New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-09-03
THE AMERICAN TRIUMPH.


from our Special Correspondent in Paris OF the re-
cent triumph of American genius at the ofiicial
trial at La Trappes of Agricultural Machines in
presence of Prince jerome Napoleon, President,
and the Commissioners and Jurors Of the Univer-
sal Exposition Had this been the bulletin Of
murderous battle, no matter on what prete1t OF
quarrel, wherein fifty thousand Americans had
ronted twice their number of the choicest troops
selected from all the armies Of Europe, we should
have been required to issue one edition after
another till midnight, and then close our office
with the demand for extra copies Of the electrly-
inc narration still unsatiated. The victory actu-
ally achieved by our countrymen was far more sig
nal, more benefcent more creditable, than that
would have been yet we presume less than hun
dred persons who do not usually read TEE TRIB-
UNE saw fit to buy copy on this occasion, and
that very few habitual readers were impelled to
dispatch copies to their distant friends, as, in the
alternative case contemplated, many would have
done In this middle of the XIXth Century, we
are still essentially barbarians-that is we judge
by brutal standards, and deck with laurels the
brow of overmastering Force rather than that Of
creative Genius. Let US hope that this will not
always be; and to the end that it may not, let us
consider some of the ahtecedents and incidents Of
the recent American triumph.
/. Though France has for several years been
planning and preparing this Worlds Exhibition
of Industry, we believe the idea Of q trial of
competing Machines therein exhibited is sub
stantially of American origin. We certainly
saw and heard nothing Of it in Paris until the
exhibitors of American reaping- machines, who
realize that no jury, and much less the mass of
mere visitors, could form any reliable judgment
az to the merits Of rival machines by merely
seeing them stand idle in an exhibition, deter
mine having working test if only of their own.
We believe the first trial actually made was PHI
vate and highly successful enc Of an American
(Mappy's) moving machine, near the end OF
June; to this followed one of plows at Grignon,
in which (there being no American plOws On
exhibition at Paris) the English were adjudged
yictors; then came the triumphant working of
Mccormick reaper as a mower, also at Grgnon,
the great Imperial school Of scientific farming;
and the results and the fame of these trials i'm.
pelled Prince Jerome-who is naturally most
anxious to render the Exhibition useful and
memorable-tO order an official trial-test and
comparison of Agricultural Machines as La
Trsppes on the 14th ult.
9. In this trial our country engaged at immense
disadvantage because of the few American ms
chimes on exhibition at Paris. These, we may
fairly presume, are better than the average OF
our machines; but it by no means follows that
they are necessarily the best much less that they
embody all the merits of the whole. We cannot
have less than forty reputable American machines
for thrashng and cleaning grain; but ofthese only
the single machine of Pitts (Buffalo) is on exhi-
btion in Paris. That machine was in effect
brought into direct competition with all the
thrasLers and winnowers of Europe-fsr there
cannot be one Of these worth considering that 10
not in the Paris Exhibition, and would not have
been entered for competition at La Trappes If
its hackers had imagined there was chance Of
its working creditably. In regard to reaper',
We stood a better chance, having just three
machines on exhibition and in the field against
the countless rival devices Of Europe.
g. The trials Of these machines were neces.
ssrily rigorous and the results conclusive. If
twenty rival plows are entered for competing
trial, there is room for conflicting opinions as
TO their respective merits. One observer will
say, " True, A. turned over more sod or came
- out ahead but think BIS work better done,''
or believe it required le" power" We
know that, since the application Of the dynamo.
meter, trials of plows are much more decisive
than formerly; bu, there is still room for demur
and cavil So with draining, digging, hsy.
spreading and other machines, in which the
British exhibitors, having no American compel
itors, proved successful at La Trappes. Bat
where each reaper or mower hasits acre Of grain
or grass measured of TO II, and goes 10 TO cut
IL down In competition with Ito rivals. tho judges
nust be dull indeed who cannot form a pretty
accurate judgment "a 10 their respective merits.
II IL Indeed possible that ono may perform it's
task quickly but bAdiyi another mAy woih
rapidly aud we'll. bot al the cost Of an sst,aoI
dinaiy outlay Of powers third NAY require
more Lsads than its competitors. aud So prove
eHisisar bai relatively unpsantstis, All those
aise1 spshsiss, however, sPpess GA tho susfassi
the jsssss mu., bs blind who tail 81 perceive
ssa sit.v fos tLs,a, Bat especially ~ the casa