Also, I take pleasure in reproducing the following editorial note from Everybody’s Magazine, in which four chapters of this book were first printed:
“President Roosevelt in his message of December 3rd said: ‘Modern industrial conditions are such that combination is not only necessary, but inevitable.... Corporation and labour union alike have come to stay. Each, if properly managed, is a source of good, and not evil.’ If capital combinations can be good, there must be some that are good. Would it not be a proper service to the American people to tell them of a trust that, while it had reaped the economical advantages of combination, had yet played fair with the public and with its competitors? Hence this story of the great Harvester combine. Before we began to publish Mr. Casson’s articles, we followed up his investigations with a thorough inquiry of our own, and we are bound to say that the business methods of this institution seem to conform to the highest standards of fair play and square dealing. The International Harvester combine is not a tariff trust. Its members surrendered dominance in their own business only when the trend of ‘modern industrial conditions’ and overstrenuous competition made combination ‘not only necessary, but inevitable.’ The inside history of the ‘Morganising’ of this group of fighters, as narrated here, is as humorous as it is fascinating.”
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |||
| Preface | [vii] | ||
| CHAPTER | |||
| [I.] | The Story of McCormick | [3] | |
| [II.] | The Story of Deering | [48] | |
| [III.] | The International Harvester Company | [90] | |
| [IV.] | The American Harvester Abroad | [126] | |
| [V.] | The Harvester and the American Farmer | [161] |