The daily morning oasis., 1919-08-08
FORD ASSISTS
THE CONVICT
Tribune Attorney Attacks En-
pIoyment of ex-Prisoners
by Manufacturer.
COURT RULES OUT REMARKS
Case Draws to Close as Test.
mony Is Offered in RebuttaI
of Tribune Statements.

in its rebuttal stage, with the forces
merely Offering further substantiation
Of the testimony which made up
their original case and the Tribune
forces endeavoring by all the means
at their command to lessen the ef-
feet of the testimony on the jury.
The Ford lawyers have contended
from the beginning that there is
just one question in the case: Was
Henry Ford an anarchist, as the
Tribune said he was? They con-
tended that the weeks taken up by
witnesses from the Mexican border
and by long examinations regarding
preparedness had no bearing what
ever on the issue. Consistently with
this position. they have kept within
he lines of their theory of the case,
except when forced to go outside
to meet some charge made against
Mr. Ford by the Tribune counsel.
One of these charges is that Henry
Ford cannot read or write. It has
been made by Elliott G. Stevenson,
chief counsel for the Tribune, and
was vehemently Characterized by AL
fred Lucking, chief Ford counsel, as
an unheard Of outrage. 1t is neces-
sary, therefore, for the Ford coun-
sci to turn aside in such matters to
refute the unfounded charges OF
Tribune counsel. There are thous-
ands of business associates and 9TH
ers who can testify to Mr.. Ford's
educational ability along usual lines
of business and there is ample
ocular and auricular evidence of the
fact. Tribune counsel endeavored
to use Mr.. Ford's interest in ex-
convicts against him. During the
examination of DR.. S. S. Marquis,
head OF the Ford educational de-
partment for counsel asks:
What per cent of ex-convicts is
it the policy of the Ford Motor
Co. in pursuit of it's educational
plan to keep in it's employment"
tits our policy to keep as nearly
as we can about one per cent of our
force, of men who have had prison
records" said Dr. Marquis.
''Why is the percentage fixed at
one per cent?"
''We fixed it there because we feel
that is about the proportion that
we can supervise to their best in
terests and our own"
What, If anything, with refer
ence to the interests of the com
munity?"
when we say, to their best in
terests and our own, we include the
community in that, because it would
not be to the community's best in
terests if it were not to theirs
Upon cross examination, Attorney
plymouth Kirkland, of counsel for
the Tribune, asked: ''Have you
any record of the number of crimes
that were committed in Detroit be-
fore and also after the time you
started employing ex-convicts?"
eve have no record. You can
get it, / presume, from the police. -
did you ever investigate the
atter?"
''If such cases, affecting any of
Or employees, would come to our
attention.
At this point Elliott G. !; evenson,
Tribune counsel, jumped to his feet
to address the court.
These men were working eight
hours a day." he shouted, "and
were free to do as they pleased
for 16 hours per day. During these
16 hours they were free to commit
robberies and burglaries. We will
show there never was a time in the
history of Detroit when there were
so many murders, burglaries, rob-
berries, as there have been since the
Ford Motor Companv entered upon
This system of bringing convicts into
their, employment in Detroit"
The court ruled out the whole line
of inquiry, saying it would simply
mean the ventilation of the whole
Detroit police force, and that was
not in the case.
Former Judge Alfred J. Murphy of
counsel for Ford, addressed the court
and said the Ford Motor Company
would welcome the opportunity to re-
fute the statements made in the pres
ence of the jury. Newspaper men
present in the court recalled that De.
troit's crime waves of recent years
were traced to gangs of professional
automobile bandits who we're not
employed here. There are over 49,
900 Ford employees in Detroit, and it
is rarely that one figured in any case
more serious than common disorderly
conduct. The money being given
bears upon the provisions made by
the Ford Motor Company to insure
the jobs of soldiers who were called
to the Mexican border in 1916, and
the care for the dependents left be-
hind. The Tribune has charged that
Ford would not keep the jobs or help
the dependents. Testimony from
every department from present en-
ployes and ex.employes from both
friendly and hostile witnesses is over
whelmingly indicative that the Ford
policy of assisting those whose in
come stopped from cases beyond their
control was never interrupted for a
moment and included every Ford en-
ploye in the military service at that