172
-----
Total 17,026

The number of applications for patents was a little less than during
the previous year. The Commissioner suggests that Congress should
appropriate $50,000 to promote the printing of the old patents; that
additional examiners be employed, and more clerks, for the purpose of
expediting the business of the office; that the price of the Official
Gazette be reduced, also the fee for trade mark registration; that the
library fund be increased; that more space be provided for models, and
for the transaction of business.

In respect to the Centennial, the value of new improvements, and the
service of the Patent Office in stimulating discovery, the Acting
Commissioner speaks as follows:

"The display made at the Exposition by the Patent Office was
creditable in every respect, and excited general attention.
About 5,000 models of inventions, representing the leading
branches of the arts and manufactures, were exhibited in
suitable cases, and properly labeled, the various publications
of the Office were displayed, its practice fully explained to
all inquirers, and copies of the Patent Laws and the Office
regulations and forms freely distributed. The knowledge of our
patent system thus imparted to foreigners and all others unable
to visit Washington has more than repaid the small cost
attendant upon the representation. The exhibits were sent from
and returned to the Office with scarcely any damage being
suffered.

"But the array of models, etc., made by the Patent Office at the
Exposition was not needed to illustrate the value of our patent
practice. The wisdom of that system was demonstrated in the most
practical and triumphant manner in nearly every branch of that
munificent enterprise. Not only in the grand display of
labor-saving machinery, but in the vast collection of
manufactured articles, and even in the department of fine arts,
were seen the fruits of that provision in our Constitution
giving to Congress the power 'to promote the progress of science
and the useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and
inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and
discoveries.'

"Whatever persons may do in a 'perfect condition of society' in