Evening star., 1923-01-09
! NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
MY LIFE AND WORK. Henry Ford.
DOjIbIeday Page A Co,

'Why pc poorf --neHry rofo ePe"A
Ing:
Poverty can be cured.
Work, Will do IL.
Work is q natural human function.
Just as simple as that.
An exciting story. this. 1t is the
story of work, with success coming
along merely as logical effect OF the
quality of that work. A point to
remember In the career of Henry
Ford. Some years back there was
the boy on his fathers farm. one
out of many thousands OF these. To-
day there is one OF the richest and
most notable of men. And the run
between these two stakes has been
swift one: The boy Began 1t. Ne
of boy that went Into farm work.
by and by he came to hght. as reso-
lutely and more successfully, the
waste that blights all work, Anotner
point TO remember. In those carrier
days.it was, naturally. only the boy. hat
ing the endless dullnsss and ieg-ache Of
driving a stubborn plow into the SOL
behind plodding and dispirited horses:
However, even then, the boy mao
compensations-machinery. In those
to which any old machine. no matter
how decrepit. made certain appeal
This seemingly worthless thing be
came his, playfeilow till, under his
again to live up. even though feebly
to its destiny OF making things go.
He set the old machine more than
once to farming.
%s*%
But the farm was, clearly, not the
place for young Henry Ford. Ma
chinery was his passion, Mechanics.
focused upon the. horseless vehicle,
became his absorption. To build
these motors, to thread the highways
with them, this appeared to him to
| be the right answer to his ambition.
Having definitely decided upon this
| as a career, Mr.. Ford at once entered
1t. One OF these produced pure ex-
/ perinentation in mechanics applied to
definite object. The other covered
q careful study of"the psychology of
the human in his reactions to any
product of trade. And these two
! examination long before the actual
opening up of business itself,
Mr.. Ford had the notion that every
possible problem should be solved,
ieVery possible douot fenoyeo' pEtpi
his product was ready to be considr
| cred rs an article of trade. Another
point TO ember-one of the htgh
points, in fact, to keep in mind when
studying the phenomenal business
then was, and still is. that business
IL. primarily. service. Now, service
as the chief objective of business
| calls for q certain line of procedure,
While money-proft-as its prime OBJ.
4 L.. f@- line r.f
procedure, Mr.. Ford chose the former.
To serve as many people as possible
| that is the goal of all business. That
goal sets the price OF the commodity
| also to as low level as its consistent
with its high quality. And this high
quality must, In any event, be main
| tanned. Another axiom of good busi-
ness. The product must, through
| constant study and experiment, march
toward an increasing simplicity OF con-
may be treated at home, outside the
| high priced offce of the expert. As
waste is eliminated In the manGfae-
ture and as lower price levels tor
materials are reached. the price OF
the product must, too. follow this
lower trend, Now, these principles
apply to any business in the Worid
where the object Is service to the
| consumer rather than profit to the
producer. Mr.. Ford says that he has
4
| his astonishingiy successful career,
He says, moreover, sthat, foilowi Ing
the theory that business Is service,
and mindIng the rules that this
theory imposes. one eannet help msk.
| ing money. provided, of course. that
he be dealing in q generally useful
or desirable product.
| The business potentislities of the
| earth are as yet hardly touched. As
| these, under science, continue to open
4 ID tfIl ha
| TO have oongenial work. Then IL he
look upon his occupation as public
| service. and II he, besides, apply to IL
| the principles which this conception
implies. he may rest assured, not only OF
| an existence free from want, but of one
| that is lighted as well BY the JOY OF life
! in rich abundance This is Mr.. Ford {
answer to the problem of poverty,
| + n y y
! Probably there is no business plant
In the world where waste has been sc
scientifically treated, with complete
elimination as the object of such
study. as in the Ford plant, There II
! in this book a vivid description ol
the direction. the extent, the detail
of the waste-saviRg processes, These
apply TO the human element as vel
as to the saving of material and time
| Economy OF every sort that produc-
| ton can conceive is here raised 10 the
ultimate degree. Most interesting
| and highly suggestive. Mr.. Fore
has studied economy OF enart In many
\ fields. He began as a boy on tbs
farmer that IL his methods IN every
| branch of farm work were not so de-
plorabiy wasteful he would be pros
! porous within reason, in good time:
and ill. with no need of biocs ant
other channels for the solicitation oi
government support.
i X x y
Mr.. Ford has a good deal to sa.
of the business that Is founded upoI
the notion of preflt-sof business thai
begins at the profit end of the enter
iprise rather than. at the service ent
Of it. He is inclined to exclude nj
lsuch from, legitimate business. Plent!
of people will have plenty to say IL
respect to this. Real business. ac
cording to the author. has three
phases. These are making things
buying things, carrying thifgs-pro
duction. consumption, transportation
Just rolling money over and over II
not respectable business. IN his va!
of thinking. The money In thi'
process Is not producing anything. L
! Is not working. And, in order to be
Iiong to legitimate business. none,
| must go to work at some honest call
ing. Where do the ananeiers belona
| in this scheme?
| r. xJx X
Mr. Ford is stiekler for his theoF,
THAT work is natural human func
tion. Everybody must work-every-
body except the sick and the old
Yes, all prisoners should be. seif-sup
portfng, and should support thell
families besides. This may put som,
j man sfuff into them, where denend