Romance of the reaper, George Frederic Wheeler

              The Romance of the Reaper
A Lecture-Entertainment with Colored Views and Motion Pictures
By George Frederic Wheeler
Direction
IHC SERVICE BUREAU
Harvesting Building 
Chicago
WHAT THE REAPER HAS DONE
THE world has moved so swiftly since it came into possession of the reaper that there has been little time for figuring the debt   it   owes   to   the invention of this machine. For thousands of years the world had waited to be set free from the slow drudgery of trying to raise barely enough to eat. The reaper and modern farm machines which followed:
—released two-thirds the population from the soil
—set men to building railroads
—because there was something to haul
—civilization advanced westward thirty miles a year
—great factories were built
—all the  machinery of our complex life  is set motion
—cities were builded
—the world's commerce grew
—skyscrapers were needed
—farming became a science
—modern conveniences were called for
—necessities ceased to be luxuries
—education advanced
—America forged ahead
—for the reason that her people were well fed
—the first well-fed nation in history
—this produced active brains and useful bodies
—independence became a fact
—the farmer grew prosperous
—and so the world grew prosperous
—the reaper has helped to bring peace
—for a busy, happy people has no desire to fight
—the reaper gave to the world cheap bread
—the foundation of all human achievement.
In attending the lecture-entertainment, The Romance of the Reaper, it is well to keep these points in mind. They will help to emphasize the value of the reaper, and to show the part modern machines are playing in the development of agriculture, without which all business and profession would fall into decay.
THE ROMANCE OF THE REAPER
FROM the reaping hook and poverty to the modern binder and prosperity is a long, rough   road.     But along this road The Romance of the Reaper carries an audi¬ence swiftly and with much interest.    The scene is ever changing—now here, now there—now at home, now abroad—a picture-story of world-wide development. Points of interest seen and talked about along the road include:
—early ways of agriculture
—the reaping hook
—then the cradle
—only a few acres planted
—because only a few acres could be harvested
—attempts made to invent a reaper
-—failure after failure 
—the world hungry for bread 
—then came McCormick 
—the first reaper was crude 
—but it contained the right principles 
—improvements followed 
—Deering became active 
—the binder 
—the gasoline tractor 
—the progress of agriculture 
—strides in industry and commerce 
—how modern farm machines are made
—a visit to the big plants 
—from ore in the mine and timber in the forest 
—to machines in the field 
—spinning twine 
—the wagon 
—the crops of America 
—harvest scenes in many countries 
—days that were 
—contrasted with days that are 
—why the modern farmer is king.
Mingled with all this are bits of history and facts generally known. And to add to the beauty and pleasure of the lecture-entertainment, more than 100 colored views, taken in all parts of the world, and over 4,000 feet of motion pictures form a constantly changing panorama.
Mr. Wheeler is a born, bred, and educated New Englander who has breathed deeply of the ozone of the West. He has traveled over America and Europe, made a study of peoples and conditions, and is well-known as a writer, critic, and descriptive story teller. Mr. Wheeler is familiar with farms at home and abroad, and is a close student of agriculture and the progress it is making around the world.
The IHC SERVICE BUREAU
of International Harvester Company of America, under the direction of which The Romance of the Reaper is offered, is a bureau of free service to everybody interested in agriculture. Questions dealing with farm problems are answered; schools, colleges, associations, farmers' institutes, etc., are co-operated with; photographs and lantern slides are loaned; data is furnished, and articles are prepared for the press. In short, assistance of every kind is given the cause of agriculture. The Bureau is in the Harvester Building, which is at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Harrison Street, Chicago.