ing in the community in every sense of the
term, should thus fail of a just reward when he has done so much for the
benefit of others. * * * Believing as I do that the extension is no more
than sheer justice to Obed Hussey,--quite equal in merit to any that has
been granted,--as one of the _most meritorious_ in the language of
the Committee, I do most earnestly solicit thy kind aid and influence to
get it through the Senate. * * * He was then (and still is) a comparatively
poor man; without the means from his limited sales to extend his business
in a profitable manner or to protect his known and acknowledged rights
from the depredations of others. His shops--and I speak from personal
knowledge--are for the most part dilapidated sheds--too confined and
cramped up to do any part of his work to the best advantage, and from a
personal knowledge speaking as a practical machinist of some 25 years
experience, I do know that his profits are far less than some other
machine makers--not the half of what is usually supposed.

[Sidenote: The Two Machines Compared]

"Take, for example, the machines as usually made by Obed Hussey and C. H.
McCormick--for I am familiar with both; owing to the quality of the work,
costs of material and arrangement of the mechanism, _two_ of McCormick's
can be made by him for little or no more than the cost to Hussey of _one_
of his. Such, too, is the statement on oath of competent men employed by
both manufacturers. McCormick's foreman and clerk have sworn (see
petition from New York against his extension) that his machines are made
for some $35 to $40 each. Any man who will undertake to make and sell
Hussey machines as he makes them for much less than double this sum, will
soon beg his bread if he depends on his profits to buy it, unless he
_cheats_ his hands out of _their_ part."

A postscript is added, which reads:

"I should have made no allusion to C. H. McCormick or to his machines,
had he not volunteered by petition to injure his rival--in my opinion a
most worthy, reliable and deserving man--and I would add that in my
estimation the two machines differ just about as widely as the two men."

We may assume that Mr. Hussey must have begun on his large machine late
in 1832, or early in 1833, at latest. During the early part of the
harvest of 1833 he was in the field. "The machine was started," Stabler
tells us, "but owing to some part giving way, or some slight defect not
apparent until then, i