letters patent and printed publications in the United States Patent Office which constitute the field of search in the examination as to the novelty of invention for which applications for patents are or may be filed, and it made provision for the employment of a force of examiners and other necessary employees to undertake this work.

As early as December 10, 1830, when the registration system was still in effect, the Secretary of State, under whose jurisdiction the Patent Office then was, submitted to the House of Representatives a list of 6170 patents which had then been granted, classified in sixteen groups. This was the first official classification of the Patent Office. The number of classes was increased to twenty-two when the act of July 4, 1836, came into force. This classification remained substantially unchanged officially until 1868, when a new classification was made comprising thirty-six classes, the field of search at that time including a little over 80,000 United States patents. On March 1, 1872, a revised classification was adopted comprising 145 classes. Other revisions were officially promulgated in 1878, 1880, 1882, 1883, and in every subsequent alternate year. 1897 the number of classes had increased to 226, distributed among thirty-four examining divisions of the office. The effect of the act of 1898 was the establishment of a single Classification Division and the adoption of a new classification, not only of United States and foreign patents but also of other literature essential in the research work. While revisions have since been made from time to time, the general plan of classification adopted in 1898 has, in the main, been adhered to.

An act of May 4, 1906 (34 Stat. L., 168, 169), amending the act of 1905, requires the Commissioner of Patents to "establish classes of merchandise for the purpose of trade-mark registration " and to "determine the particular descriptions of goods comprised in each class." The present procedure in the registration of trademarks is based on the classification made in accordance with this act. Other amendments to the act of 1905 were made in this act and in an act approved March 2, 1907 (34 Stat. L., 1251).

On June 4, 1898, an act (30 Stat. L., 431), was approved providing for the appointment by the President of three commissioners to revise the statutes relating to patents, trade and other marks and trade commercial names as far as they related to matters contained

in or affected by the Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property concluded at Paris, March 20, 1883, the agreements concluded under this Convention at Madrid, April 14, 1891, and the protocols adopted at Brussels, 1897, the treaties of the United States and the laws of other nations relating to patents, trade-marks, and trade or commercial names. The three commissioners appointed under this act rendered an elaborate report of 529 pages to Congress on November 27, 1900."

Five bills were introduced in the Senate concerning the recommendations of this Commission but without immediate result.

On account of war conditions, two enactments of Congress were made on October 6, 1917, relating to the secrecy of invention. One was an act (40 Stat. L., 394) conferring upon the Commissioner of Patents power to order secrecy of certain inventions and to withhold the patents therefor, and the other was Section 10 (c) of the Trading with the Enemy Act (40 Stat. L., 411, 422), under which the President (Executive Order of Oct. 12, 1917), vested in the Federal Trade Commission the power and authority to keep inventions secret and withhold the granting of letters patent until the end of the war whenever "the publication of an invention or the granting of a patent may be detrimental to the public safety or defense or may assist the enemy, or endanger the successful prosecution of the war." This was a duplication of functions, probably due to an oversight. A plan of coöperation between the two services was evolved whereby the two enactments were enforced without either service conflicting in its activities with the other.

Up to the signing of the Armistice the committee of primary examiners having in charge the secrecy of war inventions, acting on its own initiative or in coöperation with the Army and Navy Patent boards, had recommended and with the approval of the Commissioner had applied orders preventing disclosure and publication of about 2100 applications, of which 1040 were either withdrawn or withheld from issue upon being found allowable. The remainder were pending at that time to determine their patentability. Since the Armistice, rescinding orders have been issued releasing the applicants for patents from the requirement of secrecy.

14

Report of the commissioners appointed to revise the statutes relating to patents, trade and other marks, and trade and commercial names, under act of Congress approved June 4, 1898. 56 Cong. 2 sess., S. doc. 20. See page 116.

During almost its entire existence, the Patent Office has suffered in efficiency because of lack of appropriations for proper equipment and for an adequate force of skilled officers and employees. Although the office is more than self-sustaining, Congress has on but few occasions granted the appropriations necessary for the prompt and efficient service to which inventors were entitled. Whenever adequate provision was made, the increasing volume of business soon outgrew the working capacity of the office force. The salaries of expert officers have always been too low to enable the office to retain their services, resulting in an unusually large turnover.

Congress, in pursuing this policy toward the Patent Office, seems to have overlooked the fact that inventors pay for the services which they receive and are entitled to obtain patent grants without suffering unnecessary loss through delay. The letters patent should be promptly issued not only because the inventors more than pay for the entire cost of this service, but especially because they should be encouraged "to promote the progress of science and the useful arts" as provided in the Constitution. Instead of this, inventors have usually been obliged to wait a year or more for their patent grants, through no fault of their own or of the Patent Office, but simply because Congress did not see fit to appropriate the money needed for an adequate service.

Furthermore, the Patent Office has nearly always been cramped for room. It has never had adequate and proper shelving space for it collections of publications, patents and other documents which are in constant use by the employees and by the public. This is also due to the failure of Congress to realize the public need of proper equipment and of an efficient information service in the Patent Office.

On account of inadequate salaries and also at times for political reasons, the efficiency of the Patent Office has greatly suffered from frequent changes in the heads of that bureau. It must be remembered that the Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioners are judicial as well as administrative officers, and that therefore their efficiency increases with experience in the same measure as that of a judge of a court of justice. During the ten-year period from August 15, 1913, to August 15, 1923, five persons have held the

office of Commissioner, five persons that of First Assistant Commissioner, and six persons that of Assistant Commissioner.

In response to numerous complaints, Congress, on August 21, 1912, passed a joint resolution (37 Stat. L., 643) requesting the President to have the Commission on Economy and Efficiency investigate and report to Congress not later than December 10, 1912, "what changes in law, what increases in appropriations, and what additional building accommodations may be necessary to enable the Patent Office to discharge its functions in a thoroughly efficient and economical manner, and to what extent any expenditures which may be recommended can be met by increases of Patent Office fees."

The result of this investigation was the transmission to Congress by the President on December 9, 1912, of an elaborate report of 624 pages, containing a mass of information, together with the findings and recommendations of the Commission."

The Commission submitted a list of ten recommendations requiring legislative action, namely: (1) That a suitable building be erected for the exclusive use of the Patent Office; (2) that increases be made in the number and increases in and readjustments of the salaries of officers and employees; (3) that the Commissioner be relieved of some of his duties and given certain assistance; (4) that certain changes be made in appeals procedure; (5) that an increase and readjustment of fees be made; (6) that the life of a patent be extended to nineteen years; (7) that an adequate force be provided for reclassifying patents and publications; (8) that the annual subscription price of the Official Gazette be increased from five dollars to ten dollars; (9) that the production of Patent Office publications be done at the Government Printing Office; and (10) that certain repairs and installations be made at the Patent Office.

Many other recommendations which could be carried out by executive action were made by the Commission concerning the administration, procedure, personnel, building and equipment, publications, etc.

No legislative action resulted from the Commission's recommendations, although inadequate increases in the office force were made from time to time.

16

In 1914 a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives

15 Report of the investigation of the U. S. Patent Office, etc. See pp. 113, 117.

163 Cong., H. R. 15989.

by the Chairman of the Committee on Patents, which was intended to revise and codify the patent laws. Extensive hearings were held at various times between May 27 and September 4, 1914, and the bill was reported back to the House but no further action was taken.

The same year a bill " affecting the personnel of the Patent Office by increasing the number of employees and equalizing the number of first, second, third, and fourth assistant examiners, but making no changes in salary rates passed both houses of Congress but failed to become a law.

When the United States entered the World War the business of the Patent Office at once began to decline. The force also decreased. Many of the young men among the employees entered the military service and others left to engage in more lucrative employment. This caused an unprecedented turnover in the personnel. The sudden loss of a large proportion of the most highly skilled employees and the inability of the Civil Service Commission to furnish lists of eligibles, brought on a condition bordering on chaos in the office. Permission was temporarily obtained by the Patent Office to employ assistant examiners and other persons without examination, and for several years more than half the vacancies were filled in this way.

After the Armistice business increased so rapidly that it soon exceeded all precedent. With the inadequate force at hand, the examination of cases fell into arrears, the cases on hand increased with the mounting receipts of applications, and this, with the constant resignation of examiners, drove the Patent Office to the very limit of ineffectiveness.

Congress was appealed to, and some relief was afforded by deficiency appropriations. With the additional funds provided and by the strengthening of the organization and the initiation of several reforms in administration, the Office was enabled to relieve to some extent the situation in which it had been placed.

In 1917 the Commissioner of Patents, at the request of the Patent Office Society, which consists mainly of Patent Examiners, and with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, asked the National Research Council to appoint a committee to investigate the Patent Office and the patent system for the purpose of making suggestions for improving the efficiency of both.

"63 Cong., H. R. 18031.