Functional socialism

GENIUS 83

ventor’s share being frequently negligible. Every patent agent can tell queer stories about valuable patents.

The attitude of Function towards invention is, however, fundamentally different from Capitalism, in that every patent or new process that improves or cheapens production, or dispenses with labour, strengthens the economic position of the whole community, and, in the true sense of the word, saves labour, to labour’s gain, and not, as before, to labour’s loss. The whole problem was fully discussed in all its bearings by the National Guild writers twenty yearsago. At the risk of being tedious or too obvious, I may with advantage recall some of the old arguments.

Sometimes an absolutely novel invention crosses the industrial horizon. It is a sport, the emanation of some unique experience, some happy inspiration. In the main, however, inventions are the logical outcome of earlier inventive or constructive work. These inventions are only partially novel: the new invention is only another detail in a prolonged process. We all know how many alleged new inventions fail to secure patents on grounds of anticipation or prior combination. In general, all new inventions are merely the development of a continuous practice and the new invention therefore is a social product. That is not a denial of suitable rewards for ingenuity: but a medical discovery is equally an invention, the reward of research or observation. The doctor, however, is compelled to disclose the essential facts of