The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1914-07-17
SOMETHING ABOUT MIR. FORD

The Ford automobiles are manufac-
tured at Detroit by a company at
whose head stands Mr.. Henry Ford.
A man writing about Detroit, looking
for the most interesting thing or
character in it, writes Interestingly
of Ford, the following being taken
from the Saturday Eevening Post of
July 4th:
suppose there is no individual
having to do with manufacturing of
any kind whose name is at present
more familiar to the word. But in
all this ocean of publicity which has
resulted from Mr.. Ford's development
of reliable, cheap car, from the
Supplying growth of his business and
his fortune, and more recently from
his SUDDEN distribution among his
working people of ten million dollars
of profits from his business-in all
this publicity I have seen nothing
that gave me a clear idea of Henry
Ford's personality. ! wanted to see
him--to assure myself that he was
not some fabulous being out of De-
troit saga. | wanted to know what
kind of man he was to look at and
to listen to.
The Ford plant is far, far out on
Woodward avenue. 1t is so gigantic
that there is no use wasting words
in trying to express it's vastness; so
full of people, all of them working
for Ford, that thousand more or
less would make no difference in the
looks of things. And among all those
people there was just one man I really
wanted to see, and just one other
man I really wanted not to see. |
wanted to see Henry Ford and 7
wanted not to see man named Lie
bold, because. they say, if you see
Liebold first you never see Ford
That is what Liebold is for. HIS is
the man whose business in life is to
know where Henry Ford isn't.
On the Ford Trail
To get into Mr.. Ford's presence is
an undertaking. 1t is not easy even
to find out whether he is there. Lie
bold is so Jealous in his protection
that he even protects Mr.. Ford from
his own employees Thus, when the
young official who had my companion
and me in charge received word over
the office telephone that Mr.. Ford
was not in the building, he didn't
believe it. He went on quiet scout
ing expedition of his own before he
was convinced. Presently he return
ed to the office in which he ha6 de-
posted us.
mo; he really isn't here Just now"
he said. He'll be in presently. Come
on; I'll take you through the plant. :"
The machine shop is one roono
with glass roof, covering an area
of something less than thirty acres.
1t Is simply unbelievable in it's size
its noise and IFS ghastlv furious &C.
tivity. 1t was "eopled when we were
there by five thousand men-the dav
shift in that one shop alone. (The
total force of workmen was something
like three times that number.)
Imagine it if You Can!
or course there was order in that
place; of course there was system
relentless system-terrible "effici-
ency'-but to my mind, unaccustom-
ed to such things, the whole room,
with its interminable aisles, its
Whirling shafts and wheels, it's forest
of roof-supporting posts and tapping
flying, leather betting, it's endless
rows of writhing machinery, its
shrieking, hammering, and clatter.
it's smell of oil, it's autumn haze of
smoke, it's strengthening foreign
population-to my mind it expressed
but one thing, and that thing was
delirium.
Fancy jungle of wheels and belts
and weird iron forms-of men, ma
chinery and movement-add to 1t
every sound of a million squirrels
chirking, million monkeys quarrel
ing, million lions roaring, a million
pigs dying, million elephants smash
ing through a forest of sheet iron, a
million boys whistling on thir fingers,
a million others coughing with the
whooping cough, million sinners
grooming as they are dragged to hell
-imangine all this happening at the
very edge of Niagara Falls, with the
everlasting roar of the cataract as
perpetual background, and you may
acquire a vague conception of that
place.
Fancy all this riot going on at
once; then imagine tn. effect of its
suddenly ceasing. For that is what
1t did. The wheels slowed down and
became still. The belts stopped flap
ping. The machines lay dead. The
nOfaQ faded IN "a m ry,o 49,. ~, 80, 10 ,,4