On supporting science journalism
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On the 24th inst., Mr. Carfcter, Chairman of the Committee on Patents, asked the unanimous consent of the House of Representatives to report the following Bill :— An ACT to regulate the report of the Patent Office, and providing for additional officers therein. SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States Df America in Congress assembled That the Commissioner of the Patent Office shall cause :o be prepared a general analytical and de-icriptive index or digest of all such discoveries, patented under act or acts of Congress, as le shall deem important to be made known ind published, and of all such discoveries and nventions made in this country as tend to il-ustrate tkose so patented as aforesaid; to be iccompanied with such proper drawings as ire requisite for understanding the same; hall from time to time publish such portions hereof as are sufficiently prepared for that lurpose, and distribute and sell the same as n his judgment will be the best fcir the pubic interests; and shall report the whole, when ompleted, to Congress. And the net pro-eeds of the sales hereby authorized shall be ccounted for by him and credited to the pa-ent fund. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That in ieu of the list of inventions and claims here-ifore contained in the annual report of the 'ommissioner of Patents, he shall cause to be repared and embraced in his annual report tiort intelligible descriptions of the several inventions and discoveries patented during the year, accompanied with such drawings as are necessary lor understanding the same, and an analytical and alphabetical index of the same, according to the subjects. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That one compiler, with the annual salary of twenty-five hundred dollars; one assistant compiler, with an annual salary of fitteen hundred dollars; and one engraver, with an annual salary of twelve hundred and fifty dollars; and one additional examiner and assistant examiner, to be paid like those now employed in the Patent Office, shall be appointed in the manner provided in the second section of the act approved July 4th, 1836, entitled, " An act to promote the progress of the useful arts, and to repeal all acts and parts ot acts heretofore made for that purpose." SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of Patents is hereby authorized to draw upon the patent fund from time to time for such sums as shall be necessary to carry into effeat the provisions of this act, and they are hereby appropriated for that purpose. [This Bill was received, and acted upon, and passed its third reading. It will no doubt pass the Senate and become a law. No one can object to its reasonable provisions. These we like—none of your appropriations to certain " magazines " lor such work, as was recommended three years ago, and as was petitioned for by an interested clique in Washington in 1846. We have always condemned partizan appropriations, and ever will.
