The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1919-07-24
FORD PRICES AND PROFITEER.
ING IN WAR TIME.

striking contribution in the discus.
sion of profiteering. The statement
has been made that the government
gave the contract for cylinders fol
Liberty motors to the Ford company
at Detroit, the estimated price being
$40 but the Ford plant made them SC
fast and so good and at so reduced a
cost that when billed to the govern
ment the price charged was not SIG
but 1925. The Commercial Appeal
goes on to say:
"This statement is so different
from business transactions that most
men and firms had with the United
States government that the editor of
the Commercial Appeal wrote to ask
if it was really true. Here are the
facts:
"The Ford people were approached
early in the Liberty engine campaign
and asked to take a contract for cyl
inders. At that time a contract had
been placed with a concern in the
East for these cylinders at $40 each.
The experimental cylinders which
were originally made were drilled
from solid blocks of steel and cost
about $40. The Ford people took a
contract for 100000 cylinders at
1925 each. The company proceeded
to design jigs and dies and the cyl
inders were forged. When this con-
tract was completed the Ford people
received another contract at 1925.
The firm returned the contract and
stated that the price should be SO
which would let the company out, in
spite of the fact that labor and mat
erial had rapidly risen. The cost of
the changes and extra equipment was
charged off in the first contract.
"At the time of the armistice Ford
had manufactured $4,000 cylinders
at the cost of So each. Thus the
Ford firm was able to save the gov
eminent $11 a cylinder, or $5,00O,-
900 on the contract.
"The government usually paid
$1,000 for caissons. The Ford firm
took a contract for $500 and billed
them to the government at less than
$500 each.
"The Ford firm sold to the govern
ment $4,000 Ford motor cars of diff
ferent styles and types at a dis
count of Is per cent off of the regu-
lar price.
eve presume the Ford company
made a fair profit on all of these I'M
dertakings, but in these two Instances
the government saved $10,000,000
on its contract.
"If other firms in the country and
other individuals had dealt with
Uncle Sam as did the Ford motor
company our supplies for the war
would have cost US about so per cent
of the actual amount paid out"
These are interesting statements
to the public. What they amount to
is to say that the Ford plant differed
from the business rule adopted in
wartime of profiteering on the peo-
pie, and what does this come to but
the equivalent of stating that the
Ford outfit now on trial as "anarch-
ists", are in fact patroits not merely
in word but in act ? Is an "anarch-
ist" a manufacturer who reduces
prices in wartime
Profiteers in wartimes-there are
millions of them-may howl their
heads off about standing by the flag
and about love of country and 100
per cent Americanism, but whether
they have patriotism at heart, gen.
uine sacrificial love of country, ap-
pears not by their noisy professions
but by their acts. The Ford plant
tried to sell to the government below
the contract figure.
The Ford outfit are not popular in
business circles, and stand outside
the charmed ring. They broke the
rules of the game. They refused to
go after and get all that the traffic
would bear. During wartime they
were not in business for profit first,
last and all the time, swelling the
public's cost of living, but to render
the greatest service at the lowest
price.
Such is the signifance Of the state
ments made about the relations of
the Ford outfit to war and the public.
We can not vouch for the truth of the
statements. They are set forth by
the Commercial Appeal in detail,
with figures given. 1t is up to in
dignant profiteers to disprove them,
for if the Ford attitude towards
prices and profits is correctly stated,
it condemns most industries in the
United States, whose prices scandal
ize the nation. If the Ford figures
above printed are correct, profiteer-
ing in the United States during the
war cost the government and the
public not less than 40 billion dollars.
Capital.