upation
which would make him familiar with the subject.

[Sidenote: McCormick Claims Invention]

As the only other claimant for the honor of inventing the reaper was
Cyrus H. McCormick, reference is here made to a book entitled "Memorial
of Robert McCormick," the father of Cyrus H. McCormick, Leander J.
McCormick and William S. McCormick, published by the said Leander J.
McCormick in 1885, pages 44 to the bottom of page 51, also pages 58 to
61 inclusive, from which I extract:

[Sidenote: Denial by Members of McCormick Family]

"Now, while we have no disposition to question the merits of the
so-called McCormick harvester and binder, which, without doubt, is a
good machine,--though the judgment of foreigners as to its value is of
no consequence,--we do assert that C. H. McCormick was not entitled to
any of the honors showered upon him as its inventor. To be more
explicit, he not only did not invent the said machine, nor mechanically
assist in the combinations of the inventions of others which produced
it, but he never invented or produced any essential elementary part in
any reaping or harvesting machine from the first to last. These
assertions are broad, but absolutely true. They stand squarely upon the
records and the history and state of the art. C. H. McCormick, or any
one for him, cannot deny them with proofs, therefore he is not entitled
to recognition as the man who 'has done more to elevate agriculture than
any man the world has produced,' because of his supposed inventions in
this line; but on the contrary, that the development of Western
agriculture has elevated him, and that he has more money, and received
more honors, 'than any man the world has produced,' by appropriating the
brains of others, and the credit due them as inventors, are propositions
much more defensible."

[Sidenote: Their Affirmation of Hussey's Claim]

"But the man who is entitled to the most credit, as inventor and pioneer
in this business, is Obed Hussey, who, December 31st, 1833, patented the
machine (successfully operated in previous harvest, well known and in
use since to this day), which combined all the main features--except the
reel, which was then an old device--of practical reapers down to the
time, at least, when 'harvesters,' so-called, came into the field."

[Illustration: (From An Old Print)]

[Sidenote: The First Machine]

The following is also copied from "Memorial of Robert McCormick,"
published by Leander J. McCor