The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-06-22
Factories Require Iinguists.

DETROIT, MICH, June 21.--A lin
guist is one of the necessary cogs in
the big machine which each day turns
out approximately 1000 completed
Ford automobiles.
The linguist's duty Is to bring IN
terpretations OF orders and requests
to the many different nationalities
which may be found among the six
teen thousand workers In the factory
Of the Ford company. There are ten
different tongues and fifteen different
dialects spoken by Ford workmen.
A young German who speaks flu
entity eight different languages-Eng-
lish. German. French, Italian, Span
ish. Servian. Bohemia nand Russian
can make himself Ineligible to most
Of the workmen. He is assisted by
has the mastery of one or two tongues,
SO that things go along very well.
and most any workmen in the shop
can comprehend what Ia wanted.
AS a further aid to the lingu!st. all
bulletin board notices are posted in
six different languages.
Even with this corps OF expert
tongue twisters'' 1t is sometimes a
hard matter to make a workman I'M
derssand what Is being said to him,
for the army that builds Ford cars is
recruited from the four corners OF
the world. Most OF the workmen
come from Southern Europe, but
there has been employed in this big
factory at different times representa-
tives OF nearly every race and nation
In existence Men from the South
Seas men from India. men from the
Philippines, men from many out of
the way places. at various times have
helped to build the Ford car.
Police Acquits Auto Drivers.
New York and Chicago traffic po-
lice of long experience state that a
large percentage of accidents attri-
buted to motor cars are not the fault
either Of the automobile or OF the
driver. They say not only are many
accidents caused by horse vehicles.
street cars and other forms of wheel
equipages, but that IL the public
would exercise a little more caution.
and II children were taught to keep
out OF the roadway. the number OF
street accidents would be very much
diminished. In very many cases pc
destrians seem deaf. dumb and blind.
In the language Of the traffic police
they ''go to sleep in the center of
the street. The roller skate Is re-
sponsible for more accidents to chill
dren than is the motor car. Chill
QEGn OaCyClc6, opctdtCu ny 6uIati
boys and girls Of four to six yesrs
OF age possibly come next Ice skates
have long been prohibited on the
streets in many cities: why not roller
skates a. we'll. TRAFFIC regulations
against motor cars and other vehi-
cles are r;gidly enforced. Yet the
same trafic regulations are totally
disregarded by pedestrians. A prom
inent local automobile dealer, w. j.
Miller, commenting on the statement
Of the trafiic police asserts that mo-
tor cars are under such perfect con-
troll at almost all times that given
half a chance the driver can readily
stop his machine In short distance.
In the Hudson car. for instance.
which this dealer handles. tho power
Of tho brakes IL sufilcient to pull the
car to q dead stop within few feet.
Should q person spring directly in
| front OF the machine. aynost under
the wheels. there IL no trouble in
avoiding mishaps. Mr.. Miller says
that while probably the Hudson is
above the average In tn stopping
ability still most good cars are capa-
BILE OF almost the same easy control.
II sidewalk traffic was ~ strictly
regulated a. street trafac. and ia fas-