The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1940-06-20
Georgia Paper Says Henry
Ford Can Stop Demon Hitler

Under the title, "Will He Light
the Spark for Peace?" the Macon
Evening News, few days ago
wrote the following open forum
letter to Henry Ford:
You are the one man in Ameri-
ca equipped to meet the nations
military emergency.
You are the one man in Amer
lea with more iron mines, steel
mills, boats, forests, rivers and
machine shops than any other
man.
You are the one man in Amer
lea with research laboratories,
scientists, chemists, metallurgists
and other experts capable of
turning almost overnight your
gigantic industrial empire into a
tank, anti-aircraft or airplane
factory or all three.
Your soft voice speaks with
quicker authority, brings speed
Ter action than any other man in
the land; any other man, includ-
ing the president, who, at best
merely proposes action.
Your plant is Henry Ford.
Your stockholders are Henry
Ford. You can close it, leave it
open, divert it to war-material or
give it away.
THE NATION TODAY needs
Horatius to seize the bridge.
Everybody is willing to help;
ready to turn all facilities into
war needs; everybody waits for
M-Day, when our entire resources
would go to military production.
But, as we wait for signs of
further danger, the enemy bores
deeper and deeper into our first
lines of defense.
You, Mr.. Ford, could set Amer
lea to work in a frenzy of pre-
paredness to continue our peace,
by suddenly turning your gigan-
tic factories for the manufacture
of vehicles and articles of peace
until such a time that the danger
can be assimilated by other agen-
cies.
Your LIFE, Mr.. Ford, is a life
of peace and contentment. You
cherish the simple little things;
the abundant prosperity that goes
with the good, old-fashioned
American way.
War disturbed you Is years
ago, when you were a much
younger man. You tried boldly
then, with your peace venture,
sending emissaries into the neigh
borhood of the barking guns.
You failed to stop that war be-
cause the war lords would not
listen to your prayers of peace
any more than today's war lords
will listen.
You can if you so desire, speak
the language all dictators every
where understand.
That is the language of steel
fashioned into airplanes, tanks,
guns.
OF ALL MEN, in all the world,
you, Mr.. Ford, are perhaps the
one man able to stop Adolf Hit
Ter.
| You can stop Hitler in his
tracks in Europe by suddenly
transforming your factories from
producers of pleasure cars to
producers of protective cars.
Hitler may 60 on and conquer
England, destroy it, along with
France. But Hitler won't go
much further if Henry Ford,
Americas largest industrialist,
begins the manufacture of half
million airplane motors, half a
million tanks, and half million
guns.
Next to the president, Mr.. Ford,
you're Americas, greatest hero.
You represent the wholesome
tradition of American business.
The poor boy who made good by
doing something for his fellow
man.
Your name is linked with the
first news of an eight-hour work
day; Of SIS payday when So was
thought to be just about tops.
You picked up the little red
schoolhouse, the blue-back spell
Ter and Mary's Little Lamb and
preserved their place in our life
Fortune Magazine this current
month discovers the American
working man believes you have
done more for labor than John l.
Lewis, William Green or Senator
Wagner.
Of all our industrial leaders,
past and present, the people real
ly love you. You are more than
manufacturer of an automobile