Evening star., 1936-12-06
FORD, 73, FINDS INTERESTS
MORE VARIED THAN EVER
Industrialist Convinced Next 50 Years
Will Bring Greater Economic and
Industrial Progress Than Last.
BY DAVID ]. WILKIE.

posed upon the walls OF q
building in River Rouge,
home of the Ford Motor Co.,
q the aphorism:
If we had more social justice, We
would need less charity"
The words embrace. in brief, the
philosophy of mechanical genius.
whose dreams as youth on a nearby
farm brought him world renown at q
stage of life where many men already
live in the past. 1t is the philosophy
born Of an ambition not to accumu-
late enormous wealth, not to change
the course of the world" as some have
said. nor to win for himself "a place
In that select company assured Of
perpetual fame" but to make Of the
world better place in which to live"
The building houses many exhibits
OF the far-reaching interests of Henry
Ford, now in his 74th year, still a
mechanical genius, still active, opti-
mistic and enthusiastic and still con-
V1nced the next so years will bring
greater economic and industrial prog
ress than the last half century.
Ford today is one Of the very few
survivors, if not actually the last of
the original pioneers in the automo-
bile field. Long since gone are such
noted figures in the early days as the
Duryea brothers, the Appersons and
Haynes, the Lelands and Wintons and
others.
Ford Freed Competition.
They were the men who, while not
wise in the ways of finance in the
early days, built with their hands the
fore-runners of today's 27,OOO 900
motor cars. To Ford alone, however,
goes credit for making the industry q
really competitive institution and an
ever lengthening shadow of his own
stature
OF his great wealth Ford speaks al
most invariably in the abstract. 1t Is
commonly understood he has no per-
sonal checking account and usually
carries only little small change in his
pocket.
1t is more than likely Ford does not
know the actual amount of the wealth
that came to him out of the expert
ments he conducted in little red brick
barn in Bagley avenue. here, A years
ago. The car, the barn and the lathe
used in processing it are among Ford's
most priced possessions.
In appearance, mannerism and per-
sonality, Ford might truthfully be
called typical American" Visitors,
realizing he was past middle age be-
fore mis- dream began to take shape.
assert that time in many ways has
withheld its hand from his shoulders.
Lean almost TO the point of gaunt-
ness, he stoops slightly, but his step
Is quick. his eyes twinkle merrily, his
handclasp is firm and a personal
magnetism makes admirers.
Plain spoken. Ford personifies SIM
plicity and democracy Society sees
little of him now; it saw less of him
In the days when he was building up
his huge industrial interests.
Convinced that the soil can "be all
things to all men," he is more deeply
interested in soil productivity at the
moment than in any other one thing
that comes within his perspective.
Has Faith in Soil.
He believes the soil can be made to
produce not only all the things man
requires for food. but all the things
he now looks to industry to provide.
Probably no one thing in this con-
nection interests him quite as much as
proving his contention that agriculture
and industry have a very definite
affinity for each other and must be
good neighbors."
Ford is proving large part of this
theory by utilizing the soy bean as
the base not only for plastics used in
motor cars but also for paint for body
finishing in the industry.
Wholly different is his view OF in
dustry and finance. Industry is one
thing" he asserts, finance is an
other" Ever since his brush with
Wall Street in 1921, the year his
company almost went broke" Ford
has been his own financial partner.
Ford started the present Ford Mo-
tor Co. on the proverbial shoe
string 900 of a 100000 capital
ization was actually paid in when
business began in 1908. 1t produced
nine millionaires before Ford
bought out the original stockholders
In 1919, and concentrated sole owner
ship in himself, his wife and his son.
There Is q story, never officially con-
firmed or denied, that Ford once re-
fused an offer that ran above the
81 100000, 900 mark for his holdings
long before they reached their present
value
But Ford has his own conception of
money. Money" he once said, lis
like the belt on machine; it must be
kept moving round and round to be OF
any real value"
To the industry Ford is identified not
as much as the man who heads an in
dustrial empire reaching into the far
corners of the world, but as the pioneer
who introduced mass production, who
successfully fought the Selden patent
case to make the automotive industry
actually competitive, and as the en-
ployer who startled the industrial world
by establishing q $5-a-day minimum
wage scale at q time when average
compensation in automotive plants was
1924 a day.
Something Sacred About Wages"
There is something sacred about
wages" Ford held They represent
homes and families and domestic des-
TIMES. People ought to tread very
carefully when approaching wages. On
the cost sheet wages are mere figures;
out in the world wages are bread boxes
and coal bins, babies cradles and chill
Germans of British