The Semi-weekly leader., 1922-08-30
FORD TO SHUT DOWN
ALL PLANTS SEPT. l6
Lack Of Coal Reason Assigned
10000 Employees Direct
" Affected.

-
Detroit. Aug. 26.-Industry the
country over must throw up its
hands in surrender within few
weeks If the rail and coal strikes con-
tinue, Henry Ford declared today in
announcing the decision OF the Ford
Motor Company to close its plants
here and in many other cities Sep
tember 16, because of the fuel situ-
alton.
His decision directly affects 1867
900 employees at his manufacturing
and assembling plants and Indirect
ly forces into idleness hundreds of
thousands of others producing ma
terials for his Industries.
The shut down it is claimed, will
entail 100000 weekly wage loss
alone to men engaged in Ford en-
terprises.
Mr.. Ford held financial interests
responsible for the Industrial tieup,
declaring the money barons" were
manipulating the labor unions and
that public officials, state and ma
tional. were impotent in the crisis.
HINTS AT DRASTIC ACTION.
The strikes would end, he contin-
ued when the majority of the peo-
pie are cold and hungry enough to
resort to drastic action"
Continuance of these disturbances
to the economic life of the nation
is due simply to the greed and a.
varice of Wall Street, Mr.. Ford as
serted, adding that these interests,
dominated the railroads, coal mines
and public utilities of the country"
The deadlock in strike negotia-
tions indicated, he declared, the ex--
istence of "a plot to unload the de-
moralized and rundown railroads on
to the government at their own price
and to mulct the people through ex-
cessive coal prices"
The shutdown means, according
to Mr.. Ford, that $4,000 men en-
ployed in the plants of the company
here will be without work. Thirty
thousand others in the assembling
plants scattered throughout the en-
tire country will be thrown out Of
employment. How long the plants
are to be idle will depend on the coal
supply, the Detroit manufacturer
said.
Mr.. Ford declared he "had not
the remotest idea" when the plant
could be reopened. 1t was announced
that the normal daily consumption
of coal in the Ford industries was
$500 tons and although declining to
state the amount on hand at this
time, officials said it would be i'm
possible to do more than keep the
furnaces and ovens warm"
ONLY SMALL NUMBER RETAINED
Only a comparatively small num-
Der Of employees will be retained
during the shutdown, it was an
nounced. Mr.. Ford's statement fol-
lows
"The coal situation has become
impossible. For the last several
weeks we have seen situation ap-
preaching that we feared would force
us to close. We greatly regret hav-
ing to take that stey, Edsel (Edsel B.
Ford, president of the Ford Motor
Company and 1 returned from our
Eastern trip and night before last
with every possible data and infor-
nation bearing on the subject be-
fore us, we stroye until daylight try
ing to find some way out without
closing down.
"Eevery way we turned we were
confronted with the situation that
under the present handling of coal
there never would be time when
we would have enough coal to oper-
ate the several departments of the
plant simultaneously.
I'VE therefore decided that of ne
cessity we must close down sooner
or later. We wish to keep enough
coal on hand to keep our furnaces
and coke ovens warm; to let them
get cold would cause us a loss of
hundreds of thousands of dollars. At
the rate we are getting coal now,
Is will mark the time
when we will have only enough coal
left to keep our furnaces and ovens
warm.
Our reserve stock by that time
will have been exhausted completely,
We will therefore close down the en-
tire plant Sept. 16.
MATERIAL ORDERS CANCELLED.
Last night we wired 900 houses
that supply us with material to
stop shipment and this morning let
ters and telegrams were sent out to
about 1000 more.
1--WE appreciate the great loss it
will mean to these hundreds of sup
ply houses, but it also will mean a |