Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1885 — The Driven Well Patent Out. [ARTICLE]

The Driven Well Patent Out.

The Humpty Dumpty dramatic company, advertised to pi ay in .Rensselaer last Friday and Saturday. evenings, did not show up either in this or any of the neighdio'fing towns in which it was advertised. We. suspect that the combination was a snide, amdtuer affair, and that it has met a natural •uni not altogether untimely end. Mr. Dexter, of the Nowels House, is out several dollars on the advance but whether lie got into any others iii this place, except the newspapers for their advertising, we have not heard. e

The driven well patent, which has been the source ot so .mueli troublesome litigation against farmers, expired January 14, and any one is free hereafter to drive a well on his own premises without fear of prosecution. It is time that this most absurd and uhjtist patent*, should come - to an end. It is enough almost to make one wish that the patent office itself were abolished, to see it become the means ot putting such an unwarranted restriction on the rights of the people.-Ex.