THE INDEPENDENT HARVESTER COMPANY 127 



1, and took it for granted that it would be patronizing men that 

 we believe in, and, by sending you an advertisement, at the 

 same time be a help in the efforts which you and your paper are 

 putting forth." 2 The president of the company, in fact, acknowl- 

 edged it to be not cooperative. One very widely circulated pam- 

 phlet issued by the company bore these words prominently on 

 the front cover: " Cooperative Manufacturing of Implements. 

 General Farm Machinery and Gasoline Engines What the Farmer 

 is Doing for Himself The Farmer's Company Not in the Trust." 

 On the inside cover we read such sentiments as these: 



"Buying from the Trust means prosperity for the Trust. Why not 

 cooperate for your own independent profit? Chapter one in the battle for 

 farmer's independence. Striking the blow for farm freedom at the psycho- 

 logical moment of history. Every fight has its crisis the moment when a 

 feather's weight one way or the other turns defeat into victory. The struggle 

 of American farmers for freedom from trust tyranny is at that crisis to-day. 

 The Harvester monopoly, by tightening its grip on the situation, has forced 

 thousands of individual farmers to submit to its demands." 



This same pamphlet, issued about the year 1912, describes the 

 beginning of the Independent Harvest Movement, and goes on to 

 describe its management. "From the beginning," says the pam- 

 phlet, "the same conservative methods have prevailed in the 

 Independent Harvester Company's management a conservatism 

 that is ever alive for the latest progress in machinery manufactur- 

 ing, but holds fast to the old fashioned ideals in its dealings with 

 every customer." 



About the time this pamphlet was issued, describing the com- 

 pany's "conservative management," a committee of three men, 

 representing various groups of stockholders, made a "Committee's 

 Report to Stockholders" under date of December 18, 1912, and 

 set forth the details of a meeting which they had held with some 

 representatives and stockholders of the company at Piano, Illinois. 

 Among other things, the report states: "Various phases of the 

 harvester company were discussed. The millions contributed by 

 the investors, and the few machines to distribute after seven years 

 of promise were data for serious consideration ... It was appar- 

 ent from the first, however, that there was no disposition to meet 

 our inquiries with full and complete answers. No very definite 

 estimate was made as to the company's output of machines for 

 the present year, excepting that there was a substantial increase. 

 Questioned as to the cost of the output of last year, Mr. B. elabor- 



2 Letter to Editor E. M. Tousley, "Cooperation" (Minneapolis), July, 

 1913, p. 275. 



