The Washington herald., 1920-11-22
FORD TOOPEN
GERMAN PLANT
Automobile King Plans In
vasion With Traction Man
ufacturing Establishment.

j nation obtained by the PUBIC Led
ger Foreign Service, plans the iH<
vasion of Germany with the estab-
lishment of factory for the manu-
facture of tractors and the introduce
tion to Germany of modern American
methods in mass production.
Mr.. Ford and his son. Edsel. have
for this purpose associated them
selves with. the German firm Of En-
rich and Graetz, It Is said. manu-
facturers of lighting fixtures, and
plan to sail for Germany in March to
linaugurate their project. which
comes at a psychological moment
when Germany is drained of her
draft animals by the wastase of
war and the demand Of the allies.
to revolutionize German agriculture
by the introduction Of a moderate
priced farm tractor.
Fritz Graetz, one of the German
partners In the rev enterprise who
recently returned to Berlin from
conferences with the Fords at De-
troit, has communicated details of
the arrangements concluded at De-
troit. The motors for the machines
will for the present be shipped from
the United States, but all the other
parts will be manufactured there, ac-
cording to Ford specifications and
the complete tractors will be assem-
h1nA In foatAriaa
Fords propose to build or buy. Only
tractors will be manufactured at
first. because the need for them at
present Is greatest in Germany. II
the conditions justify, however, addi-
tional factories will be erected and
both tractors and automobiles will
be manufactured to supply the mar
kets Of the greater part Of Central
Europe.
Light Production At First.
No difficulty In securing the neces-
sary coal. iron and skilled workmen
is anticipated. The production dur
ing the first year. according to Herr
Graetz, is not likely to exceed from
ten to twenty tractors daily, but at
the end of a two-year period II is
hoped to build many times that num-
Der. The German government Is re-
ported as having expressed its ap-
proval Of the plans and Herr Graetz
believes 1t quite possible the govern
msnt will permit the importation of
the motors duty free in view of the
great benefit to agriculture. Mr.. ia
cobson, the representative of the De-
troit plant, is now en- route to Ber-
lin, bringing seven tractors to DEM
onstrate to the government experts.
Factory sites will not be definitely
selected until the arrival of Mr..
Ford and his son in March, but the
first plant will probably be in a city
of the Oder River, with Ndequate
shipping facilities, near sources of
coal and iron supplies and where
there is less labor unrest than in
Berlin.
No announcement of the project
has yet been made in Germany be-
cause Of the storm of opposition II
Is expected to arouse among other
tractor makers and German ma nu-
facturers generally who since the
war have displayed the greatest
jealousy Of American manufacturers
seeking to establish themselves in
the German field. The National
Cash Register Company, as an ex-
ample. has been subjected to a con-
centrated attack by powerful sec
tions of the German Industrial
world. which at first fought the es-
tablishment of a factory in Ger
many and then when this line Of
defense lost out mobilized against
the government and the American
competitor to prevent the latter i'm
porting even the highly specialized
machines used in the making Of its
production. The government, how
ever, overrode the opposition in the
Interest Of providing employment
for German workmen and of intro
ducing American capital to Ger
many.
The same consideration may be
expected to appeal in the case of the
Ford plant. Not only will 1t serve
as a pattern for German manufac-
turers of American methods in mass
production, vEich heretofore has
not been developed fully in Ger
many. but it will provide for Ger
man agriculture, in other respects
In the van in agricultural methods
and scientific farming. The low
priced tractor, now so necessary
when the eight-hour day has been
introduced for farm hands and few
craft animals are available, and
there Is need for forcing the pro-
ductivity of the farms as never be-
fore to supply the food requirements
of the country. The German deficit
h largely due to the amounts ex-
pended for the purchase of food
abroad. This in turn is largely due
to the decreased yield of the farms
owing to the shortage of labor and
draft animals, which furnish the
standard farm traction on all except