Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1901 — DEERING AT PARIS IN 1900. [ARTICLE]

DEERING AT PARIS IN 1900.

The Famous Chicago Harvester Company Received More aad Greater Honors than Were Ever Before Ac- " corded aa American Exhibitor in the Hiaterr of Expositions. America may well feel proud of the interest which her citizens took in the Paris Exposition’ and the elaborate exhibits which were prepared with consummate skill and displayed in a manner not . excelled by any other country. Those of Harvesting Machinery in /particular were most complete and interesting. The Deering Harvester Company of Chicago, America’s foremost manufacturer of this line of good 3, was accorded the position of honor, having contributed more to the advancement of the art of harvesting than any other manufacturer, living or dead, and with a greater array of important inventions to its credit than any other company in the world. Visitors to the Exposition were prompt to accord the Deering exhibits supreme honors, and it only remained for official mandate to ratify the popular verdict, which was done in a manner as substantial as it was well-merited. Each one of the seven Deering exhibits secured the highest award in its class. In addition to four high decorations, the Deering Harvester Company received twenty-five awards, or twenty-nine in all, as follows: Decoration of Officer of the Legion of Honor, Decoration of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, two decorations of Officer of Merite Agricole, a Special Certificate of Honor, the Grand Prize, six Gold Medals, six Silver Medals and eleven Bronze' Medals, including Deering Collaborator Medals. The Decoration of the Legion of Honor was instituted by 'Napoleon Bonaparte when First Consul in 1802, and is only conferred in recognition of distinguished military or civil achievements. It is the highest distinction in the gift of the French Republic. The Decoration of Merite Agricole is an honor of but slightly less importance, which is conferred upon those who have contributed greatly to the advancement of agriculture. An Official Certificate of Honor was accorded the Deering Retrospective Exhibit, which showed the improvements in harvesting machinery during the past century, and excited the highest praise of the French government officials who had entrusted to the Deering Harvesting Company the preparation of this most important exhibit. By special request this exhibit has been presented to the National Museum of Arts and Sciences at Paris* where it has become a permanent featpre of that world-famed institution. The Deering Twine Exhibit and Corn Harvester Exhibit, both of which received the highest awards, have by request of the French government been presented to the National Agricultural College of France. Tbere was no field trial, either official er otherwise, in connection with the Paris Exposition, but the most important foreign contest the past season was held under the auspices of the Russian Expert Commission at the Governmental Farm at Tomsk, Siberia, Aug. 14 to 18. All the leading American and European machines participated and were subjected to the most difficult tests by the government agriculturist. The Expert Comi(,'ssion awarded the Deering Harvester -Company, the Grand Silver Medal of the Minister of Agriculture and Domain, which was the high&st award. The Deering Harvester Works are the largest of their kind in the world, covering eighty-five acres and employing 9,000 people. They are equipped with modern automatic machines, many of which perform the labor of from five to fifteen hands. This company is also the largest manufacturer of Binder Twine in the world, having been first to produce single-strand binder twine, such as is in general use to-day, making over a third of the product of the entire world. The output of its factory for a single day would tie a band around the earth at the equator, with several thousand miles to spare. The annual production would fill a freight train twenty miles long. Made into a mat two feet wide, it would reach across the American continent from ocean to ocean. Deering machines are known as LIGHT DRAFT IDEALS, consisting of Binders, Mowers, Reapers, Corn Harvesters, Shredders and Rakes. This company exhibited at the Paris Exposition an Automobile Mower, which attracted much attention, and exhibitions were given with one of these machines in the vicinity of Paris throughout the season. A man can appreciate a great deal that he doesn’t—at the time.