The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-02-15
FLIVVERIZING HUMANITY
BY N. d. Cochran .

1t isn't surprising that Henry Ford thinks prohibi
ton is good thing for the country and begin
to understand him when he says that 1t has been Of
untold benefit to the workngmen In that particular
he thinks as Gary and other big employers of
labor think.
There u.s. one difference, however, between Henry
Ford and some other captains of industry. Henry
thinks prohibition Is good for workingen, thinks
it is also good for him. Some others filled up their
lars to the ceiling with the best the market afforded
and then financed the ntisaoon League to put pro-
hibton the workingnan
Undoubtedly Ford is sincere In thinking prohibition
Is good for the workingan, but while he has proved
that as manufacturer and salesman he is genius
1t doesn't necessarily follow that he ranks high
sociologist.
Mass production and standardization work out all
right when applied to turning tin zzes, but there
Is real difference between automobiles and human
beings The human animal has soul, but even
Henry Ford would claim that there any such thing
under the hood of his hivver.
Yet Henry's philosophy is much the same whether
applied to fivvers human beings. Worked out
socially 1t would standardize men. women and chill
dren We would all act alike, eat alike, drink alike
tnlnk alike, work ake-every human being would be
Ford hivver.
Now If Henry carried his theories to their logical
conclusion the only automobile would be a Ford He
would scrap the Rolls Royces Pierce Arrows Packards
WysKnights. Bucks. Chevrolets and all the rest OF
them and allow no car on the road but Lizzie.
What he doesn't seem to understand is that there
are more kinds of human beings than there are auto
mooiies;s and they simply can't be standardized and
n,aNe into Fords.
Possibly he WASH: conscious Of It, but after Henry
piled up lot Of jack he got wanting to be merely
a Ford. He wanted to be misunderstanding quite
bit more exclusive socially than democratic yyer
with all the refnements Of polite society. That u.s.
ntvvers for the workingman, but Lincolns for mil
honaires-yes even for billionaires.
Then Edsel was coming along; and it Is human
for fathers to want their children to have better
chance than dad has had So Edsel should have
chance to soar higher then Henry. Hence the air.
craft The progeny Of Henry must soar higher than
the old man himself. Up In the air they CO. There
VIII be hivvers for the air, Of coursetvyers possibly
LOT the workingman, but also there will be Lincons
OF the air-for the Edses and others Of the elect
In the meantime, standardize the work.
lnsmen-and all OF the people who have to work for
their living. We must standardise their habits We
must tell them what to eat what to drink what to
wear what to think what to do with their wages what
church to attend. what party belong TON short
pass laws regulating human conduct and behavior SO
that every darned one Of will be a standardized
100 per cent American human fivver.
incidentally. Henry Ford, always in the lead an
manufacturer and standardizer, is now interesting
hnselr In teaching us all how to dance in the same
way, Like true reformer he believes that he knows
better than any Of the of just what is GOOD
ana what Is bad for and that whatever Henry likes
s good and whatever he doesn't like is bad
All the same we can't help believing that there Is
real difference between manufacturing nivvers and
manufacturing human beings; and that the mass
production theory won't work when applied to Amer.
lean babies