Evening star., 1924-08-05

Henry Fords proclamation that
dismissal without privilege of appeal
will be the penalty imposed on any
employe found with the odor of beer
or other liquor on his breath has
called forth much facetious comment
from the press. However, some take
the matter seriously and see in it the
germ of a movement which probably
will do more for prohibition in this
country than any legislation.
Henry Ford has started a wave of
reform bigger than anything he
dreamed Of" declares the New York
World, which notes that already r.
Q. Merrick, division prohibition chief.
has been caught in the backwash. If
only the Government furnished him
clerical help enough he would cir
CulariZe all large employers in his
district, urging them to discharge
any and every man whose breath
smelled of liquor. If there remains
any considerable number of en-
ployers so deaf to the call of righte-
BUSINESS, so dead to their duty. as not
to heed the Merrick summons, then
Congress cannot fail in the emer-
gency. Let there be a law, backed
by constitutional amendment If
! d
not to install smelling g-station at
the gate of every factory, mill and
mine in the land"
"When the Ford system of indus
trial feudalism becomes universal we
shall doubtless enter the millennium"
the Omaha World Herald suggests.
"There will be no more unchaperoned
petting parties, no late dancing, no
Judging on the parking limit down
town, no dumping ashes in the alley.
Every one will spend his days in the
factory, his evenings at Nome and his
SUNDAYS at church. Then there won't
be any more use for Fords." The
farmers and workingmen all over the
country, the Baltimore Sun remarks,
"know that the well-to-do, which in
most cases means their employers,
can get anything they want to drink.
and it is not pleasant to contemplate
what those same farmers and work
ingmen would do were their employ
ers to enter their houses and poke
about looking for the cider jug and
the beer bottle" If Henry Ford
really is intent on serving the cause
of prohibition, asks the Buffalo News,
why does he not refuse to sell cars
to persons who are known to indulge
such a requirement might cut down
sales, adds the st. Louis Post-Dis-
patch, "but what of it? If man
undertakes to carry forward the
'warlike flag of a great ideal he must
be prepared to make some sacrihce
y r y
There is probably economic justi-
fication for such drastic action aside
from whatever moral and legal justi-
fication there may be-" according to
the st. Joseph Gazette, but "the ap-
plication of the new rule may be
difficult. Will Henry have official
breath -smellers in every factory and
office? And must every employe have
his breath smelt every morning, be-
fore starting on the job?" The Syra-
cuse Herald also asks: will he en-
large the function of every foreman
so as to make him an official smeller.
and raise his salary to conform to his
increased and delicate responsible :
ties?" The Providence Journal
thinks Mr.. Ford may establish a
bureau of olfactory detection, with
experts assigned severally to beer.
wine and bootleg. There may be set
up a keyhole corps. cooperating with
the bureau of cellar-window peerers,
and both functioning under the di-
] vision of discovery and dismissal.