CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 



appealed to higher courts. After twenty years 

 the worn and battered case was carried up to 

 the nine Justices of the United States Supreme 

 Court. They decided for McCormick. But 

 even then the railroad evaded payment for three 

 years, until after McCormick's death. Then 

 the president of the road signed a check for 

 $18,060.79, which was the original value of the 

 nine trunks plus twenty-three years' interest. 



McCormick did not for a moment regard this 

 case as trivial. It involved a principle. Once 

 when a friend bantered him for fighting so hard 

 over a small matter, he replied, "My conscience, 

 sir! I don't know what would become of the 

 American people if there were not some one to 

 stand up for fair dealing." His victory did much 

 to teach the railroads better manners and a finer 

 consideration of the travelling public. Soon 

 after the conclusion of the case, a trunk belong- 

 ing to a relative of the McCormicks was de- 

 stroyed on the New York Central. It value was 

 $1,300, and one of the railroad's lawyers 

 promptly sent a check, saying, "We don't want 

 to have a lawsuit with the McCormicks." 



[102] 



