HIS LIFE AND WORK 



forty years. It did more in the earlier days 

 than any other one thing to make talk about 

 the Reaper and to move the farmers out of the 

 old-fashioned ruts. It provided the vaudeville 

 element which is necessary in salesmanship 

 where people are not interested in the commod- 

 ity itself. As often happens, it was in the end 

 carried too far. It became the most costly 

 weapon of competition. It introduced all man- 

 ner of unfairness and often violence. The most 

 absurd tests were frequently agreed to. Mowers 

 would be chained back to back and then forcibly 

 torn apart. Reapers were driven into groves 

 of saplings. Machines of special strength were 

 made secretly. And so the warfare raged, until 

 by general consent the field test was abandoned. 



These six factors of the McCormick System 

 became the six commandments of the farm 

 machinery business. They were largely adopted 

 by his competitors, and exist to-day, with the 

 exception of the exclusive contract and the field 

 test. 



By 1850 McCorrnick had not only solved 

 the problem of the Reaper; he had worked out 



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