ed a copy of the American patent, actually applied for and
obtained the English rights in his own name. In 1858, the United States
Commissioner of Patents said, "No inventor, probably, has ever been so
harassed, so trampled upon, so plundered by that sordid and licentious
class of infringers known in the parlance of the world as 'pirates.'"
Worn out with work and disappointment, Goodyear died two years later, a
bankrupt. But his story should be remembered, and his memory honored, by
every American.

* * * * *

Near a little mountain hamlet of central Sweden stands a great pyramid
of iron cast from ore dug from the neighboring mountains. It is set up
on a base of granite also quarried from those mountains, and bears upon
it two names, Nils Ericsson and John Ericsson. The monument marks the
place where these two men were born. The life of the former was passed
in Sweden and does not concern us, but John Ericsson's name is closely
connected with the history of the United States.

He was the son of a poor miner, and one of his earliest recollections
was of the sheriff coming to take away all their household goods in
payment of a debt. He was put to work in the iron mines as soon as he
was able to earn a few pennies daily, and he soon developed a
remarkable aptitude for mechanics. At the age of eleven, he planned a
pumping engine to keep the mines free from water, and at the age of
twelve, was made a member of the surveying party in charge of the
construction of the Gotha ship canal, and was soon himself in charge of
a section of the work, with six hundred men under him, one of whom was
detailed to follow him with a stool, upon which he stood to use the
surveying instruments. It reminds one of Farragut commanding a war ship,
at the age of eleven.

In 1826, at the age of twenty-three, he went to England to introduce a
flame or gas-engine which he had invented. He remained there for eleven
years, and then a fortunate chance won him for the United States. He had
been experimenting with a screw or propeller for steamboats, instead of
the paddle-wheels as used by Fulton, and finally, equipping a small boat
with two propellers, offered the invention to the British admiralty. But
the admiralty was skeptical. The United States consul in Liverpool
happened to be Francis B. Ogden, a pioneer in steam navigation on the
Ohio river. He was impressed with Ericsson's invention, introduced him
to Robert F.