In comparison to the monetary returns received by the inventors Howe and Singer, Wilson himself did not receive as great a monetary reward for his outstanding sewing-machine inventions. Because of his health Wilson retired in 1853, when the stock company was formed, but he received a regular salary and additional money from the patent renewals. Wilson petitioned for a second extension of his patents on April 7, 1874, stating that, due to his early poverty, he had been compelled to sell a half interest in a patent (his first one) for the sum of $200. Also he stated that he had not received more than his expenses during the original fourteen-year term. Wilson also stated that he had received only $137,000 during the first seven-year extension period. These figures were verified by his partner. The petition was read before both Houses of Congress and referred to the Committee on Patents.[94] There was strong feeling against the extension of the Wilson patents. The New York _Daily Graphic_, December 30, 1874, reported: [Illustration: Figure 136.--ALLEN BENJAMIN WILSON, 1824-1888. From a drawing owned by the Singer Mfg. Co. Formerly, the drawing was owned by the Wheeler & Wilson Mfg. Co. (Smithsonian photo 32066.)] So valuable has been this latter four-motion feed that few or no cloth-sewing machines are now made without it. The joint ownership of this feature of the Wilson patents has served to bind the combination of sewing-machine builders together, and enabled them to defy competition by force of the monopoly. It is this feature which the combination wishes to further monopolize for seven years by act of Congress. The inventor has probably realized millions for his invention. Singer admits that his patents, which are much less important, paid him two millions prior to 1870, since which time he has not been compelled to render an account. The Wilson patents with their extended terms were worth a much larger sum. They have been public property, so far as the feed is concerned, since June 15, 1873, and will remain so if too great a pressure is not brought to bear on Congress for their extension. A monopoly of this feed motion for seven years more would be worth from ten to thirty millions to the owner--and would cost the people four times as much. Wilson had not made the millions for he only received a small percentage of the renewals' earnings plus his salary from the patents' owner, the Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Company. The Congressional Committee on Patents made an adverse report in 1874 and again in 1875 and 1876, when applications for an extension were continued Wilson died on April 29, 1888. ISAAC MERRITT SINGER [Illustration: Figure 137.--- ISAAC MERRITT SINGER, 1811-1875. From a charcoal drawing owned by the Singer Mfg. Co. (Smithsonian photo 32066-B)]