Part 20 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: POST OFFICE, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY]
[Ill.u.s.tration: POST OFFICE, DES MOINES, IOWA]
=s.h.i.+pping Board.=--With a view to building up the American merchant marine, which in recent years had greatly declined, Congress in 1916 provided for the appointment by the President of a federal s.h.i.+pping board composed of five commissioners with power to construct or purchase merchant vessels suitable as naval auxiliaries and for the carriage of American commerce. The board is also to supervise common carriers engaged in transportation by water. As a war measure, the extent of its building operations was greatly increased in 1917.
=International Postal Union.=--In this connection it may be noted that practically all the countries of the world have joined in forming what is known as the International Postal Union, for the reciprocal exchange of mails between the post offices of all countries belonging to the Union. The rates are fixed by a congress which represents the member states and which meets, in normal times, every five years. A letter may therefore be sent from one country to any other in the Union at a uniform rate, which, with some exceptions, is five cents. By special arrangement the rate on letters between the United States and the British Isles has been reduced to two cents. Likewise the rate between the United States and Canada or Mexico or most of the West Indies is by special arrangement two cents.
=Cla.s.ses of Post Offices.=--Post offices are grouped in four cla.s.ses on the basis of their gross annual receipts. First-cla.s.s offices are those whose gross receipts exceed $40,000 a year.[48] They are usually located in buildings owned by the government, and in the larger cities there are branch offices or sub-stations in different parts of the city.
Fourth-cla.s.s offices are those whose annual receipts are below $1,000.
[48] The receipts of the New York post office are about $45,000,000 a year.
Salaries of postmasters of the offices of the first three cla.s.ses are determined mainly on the basis of the receipts of the office. Fourth-cla.s.s postmasters receive no fixed salary, but instead are paid a percentage of the value of the stamps cancelled. In the larger post offices there are in addition to the postmaster one or more a.s.sistant postmasters and a force of clerks and carriers, the number depending on the amount of business and the size of the city. All postmasters are appointed after examinations under the civil service rules. Postmasters of the fourth cla.s.s are appointed by the postmaster-general; those of the other three cla.s.ses are appointed by the President.
=Copyrights.=--The Const.i.tution gives 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. The purpose of the copyright law is to protect authors from having their books and other writings republished without their permission, and hence to prevent the rewards of their talent and industry from being appropriated by others. In pursuance of this provision Congress has enacted legislation enumerating the productions for which copyrights may be granted, the conditions under which they may be secured, and the terms for which the protection shall last. The law provides that copyrights may be granted for books, musical compositions, maps, works of art, photographs, and even for unpublished works. In the case of published works two copies of the best edition must be deposited with the register of copyrights at Was.h.i.+ngton. The ordinary form of copyright notice is ”Copyright, 19--, by A. B.”
The term of the copyright is twenty-eight years, but it may be renewed for another period of twenty-eight years. During the period of the copyright the author has the exclusive right to print, publish, and sell the article copyrighted, and in case of infringement he may have recourse to the federal courts for damages on account of the loss sustained. A copyright may be sold or otherwise transferred, but the fact must be recorded by the register of copyrights.
_International Copyright._--Formerly the writings of an American author might be republished in a foreign country without his consent, and thus he had no protection outside of his own country. Accordingly, to secure protection to American authors against the republication of their works in foreign countries without their consent, Congress enacted laws in 1891 and 1909, looking toward the reciprocal protection of American and foreign authors against infringement of the rights of each in the country of the other. In pursuance of these acts a copyright will be granted to a foreign author protecting him against the republication of his works in the United States, provided the government of which he is a subject will grant similar protection to American authors. But in the case of foreign books published in the English language the book must be printed and bound in the United States in order to secure the benefits of copyright. International copyright treaties designed to secure protection of this sort have been entered into between the United States and a number of foreign countries.
=Patents.=--A patent is a form of protection granted by the government to an inventor to secure to him for a limited period the exclusive enjoyment of the fruits of his skill and industry. Patents were granted by the state governments until the Const.i.tution conferred this power on Congress. In 1790 Congress pa.s.sed a law authorizing the granting of patents for new and useful inventions, and this law has been amended and its scope extended several times since.
_The Patent Office._--In 1836, an office or bureau charged with receiving applications, conducting examinations, and granting patents was created in the department of state, but it was transferred to the department of the interior in 1849. This office has grown to be one of the largest and most important branches of the government service. It has a large number of examiners and experts arranged in groups, each of which examines the applications for patents for inventions of a particular cla.s.s.
_Conditions._--The applicant for a patent must declare upon oath that he believes himself to be the original inventor of the article for which he desires a patent, and he must submit with his application a full description or drawing of the invention, and if demanded, also a model of the same. The invention must be a useful one, for patents will not be granted for inventions which have no practical or scientific value. If the patent is refused by the commissioner of patents, the applicant can take an appeal to the court of appeals of the District of Columbia. A fee of fifteen dollars is charged for filing the application, and one of twenty dollars for issuing the patent.[49] The term for which a patent may be issued under the present law is seventeen years, which term may be extended only by act of Congress. When a patent is granted the word ”patented” with the date on which it was issued must be placed on the article in order that the public may have notice of the fact that it is patented. During the term of the patent the inventor has the exclusive right to manufacture, use, or sell the article, and in case of infringement the law allows him to apply for an injunction to restrain the infringer, or to sue for damages. Patents, like copyrights, may be a.s.signed or otherwise transferred, provided a record of the transfer is made in the patent office.[50]
[49] Notwithstanding the large number of employees in the patent office, the office is self-supporting by reason of the fees charged and the large number of applications, the annual receipts amounting to more than $2,000,000.
[50] An inventor who needs more time in which to perfect his invention and to forestall the action of some one else may secure a caveat which gives him a year in which to complete his invention.
Trade-marks are also registered by the patent office provided they are to be used in interstate commerce. Trade-marks in other cases are usually protected by state registration.
_Number of Patents Granted._--The inventive genius of the American people is shown by the large number of patents which have been issued since the first patent law was pa.s.sed in 1790. The number granted during the year 1919 alone amounted to 37,259. The annual reports of the commissioner of patents, containing a list of the patents granted, together with specifications and drawings of the inventions for which patents have been issued, const.i.tute a remarkable record of the growth of the country along industrial and scientific lines.
=The Military Power of Congress.=--The Const.i.tution confers upon Congress the power to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water. In England and some continental European states the power of declaring war belongs to the crown, though the means of carrying it on must be provided by the legislative branch of the government. The framers of the Const.i.tution, however, with their distrust of executive power, wisely left the whole matter to Congress. In the exercise of this power Congress has several times declared war against foreign nations.
_A Letter of Marque and Reprisal_ is the technical term for a commission issued to an individual by a belligerent government authorizing him to prey upon the commerce of the enemy. The vessel commanded by a person holding such a commission is called a _privateer_. Privateering was long recognized as a legitimate mode of warfare, but the evils of the practice, due mainly to lack of control over the person bearing a commission of this sort, were so great that a congress of European nations held in Paris in 1856 declared privateering to be abolished.
Although the United States has never formally adhered to this act, there is no likelihood that our government will ever again resort to privateering.
_Captures._--In pursuance of the power to make rules concerning captures on land and sea, Congress has adopted a code of rules, though that matter is regulated for the most part by international law. Formerly it was the practice to allow the commander and crew a share of the proceeds of prizes captured on the sea in time of war, but in 1898 a law was pa.s.sed abolis.h.i.+ng prize money and providing that the proceeds from the sale of prizes should be turned into the treasury of the United States.
In case of rebellion or insurrection the whole matter of the liability of the property of insurgents is within the control of Congress. Thus during the Civil War acts were pa.s.sed for the confiscation of all property of the Confederates used in the prosecution of the war, as well as all abandoned property, that is, property belonging to persons who were away from their homes and in the Confederate service.
=The Army.=--The Const.i.tution expressly authorizes Congress to raise and support armies, subject to the limitation that no appropriation for the support of the army shall be for a longer period than two years. This period corresponds to the term of Congress, and hence the limitation serves to keep the army under the control of the people. There was more or less jealousy of standing armies at the time of the adoption of the Const.i.tution, and for a long time the regular army of the United States was very small; in 1898, for example, it was only 27,000 men.
_Present Strength of the Army._--By an act pa.s.sed in 1916 provision was made for increasing the peace strength of the regular army to 480,000 men; for establis.h.i.+ng officers' reserve training corps at colleges and universities; for maintaining camps for giving military training to citizens who apply for it; and for creating a regular army reserve, the members of which are to receive at least fifteen days' training each year. Provision was also made for reorganizing the militia and for increasing its strength ultimately to about 425,000 men. The expense of the training camps and of equipping, training, and paying a small salary to the officers and men of the organized militia and of the regular army reserve is to be borne by the national government. After the beginning of the war with Germany (1917), provision was made for raising a large army by conscription of able-bodied young men between the ages of 21 and 31 years--later on between 18 and 45.[51] By the act of June 4, 1920, the strength of the regular army was reduced to 150,000 men on October 1, 1921.
[51] In 1918 when the World War closed some 2,000,000 Americans were under arms in France and about 2,000,000 were in the training camps and schools in the United States.
_The General Staff._--In 1903 the office of ”commanding general” was abolished and in its place a general staff was created, to prepare plans for the conduct of military operations. By the acts of 1916 and 1920 the general staff was reorganized. At its head is a chief of staff with the rank of major general, who in time of peace is the actual head of the army. Among his a.s.sistants are: a chief of cavalry, a chief of field artillery, a chief of coast artillery, a chief of infantry, and a chief of chaplains.
_Military and Naval Expenditures._--The expenditures on account of the military and naval establishments have increased enormously in recent years. Before the war with Spain the appropriations for the maintenance of the army did not exceed $50,000,000 per annum. The budget of expenditures for the year 1922 as submitted to Congress by the President aggregated nearly $4,000,000,000. It contained the following items: war department, $390,000,000; navy, $478,000,000; pensions, $258,000,000; veterans bureau, $438,000,000; interest on the national debt, $976,000,000; total, $2,539,000,000, or more than 60 per cent of the total, leaving less than 40 per cent for civil purposes. In the hope of bringing about an agreement among the nations for a reduction of their military and naval expenditures, a conference of the Powers, called by President Harding, a.s.sembled at Was.h.i.+ngton in November, 1921. Here an agreement was reached to reduce naval expenditures.
_Volunteers._--Except during the Civil War and the war with Germany, resort has never been made to conscription for recruiting the army--a practice almost universal in Europe. In most of our wars the chief reliance has been on volunteers and the militia. Thus at the outbreak of the Civil War the President was authorized to accept the services of 500,000 volunteers, and at the outbreak of the war with Spain in 1898, the President called for 200,000 volunteers. It takes much training to convert an inexperienced volunteer into an efficient soldier; but many of our great battles have been fought chiefly by the volunteer forces.
=The Militia.=--The Const.i.tution also authorizes Congress to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions; and to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States. The militia as defined by act of Congress consists of all able-bodied male citizens of the United States between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. That portion of the militia regularly organized, uniformed, and occasionally drilled and taught military tactics const.i.tutes the national guard.[52]