The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1897-07-01
-. s,me OLD Straw.

have before us Il tHe
W. mage of which bears the somewhat
c.,sleading title, 'OVerlooheu 60 "a
MIST history" In characterizinS TINS
Reap misleading. it nay be explained
nue . Fair Interpretation of the words
that nod MS TO expect something not
Nouafore generally known concerning
w. %1 suhiect of reaper history. instead OF
n,s heing the fact, a cursorY glance at
~ namphlet-or, more properIA the re
t~nhiication OF three pamphlets as It's
pIS,tors term IL. is a mere repetltlon Oh
o. fetched theories and so-called EVIL
u In support of the false hypothesis
.hat CYRUS II. Mccormick was not the
m.entor of the first successful reaplng
machine ,o.a nam
-h,sts in the early sos was prompted by
f,hat sore feeling Ian ailment somewhat
lin TO that tired feeling') on the part
81 q would-be competitor of the McCor-
~,ct-a competitor whose machine had
entered defeat at the hands OF McCor-
lick. and the republication is now
brought out along the original lines, De-
INC fathered by some has been n
"pouId- be- competitors of the McCor-
mick. Jealous of the genius OF the man
oh, invented the reaper. and doubly jeal-
n of the great success Of Mccormick
machines all over the world, these men
have recently spent a large sum OF money
| IN republishing and distributing this pam
INLET. And who are they? j. Russell Par
sons. who was one of the directors OF the
Wood Reaper Co. before IL went into the
hands Of a receiver. because its machines
we're not as good as M~cCormick's; Lewis
Miller, formerly superintendent of the
Akron Buckeye Co, and who copied our
Corham invention, for which we propose
the Buckeye Co. shall pay us; and John
= Steward, who has been for years, n
now is, an employe of William Deering
a Co., and who has been defeated In the
various suits in which he has opposed
the Mccormick.
The original pamphlet is one purport-
Ing to nave been written by edward
stabler In 1854. In reality Stabler wrote
Il. assisted by Obed Hussey (the sore old
time competitor, and Hussey paid all the
bills for publication and distribution, just
as VIM. Deering & Co. are doing now.
In 1854 Hussey saw that his eaper would
not compete with the Mccormick, n
that despite his most herculean efforts
rs sale must soon cease lin 1858 he sold
and was paid but for ten machines). and
50 he began to print the testimonials OF
bis friends and attack Mccormick. And
In this self-satisfying n he let him
elf down. and finally dropped out of the
zee altogether. With Hussey's bewail-
tgs as a text, his followers have gone on
b their mad attempts at bolstering up a
lost cause. being prompted solely by the
slccess of Mccormick, n with ANY
thing to beat Mccormick" as their watch
word. 1t is easy TO see how this class
Of men would have conducted their cam
plign had Hussey really demonstrated TO
the world that he was the inventor of the
successful reaping machine. n had Nc
COrmipk hPpn forced az HnScpv was TO
recognize his failure and retire from the
field. This would be a t~ransposition of
the case-iiussey would be to-day the
leading manufactures of harvesting ma
chimes, and Mccormick would be compar-
atively unknown; then. with an enthu-
siasm worthy of a better cause, the dis
tinguished "republishers" would be de-
voting their energies to calculating how
Mccormick was the real inventor Of the
reaper. while Hussey was only a hanger
on. a bull-doZer. and an abstracter of
other mems IDEAS.
With McCormick's machines as ac-
knowledged leaders in every land, and
with the question of priority of inven-
ton repeatedly established before courts
and commissions. there is no longer any
! room for plausible argument on the other
SIDE Of the question. but
"A man convinced against his will
Is Of his own opinion STILL"
hence, would-be competitors will continue
on In the same old way. seeking to give
honor where honor is not due, rather
than TO acknowledge that they them
selves are behind the race for supremacy.
Does history repeat itself? II would seem
SO. Wood is rome, n the Akron Buck
eye seems to have a tired feeling" Why
is Deering joining this combination of
failure? IL is because Birds of a feather
flock t~ogether?"
In view of the facts in the case we
would suggest to u re-publishing
friends that when they get In another re-
publishing mood. and get out a re-pub-
hshed edition of their re-published work,
an appropriate title, equally felicitous,
and not less euphonious. would be "Over-
worked Pages OF Reaper History
Farmers Advance.