Arizona republican., 1919-08-16
The Ford Tribune Verdict

Nearly all recorded human testimony is against litigation. La Bruyere advises Avoid lawsuits above ali things. Dean Swift observes: Law is a hottomless pit-a cormorant harpy that devours everything" and Middleton, "whe loves law dies either mad or poor It is varied but repeated maxim that the winner of a lawsuit is a loser
 But there are exceptions. A notable was the Cobre Grande litigation in the courts of Arizona a score of years ago. Every tgant both sides. all the lawyers that room could be made for, most of whom were only entered of record" everybody whom the lawsuit touched, even remotely made money-includng the stock holders of Cobre Grande and its successor, Green -Cananea
 The Ford Tribune libel suit proves in way other exception Though nominally the loser and faced by judgment of cents the court costs and the payment of the high feed attorneys all of which will up the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Chicago Tribune has been given advertisement which could not have had for the expenditure of many times that amount. All that will pay out win come quickly back to it. many fold.
 Mr. Ford the other hand. to whom money means little. has been vindcated-to certain ex- tent The jury found that he an anarchist within his own definitfon-that is a bomb thrower but it must arriving such an insubstantial sum as it awarded him for damages have found that he Ddd been SdlunS lnOuSn uuWiJtlnSty pTetty cOSe e anarchy as it has been otherwise and variously defined.
 Still the verdict does not, and no verdict could have changed the public estimation of Mr. Ford as it had been formed before the trial and as it was modi fled by the developments of the trial The estimate of him was and is that he is a well meaning gentle man. of phi1anthropic tendencies, with desire do good without having become a socialist he had im-
 
 where socialism leaves off and anarchy begins. The modification of the former estimate results from the showing that he is an signorant ideast as had also been charged by the Tribune and he had admitted to avoid discussion. The admission appears have been superfluous.
 What damage MT. Ford suffered was not from the Tribunes editorial but from the trial Much if not all the powerful influence he had begun 10 exert as a philosopher has gone by the board never to be recovered People with as high a regard for his character as they entertained before will hardly accept the sayings of MT. Ford when they have learned that he himself does not know what they mean. The Ford Analects will never be- Perhaps philosophers in the past did not always clothe with words their own mental offspring but they at least recognized them when they were dressed. Mir. Ford could not do that but he generously accorded them paternity, and assumed responsibility for them
 
 MT. Fords position as a great automobile manu- facturer will not be disturbed; his reputation as business will remain and a phiIanthropist and a doer for men he will progress But as an adviser his part is all in the past.
 We do not know that MT. Ford ever aspired to public office We think not that it was only at the urgent but i-advised insistence of President Wilson was looking for statesmen but tools, that he consented to become a candidate for United States senator But nobody in the future will insist upon his candidacy for high office The proceedings at Mt Clemens will always bar his progress if he should set out along a political pathway.
 We have had some very ignorant men in the senate, far inferior MT Ford in ability They were suddenly rich men from the west in those days when gold alone paved the way to the senate We led into Aggression by observing that gold was never so potent east of the Rocky Mountains Other qualifications were required.
 But the i1literacy the western senators was not discovered until after their appearance Washing ton and generally they were not returned and did to return to an atmosphere of New England chilliness
 The trial brought out among other things that MT. Ford buyer of brains; that his judgment of brains fine that of the late Mr Carnegie and that he reposed perfect trust his purchases something perhaps MT. Carnegie quite did re- gardng his own always as the master brain.
 Whatever MT. Ford has suffered from the dis closures of the trial believe he profited much in the way of enlightenment the duties of good American citizens and there hardly be doubt that he meant to be and believed he was a good Anerdcan citizen But it must have been made plain to him that good citizen may be led by false lights into dark and dangerous paths that he may be led by msdreeted love for humanity into an assault upon the stronghold of government