the life of Philo T Farnsworth - Early Television Foundation

DEFENSE OF THE PATENT DEPARTMENT 221
zation of the patent procedure. The Commissioner of Patents
and his associates, naturally, were disturbed. Since Phil was an
outstanding example of a poor young inventor achieving recognition
in a field where powerful interests were at work, his
testimony would be valuable. Phil's treatment by the department
had always been so fair that he was eager to appear in its
defense.
I went with him to Washington for the hearing. It was held
in the Caucus Room of the Senate Building. This was a large
chamber elaborately fitted up with a big
thronelike table for
the members of the committee, each member being provided
to the committee dais and
with a microphone. At right angles
leading down from it to the center of the room were long tables
for members of the press, waiting witnesses and their counsel,
and privileged spectators. A table at the right was given over to
the counsel for the appearing witness and was fitted up with
microphone and room for secretaries. Back of the throne were
facilities for the use of the committee's staff. This elaborate
array occupied one half of the chamber, the other half being
reserved for the public. Someone remarked to me that this room
was the political sounding board of the nation. The arrangements
and the lived fittings up to the definition.
We appeared at the hearing as Dr. Jewett, of the Bell Laboratories,
was testifying before the committee regarding the
patent setup of the great Bell System. He explained fully the
activities of the Bell Laboratories over which he presided and
their relationship with the parent company, the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company. In the course of his
testimony there developed one of those strange instances where
a simple statement by an honest scientist was distorted to
bedevil two great corporations.
Dr. Jewett said that the expense of $10,000,000 a year for