The Washington times., 1937-03-06
Human Side of News
Bu Edwin C. Hill
bowling alongNgotten

gotten Plumb Plan,' OaSeo on
interchangeable farm and factory
service. Power sources were to be
built I'D on the farm through the
developm ell 1t of hydroelectric
power, if possible, or by the con"
version of farm rougksge into en-
CINE fuel. There we're to be many
diversified industries, such as
lathes turning out chair rungs, TO
be operated by the farmers In the
winter time.
Glenn Plumb was liberal econo'
mist, who had been preaching the
decentralization Of industry ana
local self-sufficiency as the answer
to oppressive monopoly. He was q
John the Baptist crying the evils
of urban growth, strangely pro-
phetic in many ways In lore.
shadowing later economic ana
labor tensions now coming to pass.
Henry Ford was the only power
full man in the country who would
give him a hearing. Ford, the
great among industrialiSts, had
what might be termed a deep re-
ligious conviction against the sin
of waste and inefficiency. He IL
nanced research, and the Plumb
Plan begin to take definite outlines,
until the war. Ford'S battles with
the bankers, and the great exigen-
cies of the postwar period put it in
suspense until another day.
The new enterprise is in some-
what different form, but essen.
TALLY is the same. The clarity,
vigor and daring with which Henry
Ford proposes it are unchanged,
although the Detroit wizard packs
two more decades on his shoul-
ders.
Can he make it work? The
Antelope Valley colony in Califor-
MIA, and every other such venture
ever tried in this country, have
failed, with the exception OF those
which had an amalgam Of reli-
gion, like the New York Oneida
colony, and the MormonS. But
never before has there been un.
limited money, shrewd administra-
tive ability and supreme organizing
genius behind such an endeavor.
SPECIFIC PROVISIONS
In the past, it never has been
quite safe to bet against Henry
Ford. In way, Mr.. Ford's dream
is a sort of paragraph enlarge"
ment of the visions which the rest
of us have of a free and clear
patch of land, sustenance agri.
culture and power, and handi-
crafts to provide us the necessities
we can't get out Of the soil.
One reason we like Mr.. Ford Is
because he is so much like we are.
But this bubble, so far as you and
I are concerned, has been blown
to nothingness by all who have
tried or even examined this kind
Of Already.
All authoritative opinion is that
most of any of us, with muscle and
will, could pick one of those cheap
New England farms and gouge a
meager living out Of it, provided
we accepted the living standards
of our Observation-Disclosures
lamps, heating fuel, etc. But
equally definite is the conclusion
that such a farm would not supply
us with electric lights, telephone.
newspapers, and magazines, or
mechanization in any form.
Henry Ford doubtless has taken
a good look at all that, and he
has the answer ready in the pros
pectuS of his new unit. He specifi-
cally provides for power sources,
for fertilizer and, obviously, the
making of automobile parts to sup
ply cash needs-always a joker
when, in our individual farm prof.
ects, we think of dentists or shoe
makers.
Through his experiments in
making plastics, from the soy
bean and the like, Mr.. Ford could
even now grow an automobile on
the farm, all but the steel.
Watch Ways, Georgia, and don't
forget that Henry Ford already
has affected his times probably
more than any other living man,
and that he is still at it.