The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-07-23
Fooled Wall Street AndCot
 $88,OOO,OOO
Continued from Page one)


 does it ?'' the manufacturer answered. "Oh yes, it does," the banker came back We'u have to have some say as to who the new Treasurer shall be-
 That remark closed the interview.
 Harded him his hat,' said MT. Ford, showed him where the door was and told him to take his things and get out right quick. The next time I saw Edsel I told him that, in the future, he was to be the Treasurer as well as President of the Ford Mo- tor Company"
 That meeting was the showdown in a situation which, developing for months, had been watched with in tterest by industrial America During the previous Summer and Fall indus Etry generally the country over, had been gradually slowing down. In Detroit plant after plant had closer minimum The number of the unem- ployed was rising steadily. Every where there was talk of a "black Winter"
 < Only at the Ford Motor Company production rushed on unabated with ffu1i forces and three shifts a day. It was the wonder plant not only of tDetroit but of the whole country It engendered a strong feeling of con- ndence in the community.
 Then, in September, the country was startled and electrified by an tnouncement of a big cut in the price or the Ford cars The company an- nounced that it made the cut in anti cpation of, lowered prices of raw ma tertais in the future, that for a time it must manufacture at a loss, but that, in the hope of hastening a gen era1 return to the basic prices of tpeace times, it would take it's loss iaow-and it charged off to loss $17,- 100000. That is, it put a. value of 1888, 100000 on stock, raw and manu- sfacturer, that had cost it s105, 100000 a Y17 f,,11 4I fnew basis.
 When Runors Started
 In the weeks following Ford busi- ness was appreciab1y stimulated, but and national basis, the closing down of industry went steadily on. Then suddenly over night it seemed $sprang up a host of rumors that even the Ford Company was affected. Vague, tangible reports spread over tthe country that, due to the cut in price and to other causes grave financial problems now confronted the : Ford Company and soon it must close down or go bankrupt, or both.
 Even sobered, leve1headed business men began to believe that within the Ford organization something was fun ! damentally wrong. Two weeks pass i ed but no reopenfng, and then an nouncement that the time or resump- tion of operations was indefinite" ]: WaH Street cfa1nored that Ford was <broke" and that if the plant ever {: opened up again they would be in : to retire. Just at this juncture, ac- cording to- MT. Frord's associates. diff fferent New York banking groups sent {: representatives to Detroit offering loans on different terms. According t: to MT. Ford, only one of these rep resentatives discussed such offer. He was the gentleman who was shown the door.
 In twenty minutes Wall Street found out very definitely whether MT. Ford needed funds. Within ten days after that meeting postcards went out from the office calling 10000 men back to their machines. Within six : weeks more the plant was again in full operation.
 Since that time, with production records smashed almost weekly, the ducfIon have become the marvel of : the industrial world. On July 12, :. 4,461 cars were turned out in a single day.. Total production for July will : be close to 100000 cars, and still MT. : Ford says production is far behind or derS
 How Ford Met Crisis.
 What brought this change? The an swer is in two words-hquidatton and Ford did to hls business what the doctor does to a. man prostrated by sover-eating and drinking-he admin sistered a stern regime of fasting and sdfet. He stopped buying. Then, Sby turning all his stock on hand. trough and manufactured, into cash tand, by eliminating every element organization that did not produce, he forced his industry, for time to live off it's own fat He met obIiga- stions, not by borrowing money, and thus perpetuatins numberIess extra vasances that had crept in during | the war, but by devfsfns new meth Eods of buying, in distribution, adrnin- listraton. accounting and by eIirninat-
 Out at the plant of the Dearborn rn- dependent the other day, Mr. Ford sat, coat off. watching a never-end-i roadway just outside of mowers @ sthxeshing machines and wagons, hauled by tractors, on their way to and from the harvest fields of his es- tate. The day was hot. He was re- luceant to talk.
 'Hrm thinking now of the present and future The said That finan- tcial matter Is a thing of the past Let if stay there''
 '-But," some one suggested. "there are other plants. big and little, hrouxnon. sh , the bIe 9oT1frg; that today Sn1 They might benefit by your experi- sence.~
 HIS fare frightened. and then broke into a smile he said:
 @.NosV. you've said something. May Ebe it would be worth while
 Am Account Of Expenses.
 So 1se sent for lot of records and afata. flIuninatfre Of what was done by the company in fhe ten months 5ust past, and with this before him, said:
 t1Ou difficulties, like those Of other lercaf plans were q heritage Of the War. War fs not only darnhabie for fine lives it costs, but also for its after .e6hecfs on society, on civilization EEyexy form of human activity is stiTn- salIn4ed aefHfcially,
 ADrfnk makes q mans senses ttxeener. inc sseR hears and feels things that fire not real, but abnormal He bs<.es his actions on his thoughts. ideas and impulses that are not sound That's just what war does to business and industry. The banker c,,ddenlr handling millions xNfiere be