltered by comfortable dwellings, as ci- 
 vilised nations, but because they have not the use of the 
 arts and sciences, the productions of men of genius, and 
 which are the basis of agriculture, commerce, and manu- 
 factures ? Iron must be extracted from the ore by art, 
 and converted into steel, before the plough and other in- 
 struments of husbandry, can be made for cultivating the 
 soil. Without agriculture, there would be no use for 
 manufactures and commerce ; neither could man live to 
 engage in them, foras the arts declined, their numbers 
 would diminish to the few that could subsist on the sim- 
 ple productions of nature, suffering the most abject 
 misery, and dying for want of subsistence j the strong 
 only surviving the weaker, until degenerate man could 
 scarcely find his fellow in the barren waste. 
 
 It has long been admitted as truth, that he who dis- 
 covers means to cause two blades of grass, or spears of 
 corn, to grow where but one hitherto grew, has rendered 
 more real service to his country, and is deserving of 
 greater reward, than the greatest warrior or statesman. 
 It follows then, that those who have capacity and perse- 
 verance sufficient to discover, and put into operation, 
 new and useful improvements in the arts, are most wor- 
 thy of respect, and accordingly they have been rewarded, 
 in a greater or less degree by every wise nation, which 
 has risen to wealth, and power. 
 
 Shall America, the asylum of the persecuted from 
 every nation, where the mind, freed from the shackles of 
 tyranny and despotism, has liberty to expand and im- 
 prove, be the only rising civilised country in the world 
 .where genius shall be oppressed and held in contempt, 
 and the heavenly gift be despised as a burden by those 
 who have received it? It is too true as said by Doctor 
 Franklin, " A man's useful inventions subjects him to 
 insult, robbery, and abuse." 
 
 It has been a proverb, that " an ingenious man 
 can never be rich." The idea of ingenuity keeping a 
 man poor is absurd j but it is true that the legislature of 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 this country decrees he shall be poor, by declaring', that 
 the property which he acquires shall become common to 
 all, at the expiration of fourteen years. Under such a 
 discouragement, no prudent ingenious man will spend his 
 time, labor, he. to procure such property, but applies 
 himself to acquire that which the laws secure to him 
 and his heirs forever ; thus his industry, aided by his 
 ingenuity, enables him soon to become rich. 
 
 The too sanguine imprudent ingenious man only at- 
 tempts to make improvements in the arts, and to acquire 
 property which is to become common often before he can 
 possess it; his prudent friends deem him to have entered 
 the direct road to ruin, they impede and harrass him, 
 hoping to reclaim him j he is despised, insulted, and 
 abused; the many unforeseen difficulties he meets with, 
 reduces him to poverty; but if he suceeeds in making a 
 useful improvement likely to become profitable, and ob- 
 tains a patent, a new set of difficulties fere produced, many 
 then falsely claim it, and if he has any property left, it 
 must be sacrificed to defend his patent right, or it will be 
 evaded with impunity. Witness the cotton gin, the patent 
 right of which is the only one that is likely to make the 
 inventor rich in this country ; yet so many have been the 
 difficulties and embarrassments thrown in his way, that 
 it has become a question whether he will be an equal 
 gainer by it, with those who use it ; for it has raised the 
 price of their lands to double, and the planter is enabled 
 toraise andprepare for market, by the aid of this machine, 
 as much cotton as all his force of hands could gin during 
 the year without it. Was the country to be pressed by 
 war, until the treasury should be exhausted, and the go- 
 vernment be obliged to recur to a loan, where could they 
 apply more successfully than to this very cotton gin, 
 which by that time will have made the planter so rich, 
 that they will be able each to subscribe at least one hun- 
 dred thousand dollars. They will not think of calling on 
 the inventor for his subscription, as in England : where 
 such an application was made to a patentee, he subscribed 
 one hundred thousand pounds sterling ; the bearer observ- 
 ed that perhaps be had annexed one cypher more than he 
 intended ; he answered, let it stand as it is ; the nation de- 
 lights to see their inventors become rich, they know the 
 sourse from which their wealth and power flow. But 
 here no prudent man can be induced to lend his money, 
 either to share a part of a patent right, or to defend it, 
 because he calculates that the term of fourteen years will 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 expire before it will be productive. Weary and perplexed 
 with grievances like these, the exertions of the inventor 
 cease — his patent expires — he is disgusted at the injustice 
 of his country, and dies poor and broken hearted. 
 
 Wise men naturally shun what they have known te 
 injure others ; therefore such policy, and such patent 
 systems, will tend to bring genius into still greater con- 
 tempt, and the time may come, when Americans will be 
 as notorious for their ignorance and stupidity, as they 
 now are celebrated for the copious flow of genius ex- 
 hibited in the many useful improvements, made while 
 excited to action by a groundless hope. The tide has 
 already turned, and the expiration of every patent term 
 will accelerate its motion, until the source be exhausted. 
 The continental convention that framed the constitu- 
 tion of the United States, was convinced of the good 
 policy of rewarding men for making useful discoveries, 
 when they delegated to Congress the power to promote the 
 progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited 
 times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their 
 respective writings and discoveries. Here they seem, 
 also to acknowledge the right of the inventor to his men- 
 tal property, but have delegated to Congress the power 
 to secure to the inventor, for limited times only, the ex- 
 clusive right to his own inventions, his own property, in 
 order to promote the progress of science and useful arts. 
 What sort of right is this, which is entitled to be secured 
 for a limited time only ? Does it mean that we have no 
 right ? Had the community any right to an invention which 
 never had existence? If not, why not delegate to Congress 
 the power to secure the right forever, to this, as well as 
 any other property ? If the inventor has any right to his 
 inventions as soon as he discovers them, it is a good one, 
 or he has none ; and if he has none, surely no one else can 
 have any. It was power which operated. Had the con- 
 vention delegated to Congress the power to promote the 
 progress of science and useful arts, by securing to inven- 
 tors of useful improvements, their heirs and assigns for- 
 ever, the exclusive right to the same, protecting them in 
 the full enjoyment and possession thereof, as fully and ex- 
 clusively as any other property is protected for its rightful 
 owners — this would have been worthy of that great and 
 honorable body, that was engaged in exploding political 
 errors, and making the greatest political reformation, per- 
 haps ever made by any number of men. 
 
C 10 ) 
 
 Congress, in pursuence of the power to them delegated, 
 passed the act, entitled lf An act to promote the progress 
 of useful arts;" intending no doubt to excite genius to 
 action, by securing what was then conceived to be an 
 ample compensation to those who should discover useful 
 improvements ; but the patent term has proved too short 
 in this country — thus their benevolent intentions are, in 
 most cases, frustrated. 
 
 It is true, the inventor is not compelled to communi- 
 cate his discovery, but is offered the protection of govern- 
 ment for fourteen years, in case he makes a full dis- 
 closure of the secrets of his discovery, that the public 
 may be in full possession thereof, at the end of his patent 
 term. If the inventor thinks the terms unequal, he may 
 refuse to accept them, keep his discovery secret, and it 
 may lie dormant, and die with him. Government offers 
 no value for the most valuable property. Their offer 
 amounts simply to this : — Communicate to us the secrets 
 of your discovery, and it shall not become common before 
 the end of fourteen years ; you may enjoy it exclusively 
 for that space of time, and we will protect you in the en- 
 joyment, but at your own expense, for you shall pay for 
 protection as well as any other individual. The inventor 
 thinks the terms unequal — he refuses to make inventions 
 — improvements cease, and all the attendant evil conse- 
 quences, which we think unnecessary to enumerate, 
 follow. 
 
 How much better policy would it be in government, 
 to say to the inventor, What does not exist, cannot be the 
 the property either of the nation, or any individual ; 
 therefore, if you will exert your talents, and employ your 
 labor and time, to make improvements, they will be your 
 own property, your heirs and assigns, forever, shall be 
 protected in the exclusive enjoyment thereof. This 
 would be no more than doing perfect justice between the 
 public and the individual. If this cannot be done, some 
 good reasons would tend to convince the aggrieved, and 
 might make them satisfied with less, say for and during the 
 life of the inventor, and his heirs and assigns, to the third 
 generation ; or for fifty years certain, to him, his heirs, 
 and assigns, and for and during his own life, if he sur- 
 vived the term of fifty years. Any thing less, would be 
 to say, — We want your property, and you must deliver it 
 to us, for it is better that you should suffer poverty and 
 distress, than that the whole community should purchase 
 the use of your inventions j God has given you a talent to 
 
( « ) 
 
 serve us, therefore it is not your own. Such arguments 
 as these, backed by power, always carry conviction to the 
 heart — yet all the power on earth cannot compel a man 
 to make a useful discovery, or improvement, in science 
 or art. Where despotism has ruled, genius has fled, and 
 science and art declined. 
 
 Mental property, such as new and useful disco- 
 veries and improvements in science and the arts, is gene- 
 rally acquired by great expense of money, and corporeal 
 labor, as well as by the most intense study and exertion 
 of the mind, which requires the greatest excitement to 
 action. The close application necessary to investigate 
 principles, arrange their order in the fabrication of new 
 machines, or compositions of matter, to improve the arts 
 and sciences, operates powerfully to enfeeble the human 
 frame, destroy the constitution, increase the miseries, 
 and shorten the term of life. Therefore mental property 
 may truly be said to be acquired at double expense, and 
 ought to be doubly secured by the laws, and is as justly 
 and bona fide the property of those who thus acquire it, 
 as any real or personal property can be. 
 
 Will any one say the inventor monopolized his disco- 
 very? Was it common stock before he discovered it? 
 Can a thing which does not exist, be common stock ? If 
 it can, will not the same principles apply as with other 
 property ? Will not the first discoverer and possessor be 
 the right owner, as is the case with vacant lands ? He 
 who discovers a piece of vacant land, (which is com- 
 mon stock) takes possession of and improves it, is es- 
 teemed the right owner; it is secured to him, his heirs 
 and assigns, forever, on his paying the sum stipulated by 
 law, for such protection — although it has not cost him one 
 hundredth part the labor and expense, nor rendered his 
 country one thousandth part the benefit — yet this man is 
 not thought guilty of monopoly, although this act looks 
 much more like it, than the other. Man has lived with- 
 out the use of such inventions as are yet to be made, and 
 brought into use, and he may live hereafter as well with- 
 out them as he has done ; therefore, he who makes a use- 
 ful discovery, wrongs no man ; it is his own property, sub- 
 ject to be taxed as well as any other property, and should 
 be secured to him by the laws. It would certainly be the 
 best policy ; for of what benefit can a man's inventions be 
 to a nation if they lie dormant and die with him. 
 
 No nation on earth has ever been truly wise in this re- 
 spect. Great have been their sufferings, in all ages of the 
 world, on that account ; for the suppression of genius is 
 
( « ) 
 
 the true cause that impedes the progress of science and 
 the arts, and the reason why whole nations have been held 
 in ignorance, and suffered poverty, from generation to ge- 
 neration. If governments will try the experiment of act- 
 ing justly towards their most useful citizens, they will 
 find themselves great gainers by it ; for the way to make 
 things cheap, is to make them plenty. Employ the inven- 
 tive genius — by rewarding them, the arts will flourish, 
 and manufactures will be plenty and cheap. 
 
 It would be easy to demonstrate, that the inventions al- 
 ready made in the United States, if put fully in operation, 
 would increase the productive labor of its citizens, more 
 than to the amount of the whole annual revenue. It must 
 be bad policy then, to withhold the encouragement neces- 
 sary to bring them into use. 
 
 The great improvement on the manufacturing of flour, 
 lessens the labor fully one half, does the work much bet- 
 ter, and prevents waste — and is worth to each mill annually 
 six hundred dollars. We may safely calculate that it will 
 be used in two thousand mills j the saving then of this 
 single invention, will amount, annually, to the immense 
 sum of one million, two hundred thousand dollars. Many 
 others might be mentioned, that will be more extensively 
 useful. What is the reward the inventor has received ? He 
 has held the exclusive right to make, use, or sell to be used, 
 for fourteen years : but besides the expense and labor of 
 compiling and publishing an entire new work, to explain 
 his improvements, which engaged him three years, (and 
 which alone would have proved one source of ruin to him- 
 self, had he not the privilege of renewing his copy right 
 for another term of fourteen years,) he or his agents were 
 constantly engaged during the term, traversing the whole 
 United States, at the. expense of 10 or 15,000 dollars, to 
 make his improvements known, and instruct the mill- 
 wrights and millers how to construct and use them. His 
 money was expended as fast as he could collect it, and just 
 as his patent was ready to be productive, without expense, 
 the term expired. His reliance, however, on the justice of 
 his country, to extend his patent term, induced him to 
 expend the small clear proceeds of his patent, in defray- 
 ing the expense of another invention — an improvement on 
 steam engines — which promises to be still more extensively- 
 useful to his country, but perhaps, injurious to himself, 
 during his patent term. He petitioned Congress, for^ an 
 extension of his patent term, which was about to expire,-, 
 buthasnotyet succeeded. He is left in worse circum- 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 stances than if he had never made an improvement, and 
 at an advanced age, to encounter new difficulties. Con- 
 scious however of having improved his talent and served 
 his country much better than they enabled him to do, he 
 hopes at the close of his career, to say (with Doctor 
 Priestly,') that " he believes that he has enjoyed life as 
 well as most men ;" that his greatest mortification has 
 been that his country did not employ him in the line in 
 which he was best qualified to serve them. But Oh ! how 
 would he glory in being able to say with truth, that he 
 believed he had been instumental in drawing the attention 
 of the supreme legislature of his country to the cultiva- 
 tion of the essential plant, to foster the genius of his coun- 
 try, promoting science and useful arts, agriculture, manu- 
 factures, and commerce — and which would enable his 
 country to rise in power, wealth, and dignity, to a degree 
 surpassing every other country in the world. But he has 
 to lament, that, for the sake of his rising family, he did not 
 employ his talents and industry in the acquirement of pro- 
 perty which the laws would secure to him and them, for- 
 ever ; and stop short, as he had in full view the greatest 
 discoveries of his life, to renounce, with disgust, .all fur- 
 ther pursuit of new improvements — to teach his children 
 to avoid them as ruinous, and deem the gift a burden, or 
 a curse, to those who receive it — to file specifications, of 
 his important discoveries in the patent office, to prevent 
 them from being lost, in case of his death, and wait the 
 time when his country shall see their true interest, and 
 enable him, or his heirs, to put them in operation. This 
 single case, as far as it shall be known, is sufficient to 
 damp the ardour of genius in this country, and it will be 
 handed down from one generation to another, as a clog 
 and impediment to improvements. 
 
 Almost every other patentee will be in a similar situa- 
 tion, as their patent terms expire, and few can be sup- 
 posed to have adopted the same measure, to prevent their 
 discoveries from being lost ; yet, if you will search the 
 patent office, there may be found patents issued for valua- 
 ble improvements, which were never put in operation; 
 specifications of some of the greatest discoveries ever 
 conceived by human ingenuity — butnopatents applied for. 
 These may lie dormant for centuries to come, before 
 any one may be found that will put them in operation. 
 No stronger proof can be produced of the impolicy of our 
 patent system. Secure mental property to its right own- 
 ers, for a sufficient length of time, and their inventions 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 will be put in use ; thus the whole civilized world may- 
 receive the benefits one hundred years sooner. 
 
 Under the present system, none but trifling improve- 
 ments will be made, such as may accidentally strike the 
 mind of the artist, on his own business, and will cost but 
 little to put in operation. .But such as require an exten- 
 sive knowledge of mechanical powers, and full investiga- 
 tions of the principles of nature, intense study, close ap- 
 plication, long perseverance, and great expense to bring 
 to perfection and use — such as would be of great utility to 
 the nation at large, will be avoided and abandoned as 
 ruinous. Men the most capable of making useful discov- 
 eries have prudence to avoid such unprofitable studies. 
 Hence it always was the weakest of men who engaged 
 therein, to their ruin. Improvements are confined to 
 such as would be made without any patent system ; so 
 that the present system is worse than none, and will in 
 its operation for the future, prove highly injurious to this 
 country. 
 
 Let us for a moment, suppose a government has adopted 
 the principle of securing mental property to the inventor 
 or discoverer, his heirs and assigns, forever. It imme- 
 diately enlists into its service all the men of real genius 
 and great talents, the most prudent, and capable, as well 
 as those of lesser abilities. The fair prospect gives energy 
 to the ingenious man's mind, he improves in mental abili- 
 ties, investigates the principles of nature, and if he discov- 
 ers a principle, applicable to some improvement, so as to 
 enable one man to do the work of six or ten, he perseveres 
 until he succeeds in putting it in operation : He is.respect- 
 ed, because deemed to be in possession of that which 
 will procure him wealth ; honored, because he has made 
 none poor, but on the contrary, enriches his country, by 
 enriching himself: his fame spreads wide, others catch 
 the sacred flame, and engage in the same pursuit, with 
 like success — genius, no longer held in contempt, is es- 
 teemed, because it leads to wealth; persecution, abuse and 
 robbery cease, because means of defence appear. It will 
 no longer be the interest of the prudent man to let his 
 discovery lie dormant until a more convenient time ; and 
 if the inventor has not the pecuniary means of putting his 
 improvement into operation, he can obtain them by sel- 
 ling a part of his patent right — the present time will al- 
 ways be the proper season to commence operations, be- 
 cause the means will be at command. The most useful 
 class of citizens would be raised from the indigent and 
 
( 15 ) 
 
 oppressed state under which they labor, to respect, opu* 
 lence, and comfort ; and the nation would be enlightened, 
 enriched, and made powerful by the exertion of their 
 talents. } 
 
 The tide of genius flowing over our happy country, 
 turning dry and barren wastes into fruitful fields, and en- 
 livened by the cheering sun, refreshing rains, and gentle 
 zephyrs of possession and enjovment of rights, would 
 bring forth flowers and fruits of useful discoveries and 
 improvements in science ^nd the arts, in abundance, 
 which are now locked in embryo, by the cold north winds 
 of disappointment, poverty, and despair. 
 
 The arts and sciences would improve with greater ra- 
 pidity than they ever did in any country, and the nation 
 rise in power, wealth, and enjoyments, faster than any 
 nation ever did on earth. 
 
 Commerce would ascend our rivers, where currents 
 have hitherto baffled all the known arts, and glide bv 
 navigable canals, through hills and over dales, in places and 
 directions now conceived to be impracticable. The ele- 
 ments would be made subservient to our ease and com- 
 fort, in many ways yet unknown. 
 
 The imperfect state of our ideas disables us from form- 
 ing an adequate conception of the great change that would 
 be produced in the state of civilized society, or the rapidity 
 with which it would be effected. But we may say, that 
 more improvements would be made in half a century, than 
 ever has, or will be made, under such a system as the pre- 
 sent, in a thousand years. 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 We have endeavoured to shew : 
 
 1 st. That genius is the source of all the comforts which we 
 enjoy above that of savage nations ; that the wealth, 
 power, and population, is eventually proportionate to the 
 reward genius receives in a country — that therefore, the 
 regulating and securing that reward is, perhaps, the most 
 important subject that can engage legislative attention. 
 
 2nd. That men of genius, in this country, are subjected 
 to a servile, abject dependance on the will of the su- 
 preme legislature, for the privilege of enjoying exclu- 
 sively, the fruits of their own labor ; receiving as a gift, 
 what others claim, hold, and enjoy as their inherent 
 right — which dependance tends to destroy the energy 
 
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 of their souls, and depress the mind below the level of 
 dignified human nature. 
 
 3d. That under such discouragements, all prudent men re- 
 fuse to employ their talents and labor to acquire pro- 
 perty, secured by law for fourteen years only. Thus 
 their country lose the beneBt, and they suffer the morti- 
 fication of being compelled to refrain from doing the 
 
 good they wish, and conceive themselves capable of 
 
 that those, whose prudence; has not been sufficient to 
 restrain them from engagi^jij the pursuit of such pro- 
 perty, have thereby been generally reduced to poverty 
 and distress. 
 
 4th. That men of genius arenas justly entitled W protection 
 in the full anc' exclusive enjoymsnt of the "fruits of the 
 labors of the mind, of their bodily labor, money, and 
 time, expended in acquiring mental property, as any 
 are in the possession of real or personal property: 
 1, Because what they acquire never was the right of the 
 nation, or any individual ; none but the first discoverer 
 can h^ve any right. 2, What they do acquire, often costs 
 themVone hundred times as dear as real property costs 
 others. 3, Their discoveries are generally one thousand 
 times the benefit to the nation — they enrich the nation 
 that permits them to enrich themselves. 
 
 5th. That the public good requires the prayer of then- 
 petition to be granted, as the only means in the power 
 of Congress, to promote science and the useful arts, 
 agriculture, manufactures, and commerce — the power, 
 wealth, and enjoyments of the nation — and would 
 enable a much greater population to subsist comforta- 
 bly. The measure has been strongly recommended, 
 not only by our beloved Washington, but by many 
 other great and enlightened statesmen. 
 
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