Our Government: Local, State, and National: Idaho Edition Part 11

III. COPYRIGHTS AND PATENTS.

Copyrights and Patents.--Section 8, Clause 8. _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 development of American literature has been greatly aided through the operation of laws based on this clause. Copyrights are secured from the Librarian of Congress. Any person obtaining a copyright has the sole right to print, copy, or sell the book, chart, engraving, music, etc., for a period of twenty-eight years. A copyright may be renewed for fourteen years longer. It may be sold or transferred providing a record of the transfer be made in the office of the Librarian of Congress within sixty days.

Patents.--Americans have been rightly named the great inventors of the world. Not a little of our marvelous industrial progress has been due to this inventive ability. The government has contributed to the same end, through the enactment of laws protecting those inventors who secure patents. A person desiring a patent must declare upon oath, in his pet.i.tion addressed to the Commissioner of Patents, that he believes himself to be the first inventor of the article for which he solicits a patent. The sum of fifteen dollars is charged for filing the application, and twenty dollars for issuing the patent. A patent is granted for seventeen years, but may be extended for seven years more.

During this period, the patentee has the exclusive right to manufacture, sell, or transfer his invention.[32]

[Footnote 32: In the year 1910, 37,421 patents were granted by our government.]

IV. MILITARY POWERS IN CONGRESS.

Section 8, Clauses 11, 12, 13, 14. _To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water.

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years.

To provide and maintain a navy.

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces._

The Army.--Americans are always impressed by the military spirit so prevalent in European nations. Compared with the standing army of Germany, which has some 700,000 men, and with that of Russia, containing 1,000,000 men, or with that of most European nations, our army is insignificant in size. According to a law of 1901, the army of the United States cannot contain more than 100,000 men.[33]

[Footnote 33: The minimum number of men was fixed at 57,000. In 1908, the number of officers and men in the army was 72,628.]

Fortunately, there has always existed in the United States the desire to keep the standing army from becoming unduly large. The Const.i.tution itself indicates that appropriations for the army shall not be for a longer time than two years. At the end of this period, the people may check the growth of the army through the election of representatives opposed thereto.

Officers and Cla.s.sification of the Army.--The President is, _ex officio_, commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States. The office of general was created, by Congress, March 3, 1799, but was not filled. It was revived in 1866 for General Grant, General Sherman succeeding to the t.i.tle in 1869. The same rank was bestowed on General Sheridan in 1888. The lieutenant-general is next in rank to the general. The army is distributed geographically as follows: Division of the Philippines and the Departments of California, of the Colorado, of the Columbia, of Dakota, of the East, of the Lakes, of the Missouri, and of Texas. The division is in charge of a major-general, and the departments are each in charge of a major-general or of a brigadier-general. The commands which correspond to each grade are: major-general, four regiments; brigadier-general, two regiments; colonel, one regiment; lieutenant-colonel or major, a battalion or squadron; captain, a company. As now organized, infantry regiments consist of 12 companies, of 65 men each. Cavalry regiments contain 12 troops, each having 65 enlisted men.

The Navy.--We are told by competent authorities that one of our best means of preserving peace with foreign powers is to maintain a strong navy. This has become much more necessary since the United States has begun to acquire insular possessions. Although the construction of the modern American navy was not begun until 1883, there has been a notable advance within the past few years. In 1910 it was estimated that our navy is excelled in strength only by that of Great Britain.

Congress, in 1910, continued the policy of "adequate preparation" by authorizing the construction of two battle-ships a year.

Names of Vessels.--A ship of the first cla.s.s is given the name of a State; one of the second cla.s.s that of a princ.i.p.al city or river, and the names for ships of the third cla.s.s are selected by the President. The navy now contains 312 vessels.

Officers in the Navy.--The t.i.tles admiral and vice-admiral, corresponding to the grades of general and lieutenant-general in the army, were created by act of Congress to be bestowed on the following men as recognition for distinguished services during the Civil War: Admirals Farragut and Porter; and Vice-Admirals Farragut, Porter, and Rowan. Admiral Dewey was granted his t.i.tle by a special Act of Congress after the Battle of Manila. The officers of the navy ranking with major-generals, brigadier-generals, colonels, and so on, in the army, are rear-admirals, commodores, captains, commanders, lieutenant-commanders, lieutenants, masters, ensigns.

The Militia.--With but little opposition in the Const.i.tutional Convention, Congress was given the power to make provision for citizen-soldiers as follows:--

Section 8, Clause 15. _To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions._

Clause 16. _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, reserving to the States respectively the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress._

Number of the Militia.--All able-bodied male citizens of the United States and males between eighteen and forty-five years of age who have declared their intention to become citizens are regarded as the militia force of the country. As a matter of fact, there are at present only about 100,000 men enrolled in this service. But in the case of an emergency the President may compel the governors of the various States to furnish the troops needed. The militia may thus be called into service, under their own State officers, for a period of nine months.

The War of 1812 and the Civil War furnish the best ill.u.s.trations of the enforcement of this provision.

Volunteers of 1898.--We should note here the manner in which men were secured for the war against Spain. We see, according to Clause 15, that the militia may be called out only for the purposes of executing the laws of the Union, suppressing insurrections, and repelling invasions. Now, in the case given, the war was to be conducted in foreign territory, and President McKinley called for 200,000 volunteers. It was understood, however, that preference would be given to those volunteers who were already members of the organized militia.

V. LOCATION OF THE CAPITAL.

Section 8, Clause 17. _Congress shall have the power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, a.r.s.enals, dock-yards and other needful buildings._

One of the most interesting contests in American history arose in the selection of a site for the capital city. Congress finally accepted, for this purpose, one hundred square miles of land on the Potomac River, which was ceded by Maryland and Virginia. The thirty square miles given by Virginia were afterward returned to that State. The capital was to be in New York until 1790, then in Philadelphia until 1800. In 1800 it was transferred to the new district, called the District of Columbia.[34]

[Footnote 34: For the government of this district, see "Government in State and Nation," p. 204.]

VI. IMPLIED POWERS.

Strict and Loose Construction.--Our national development has been, in large measure, dependent on the interpretation of the next clause of the Const.i.tution. It is often called the elastic clause.

Section 8, Clause 18. _To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vested by this Const.i.tution in the government of the United States or in any department or officer thereof._

Briefly stated, the problem has always been, Has Congress the right to exercise powers not definitely granted by the Const.i.tution? Alexander Hamilton first set forth the doctrine of _implied_ powers. He urged that Congress might, in carrying out specific powers, use methods not _expressly_ provided for in the Const.i.tution, as in the creation of a bank or mint. Since the time of this interpretation, which, fortunately for American interests, was sanctioned by Washington and later by the Supreme Court through its great Chief-Justice John Marshall, the advocates of the doctrines of strict and loose construction have contended for their principles. Does the Const.i.tution permit the acquisition of territory? May Congress establish a protective tariff, or a system of internal improvements? We have here but three of the great questions which have led to a definition of these opposing views.

Speaking in general terms, the party in power has favored loose construction, while the party out of power has advocated strict construction. Said Mr. Bryce, "The Americans have more than once bent their Const.i.tution in order that they might not be forced to break it."[35]

[Footnote 35: Bryce, "American Commonwealth," I, 390.]

SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS AND REFERENCES.

1. What are some of the difficulties encountered in becoming a citizen?

Independent, 65:994-1000.

2. Is there a postal savings-bank in your town? Is it successful?

3. Should there be a system of postal telegraphy? Cent. Mag., 59:952-956; N. Am. Rev., 172:554-556.

4. Extent and advantages of rural free delivery, Rev. of R's, 27:55-60.

5. Perils of the postal service, N. Am. Rev., 172:420-430; 551-559.

6. Defects in the postal system, N. Am. Rev., 174:807-819; 175:115-127.

7. Privateers and privateering, Government in State and Nation, 204; Walker, The Making of the Nation, 200.

8. For the methods employed in the patent office and a comparison between our system and that of European nations, see Cent. Mag., 61:346-356.

9. A good account of the reorganization of the army of the United States is given in the Atl. Mo., 89:437-451.

10. The development of the United States army, Scribner's Mag., 30:286-311, 446-462, 593-613.

11. West Point after a century, World's Work, August, 1902, 2433-2451.

12. A hundred years of West Point, Outlook, 71:591-601.