The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1919-05-16
ACTION FOR BIGANOUNT
HENRY FORD'S SUIT AGAINST
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Detroit Motor Car Manufacturer
Seeks To Recover One Mil
lion Dollars
IAssociated Press D,snatcb !

~Aouht SiChhCho, NlCll., May W
Henry Ford's $1,OOO,OOO libel suit
against the Tribune company of Chi
cago, publishers of The Chicago Daily
Tribune, will go to trial here Monday
before Judge James G.. Tucker in the
circuit court of Macomb county on
charge of venue from Wayne county
(Detroit.) t...
In the pleas counsel for Mr. Ford
make repeated reference to The Trib-
une's trademark, 1.-The Worlds Great
est Newspaper" while the defendant s
plea speaks of Mr.. Ford as the worlds
greatest manufacturer of automobiles,
and estimates his fortune in 1916 as
at least $125,000,0G0.
I'm the year 1915 alone the earn
ings of the Ford Motor = company
amounted to more than $4,000, 900,
or in excess of $500 per cent of its
outstanding capital stock" says The
Tribune plea. Reference to the plain
tiff's wealth and position in the in
dustrial world is made to show that his
conspicuity and power made him a
proper subject of newspaper comment
What Caused the Suit.
The meat of the alleged libelous ar
| ticle was the headline of an editorial
published by The Tribune June %,
1916 as follows: Ford Is An An
| archist."
The editorial was based on special
dispatch from Detroit, June q, 1916,
nd ~, T,,;h
to the effect that Ford employees who
enlisted to serve against Mexico would
lose their positions, that their salar-
les would not be paid by the Ford
| company. nor provision made by the
company for their wives and families.
| In the course of its defense as
| shown in it's plea The Tribune in
vites attention to the fact that al
though this news dispatch was pub
| lished widely in many other news
papers at the time The Tribune pub
lished it, no denial came from Mr.
Ford in the interim before the pIbli
cation of The Tribune editorial on
June 23rd. On the 25th, however
Ford denied the story and The Trib-
une published that denial.
L
| At the time of the alleged libel
and for considerable period before
| the relation of the United States with
Mexico was strained. Foreigners in
Mexico had been murdered, their
properties. confiscated or destroyed
Villa the bandit had raided the Amer
lican town Columbus, N. M, and ali
Europe was aflame with war. The
Tribune was among the leaders in
urging universal military training
and preparedness while Mr.. Ford was
| at. that time frankly a pacifst. Mr.
Ford published whole page advertise
ments in. newspapers setting forth his
| views, one of them in The Tribune. The
Tribune turned the money, $S8704 re-
| ceived for this advertisement, over
to the navy league to be used for pa
| triotic service. ~
Mr.. Ford first filed suit in the fed :
eral court at Chicago, on September
| 7, 1916, but this was Withdrawn and
the suit instituted in the circuit court
of Wayne county. To give the state
court jurisdiction Sam, Max and Hen
lry Solomon, wholesale newspaper dis
tributers doing business at Detroit, as
| the Solomon News company, also
| were made. defendants, they having
distributed The Tribune in Michigan.
Their status in the case is said to be
purely technical.
The Tribune was granted change
of venue from Wayne county on al
legations that owing to Mr.. Ford's
prominence there the defendants could
not obtain a fair trial Mount Glenn
ems is about seventeen miles from De-
tlOit .i.