The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-07-26
HENRY FORD AT 70; AN INTIMATE PlCIURL of
THE DETROIT GENIUS AS lie IS TO-DAY
Bv WILLIS THORNTON
.NEA Service Writer

Henry Ford reveals an agility OF
body an elasticity of mind, and
an eagerness to face the future
lacking in many men who have not
even approached thci: allotted
three score and ten.
Changing times, an uncharted
future. the beginning of a new
era. abandonment Of the gold
standard, a new deal for capital
and labor-these worry him not
at all. The suggestion that many
people are confused and shaken
by an unstable present and an un-
certain future brought quick re-
action from Ford.
"Afraid?" he asks. "What are
they afraid Off"
He dropped the foot he had
propped against the edge OF
desk in an office in his Dearborn
plant and leaned eagerly forward
in his chair.
OPPORTUNITY.
"What is anybody afraid of? Of
course we are now at the end OF
an era" he went on. "But what Is
there about that to be afraid OF
There is a place in the world Tor
everybody. That's basic under any
system. Why, the changes that are
taking place make today even bet
ter as a time Of opportunity. OPP
portunity is always the same, eX-
cept that it becomes more numer-
Gus.
"ThiS talk about the end of in
dividualism is nonsense. You'll no.
tice that only the strongest kind
of individualists talk that way.
There will always be opportunity
for the individualist.
"Some things are being destroy
ed today, but there are some
things that ought to be destroyed.
The wrecker and the builder both
have their place. Sometimes 1t
takes a wrecker to make a place
where the builder can build. But
there is a place for everybody IN
any scheme of things we might
adopt"
MONEY.
Many people are worried. l sug-
gested. because of the Worldwide
confusion over money.
Suppose we come to an entire
ly new conception of money, and
of banking? Something all new,
without any connection with gold?
What Of it," Ford's quiet voice
became more emphatic. what OF
it?" Nine-tenths Of all business IS
carried on by check, anyway, and
what is Il check? The credit Of
somebody who has produced some
thing! I've no objection to letting
anybody who wants gold, have it.
The rest of us can get along with
out it,"
1t became clear that Ford re-
CARDS money not as solid some
things to be put away in a sock,
touched, boarded, handled, but as
"a sort of life-blood flowing
through productive industry. !
recalled how the net worth of the
Ford Motor Co., had dropped more
than $57, 100000 last year. Money
Ford had had, and which was
gone.
] asked how it felt to lose $751;
100000 in year. His unusual
view Of money came Immediately
to the surface. eve didn't lose a
cent" he said quietly. eve just
spent that much more than we
took in. The money wasn't lost. It
was spent, in wages, in material,
in useful work. It's still in pro-
ductive use somewhere in the
country. That's not losing money"
EMPLOYMENT.
Signs of the upturn that is
Quickening throughout the indus
trial world were discussed. Ford
agreed that they appear most
promising.
"But even if industry gets back
to normal production again." |
asked" suppose it is unable to re-
absorb a great many of the people
it once had jobs for? What will
become Of them?"
Industry never has been able
to absorb all the people who want
ed to enter it," Ford shot back.
at is a fallacy to assume that in
dustry can, or should, support all
or most Of the people. The pur-
pose of industry is to work for the
people, not to have all the people
working for it.
"Yet because industry has caus-
ed so many people to leave their
homes and find themselves strand
ed in the city, it is up to industry
to help them solve their problem.
BACK TO LAND.
81 am doing this by decentral-
izing . spreading small indus
tries throughout the country, 50
that people may have a double Sc
curity. one in the land, another in
their jobs. People are leaving the
tidal wave that swept them there
is receding. But as they go, they
take with them not only the same
abilities they had when they came
to the cities, but new abilities ac-
quired there. They are better
trained, better thinkers.
GAS industry decentral i z s,
which we have already begun to
do, people will find new way of
combining native abilities brought
from the country with new skills
learned in the cities. Then they
won't go around demanding that
somebody give them a job. They
will make their own jobs. They
will be free of the payroll habit.
Just because a man is off the pay
L II