New-York tribune., 1919-08-13
Libel Case Against SsChicago
Tribune' Is Scheduled
Go TO Jury Tomorrow;
Court Instructs To-day
Anarchism Is Made Issue
Defence Compares the Ideas
of Auto Builder With
Those of Emma Goldman

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich, Aug. 12.-
The evidence and the final arguments
in Henry Ford's sl,ooo,o 900 libel suit
against "The Chicago Tribune" are all
in. The last word was spoken by AL
fred Lucking, senior counsel for the
plaintiff, to-day. Tomorrow Judge
Tucker will formulate his instructions,
and on Thursday he will deliver them
to the jury. The final appeal on behalf
of the defendant was made by Attorney
Elliott G. Stevenson, preceding Mr..
Lucking.
The issue was squarely Joined, Mr..
Stevenson contending that Mr.. Ford
was an anarchist in June, 1915, when
The Tribune" so characterized him,
and Mr.. Lucking, asserting that there
was no man in the United States fur
ther removed from anarchy.
Mr.. Stevenson read statement after
statement from the Ford peace propa-
ganda and similar ones from the writ
ings of Emma Goldman, and declared
the jury could not tell which was Miss
Goldman's and which was Mr.. Ford's.
Mr.. Lucking, to whom fell the privi-
lege of making the final appeal to the
jury, characterized the address of Mr..
Stevenson as powerful appeal to the
passions and prejudces of the jury.
Speech Called "Stab in Back"
at was nsidous-unlawfu a stab
in the back" said Mr.. Lucking The
lawyer, to illustrate, pointed to the
charge of Mr.. Stevenson that twenty
four times IN twenty-one pages of the
Ford booklet Mr.. Ford called war
murder" Mr.. Lucking gave his own
construction of the booklet, and as
serted Mr.. Ford never called any one
8 murderer"
This suit is being watched all over
this continent, perhaps beyond" said
Mr.. Lucking, "and it calls for consid-
Grafton at your hands from which every
item of prejudice and every element Of
the extraneous has been eliminated"
The lawyer told a story of Euro
pean travel to illustrate Mr.. Ford's
great reputation. story of Dutch
Judge who identified Detroit only be-
cause it was where the Ford factories
were.
This you must bear in mind when
you, consider damages" said Mr..
Lucking. The lawyer drew a dstinc-
ton between president" and "gov-
ernment." when President Wilson
asks Congress for legislation he is not
the government: When CONGRESS-
passes that legislation and it becomes
law, and the President puts it into
execution he is the government"
said the advocate. He pointed out
that IN arguing against increasing the
National Guard in 1916 Mr.. Ford was
opposing Presi ident Wilson but not the
government.
Personal Attack Claimed
Mr.. Ford's lawyer took up the ques-
tlon OF the right of fair comment"
claimed by "The Tribune" in defence
OF the editorial, and asserted that the
right existed with regard to comment
vlduals. He quoted the testimony of
tiffany Blake, chief editorial writer of
The Tribune" to show the editorial
was comment on Henry Ford, not his
views particularly.
The speaker insisted it was the "pro-
Germanism" Of "The Tribune" which
led it to advocate intervention in
Mexico, and that the attack on Mr.
Ford was due to malicious resent
ment OF his opposition. He emphasized
that while the newspaper paid its en-
ployes while they were with the Ma
tlonal Guard on the border, it did not
do so in the war against Germany.
The Tribune was not interested
in the great war; it opposed it to the
last" said Mr.. Lucking.
Changes in Venue Cited
Mr.. Stevenson was the first to speak.
He recited that the alleged libelous
editorial headed Ford Is an Anar-
chist" was published June 23, 1916;
that Mr.. Ford first sued in the Federal
court at Chicago, but after several
months withdrew the suit and insti-
tuted another in the Circuit Court at
Detroit, which in due course, on a
change of venue requested by the de-
fendant, came to Mount Clemens. He
then took up the editorial itself, and
insisted that there was not a word
in it anywhere to Justify the plain
tif's contention that by "anarchist"
THE Tribune" meant a bomb thrower
to overturn government. Mr.. Steven
son read from the editoria4 one Of
the alleged libels:
"A man so ignorant of the funda-
mentals of government is Henry
Ford"
Well" commented the lawyer,
what did he tell US on the stand =?
He said he didn't know what the
fundamentals were and did not care"
Ignorant idealist" was the next al
legged libelous statement brought up
by the lawyer.
And they put Ford employees on the
write," said Mr.. Stevenson. II was
never so shocked in my life"
| Charge of ignorance Upheld
Mr.. Stevenson recounted how Mr..
Ford repeatedly evaded reading while
on the witness stand and finally re-
plying to question said he was will
ing the impression should go out that
he could not read.
"The Tribune" lawyer said that in
cident after incident occurred while
the plaintiff was on the stand to prove
the charge of ignorance.
ut was pitiful," continued Mr.. Ste
venson, "but they had demanded proof,
and | had to go on until Judge Tucker
himself said: Mr.. Stevenson, you have
gone far enough along this line GEN
tlemen, that phase of the proof was
completed right there"
Mr.. Stevenson said he wondered if
Mr. Ford would have still opposed
sending soldiers to the Mexican bor-
der if he had been in Jesse Deemer's
place and kidnapped into Mexico, where
every day cunning bandit said, "Mr
Ford, you will be shot in the morn
ing"
He recited other outrages testified
to by border witnesses, but in each he
pictured Mr.. Ford as the victim, and
asked if the manufacturer would have
been so complacent if he had been the
sufferer.
Michigan Vote Recalled
"And now comes Mr.. Ford and scys