If a man's ability is to be rated according to the amount of money he makes, Cyrus H. McCormick was one of America's ablest business leaders in the nineteenth century. A more discriminating view of his career would necessitate some important qualifications in such an estimate. McCormick's personal achievements—both as inventor and as a business man—were truly remarkable in the period before about 1860, and during the whole course of his life he demonstrated rare talents and performed prodigious deeds. But in his later years he made serious errors in judgment, failed to adopt well-rounded policies, and pursued business methods which were fundamentally poor. While his managerial successes and financial profits were very notable, his record as a whole does not reflect the sober and well-balanced judgment which is essential to the first-class business mind.

In connection with the above review of the life of Cyrus Hall McCormick it is appropriate to say something about the McCormick Historical Association. This organization has purposes which relate closely to the objects of the Business Historical Society, and the materials which it has gathered together constitute an important source of business history which should be known to all students of the subject. The McCormick Historical Association has been building up an intensive collection of printed manuscript and museum materials at the McCormick Library, 679 Rush Street, Chicago. The items relate to a rather wide range of topics but they center in the activities and interests of Cyrus Hall McCormick and the McCormick family.

A sheaf of old letters on deposit in the Baker Library of Harvard University gives a glimpse of an early type of locomotive which in a real sense epitomizes the pioneer stage of both American locomotive engineering and American business.