Charlevoix county herald., 1918-08-16

their protection, to ruin the defences
of his country. and lay 1t open to a
possible hostile world To this he re-
piled: When the war II over, those
flags shall come down never to go up
is something to rally around
On October 81, 1916, Democratic
National Headquarters announced
that Mr.. Ford was to print advertise
ments In five hundred newspapers
in all parts Of the country and gave
out in advance the principal state.
ments which would be used to boost
Mr.. Wilson's campaign for re-slec'
ton:
Although nominally a Republican
all my life, am for Wilson and urge
my fellow citizens to stand by him,
because he has kept us out of war
and done much to bring about the re-
markable prosperity which We enjoy
and because Wall Street is against
him. :.
All other great nations are being
consumed and destroyed, but we have
peace with honor, and our boys are at
home. Special interests are demand.
ing war and the President is being
criticized with many words, but
stripped Of all unnecessary words
their real complaint is that he has
not plunged the country into war for
their profit.
After the sinking of the Lusitania,
Mr.. Ford excused this premeditated
murder upon the ground that Ameri.
cans should have kept off the ship
To q reporter of the New York
Times, nearly year after the event
april 20, 1916, Mr.. Ford gave an
interview:
"A man asked me my opinion in
l told him that before replying / was
going to ask the opinion OF five boys.
/ picked out five, varying in age from
IL to 16. To boy they answered:
What in h did they go on board
for'?"
AS already noted, Representative
Tavenner made two sensational
speeches In the Congress of the
United States charging that the pre-
paredness movement was due to a
conspiracy by the Navy League, and
the Government ranking privilege
was abused by mailing some two mil
lion Of the speeches containing these
outrageous charges which never had
a basis Of fact. AS already seen, Mr.
Ford used his great fortune to adver
tise this libel and he was in conse
quence sued by the Navy League.
Unable to substantiate the charges, in
stead of admitting his error and max
ing apology, he endeavored to retire
under the statement that he had be-
lieved the stories to be true. ihe
Supreme Court of the District OF Co
lumbia on December 16, 1918, sus.
tanned the Navy League in its de-
murrer.
In June, 1917, Mr.. Ford is reported
to have bought 100000 of Liberty
Bonds and upon another loan $6,000,.
900. Mr.. Charles M. Schwab bought
$25,OO0,000 of Liberty bonds, and other
men of great wealth have purchased
millions of them as the best possible
investment in war time.
In August, 1917, Mr.. Ford's only
son, Edsel Ford, was drawn for the
army and claimed exemption upon
the ground that his services were in.
dispensable to the Ford plant then
engaged upon war contracts. On
August 7th, the exemption board de-
MED this claim but granted the con.
cession of transfer to a class which
would delay indefinitely the call to
the colors. Due to the prominence of
Henry Ford this incident has been
given wide publicity and has quite
unjustly been interpreted to show
that the sons of rich men are genor.
ally doing less than their part in the
war.
Colonel Roosevelt, without men.
tioning names, in his Detroit speech
on Memorial Day stressed the fact
that 1t is especially the obligation of
men of wealth to serve with the
colors.
On August 16, 1917, Mr.. Ford de-
clared himself in favor Of pushing
the war until Germany is crushed,
and on November 18th he was re.
ported in favor Of universal military
training. / would like, however, to
point out that the kind of training
which he contemplates is really that
OF an industrial rather than a mill
tary army. and that his plan could
not possibly commend itself to any
competent military authority.
/ have seen no public statement
which would indicate that Mr.. Ford
is day other than a pacifist at
heart, or that he has betrayed any
contrition over the pitiful role which
he has played in the greatest crisis
| OF his country's history. That his
money and his prestige as a captain
Of industry were really effective in
lowering the morale of the country