The Scientific American
April 20, 1861
WASHINGTON, April 5, 1861.
Whoever visits Washington in these days is pretty sure to be set down as an office seeker. The hotels are well thronged, and the rivalry for a share in the distribution of the spoils of office appears to be sharp, and ofttimes acrimonious. I called yesterday morning, to pay my respects to the President, and I found such an eager crowd clambering about his wearied and jaded Excellency that I beat a retreat instantly, without accomplishing the object of my call. D’Alembert, a French writer, once declared ‘’that the industry of men was so far exhausted in canvassing for places, that none was left to fulfill the duties of them.” The truth of this remark is well verified by the state of things here. The pressure is so great that patent hinges and patent locks are almost unavailing against the patriotic crowd, who are more than willing to enter the service of Uncle Sam. Radical and sweeping changes in the public bureaus, the sudden removal of old, and the installment of new, officers, necessarily confine business, and one might as well seek to compose the winds as to undertake the prosecution of legitimate business in some of the Departments, without being jostled about considerably. Expectants for office are not the only ones who are trembling upon the verge of solicitude; the fact is equally true of those who are now holding office. In imagination, if not in reality, they see the official guillotine standing at the door, and the political handwriting “Mene mene tekel upharsen,” appears on the wall. An instance of this came under my notice. I was conversing with a gentleman, long connected with one of the departments; he expressed solicitude respecting his position, and I had not left him but a few moments before I heard that the ax of the headsman had done its work in his case. This state of things creates confusion, and it will be some time before the official machine can he regulated to a steady motion. In reference to the Patent Office, in which the readers of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN feel such a deep interest, such influences are at work more or less, though much less, I think, than in many other bureaus; still, there are many who are seeking to get into this office. Its mysteries attract the curiosity of the curious, and the pressure to pry into them is therefore considerable; and there is a painful anxiety on the part of those who are deeply interested in its successful management, to know what the policy of the office is to be.
Mr. Holloway, the new Commissioner, is in the active discharge of his duties, and all his movements are watched with a degree of solicitude which, in all my experience with the Office, I have never before seen. The political change in the government is radical—it naturally looks to its friends to rally to its support. They do rally,
“In hosts they come, in legions march away.”
And in this critical juncture of public affairs an unusual scrutiny is exercised in making removals and appointments.
The Patent Office ought, in some degree at least, to constitute an honorable exception to an indiscriminate proscriptive policy, and be as free from political influence as possible; its operation may be compared to a delicate piece of machinery that performs well all its functions under the guidance of skillful hands. A clumsy boor comes along and throws chunks of iron into its delicate mechanism, and speedily all its parts are thrown into disorder. To tumble every man out of the Patent Office for mere opinion’s sake would show a reckless disregard of the objects for which it was founded, and demoralize its character; yet it would be equally injurious not to depurate the Office of all such officers as are dangerous to its vital being. Of this class there are a few who arc generally unpopular and objectionable. Mr. Holloway, thus far, is liked very much. He seems to have entered upon the duties of the Office with a full appreciation of their magnitude and importance; but what he will, or will not do, are now matters of mere speculation. He is said to be a good listener, a careful thinker, willing to be advised, slow to promise, but firm to act whenever his judgment is convinced. One thing I feel warranted in saying, viz., that he means to be the inventor’s friend, and will endeavor to maintain the policy of ex-Commissioners Mason and Holt.
Mr. Holloway comes from the thriving, populous town of Richmond, Ind., which numbers among its citizens many ingenious mechanics and inventors. He has done much to promote the mechanical, manufacturing and agricultural interests of that place, and is now President of the Board of Agriculture of that State. As a member of the Thirty-fourth Congress, he was chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, and rendered efficient service to that important interest, and has given liberal support to the interest of the Patent Office and the mechanic’s art. He enters upon his duties under favorable auspices. The business before the Patent Office is large, and under the favoring influences of the Patent Law Amendment Act, the number of applications is gradually increasing, thus securing a revenue sufficient for an energetic administration of the duties; and if the policy of the Office is made to conform to the progressive spirit of the times—if it shall meet the inventor in a liberal manner, and adjusts his claim upon that basis —then there will be no trouble. There are, however, powerful and subtle influences in the Office which will be exerted against any such policy; they were sufficiently potent during the recent administration to bring a deserved odium upon it, and it remains to be seen how far Mr. Holloway will tolerate the spirit of crotchety technicalities to bear rule in the Office, and against which Judge Mason and Mr. Holt had to contend with great earnestness.
I am inclined to the opinion that a majority of the present Examiners will be retained for the present, at least. Some changes have already taken place, and some appointments have been made; two or three Assistant Examiners have been removed and one Examiner-in-Chief (Mr. A. B. Little), who has been connected with the Office since the days of Edmund Burke. He was one of the most able and accomplished men in the Office, and his removal is generally regretted. He was connected with the Appeal Board, and under the new law the President appointed Messrs. Hodges, Harding and Theaker. It is understood that Mr. Harding will not accept the appointment, and the greatest anxiety is felt on the part of solicitors here as to who shall fill this vacancy in the Appeal Board. The necessities of the Office requite an experienced person, and if the President fails to realize this important fact, the business of the Board will, for a time, at least, go on very slowly.
Mr. Hodges and Mr. Theaker are here, but have not yet commenced their duties, and cases are rapidly accumulating for the action of the Board.
James M. Blanchard of Indiana, Clifford Arick of Ohio, and D. S. Stewart are appointed Assistant and Junior Assistant Examiners; and it is reported that Professor Hedrick, of New York, has been appointed a Chief Examiner.
Ex-Commissioner Thomas’ Revisory Board still continues to exercise its functions, the practical effect of which is to obstruct the business in the Office, as has been frequently alleged in the Scientific American. It costs the patent fund at the rate of 86,000 a year to maintain this useless appendage. It is thought that when Commissioner Holloway comes to fully understand its nature and operation, he will abolish it. I have consulted with several solicitors here, and they all agreed that the Board was a hindrance to the business of the Office. In my next letter I will give an account of the examining process which applicants for situations in the Patent Office have to undergo.