The spectator., 1919-07-25
0EclAxES WAR IS MURDER
Wh.rI.yind 0. Questions Fall to Shake CNmISsare of Man Who Sues for Miiien Sscause lie Was
 Cki,ed "Anarc nis."

the dull repetition of cross-examina uons, new quality.
 For week the man who has been described as everything from an an arcnist' to the greatest patriot of his day. has been on the stand facing 6
 merciless fire of questions. During the reading of all article written by John Reed on Henry Ford and published in the Metropolitan Mag
 azine, the audience in the court cham Der violated all precedent by breaking into applause and MT. Ford, visibly em barrassed, raised his hand i'll protest Tribune counsel had endeavored to Qucte paragraphs from the Reed arti Gle put had been compelled, by objec- tion of Ford attorneys, to introduce the interview in it's entirety. In the
 main it was highly mplimentary to
 Mir Ford.
 Make Farmer Independent"
 What l want to do" MT Ford was quoted as saying, lis to make the farm
 er as independent as l am; independ
 ent of the banks, independent of the
 trusts independent of the railroads.
 The audience, many of them from
 the surrounding farms of this commu
 nity, showed visible evidence of it's ap
 preeiation of that ideal.
 Twice Mr. Ford, wearying of the
 questions having to do with his knowl
 edge of history, said "Oh, I'll admit
 wish.
 What is an idealst?" queried Tri.
 bune counsel
 The innate goodness of the man lighted up his kindly eyes with new light, as he leaned forward and an swered slowly, Il think an iaealist IS one who tries to make people happy and prosperous. 1 think I do that d little"
 Quiet, unaSsuming, courteous and patient, Henry Ford made leep i'm pression on the audience. Not once did he lose his temper under the heck ling of opposing attorneys, even when their questions yerged on the edge of insult. But when the examination touched on subjects which are close 70 his heart, the League of Nations. war 1 and the happiness and prosperity ot Humanity, counsel found him eagerly alert
 A League of Nations, or prepared Dess up to the hilt.
 That is the way he sees the situa ton today. We must either" he said
 ''accepl the covenant of peace or dem ocracy must arm and stand guard for ever at the threshold of liberty"
 War Is Murder" He hammered that fact home and
 with it he always added, War is mur. l der"
 ''l was murderer" he sad, "I Was
 helper of murder. When the crisis came we all took hand. But 1t is all the same War is murder"
 What do you mean by murder" 'I mean killing people" Killing people to protect the inter
 ssts of the people?'
 Killing anybody or anything. don't know what else war is War is murder. There Is far better way What is the better way?" Why. to educate people To teach them to think for themselves" A long examination was conducted
 which sought to quiz Mir Ford concerns
 ing his views on history, based on a | remark which he once made that "l
 wouldn't give five cents for all the his tory ever written
 'I don't think much more of it now than did then,' testified MT Ford The war showed us that history didn't last a week. All the things they told us would happen didn't happen They went ahead, knowing what wal | meant, and made the same mistakes
 ell over again. The history we write
 today is the thing that counts, I'm
 not interested In yesterday" The Flag of Nations.
 Tho much discussed flag of League | ot Nations, which it has been stated l MT. Ford was having made in his fac tory before the United States entered the war. was brought into court. The testimony developed the fact that Mir
 Ford did not originate the design oi the flag and had never seen the ban
 Ter itself. He saNv a small drawing
 of it once in St. Pauls Cathedral, l troit, he said. tut had never heard oi
 1t again and knew nothing about it. He denied emphatically that he ever
 said he would raise this flag above
 the Stars and Stripes. and said the l statement that he reverenced this ban 1 ner above tho flag of his country was
 "A terrible thing to say about an Am srican.'