"The scheme would also fail unless it would be possible for this board to secure the entire confidence of the American inventors. Very few inventors have had large business experience or know how to protect themselves from the various parasites who thrive upon them. "A man gets an idea--it may be an old one, but he considers it original--and becomes obsessed with the idea that he has made a great discovery. He may be a farmer, a mechanic, a clergyman, or any other form of good American citizen, but not an experienced business man. In many cases he becomes a prey to people who live entirely upon their wits and the inexperience of others. "First, if he is unfortunate enough to fall in the hands of an unscrupulous patent attorney, he will get all the money he can out of him by securing him a worthless patent. Probably 75 per cent. of the patents issued are not worth the paper they are written upon. After securing the patents he will then give up his farm or his position, take his savings and go to New York or some other city, and fall into the hands of an unscrupulous promoter, who makes the inventor believe he can place his patents, or, if he has a good invention and falls into the hands of an unscrupulous promoter, the invention is taken away from him, or he is given a mere pittance for it. "I know of one case where an inventor of one of the most successful typewriting machines on the market, who spent his life in developing it, is receiving the munificent sum of eleven cents from each machine as a royalty. There is a large number of these machines being manufactured, and of course he is receiving a comfortable income even at this small rate, but the promoter who had nothing to do with its origination and who only happened to know the capitalists to go to, and the capitalists, are receiving a princely income. "So many instances of inventors being deprived of a fair remuneration for their inventions have occurred that as a class it will be found that many of them will hesitate to submit their ideas to the board.