Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-03-29
FORD SUGGESTS SMALL TANKS
Says 10000 Can Be Built in Three
Months if Standardized.

months % standardized.
Henry Ford issued u statement Mon
day asserting that America could
win the war only by throwing "the
whole weight Of our Industries and tool
power into the balance" He said that
the war Is THE greatest engineering
feat ever known and the side that
musters the best machinery will win."
The country has not organized to
concentrate Industrial resources upon
essential war work." he said, and the
people do not realize that the prob
lem lies in the management OF fac
tories and the fullest use Of machin-
cry"
In speaking OF his plans for the de-
vclopmcnt Of Il smaller and faster tank
he expresses the opinion that the
trenches can be conquered and the
stalemate broken II We develop and
use the right machinery"
"'ro me II seems out OF place to send
men with bare bodies and rifles against
trenches OF concrete. fortified with
barbed wire. machine guns. and can
non. \ small tank can be made for
attack that will carry two men and Il
machine gun. with armor protection
strong enough to resist the hail OF
machine gun bullets and shrapncl
splinters. Such tanks. if standardized
! to one model. could be produced at the
rate of 1000 or 1000 day. Once
production was started 10000 tanks
could be made In three months. Dis
tributcd equally along the west front
| this would place one tank every
eighteen feet. In each tank two men.
shielded by armorplate. with a ma
chine gun would have the offensive
power of fifty soldiers with rifles. That
advantage would come from possession
Of the better piece Of fighting machin-
cry Soldiers would stand in line to
fits"
In discussing the problems OF food
production and control Mr. Ford says
that the solution lies in the increas"
gests the use OF tractors for all sorts
OF farm work and adds:
"One tractor sent to France or Eng
| land now will produce fifty times its
weight and bulk in wheat and food
this year. One ship carrying tractors
now is as good as fifty ships carrying
food next fall.
4 workman can bIild a tractor In
fifteen days. and each tractor would
mean the addition Of two or three
men 10 the supply Of farm labor. He
continues in writing upon the food
problem:
I'VE shall got more food not by book
keeping and clerical regulation in the
cities but by the use OF more and bet
ter machinery on the land" He adds
that the PRODUCTION Of more machinery
depends upon labor and leadership.
and continues: Absentee control can
never get the best out OF the factory.
The heads Of industry must live close
10 the work: they must know metals
and machines. and be ready to give
every man a square deal"
He concludes his statement by prais-
ing the work Of the workmen in the
Ford factories. He says he ascribes
the absence Of labor difficulties to the
knowledge Of the men that "the COM
pany Is not seeking profit from war
work" He says the men deserve
credit for most OF the progress that We
have made in the production Of ships.
tractors and airplane parts. He says
he believes that "profiteering breeds
distrust and antagonism." He praises
also the policies and ideals Of Presi-
don't Wilaon