CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 



$1,000. This money came to him at the precis^ 

 moment when he needed it most, to enable him 

 to enter into the famous debate with Douglas 

 the debate that made him the inevitable can- 

 didate of the Republican party. It is interest- 

 ing to note how closely the destinies of Lincoln 

 and McCormick were interwoven. Both were 

 born in 1809, on farms in the South. Both 

 struggled through a youth of adversity and first 

 came into prominence in Illinois. Both labored 

 to preserve the Union, and when the War of 

 Secession came it was the Reaper that enabled 

 Lincoln to feed his armies. Both men were 

 emancipators, the one from slavery and the other 

 from famine; and both to-day sleep under the 

 soil of Illinois. No other two Americans had 

 heavier tasks than they, and none worked more 

 mightily for the common good. 



Of all McCormick's lawsuits, and they were 

 many, the most extraordinary was the famous 

 Baggage Case, which lasted for twenty-three 

 years from 1862 to 1885. It was probably the 

 best single instance of the man's dogged tenacity 

 in defence of a principle. The original cause 



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