Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-06
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

provokes the writer of this article TO
frequent thought is Ford's relation to
history-history in the sense of evo-
luton Of his own times, which he has
profoundly affected and history in the
ordinary sense of dealing with the past.
Those aspects of Mr. Ford provide
some reflections appropriate to Fourth
the day has lost much of the associa-
ton it used to have with familiar
American institutions now passed away,
including the drill of the local militia
on the village green, at time when
nearly every community had its local
corps of pioneers" or "fencibles"-
sometimes they were called by names
that included the distinctive color Of
their uniforms such as the still exist
ing Richmond (Virginia) Blues" How
many other examples remain in this
Of militia that have distinctive names
and uniforms and a continuous history
trimmings back for several decades? And
do they drill and parade on Fourth Of
July? Many Americans can remember
when that was the outstanding feature
Of Fourth of July celebrations.
Called History Bunk"
Mr.. Ford thinks, or at least used to
think he thinks, lightly Of history. 1t
was about 1915 that in an ofhand re-
mark he said. history is bunk" and
for saying that was subjected to almost
as much publicity as had attended his
manufacture OF automobiles or his ad-
venture with the Ford peace ship.
Almost universally he was derided. An
American way Of thinking, more COM
mon then than now, seemed to assume
M a6llHafPA
is the one educated in books and
schools. A carefully taken census of the
United States might reveal the pres
ence of a majority of educated" men
educated" in the sense Of having
highly trained, thoroughly disciplined
and acutely refined minds-among
workers in factories without much ex-
perience in schools, workers of the type
Henry Ford himself was about IS years
ago. before he became an automobile
magnate.
Among those who jeered at Mr.. Ford
for saying that history is bunk" there
was probably higher ratio of decriers
among newspaper editors than among
professional historians. The latter would
be likely to admit there is a certain
amount Of truth in what Mr.. Ford said
Greatest Living Historian.
A paradoxical fact about Mr.. Ford in
this connection is that, in a sense, he is
the greatest living American historian.
II we admit there Is truth in the saying
OF famous French scholar that history
| should be resurrection" then Mr.. Ford
Is without doubt Americas most emf
nent historian. What he is doing, the
avocation he has taken for himself,
the pursuit that he follows for his
amusement. his hobby, is the resurrec-
ton of that portion of Americas history
that lies, let us say, from about 1910
going back to about 1860. Mr.. Ford
has dedicated himself to making at
Dearborn, Mich, what amounts to a
vast museum of the familiar institu-
tons of American life during that
period-a museum that will cover hun
dreds OF acres and that includes, among
other things, the reproduction Of an
American village Of about the 70s.
Curious In this connection is the dual
role OF Mr.. Ford. AS q business man,
as manufacturer of automobiles, he is
more responsible, probably, than any
other one man FOR rendering obsolete
the buggies, the stage coaches, the OK
yokes, the old-time country inns, even
the old-time country villages. At the
same time, as a historian, he is doing
AAAOAC blidA ally OtLlCT OIlc man 10 pre-
serve the history of these old institu-
tons by seeking out, collecting and
setting up examples Of them.
! Henry Ford, from about 1905 until
about 1915, was bringing about q rev.
olution in America. Many of us lived
through that period-but very few of
us knew we were in the midst of a revo-
luton. II there Is In America any per-
son who In that period went on record
with prediction that the day would
come when there would be on city
streets practically no horses, and in a
state like Kansas, even hundreds of
| farms without horses-if there is any
person who made that prediction he
should now come forward, for if he
exists he is a unique and champion pre-
dictor, and We ought to get his services
! Tor the work Of making a new predic-
| ton, telling us what Is now some IS
years ahead Of us. Without doubt we
are again in the midst, not only of one
other revolution, but of several. But
who is able to recognize revolutions
when they are under way? Who is able
to tell us what familiar institutions
and objects, as common today as the
buggy was in 1905, are going to be OBJ
solete by, let us say, 1850?
Dwellings Soon to BE Obsolete.
One Thoughtful person OF the writer's
acquaintance makes an assertion that
startles. He says that practically every
dwelling house in America today will
be recognized by about 1910 or 1850 as
utterly obsolete. Indeed, what he really
says is that already, today, practically
every dwelling house in America is OBJ
solete, and by 1910 or 1850 will haze
been torn down and will have been sup
planted by others so novel that If we
could visualize them today we should
be startled. He says they will be torn
down. rather than remodeled, because
the changes ahead are so fundamental
as to involve new construction on Ut
| terly new plans, based upon a changed
conception of what home should be.
Among several details, this prophet
says that by 20 years from now any
dwelling house will be regarded as 6
relic of barbaric ways of life II 1t does
not contain a simple and inexpensive
method of keeping the house cool in
Summer. The device, he says, will be
at once less expensive and less cum
berSome than our present method CT
keeping houses warm in Winter. The
cooling, he says, will come by way Of
electric wires, and will be turned Of
and on as simply as an electric light.
Indeed, the process may be even more
simple, for most of the modern refrig-
orators, now becoming familiar in many
kitchens, are automatic. The owner ard
user of one need not touch 1t from one
years end to the other.
The seer who makes this prediction
says that the innovations in living con-
ditions will go very much further He
| THINKS that some genius like Henry
Ford-possibly, indeed, Mr.. Ford him
self-may turn an original mind upon
the whole subject of housing; may wipe
the slate Of his thought as clear OF
present existing notions as If there were
no dwelling house in existence, and may
approach the whole problem Of now