Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-11-15

ed under at the right time of year
With no possibility of overlooking
it, there was threshing machine.
found that it was Mr.. Ford's own pri
vate article of farm machinery. and
not an ornamental farm piece either
He knew all about it. how to operate
it, and in fact no later than last sum
mer had INDUCED himself in its most
practical USE A good many of the
neighbors were farmer boys friends
of Henry Ford, and for them he made
a farm to farm tour with his outfit
and took a very keen delight in doing
their threshing for them.
/ am against the concentration OF
population in the large cities, said Mr.
Ford as the conversation veered
around to the discussion of some eof
| the small towns. 1t is economically
unsound. I am for the back to the
farm movement and the upbuilding of
the small community.
| City boys make good farmers, but
farming will not continue to be full
time job. That is why country boys
leave the farm now-they want more
of the business of life, such as is
found in the cities. Well, the exper-
fence is good for them, and together
they will revolutionize farming. The
movement away from the farm is ma
tural enough Farming will be sea-
sonable job before long, and the farm
er will have additional interests.
AS Town Builder.
At the time we were headed in the
direction of a small town Worthwhile
by name, quite near Dearborn. | had
premonition that this little town
must be the scene of another labCra.
tory, for in looking upon these varied
activities, | had observed the out
standing trait in Henry Ford-namely
he makes a practical demonstration
of every problem. / recalled that he
of some hundred million dollars by
raising it without the aid OF Wall
Street Bankers. He needed a lower
railroad rate on raw materials and he
accomplished this by buying the rail-
road. There was trouble in the coal
fields, so he purchased some mines
There was possibility of internal
friction in his company, so he and his
sou Edsel purchased every share OF
stock in the company. He may not
be so interested in keeping track of
some of the figures of past history
like Benedict Arnold for instance, but
for meeting every day problems in a
practical way, he has a record of past
performances which is wonderful.
Worthwhile was a town of approx
mately population of thousand
people. 1t has today doubled in its
number of citizens and the reason is
due to another of Henry Ford's prac-
tical ideas. He constructed a dam
/ across the River Rouge which divides
this little community and thereby
gave to Worthwhile power plant He
then built factory for the manufac-
ture of automobile parts.
| The water power is more than suffi-
cient for the operation of this fac
tory; but the matter of Importance
is that three hundred and twenty
five people are on the pay roll. The
transformation taken place is that of
a slow farming community to thriv-
ing industrial center where real es-
tate has boomed, and the whole town
and adjacent country has taken on
new life, with many people moving
from Detroit twenty-five miles away,
to newly built homes in Worthwhile.
Within very short distance is
another town, Plymouth, where the
same transformation has taken
place. There, talked with one OF
the women working in the factory
and from her l learned something of
her own Individual problems. A little
more than year ago her husband
had died and left her with two small
children. She had resorted to the
taking in of washing to take care OF
her family and was able to earn ten