The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-10-23
C0UZENS RITES
TO BE HELD
MONDAY

PUBIC funeral Will be held at z
p. m. Monday for Senator James
Couzens, known as the richest
Senator" who died yesterday
about an hour and half after he
underwent an emergency opera
ton for a kidney ailment.
Announcement was made today
by William F.. Blake, funeral d.
rector, as condolences from every
part of the nation, including a per
sonal message from President
Roosevelt, were being received at
the Senator's Bloomfield Hills
home.
The funeral will be held at the
home. Burial will be in the fam
lily mauSoleum. The Senator's
body will lie until Saturday in
his own room at the Couzens'
home.
Defeated in Primary
Senator Couzens was defeated
for denomination at recent pr1-
marieS when he sought the Repuo-
lican nomination indorsing Presi-
dent Roosevelt's policies.
Couzens was born in Chatham,
Aug. 26, 1872 He attended the
public schools and had one year
Of old high school education. Rail
roads fascinated him; he spent his
leisure hours in the yards watch
ing switching operations.
The first job of his brief career
at railroading was that of newSboy
on a Short-run Canadian train.
In 1890 when young Couzens
was II, he came to Detroit, a city
then not associated with the
great motor car industry. He
worked IL hours day for $40 a
month as checker for the Michi-
gan Central Railroad.
Alex MalcolmSon, Detroit coal
company executive, needed a man
for Q job. He picked Couzens.
MalcolmSon likewise was interest
ed in a young engineer who had
an idea that he could build q
horSeless carriage. The coal man
provided capital for the new prof.
ect and decided that Couzens was
the man to watch his interests in
the business.
The new business prospered, so
much so, that CouzenS recon-
mended its incorporation in 1908.
That marked the beginning Of the
Ford Motor Company as a cor
poration, with CouzenS listed as
business manager at $4,000 a wear
and Henry Ford. its mechanical
genius, drawing $500.
With $1,000 saved, borrowed and
earned, CouzenS purchased Is
shares of Ford Motor Company
stock. Twelve years later Couzens
turned his earnings back to the
motor car manufacturer and re-
ceived $50, 100000.
That was after 1915 when Ford
and CouzenS had come to q part
ing Of the ways, a parting gener.
ally understood to have been &C.
casioned by a difference of opinion
over company policy.
His entry into political life was
inauspicious. Mayor Oscar B.
Marx appointed Couzens to one of
three street railway commission
posts in 1914. Couzens thought the
city should own the street rail-
ways.
Twice his plans for this project
were defeated He was annni ntad
police commissioner at a time in
Detroit's history referred to by
those who recall it as troublous.
His work attracted the attention
CT Gov. Alex Grossbeck, searching
for an energetic young Republican
to fill a Michigan vacancy in the
United States Senate in 1922.
Couzens was appointed. Two years
later he ran and was elected. In
1880 he was reelected for his Sec
ono regular term.
Party leaders often regretted
the original appointment. Couzens
was anything but a regular party
man. Extremely wealthy, his inter-
ests in most things were with the
average citizen.
He bolted the machine on num-
erouS occasions in the Senate.
Periodically, as the possessor Of
one of the country's great for
tunes, he contended that the rich
should bear the burden of the
wore AMERICAN