will take place with regard to Moore & Haskell's and
McCormick's extensions. I should be greatly pleased, and have stronger
hopes if Hussey's case could be acted on promptly and before that
contest begins.
"On the ground of its having been so long and so favorably reported on,
by the Senate's Committee in '48--six years next May, possibly it could
be called up at an earlier date,--the sooner the better, to avoid
competition from interested parties, and which I certainly anticipate if
long delayed in either House of Congress. Honestly believing the cause
just and right, for no fee, however large, could tempt me to advocate
what I thought unjust or wrong, I shall persevere as long as there is
ground for hope. If we fail I shall have pleasing reflections, doing
unto others as you would that they under similar circumstances should do
unto you."
Mr. Edward Stabler, on February 5, 1854, wrote to J. A. Pierce, member of
one of the Committees, a letter from which the following is extracted:
[Sidenote: Mr. Hussey's Character and Service]
"I will, however, preface my remarks by saying that I have no connection
whatever with his business operations nor pecuniary interest in his
affairs, but being well acquainted with him I am free to say, that I
have known no man on whose word I have placed more implicit reliance, no
one more honestly entitled to what he asks for.
"He has faithfully devoted the prime of his life, and no small portion
of it either, in the invention and the perfecting of the reaping and
mowing machine; and his untiring perseverance has certainly been crowned
with success so far as to confer a signal and lasting benefit on his
country; but unfortunately he has derived no corresponding advantage for
himself, and from no fault on his part.
[Sidenote: Opinion of an Able Mechanic]
[Sidenote: Mr. Stabler's Testimony]
"While C. H. McCormick has literally fattened on the agricultural public
by the sale of his inferior and cheaply made machines--for such I do
consider them, both from my own observations and the report to me by
those who have been induced to purchase them--Hussey has been pirated on
from all quarters, and others reaping the reward of his labors. And I
perceive by the papers on file, and accompanying the printed report (No.
16) that this same C. H. McCormick has actually petitioned against the
renewal of Hussey's patent. It is really a very hard case, that a poor
man and one of the most deserv
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