HIS LIFE AND WORK 



agent. The village storekeeper was not a 

 mechanic, and was too careful of his reputation 

 among the farmers to offer for sale a machine 

 that he did not understand. Therefore, Mc- 

 Cormick bent all his energies to this new task 

 of devising a mode of action. He began to 

 develop what he was apt to call "the finger-ends 

 of the business." And he created a new species 

 of commercial organization which is by many 

 thought to be fully as remarkable as his in- 

 vention of the Reaper. 



First, he gave a Written Guarantee with every 

 machine. He had conceived of this inducement 

 as early as 1842. He "warranted the per- 

 formance of the Reaper in every respect," and 

 by this means made seven sales in that year. 

 In 1848 he had his guarantee printed like an 

 advertisement, with a picture of the Reaper at 

 the top, and blank spaces for the farmer, the 

 agent, and two witnesses to sign. The price 

 of the machine was to be $120. The farmer 

 was to pay $30 cash, and the balance in six 

 months, on condition that the Reaper would 

 cut one and a half acres an hour, that it would 



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