Omaha daily bee., 1914-05-31
ADJUSTMENTS AT FORD PLANT
Guide Tells of His Funny Expert.
"A enoes with Visitors.
lMATEURs GET IN THE WAY
Want 20 Touch EverythinE They see
and Thus Hinder wOrkmen-
Foolish Questions Asked
by Many.


DETROIT. Mich. May 3o-"Yes" and
James, a guide at the Ford plant, we
have some amusing experiences People
have no idea of the extent Of the plant
before theX take a trip through IL and
many OF them have but little idea OF
what they have seen after they have
gone through
And the comparisons they make are a
big laugh. They are always trying to
size up something by the size OF some
thing they are familiar with.
"A big farmer was going through one
day and when he passed the gear cutting
machines with the streams Of soft soap
playing on the metal to cool 1t, he said:
Gee, them look like a bunch of cream
separators.'
Then they get funny ideas of what
they are going to see. l was taking a
: party OF women through one day and
one asked me where the slaughter house
was. That was new one and l suffered,
guess. asking her what she meant.
Why, says she, I read piece in
the paper about thousands OF cows that
are killed every year TO furnish the
leatSyr for the upholstery and 1 wanted
to see the slaughter houses.
"One of he funniest was bunch of
Engllshmen that was here, IN telling
all about the enormous quantities of
material used 1 told him that the screws
used in all the 1s5,oOO cars made this
year IL put end TO end would stretch
from here to Cleveland and stick out
away over Ohio. ..
But you cwn't do It, y'know,' said
one vf the Britishers.
Cant do what? says 1.
Stretch those blooming screws from
Detroit TO Cleveland he answered, be-
cause you couldn't attach them together
and they would interfere with naviga-
ton. ..-.t.
Can you beat that? Well, those are
Only samples of what we get every day.
i'And some OF the people who go
through can't seem to understand things
at Rll., Not long ago when it was an
nolfnced that we were making a car a
infinite / was towing a crowd OF business
meH through They were evidently here
for some convention. When we got to
thu assembling floor one Of them, a
hari-headed old chap who acted all the
time as though no was from the heart
Of Missouri, pulled out his watch and
II 9an to carefully follow the labors OF
assembly crew When the car that
being set up was run out on the
ID uIng platform, ne snapped his watch
shut, waved his hand and said disdain-
fully:
81 knew 1t was a fake
What is a fake? asked one of his
companions.
This building a car every minute,
he answered. have timed these men
here and 1t took eleven minutes to put
that car together
''They all kind of fell for it for a minute
and looked at me reproachfully, as though
had picked their pockets or something.
But says I, you don't seem to have
grasped the point. Look at all the other
crews who are lining out car every
eleven minutes. The Ford company
doesn't say that IT builds a car every
minute That is impossible, of course
THE worst thing we so against. though,
is the amateur investigators who want
to- put their fingers into everything Most
of the people who make the trip through
the plant are content to watch and let II
go at that But there are always those
who want to pick up parts about the same
zine a workman does and to stick their
hands into machines
And say, everyone thinks this job Is
a snap, but 1 tell you that it isn't I've
often thought ia get one Of those walking
speAdometers to see how far / travel In
a a@day / have guessed 1t at about ten
IlIles. And when they get the new add
Siona done the trip through the plant VIII
BE about twice as long. 1t will surely be
some place when they get the other build
! ings up, and guiding a party through VIII
be like taking them through the Grand
canyon, so far as distance covered goes