HIS LIFE AND WORK 



Several of the wealthiest citizens, who had lost 

 courage, rallied to the help of the city. One 

 merchant, who had lost his store, borrowed 

 $100,000 from McCormick and started again. 

 And so McCormick became not only one of the 

 main builders of the first Chicago, but also of the 

 second Chicago, which in less than three years had 

 become larger and finer than the city that was. 

 It was this steel-fibred tenacity that was the 

 main factor in the success of McCormick, 

 whether we consider him as a manufacturer or 

 as a great American. It enabled him to estab- 

 lish the perilous industry of making harvesting 

 machines a business so complex and many- 

 sided that out of every twenty manufacturers 

 who set out to emulate McCormick, only one 

 survives today. It enabled McCormick to 

 hold his own in spite of adverse litigation, the 

 hostility of Congress, the rivalry of other invent- 

 ors, and the calamity of the Great Fire. It 

 was so remarkable, and so productive of good 

 to his country and to himself, that he will always 

 remain one of the creative and heroic figures in 

 the early industrial history of the United States. 



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