The Harvester World: Volume 9, number 10, October 1918

              President Cyrus H. McCormick's Letter to the Harvester Family

The following letter from J'resident Cyrus H. McCormick has been individually delivered to ail members of the Harvester family in the United States and Canada. It is his first general statement to the organization since the reuniting of the International Harvester Company of Neiv fersey and the International Harvester Corporation into the International Harvester Company.
This re-consolidation was made possible by the agreement between the United States Attorney- GeneraVs office and the Company, entered into on fiily ir, igi8, ending the Government suit against us that had been in the courts for more than six years. By votes taken on September J2th, the stock¬ holders of both companies fully appro7icd the re-consolidation and on September i8th it was ratified by the Public  Utilities  Commissioners of New Jersey.

To All Members of the Harvester Organization:
I am sending you this communication because of two important events that have just taken place in relation to our business:
First: An agreement has been made with the Government for the termination of the anti-trust suit which has been pending since 1912.
Second: The two Harvester Companies ^ the "International Harvester Company of New Jersey" which manufactured harvesting machines and handled the United States business, and the "International Harvester Corporation" which made the "new lines," such as tractors, engines, motor trucks, etc., and handled the foreign business—have been reunited in one company,  the  "International Harvester Company."
These two events will have a far reaching effect upon our organization, and I wish every member of it to know how and why these things have been done and what they signify for the future. '   '
Before we could go ahead with any permanent plans, we had to know where we stood before the law. We felt that there was no hope of an early decision in our case before the United States Supreme Court. We realized how every day increased the present difficulties and emphasized the need of preparing for the future. Therefore, we ended the litigation in the only way open to us.
The agreement with the Government involves serious sacrifices in the enforced sale of three of our lines of harvesting machinery — the Osborne, the Champion, and the Milwaukee —and in restricting us in the harvester lines to one agent in any city or town; but against these disadvantages ma}' be placed relief from the burden of litigation and freedom to meet the emergencies of our business development.
This litigation has been costly, both in money expended and in its consumption of the time and energies of our organization, but its outcome has proved by sworn testimony that the Inter¬ national Harvester Company is a corporation with clean hands, honestly capitalized, honestly managed, and rendering on fair terms an essential service to our own country and to the rest of the world.