Do you know anything about whether those items appear on the books of the Treasury in any place or not?—A. I do not. Q. You know nothing about it one way or the other?-A. No, sir. Q. Have you ever examined to see whether they do stand or appear on any of the books of the Treasury?-A. No, sir, I have not. It was not part of my duty. Mr. INGALLS. So I understand. By the CHAIRMAN: Q. The only existence that those three amounts have to your knowledge is that you were ordered to put them there to make the accounts harmonize?-A. That is so. Page 57, next to the last column footing should be $247,766,674.71. Page 152, footing of second column in last table should be $330,981,109.65. 16 TREAS IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. APRIL 29, 1880.—Ordered to be printed. Mr. BOOTH, from the Committee on Patents, submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany bill S. 960.] The Committee on Patents, to whom was referred the bill (S. 960) for the "relief of Marietta Mattison, have had the same under consideration, and submit the following report : On the 9th of March, 1858, letters patent were issued to Judson Mattison for improvements in machinery for packing flour, which was extended seven years from the 9th of March, 1872. The bill proposes to authorize the Commissioner of Patents to hear and determine the application of Mrs. Marietta Mattison, widow of Judson Mattison, peceased, for herself and the legal heirs of Judson Mattison, for the extension of said letters patent for the further term of seven years. Seventeen ex parte affidavits by practical millers, packers, and mechanics have been submitted to the committee to prove the novelty and utility of the invention, in which the affiants estimate the saving of labor by the invention at from fifty to seventy-five per cent., and the value of the extension sought from $6,000 to $10,000. The memorial of Mrs. Marietta Mattison shows that her husband, the inventor, died in 1874, leaving her his widow and one son, a minor, and that the profits derived from the patent have been $32,218.65. The committee are of opinion that no patent should be extended after a life of 21 years, unless it is a marked exception to general rules; and that the reasons relied upon for this extension-that the general depression of business from 1872 to 1879 prevented the inventor and his widow from receiving the full value of the patent, and that the profits arising from the patent have been largely exhausted in settling demands against the estate of the patentee-are insufficient. The committee recommend that the bill be indefinitely postponed. |