McCormick Reaper Centennial Source Material -- 1954

              By 1856 there were McCormick agents all over the wheat-growing sections of the United States.  They were putting into effect the sales policies and program of a new business system.     * he had provided as a background for his machine a new kind of factory where, though he doubtless knew it not, he was inventing the first steps toward standardization and mass production, with a sternly enforced code to insure quality in the machines. Then he invented a system of distribution which included the first bold use of public debate in the press to expound his new mechanical doctrine, the first broad warranty of a manufactured product, the first aggressive system of selling, the first conception of service, and the first broad application of credit. He had invented the reaper, and he also invented the means to make it attainable to farmers.
The first advertisement to the reaper appeared in 1833 in the Lexington Union. From time to time until 1835 McCormick published notices of it and also of his hillside plow. By 1845 he was publishing long advertise¬ ments in the farm papers of Chicago, Columbus, and northern New York. As early as 1842, when for the first time he began really to be satisfied with his invention, he gave his customers an absolute guaranty of satisfactory -performance or the return of their money. The gearing on the 1853 reapers failed and had to be replaced during the following winter free of cost to the purchasers.
One important innovation introduced into the selling system by
McCormick was of credit on easy terms. In the early fifties the price of the
reaper was $125. The farmer was asked to pay $35 cash, plus the freight from
Chicago. The balance was due on December 1, with 6 per cent interest from
July 1. The cash received at the time of a sale varied from 10 to 25 per
cent, and the balance was collected whenever possible within the next year and a half.
Ever since 1849, when he built a special machine designed for presentation to Prince Albert's Royal Agricultural Society, McCormick had been turning his eyes toward the English market. The Crystal Palace exhibition of industries of all nations in the summer of 1851 furnished the suitable occasion. He sent a special reaper across the Atlantic in the spring and himself followed in August. Hussey * * * sent a machine of his own. They met on the farm of J. J. Mechi, a rich manufacturer, where, before 200 spectators including the jury from the exhibition, Hussey's machine failed miserably because of the operator's lack of skill.  A second trial confirmed the result of the first, and the Virginia reaper was awarded the Council Medal, the highest prize of the fair. McCormick made arrangements with a British firm to manufacture his reaper, and went home.
* * * France clung to hand reaping methods until 1855, when there was an International exposition in Paris. A great field trial for reapers was organized in LaTrappe. The McCormick machine won and received the grand gold medal of honor.
Use of the reaper began early and spread rapidly throughout Europe. A McCormick machine was sold in Austria in 1850.  In 1856 the reaper was introduced into Prussia and Poland.  In 1858 the first McCormick machine reached Russia.  In 1878 McCormick was made a member of the Legion of Honor and a member of the French Academy for having done more than any living man for the cause of agriculture.
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