The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-10
TO.
 CLEAR THE SEA,
 MIR. FORD'S PLAN

New York, Feb. 1O.-Henry Ford has ] invented device to bring about free- dom of the seas, and he is going home to his laboratory in Detroit to perfect lit Inventor-like, he sees the problems of the world solved through mechan- 1 ical efficiency, and he now proposes Q new submarine that is to put the big ldreadnoughts into the class with the
 mastodons and other monsters of the | Ialead past. As soon as he gets home he says he is going to make model of his U-boat idea.
 I Mr. Ford explained his scheme yes l terday, and he was very much in earnest. He firmly believes that the submarine is to become the master Of the seas He declined to talk of the international situation, saying that should now be, left to President Will son. but it was evident from the em- phasis he gave to the submarine idea that he thinks the Germans in cen tering upon it have chosen the weapon of the greatest potential power.
 MT. Ford said the one weakness in the submarine now in use was that it , must expose itself in discharging a ! torpedo at an enemy ship. Remove this weakness, he argued, and the big gest battelship is helpless-and to re- move this disability of the submarine is his plan.
 continuous business hours, when he , talked to reporter at the Hotel Bel mont, and he was noticeably tired. But when he began to discuss sub1na- rines his face brightened, for to him the submarine of the future is to be the worlds peacemaker.
 My idea of a submarine is pill on la pole," he said in homely phrase. That is, a pole on the front end of the submarine with a pill-bomb-on the end of it. The submarines small one, carrying one man-goes right up to the ship and sticks the pill against the hull. The submarine then with draws and the torpedo goes off. That would settle the ship! and it can be done-what's to prevent it? There would be no need for a sub-
 marine of this kind to expose itself. It could sight the ship a long way off, and then make the trip to it under water. When l get back home I am going to have model of my idea of a submarine made in my Detroit lab oratory.
 'The sea should be free, and it is the submarine that will make it free. That's already clear from the events of this war What have the battle ships been doing in this war? Keeping pretty we'll in the background, I They are on their way to the junk pile; they will not be able to stand up before the submarine.'
 MT Fnr6'c idaa of Iafo is a seacoast 'swarming with tiny sub marines. What more do you want ?" he asked, as he leaned forward with intense eagerness. tIt's like mosqui- toes. Turn enough loose on man and he will surrender. I should de- sign these boats mostly for one, man, and we can turn out thousands in this country if we have to. I, can make a thousand a day myself. I would equip them with my four-cylinder motor"
 How about getting the men to op- crate them?''
 'I don't think that would be hard It wouldn't be much, if any harder to learn how to run one than it is to learn to run an automobile. I have n't developed the idea fully as to this submarine. I am not talking about 1t as something I see clearly in it's de- tail It's something I am thinking about"
 wouldn't the range of such small submarines be short?"
 'No, I think they could be made to travel good way. We might use fuel for ballast and he turned ques- tioningly to one of the men with him and got nod of approval. "I think they could be made to have a range of as much as 500 miles, MT. Ford added
 "How could they be taken across the ocaa1:'
 "I don't think it would be necessary to take them across the seas. But if it became necessary they could be taken in ships. They would not weigh more than two or three tons each.
 "It was evident that a submarine offensive by the United States was not pleasant for MT. Ford to contem- plate, but in answer to question he said that if war came he would make the submarines, and it would be up to the government to use them, as it thought best.
 Think how inexpensive the little submarines would be-" he exclaimed, reverting to the general subject. ''The submarine will be the ruler of the