CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 



derive a fortune from the sale of his patent, but 

 to cut the grain on his father's farm. 



So far as the pre-McCormick inventors are 

 concerned, the whole truth about them seems 

 to be that a few invented fractional mowers or 

 reapers that were fairly good as far as they went, 

 and that most of them invented nothing that 

 became of any lasting value. Nine-tenths of 

 them were pathfinders in the sense that they 

 showed what ought not to be done. 



Very little attention would have been given 

 them had it not been for the persistent effort 

 made by rival manufacturers to detract from 

 McCormick's reputation as an inventor. This 

 they did in a wholly impersonal manner, of 

 course, so that they should not be obliged to pay 

 him royalties, and because his prestige as the 

 original inventor of the Reaper enabled him to 

 outsell them among the farmers. 



But now that the competition of Reaper man- 

 ufacturers has been tempered by consolidation, 

 the time has arrived to do justice to Cyrus Mc- 

 Cormick as the inventor of the Reaper. The 

 stock phrase, "He was less of an inventor 



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