“I have given myself for an example. I made a toy, a trivial gadget of little worth. For this, you paid me a substantial sum. But I also discovered what force it is that reaches out across the depths of space from planet to planet and from sun to sun. And it is demanded — literally demanded by Mr. Baird and others — that I give this for nothing!
“I have done this to show you what happens to scientists who try honestly to devote their talents to the good of all. What I cannot show is the amount of waste of intellectual ability that results from the failure of our Patent System to reward those who discover new Laws of Nature. Our great corporations would like to promote vast programs of research into the secrets of the Universe. But there is no way for you, the workers and stockholders in these companies, to profit directly from such research. There is no way for an individual to engage in a career of pure, basic research with the hope of profiting thereby, unless he turns maker of gimmicks, as I have done.
“But I do not wish to be a gadgeteer. Neither do thousands of others who are forced to do so because they can get a reward in no other way. Further than this, it is fundamentally impossible for us to make such a switch of profession and do it adequately. There are theoretical research minds, and there are engineer-type-thinkers. By their very nature, these are not interchangeable in the kinds of work that each is competent to perform. Each needs the other. If both are forced into one mold, then both suffer alike, as a result.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Mart saw it coming. It was almost as if Baird had drawn back his arm and were aiming a polished haft and gleaming point in his direction.
The television reporter leaned forward, his eyes shining with malice. He had timed it just right, Mart thought. For a moment he felt a little sorry for Baird. You always knew what a mind like Baird’s was going to do next. The rut it traveled in was old and very deep.
When he spoke now, Baird’s voice was low and modulated with his special kind of phony sincerity. “Suppose that the present hearings before the Congressional Committee were decided against you, Dr. Nagle. Suppose it is decided not to reward you with a monopoly on what has long been considered a Law of Nature so that you can profit therefrom. This is a time when your country needs these discoveries very badly, so the scientists tell us. Your country, which is perhaps the only one under the blue sky of Earth where you could have the freedom sufficient to make these discoveries. Will you give them to that country of yours freely, even if the decision is against you? Or will you bury them as you have threatened to do — until someone else who can equal your great genius comes along and rediscovers them? Which will you do, Dr. Nagle?”
Baird drew back, grinning triumphantly. Mart paused long enough to let him enjoy that triumph. Then he faced the cameras squarely again.
“I will give my work freely, of course,” he said. “What I have done has been merely to bring this tragic injustice to the attention of the nation, which is being harmed so irrevocably by it. I have done this because I believe in my fellow citizens. I believe they will no longer permit this injustice to continue — driving out of my profession those whose life work ought to be the uncovering of the great secrets of Nature.
“Rather, now that they know the truth, they will insist that justice be done. First, because it is their nature to be just. Second, to draw back to my profession the thousands of brilliant young minds that should not be forced into the making of gadgets for a living. I assure you, Mr. Baird, and you, my fellow citizens, that my discoveries will not remain very much longer as Trade Secrets.”
Afterwards, Mart contended that it was the television broadcast that swung the decision, but Berk was not sure. The following days saw a huge stack of testimony taken from scientists who told almost incredible stories of trying to get satisfaction from the existing Patent System.