The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-11-20

mechanics the damned thing ought not to run, but it does"
 As in the Ford engine, so in Henry Ford there are things that by all the laws of ordinary and industrial life should queer" him, put him out of the running, but he keeps gcins.
 He Is an extraordinary man, a per- sonality in the sense that he is diff ferent from other people, quite diff ferent, for that matter. from what he is popularly supposed to be.
 But however unlike the rest of us. Henry Ford may be in St me respects, he falls under the classification of or kdinary mortais in this--he is not sat- isfied with what he has and is.
 He is one of the richest men on earth. He is the most widely known man in the industrial world. But with these things he is not content. He has other ambitions. Fer example, he not only has the willingness. but has shown rather strong desire to assume national political responsibili- ties. And on one occasion he volun- tarily tock upon himself the task oe settling the problems of the world at war. His ability to do in other than the industrial sphere may be commensurate with his will, but his efforts i'll other directions have not been such as to inspire confidence.
 It Is not Cnly the absence of cer- tain qualifications, but the presence of others that make us doubt his fitness for the field of politics. If our government were an absolute mo- narchy, one-man affair. Henry Ferd would be the logical man for the throne, As President, and he seems to have aspirations in that di- reetfon, he would be able to give us very economical administration, for cabinet and Congress would be en- tirely superfluous If he were in tho White House. The chances are that he would run the government, or try to do so, IS he runs his industry, having had experience along no other lines. The Ford organization would be transferred to Washington. That would not be so difficult matter as 1t might appear to the uninitiated It could be accomplished in single section cf Pullman car--with one in the upper and two in the lower berth. l agree with MT. Edison. who was recently reported as saying of MT. Ford, "He is a remarkable man in one sense, and in another he is not I would net vote for him for Presi- dent, but as director of manufac- turing or industrial enterprises fd vote for him--twice."
 But I doubt If the spark of political ambition in him ever would have burst into flame had it been left tc itself. There are those near him, how ever. who never cease to blow upon it and fan it, being them selves ambi- tious to sit in the light of the political fire which by chance may be kindled in this way. They seem to entertain nc doubt of their ability to run any office for him from that of the presi- dency down.
 But Henry Ford has left upon me the impression that his chief ambi- tion is to be known as thinker of an original kind. He has the not un. common conviction among morta Is that he has a real message for the world, real service to render man. kind.
 T want to live a, life," he said tc me some years ago when we were returning from Europe after tn, peace ship fiasco. Money means of it nor the use of 1t so far as am personally concerned. l am in a peculiar position. No one can give me anything. There is nothing l want that I cannot have. Bxt I dc not want the things money can buy l want to live a life, to make tn, world little better for having livec in it. The trouble with pee pie is tha, they do not think. want to d. things and say things that will make them think"
 In my opinion he could realize his supreme ambition if he were to follow the example of a good shoemaker anS stick tc his last; that Is, to the human and production problems in industry and leave national, international ant racial problems alone. It is human tc grow weary of achievement in one di rection. Like Alexander we tear. fully long for adventures in otheI worlds instead Of trying to bring { little nearer to perfection tho littl. world we have conquered.
 For many years MT Ford shunnel