rtunate enough to lose your sale, and
some competitor gains it, don't be persuaded to put yours in the
field by the side of your competitor, or try in any way to break up
the sale; and do not, until the purchaser has discarded another
machine, offer to put one of ours in its place.

Of course we do not mean by this that you shall stand quietly by and
see other agents break up your sales, or if others habitually do this
that you shall not retaliate, but you must not be the first to
inaugurate this practice. We are always ready to meet fair and honest
competition.

We want our business conducted in a fair and honourable way, and not
descend to ways that are discreditable to us and to you. No one agent
can expect to sell all the machines that are wanted in his district,
for the poorest machine will have some friends, and, though he may
have the very best one, we do not expect he will make every one see
it. Let the purchaser take the risk. If he buys an inferior machine
he should take the consequences, as if he was deceived or mistaken in
his judgment in buying a horse. In such a case you would not think of
putting your horse in work the purchaser was doing, to show him yours
was the best, with the expectation that he would return the one he
had bought because it did not prove quite equal to yours in drawing a
load or in driving. If you would not in the case of a horse, why
should you, in the case of a mower, reaper, or self-binding
harvester? Our advice to you is:

1st. Hold firmly to your prices.

2d. Sell your own machine. Convince your purchaser that you have the
best machine made.

3d. Settle for the machine at time of delivery. A machine works much
better after being settled for.

4th. If you lose the sale do not try to break up the sale of your
competitor. It won't pay.

[Illustration: Signatures]

The king of the field test was William N. Whiteley. No other reaper king,
in any country, received as much renown from his personal exploits. He was
the Charlemagne of the harvest-field. He was as tall as a sapling and as
strong as a tree. As a professor in the great field school of agriculture,
he has never been surpassed. He could out-talk, outwork, and generally
outwit the men who were sent against him. He was a whole exhibition in
himself. "I've seen Bill Wh