Evening star., 1923-08-14
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
HENRY FORD. Samuel Marquis. Lit


bent that way-the game of opening
inside works with his outside beha-
vfors. To outsiders and onlookers
much OF the interest and worth of
this game rests In the quality Of the
one who becomes the subject OF this
psychological surgery and micro
scopy Much depends also on the skill
and authority of the operator not
only upon his skill in barring the Sc
cret springs Of being, but in following
them out as well into the common
currents of daily life where the sub
1ect makes himself openly manifest.
Ihe case in hand points upon an
operator whose profession has
brought him close to the menta
states OF men and women and. more
than this, has imposed upon him the
duty OF tracing the relations Of these
TO their ultimate expression in human
conduct and behavior. Mr. MARQUIS is
clergyman of the modern type. hold
ing that bodily well-being is potent
element in spiritual progress, holding,
roo. that to assure this general we'll
being Is no more than a part of the
pact between man and man. In pur-
suance of this belief he has become
an advocate and an agent of many
important lines Of social service.
Near the end of 1915 Mr. Marquis
at the solicitation of Henry Ford. took
charge OF the educational department
OF the Ford Motor Company. depart
ment organized a year or more ear
Her. when the Ford profit sharing plan
with its ve-dollars- a day minimum
went into effect He held this posi-
tion for fiVe years. relinquishing il at
his own desire and upon his own ini-
tiative. This five-year stretch upon
the ground itself. in as near ap
@
IT was possible for persistence and
skill and friendliness to achieve,
stands as the foundation Of this in
depreciation OF Henry Ford--a marvel
! OF II man to all: to thousands a hope
and A promise, to other thousands a.
menace and, possibly, an actual dan
ger.
And what. in lump sum, did the pa
thence and the devotion of this man
battle-ground pull out of his five
years of welfare work in the Ford
Motor Company coupled with an even
longer period of watchful waiting
upon the personality and character
of the wizard OF Dearborn? Henry
Ford possesses the most elusive per-
soma lity of any man have ever
known" That is the significant sum
OF the matter. Now in this conclu-
sion there Is no suggestion of Ford
in the role Of a Machiavelli Nothing
like that Rather Is this only another
way of saying that here is a man of
so many and so vital contradictions
that there remains to one not even a
foot of solid ground from which he
may in safety say, You can bank on
Henry Ford here, or there, or here"
of unexpectedness. The study as a
whoSe sums to body of concrete evil
dence, case book, so to speak. point
ing always. directly or indirectly, upon
this cardinal elusiveness of the man.
The author names that day-and there
are many of these days-when Ford
| showed phenomenal strength of mind
for this measure, offsetting this on
another day by childish weakness
! toward some other measure. He
spreads out Ford's astounding in
sight into business affairs coupling
this with a boasted ignorance in other
matters. He tells of Ford's faith in
| his employees and his unlimited gem
/ erosity toward them and then shows
| the man in what seems an utter in
difference to the feelings and the fate
OF these men. No, he is not erratic,
not unbalanced. as some think him to
be. No, says this interpreter, he SIM
ply has never organized his mind. Its
often in hostility. IF only Henry
Ford were properly assembled. II
only he could do in himself that which
he has done in his factory
There are stories here. any number
OF them, to show the business genius
of the man, - show the clean quality
of his mon~ getting, to spread out
his admirable business theory-that
service is the beginning and the end of
! business. not profit as an end and a
| beginning. Triumphant in this theory.
! since its fair working out has made him
| the richest of men beside the main point
| of serving the public in genius OF good
| faith and good work. Stories here, with
! out number. too. to show the finer Henry
Ford among his employees. in the
| world of business. in the world of high
| ideals. Then there are other stories
| that picture a blind man in place of
| the man of vision, a hard man crowd
! ing out the understanding man. a
| vain man obscuring the modest one,
and ungenerous man refusing tribute TO
| those who helped deliver him, an ig-
norant man boasting of his no learn
; ing. If only Henry Ford were properly
assembled as the Ford cars are so ex-
pertly assembled! One. reading here,
says over again the words of the author
himself.
One of the interesting stories here
tells of how Mr.. Ford "scrapped" his
executives. one by one, when the COM
pany had attained a high peak of
business success. A lone-hand man,
| this Henry Ford. To the point right
here is the story of James Couzens.
| now Senator Couzens. Bookkeeper,
once. in the Ford Company, time
clerk, purchasing agent. sales man
ager business manager. James
Couzens was. and Is" according to
stars in the financial game himself.
A masterful man, little more mas
terful than Mr.. Ford cared to have
about; an organizer down to the last
detail; a tireless worker who knows
how to get work out of others: some
thing of a steam roller when 1t comes
| to ironing out difficulties and going
through. He made a wonderful cap
| tain of the team that finally drove
! through the line with Henry holding
| the ball. And when the thing was
| done he took off his hat and joined
with the bleachers in the chorus
Henry did it," Bully for James Cou-
zens. that's fine! But-"neither Mr..
Ford nor Mr.. Couzens is adapted to
! the playing of second fiddle. From
what I know of the two men I VEN
ture to guess that they did not remain
| in the same company for the same rea-
son that two locomotives do not run
side by side on the same track; not
There are others, however, in this
| long roster of names in the Alumni
Association" of the Ford Motor Com
pany, an association formed out of the
| discards of this masterful man, who
! is bound to go 1t alone
| X X
"Come with me. boy. 1 want to
show you some of my friends" Henry
| Ford talking. but not the Henry Ford
| cited in the foregoing story. Listen.
| boy. Hear it? Hear it? Hear that
song? Quiet now Don't move. He's
| right there in that tree somewhere.
| There he is. Take my glasses. boy. !