The L'Anse sentinel., 1923-02-02
A MONUMENT
TO HENRY FORD
Auto Maker Building One for
Himself at River Rouge,
Say the Prophets

, Nhdtuiu VIVA fh DSehoAs ASS"o/
Industrial prophets believe that
Henry Ford is building his monument
at River Rouge.
The recently demonstrated success
of his revolutionary manufacturing
practice at the prodigious River
Rouge plant Of the Ford Motor Co.,
duplicated nowhere else in the world,
has led them to predict that Ford's
fame in history will rest on this
plant, rather than on the magnitude
Of his wealth, or the far flung extent
of his holdings and branches, or his
singular adventures in non-indus-
trial fields.
They add that if the Krupp works
at Essen, and Hugo SHINES at Bo-
chum, could reproduce achievements
Henry Ford has made at River Rouge
the last year, the payment OF German
reparations in products of coal, iron
and steel would become a practical
project. This solution of Germany's
crushing problem is not beyond pos
sibility, these industrial prophets de-
clare, because Ford's outstanding
triumph at River Rouge is the now
unquestioned demonstration that his
short cuts to unparalleled low cost
quantity production are based on sci
entifcally and universally correct
fundamental principles, rather thar
personal magic in special field.
Inspecting the Plant
1t has become known that repre-
sentatives of Hugo SHINES came to
Detroit recently to investigate reports
Of what Ford was accomplishing at
River Rouge, and made thorough
inspection Of the Ford plant there
for SHINES.
Ford's plant at River Rouge was
begun five years ago as the master
enterprise in the automobile manu-
facturer's plan to control every step
of his industry from primary raw
material to finished automobiles and
tractors. Although scarcely more
than half completed, it is now the
throbbing heart Of the worlds great
est single industry, and in many res
poets is in itself the greatest indus
trial works in the world.
1t was Ford's' scheme to eliminate
waste and speed up the manufacture
Of parts exactly as his magic had con-
iured parts to swarm into completed
automobiles at his pioneer plant at
Highland Park. 1t was part. of his
scheme to combine coke ovens, fur
naces, foundry and steel mill into a
single, consolidated working unit
the first time in the history of metal
working that such a project had ever
been undertaken.
The Great Project CJ
1t was Ford's scheme, furthermore,
to pour molten iron from his blast
furnaces freely into molds and in
this single operation product light,
thin-sectioned, high silicon castings
which could be machined. For more
than fifty years, the worlds most
exper meatllurgists have dreamed of
this elimination of slow and costly
steps through the pig iron stage, and
in vain have experimental to achieve
it. They listened to tidings of Ford's
project at River Rouge with tongues
in their cheeks; and pointed out that
the hitherto insurmountable difficult
ties, both mechanical and mettalur-
gical, which had baffled them. These
industrial chieftains admitted that if
Ford succeeded in what he proposed,
he would achieve the most significant
and vitality important inductsrial de-
velopment Of his age, and establish a
new epoch in all metal manufactur-
ing. Then they skeptically sat bacl;
to wait.
A little more than a year ago Ford
began to pour into his molds direct
from his blast furnace in a small way
Last October his grandson, Benson
Ford, lighted the fires under his Sec
ond blast furnace. Now the industri-
al chieftains have withdrawn tongue
from cheek. and have become
thoughtful pilgrims to River Rouge
A Daily Miracle
There they are being shown a daily
miracle of 1900 tons Of molten ore
and iron, mixed in scientific proper.
tions and changed in a single opera.
ton, in the worlds largest foundry
into superb castings numerous e
nough to supply all the automobile
tractor and truck needs Of the Fort
Motor Co. They behold thirty-fvs
ever-moving professions of newly
fashioned molds whirling to the pour
ing station on endless conveyors ant
"merry- and thence bacl
past knockout and cleaning stations