Evening star., 1947-04-08

the OSlQe1 pdGcIlt Su1t po9 NAA' = u "a
refused. When he was upheld IN
his action, he asserted that without
his victory there could be no real
automobile industry.
Built Steam Engine.
As a. 14-year-old boy on his
fathers farm in Greenfield town.
ship, near Detroit, Henry Ford built
q steam engine. From this there
developed eventually the urge to
build a 'horseless buggy" at a
price that would bring it within
the reach of the average man"
That was the plan Mr.. Ford took
to his friends and acquaintances
in 1908 when he sought aid IN
founding the Ford Motor Co.. The
obscure machinist had been ridi-
culed as dreamer and a man
with a lot of crazy ideas" and the
response to his appeal was not en-
thusiastic.
Only a comparative few cared
to Join him and from them he got
together $4,000. That was all that
had been paid in when the company
was incorporated on June Is with
an authorized capitalization OF
$100. 900.
A number of those who did ad-
vance money doubted the future OF
the concern and dropped out within
short time. In 1905 Mr.. Ford had
acquired 81 per cent of the stock and
in 1919 all the minority holdings
were taken over by the family.
Hr So successful was the venture that
in 1908 a dividend of 1900 per cent
was declared. Nine Of the original
investors left the company multi
millionaires. ....,-. -.
Among the 13 original sharehold-
ers In the Ford Motor Co. were the
Dodge brothers, John F. and Horace
E., later to make their name famous
with their own car, and James
Couzens, who later became Senator
from Michigan.
CHANGED Worlds Mode Of Living.
History's verdict may be that
Henry Ford did more to change the
world and the manner Of living in
1t than any man in modern times.
The drive to build hard-surfaced
roads all over the world was for the
use of the American mass produced
automobile and he was the father
Of that vehicle. ..-
Mr.. Ford did not invent the au-
tomobile nor the assembly line
method of production. But his ap-
plication of the latter to a product
as large and complex as an auto
mobile dramatized the method
Finally it was applied to the bomb
ers which did SO much to bring
victory in World War II. Much as
he hated war, the vehicular war OF
tanks and supply trucks backed by
competitive production on the as
sembly lines stemmed from his de-
velopments.
Aldous Huxley in writing This
Brave New World" an ironic pro-
lection Of civilization into the period
1000 years hence, had the years
marked in the histories not as
"A. D." and "B. c." but as "B. F."
and "A. r." The new markings stood
for Before Ford" and AFTER
Ford"
Saw Era of Prosperity.
He was not often in the news in
the last three years of his life
something different for man with
Mr.. Ford's gift for reaching the
public.
On his 82d birthday he predicted
an era Of prosperity and standard
Of living never before considered
possible lies Immediately ahead for
the Nation and the world"
He was still annoyed at times by
aftermaths Of the anti-Semitic cam
paign in his Dearborn Independent
in the 1920s. His attorneys threatened
legal steps last year against the re-
printing Of this material as "by
Henry Ford" in a book called the
International Jew" When Baldur
Won Schirach, Naz youth leader,
took the stand in bis own defense at
the Nuremberg war criminals trial,
he attributed his anti-Semitism to
MIR. Ford. -...
Suspicious of Preparedness.
He was as strong against American
involvement or participation in
World War II as he had been in
World War I. He regarded Presi-
dent Roosevelt's 1910 preparedness
program with suspicion and in an
article he wrote for Scribner's Com
mentator at that time he suggested