The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-07-16
GOLFERS WRITER DE-
SCRIBES HENRY FORD

Presently MIR. Ford came ina lean
man, Of good height writes Julian
Street, Golfers traveller Abroad at
Home, in his article. Dynamic De-
trOlt, in Golfers Of July -. wearing
3 rather worn brown suit. Without
being powerfully built, Mr.. Ford looks
slnewy, wiry. His gait is loose jointed.
almost boyish. His manner. too. has
something boyish about il. got the
feeling that be was little bit embar-
raised at being interviewed. That
made me sorry for him. had been
interviewed the day before myself.
When he sat he hunched down in his
char, resting on the small Of his back,
with his legs crossed and propped up
upon large wooden wastebasket-th
attitude Of lanky boy. And, despite
his gray hair and the netted wrinkles
about his eyes. his face is compara-
lively youthful, too. His mouth is
wide and determined, and it is capable
Of an exceedingly dry grin, in which
the eyes COllabOrate. They are fine,
keen eyes, set high under the brows,
wide apart, and they seem to express
shrewdness, kindness, humor and dis
tlnct wistfuness. Also, like every
other item in MIR. FOrd's physical
makeup, they indicate a high degree
of honesty. There never was a man
more genuine than Mr.. Ford. He has
not the falntest sign of that veneer so
common TO distinguished men, which
IS most elOquently described by the
slang term front" Nor is he, on the
other hand, one of those men who like
so many politicians) try to simulate a
simple manner. lie is Just exactly
Henry Ford, no more, no less; take II
or leave it.
And if you are any Judge of charac-
ter at all, you know Immediately that
he is a man whom you can trust.
would trust him with anything. He
didn't ask me to, but | would. | would
trust him with all my money. And.
considering that say that. think he
ought to be willing, in common cour-
tesy, to reciprocate.
He told US about the Ford business.
We've done two hundred and five mil
lions of business to date, he said.
Our profits have amounted to about
ffty-nine millions. About twenty five
per cent has been put back into the
business - into the plant and the
branches. All the actual cash that
was ever put in was S2S, 900. The rest
has been built up out of profits. Yes,
1t has happened in pretty short time
the big growth has come in the last six
years.
asked if the rapid increase had sur
prlsed him. "Oh, in way" he said.
"Of course we couldn't be just sure
what she was going to do. But we
figured we had the right idea.
What is the idea?" | questioned.
Then, with deep sincerity, with the
conviction of man who states the very
foundation of all that he believes,
Mr.. Ford told us his idea. His state
ment did not have the awful majesty
of an utterance by Mr.. Freer. He did
not flame, although his eyes did seem
to glow with his conviction.
ut is one model! :" he said. That's
the secret of the whole doggone thing"
(That is exactly what he said. noted
it for character.
Having revealed the cruX of things,
Mr.. Ford directed our attention to the
little toy Ford in the glass case.
There she is," he said. "She's al
ways the same. tell everybody that's
the way to make a success. Every
manufacturer ought to do it. The thing
is to find out something that everybody
is after and then make that one thing
and nothing else. Shoemakers ought
to do it. They ought to get one kind
of shoe that will suit everybody, in
stead of making all kinds. Stove men
ought to do it, too. told stove man
that just the other day"
That, | believe, is, briefly, the busi-
ness philosophy of Henry Ford.