"President Roosevelt in his message of December 3rd said: 'Modern industrial conditions are such that combination is not only necessary, but inevitable.... Corporation and labour union alike have come to stay. Each, if properly managed, is a source of good, and not evil.' If capital combinations can be good, there must be some that are good. Would it not be a proper service to the American people to tell them of a trust that, while it had reaped the economical advantages of combination, had yet played fair with the public and with its competitors? Hence this story of the great Harvester combine. Before we began to publish Mr. Casson's articles, we followed up his investigations with a thorough inquiry of our own, and we are bound to say that the business methods of this institution seem to conform to the highest standards of fair play and square dealing. The International Harvester combine is not a tariff trust. Its members surrendered dominance in their own business only when the trend of 'modern industrial conditions' and overstrenuous competition made combination 'not only necessary, but inevitable.' The inside history of the 'Morganising' of this group of fighters, as narrated here, is as humorous as it is fascinating." CONTENTS PAGE Preface vii CHAPTER I. The Story of McCormick 3 II. The Story of Deering 48 III. The International Harvester Company 90 IV. The American Harvester Abroad 126 V. The Harvester and the American Farmer 161 ILLUSTRATIONS A Chicago mower in Siberia _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE Cyrus Hall McCormick 12 The Virginian birthplace of the McCormick reaper 22 A model of the first practical reaper 27 William Deering 51 William N. Whiteley 53 C. W. Marsh 53 John F. Appleby 53 E. H. Gammon 53 Asa S. Bushnell 60 Benjamin H. Warder 60 Hon. Thomas Mott Osborne 60 David M. Osborne 60 A self-binder in Scotland, with the Wallace Monument in the background 62 Cyrus Hall McCormick, Jr. 85 Charles Deering 85 Harold McCormick 92