Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-08-27
he can hardly keep out of the lime.

Andrew Carnegie, taking advantage
of the protection accorded to the iron
industry, amassed great fortune, but
he, like Mr.. Ford, stood for peace.
These are the two conspicuous exam
pies of the very wealthy who are wor-
thy the respect and admiration of the
common people.
One of the amusing things brought
out at the trial, was Mr.. Ford's &C.
tivity CD as lobbyist in the Legisla-
ture. And what kind of laws do You
suppose he tried to secure? Why on
ly for the protection Of birds! He
didn't ask any special legislation to
protect his great manufacturing plants
or to enable him to hold the whip
hand over many thousands of his en-
ployees-not at ALL The feathered
songsters appealed to him and for
them he interceded.
Mr.. Ford plead guilty to being an
ignorant idealist" and when asked
to define the meaning of this term,
he said he understood it meant, Zone
who desires to make others happy"
There is another feature of Mr..
Ford's character, not however,
brought out at the trial, that deserves
mention
He doesn't believe in spending
money in working personal political
campaigns. AS a candidate for the
position of United States Senator
from the great state Of Michigan, he
refused to spend even postage
stamp to advance his political pros
poets. And he chung to this determi-
nation even while the friends of his
opponent, who won by a scratch, were
spending money by the hundreds of
thousands of dollars to fight Mr. Ford.
Surely, man of this type should be
convicted of something to discredit
him in the eyes of the people.
When one rich and very successful
man can be found who desires to make
others happy and who acts upon that
theory; who establishes minimum
scale of wages, almost double the
prevailing rate; who employs lobby
lists only to secure laws for the pro-
lection of birds, and who stubbornly
refuses to join in the hue and cry of
the war lords and the lingo" press
for intervention in. Mexico, to all of
which Mr.. Ford would probably plead
guilty, he must be discredited at any
cost. Otherwise it might be possible
that other wealthy men might be con-
strained to follow his example. This
might make it mighty announcement
for our plutocrats and war lords.
But while the Tribune is guilty, so
said the jury, yet the amount of actu-
al damages it inflicted upon the
great Detroit manufacturer, by calling
him an anarchist" is just SIX
CENTS. When the Tribune pays over
this sum to Mr.. Ford, in the eyes of
the law, it will have made full repara-
ton for the break it made in it's edi-
torial columns.
I wonder how the jury arrived at
this conclusion and fixed on this in
significant sum as the measure of
damages. Is Mr.. Ford so we'll known
to the American people that his char
acter is invulnerable? Or is the class
of newspapers of which the Chicago
Tribune is a conspicuous representa-
tive, becoming so discredited and un-
reliable, that nobody believes what
they print? Or are both of these
things true in a measure? At any
rate, I do not see that Mr.. Ford has
lost anything by the trial, and it has
given him an opportunity to get his
personal views before the whole Am
erican people.
Announcer tnlng brought out IN this
famous lawsuit, is the fact that there
is at least one man in this country
who refuses to profiteer at the ex.
pense of his Government when it is
engaged in war. This is an unpardon.
bic offense in the eyes of the pluto
Gratis. Still it does not have any
force or bearing in the attempt to
show that Mr.. Ford is really an IAN
archist." 1t is indeed greatly to Mr..
Ford's credit, taken all in all. Some
body got their fingers badly burned
this case, and 1t is we'll for the Am
erican people that this trial has been
held. We know now what our lead.
ing CD editorial writer's on the big
newspapers regard as tending to an
archy, and what views a man must
hold in their estimation to be an an.
archist.