1941-01-15 — Page 7

Henry Ford

Henry

A Revealing Interview

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a former life and what we gather-

ed in this life to pass on to help other people on to a next life. It's the sum of what we carry on from our generation to another that the thing. As we passed on to a makes the essence of experience lighter vein I asked if in a future incarnation he would not bother making old-fashioned things like motor-cars and would concen- trate on aeroplanes? He said he didn't know anything about that or what he would be like in an- "The only thing is," other life. sald Henry Ford, "that I'd like to be sure of getting the same wife.” But although holding himself aloof from the Ford workshops in producing the 4,000 Pratt Whitney warplane engines old

Ford is working with his charac- teristic concentration on 2 civil

By the "Manchester Guardian” Cerrespondent, James Bone ganisation and ability of the Ger- Sassoon's house in London. There man people. "When the Germans were a lot of people there, and he left Belgium and France after the had asked Churchill, "Why don't last war," he said, "they had im-you work the land?" It was in proved the working there by 25 1830. per cent in the method and plant Churchill (said Mr. Ford) said "But didn't I see your people of the factories." He returned to that they could not raise enough driving piles for a building to the point once or twice and sald | food; they had to buy their food muke 4,000 Pratt and Whitney that "war was the best worse and make things to sell to other But he people, and that kind of talk. I told him they should raise their own food. The next day, I went to find a farm to buy it and prove it. I bought one for about a million dollars at Boreham, it was called,

London. out of

It was an

engines for warplanes?" I asked. thing that can happen."

"That's the plant," said Mr. hated it. The English people did

"And

own works there?

...

132

When so many of a dictator's right-hand men must

down, step

the dictator himself is in a 'questionable position

This must be the reaction Ford with a hard twinkle. "I've not work hard enough. The Am-

He would an alibi."

not ericans did not work as hard as of many Italians to the

discuss the matter except to say they should either. resignations of Fascist two things about his refusal to

I accused hun of forming his Italy's biggest names from the Rolls-Royce engines of opinion, as so many distinguish mansion place, about three square

which two-thirds

of the output ed Americans did, from Mayfair miles of land, some of it swampy, the most important posts

British. He dinner tables. were to go to the

Had he ever been And we raised plenty of food and to the Clyde, where they made made it pay the first year. in that country's military that "that man" (Mr Roose-

It's velti wanted to go on making wer and get everything going his ships that the world knew about. quing on now; the girls are run-

or Leeds and Bradford, where they ning it. "I'm against helping hun made the woollens that all Ameri-

I don't say they cant General Soddu's aban-

farm in England I saw some do that," said Mr. Ford.

rans wanted to buy? Had he ever

fine faims but they're tou donment. of the task he another reason is that I don't like visited Manchester apart from his

sinall. found too big for him in the Holls Engine; Eve got a better

Mr. Ford admitted that he had tractors ploughing the field

Mr. Ford talked about the small Albania seems to add. 'Knocking Their Heads' never been in Scotland or Leeds had passed.

and Bradford and that he hadn't whatever the lie of the soil and They did the work point to the recent simi-:

Mr. Ford, however, was wear-

seen much of Manchester, but he kept steady. lar resignations of Mar- ing a friend paid for the first insisted he had seen a lot of Eng-

We had seen a host

felds working them on

at shal Badoglio,

But land and he had visited plenty twenty miles an hour, Admiral ie)

Mr. Ford Willie was for all and to Britain. of farms. and some of them were

was enthusiastic about these Cavagnari and General de was he with Willke in that? Mr. very good

hydrouhe ploughs, invented by Vecchi.

Ford shook his hend. "War was One got the impression that the Mr. Ferguson, the famous North all wrong. You could get around industrialist leader was in one of of Ireland engineer, who worked table aud settle the whole the phases that had come to him with the Ford organisation. They I suggested that that was several times in his Iffe. He had would change a lot of things in thing the beginning of the trouble,

said that he always knew in time agriculture all over the world. From that he passed to soya Then he would stop and make a beans, which the Ford estate is new decision. He had stopped on cultivating on a big scale, and he his course and made some mo- showed fine wool made from them mentous decisions in the past. I did not, however, vee the Ford | Would he do so again? No one, suit made from the wool--and they say, influences Mr. Ford, but rough, strong bre stuff; then to arca If he is turning towards aid to plastics from the bean, and the face lit up as he Britain he would be going in the great man's same direction as his kindly and spoke of cars that would be made charming wife. They celebrated of plastic, half the weight of the their golden wedding two years¦ present car.

Badoglio was quite the most outstanding military

but the

11

Willkie button.

table in Munich and then

Mr. Ford, like many another

himself under the pressure of the

He did

ago,

A Children's Service

of

Animals And Survival

and Mr.

a

aeroplane of a new type. He in- timated that it would have Kyroscope that would take It up and land in, say, the floorspace of that small inn; go right away and to save all the power wasted un rising and landing. The engines would be in the wings and a lot of the exhaust would be saved. It would have a lot of new points. He was working on models. So the life of future generations may be affected

what by immensely Henry Ford is devising in his pre- sent incarnation, just as his mo- tor-cars have affected the life of the generation that is now puss ing. He had only been in a plane himself three times, Lindbergh.

twice with

Motor-Cars

to the

One part of Henry Ford's achievements that particularly impressed me was the biological difference he had made United States by enlarging the of of marriage selection rural communities from a buggy ride to a motor-car ride--say from ten miles to a hundred and fifty-and so made the melting- pot really melt,

good mixing." The radio was do. in the same thing. I suggested that the motor-car had prevented the United States from "having "a peasantry. He said everyone came into towns now, and perhaps too

figure in Italy, and popu- The British believed in peace when he was on the wrong track. lar among the ranks of the thoroughly that they got around Italian soldiery. His re-Hitler broke the agreement they and seized Czecho- moval may have had ad-made there

slovakia. Could anyone sit verse effects on the morale around a table with a man who kept agreements? Would of Italian troops and thus ver

Mr. Ford sit around a table if may be a minor blunder the Communists seized his works? that he had never added to the major blun- He replied

scen a real Communist and was ders which have led to the doubtful If there was one. He

Mr. Ford, as in everything dis- wholesale shake-up.

had seen plen'y that called them-

cussed, where there was a side of selves Communists. Later he re-

that brushed self-appreciation Badoglio was not an marked that you had to have

He returned to animals and his aside. It had made a 'difference, big defence power so that you ardent Fascist,

The conversation was continued well-known doubts of four-footed he said. "The motor-car is the could knock together the heads

A next day at the Ford mansion in animals as qualifying for survival.

greatest educator we've got: shake-up was not simply of the fellows who were making the Dearborn grounds, where I had One of these days we would pro- man takes his family 500 miles in

all the trouble, but later he a party matter, whatever doubted defence too.

also the privilege of meeting Mrs. bably get quit of them. The cow's his car on holiday and they meet Henry Ford, whose mother came chance of survival particulariy another family from

the other part internal strains have|

from Warwick. The other persons seemed thin. Following this train side that has come the same dis- tell played in it. Admiral idealist, was clearly at odds with present were Mr. Ford's disting of thought he asked with a mis-

tance. They talk together, uished doctor and a friend. My chievious flash if I'd heard of the their experiences to one another, Cavagnari was a Fascist, shattering events In Europe and and to him went credit the menace of the Nazi power that appointment was to meet him a dog that was in the papers that and back they go to puss some of half-past eight in the aoraing insisted on always walking on it on to their home folks. That's was against everything (except the little "Martha and Mary two legs. I wonder what the old for modernising Italy's perhaps mechanisation) that he church

named after his mother horsehair sofa would have thought Navy. Possibly Il Duce himself cares for

not and his wife - at Dearborn, in of such heresy. conceal his liking for England and the rural precinct where sheep and

Constantly he returned to the felt that under him the spoke of the United States as the horses survive and there are old land and how it could be better Italian Navy had not lived big brother." We had the same London statues and revolutionary used for the good of mankind. I

language and everything. I had period inns and shops. I noticed remembered one of the mottoes on much. dangerously enough said something about the strong, that he got out of his motor before where the new models and globe to that at last as an instance of the walls of the gigantic rotunda The Ford Peace Ship. We came though danger was suffi- hefty-looking workmen on the as- it stopped.

A tail, spare, active, high-shoul- of the world-showing the terri-how a man gathers lasting experi ciently present even with-sembly line at his Rouge River

works, and he replied that

of Fordlandia, the dered figure in a grey suit with tory

Brazil, ences. He recalled Miss Jane Ad- in the harbour at Taranto. men at Dagenham, in England

a Macdonald tie and a hairguard where the Ford rubber estates are dams and the idea of the Peace General de Vecchi, Gov-(the biggest facto y le tevery bit for his watch, he looks at you which seemed to crystallise the boys out of the trenches by Christ. developing--are displayed, Ship in the last war to get the

ernor of the

Dodecanese as good, healthy, upstanding inen: pression. He is not taking your great mechanic's code--"With one mas. There were 25 or 26 women on board and a lot of discussion, Islands, was one of those "All in one model too English." questions very seriously and you foot on the land and one on in-

is safe." One They got to Denmark, and the are not to take all his replies too dustry, America famous Fascists that took

ori board seriously. He has a natural digni- wondered if there was ever an- newspaper folk came But what seemed recurring to ty and does not stand on it. He other great industrialist who put and they talked and talked. The part in the March on!

his mind was the mechanical or has none of the great man's sense Incidentally, his policy of settling Ford got an idea of forces and

the land first, as Henry Ford does, result of all this was that Rome. But the Dodecan-

of importance; he expects no

units of twenty-five men in vil-schemers he did not know of be- ese Islands, which should The second was Italy's special deference. be an Italian threat to venture in Greece, under- first." he said, and he ran up the ages where there is a stream that hind the war, so he left the ship went back to the United narrow gallery stair like a youth. can be dammed to give power su and anti-Axis Turkey, are to- taken without sufficient "I wish I could run upstairs like that they can make bolts and nuts States. He had 100 days of it all. and small gadgets has brought It cost him $400,000, but the ex- of that," I said at the top. "Ah, may- Both day in danger themselves. preparation.

be I was just showing off," said money and life into many decay-perience was worth it. Il Duce needs reassurance these moves are said to Mr. Ford with a grin,

ing parts of rural Michigan.

The talk ranged from beavers' Energy And Freshness that they are in the hands have been opposed by He put me to sit in the from

teeth and excrcise to heaven

It is not possible to give of an able military leader. Badoglio and other mili- second row watching the service. ("When you're there you'll want

idea of the energy, ingenuity, to get back here pretty quick- These and General Sod- tary experts. If Il Duce There was a pause at one time you'll want to get to your work") freshness of mind, naivete in mally before the children began to sing and reincarnation. And in all he ways,- originality, native' wit and du's resignation tell the sought to copy Hitler's "They're waiting for the go-

business shrewdness, optimism said you felt that you were with Italian people what they way of moving ahead of ahead," he said. It was a chapel signal in the old sense of tinged with caustic experience, may have suspected but the advice of his generals near by with Mr. Ford's plan of had a man who had his own ori

of children from the Ford school the word when most communities kindliness and flinty hardness, and strange kind of humbleness. tool") in this in- were never permitted to and yet coming out on the undonominational service,

ginal conceptions compared with "I'm just a read in military dispat-right side, then the Ital- cluded the Lord's Prayer and the whom other people seemed like dustrial king. His face in reposa ches. The "purge" reveals ian leader has damaged some hymns, and two recitations standardised types. Queer it was has that remote look that we call to think that the man who had ascetic and is seen frequently in Premier Mussolini in need his prestige `not only at about Columbus it was Colum- produced more movable objects religious people. It is the expres-- bus Day, one by a box and one exactly alike than anyone else in sion of the race will-power, that of a flock of scapegoats home and among "neu- by a girl and secular songs, "My the world should himself be un-

4

under one roof"), were

German Efficiency

a half-serious, half-quizzical ex-

"I'll go up

row and sat behind me in the

It in-

Ten Commandments in verse,

now

in

Mr.

an

can produce periods of complete He would ad- mental concentration, an expres

we

for the course of the war trals" but in Berlin as bonnie lies over the ocean" and like anyone else.

"America the Beautiful," all very vance outrageous propositions sion one would recall well on the in Greece and the Medi- well.

patiently and prettily sung. None

them,

and he would propound anthropologist, and John Buchan,

"Faith is what Ford. Teachers also were in the ideas about the Jews and about the writer, terranean. It confirms the The shake-up is signifi- of the children looked up at Mr. and sit back to see how you took faces of Arthur Keith, the great opinion of the outside cant of what has happen- gallery,

the press that left one speechless. gather from experience,” said

Henry Ford. world that the Italian re-ed in Italy as well as else- Farming In England

The Jews

He is seventy-seven, and al-' though he cannot touch his toes verses are having import where since the beginning

We filled out and after a talk you can't believe anything in he tried to do so in the Clinton ant effects inside Italy; of the Greek war. It is no with the teachers walked across the papers; maybe some of it's the fun that day--he can do a couch- but few observers would sign that Italy can be the grass to the Clinton Inn, an truth but not the whole of it," he ing exercise at a chair that few old Michigan roadside hostelry re-sald. While confident that Hitler people can do at fifty and can still have estimated these ef- counted out of the war planted here and replenished with was a dub, just a dub," he hinted run a hundred yards and dance fects in such terms as Il and should not raise false period furniture and plotures, Mr. darkly about people behind Hit- old-fashioned dances with his Duce now advertises optimism among friends Ford made me sit on the horse-ler. One could not be sure how wife at the Ford parties. He plans, hair sofa and sat himself at the seriously these theories were held. as I have said, an acroplane for them.

of freedom. Some of the other end and we talked. It was The best he would say about the the world at peace. He is still a They are an outcome of new appointments pro- vary friendly, homely disputative Jews, was that you could not do great force in the industry of the talk, probably in some ways much without them, "The Gentiles world. Will he ultimately turn premature moves by the mise a more vigorous and in the vein of talk that passed on wouldn't work if the Jews weren't his genius and that industry to the

aid of democracy in its peril? Italian dictator. The first venturesome policy. But that safe when it was new. Peo- here.**

play didn't work harden.. Like many another, he had en- I said my say and we shoolc these was Italy's entry for the time being, Il Duce ough

Why |tertained. His mind with Ideas hands. “You're hide-bound," said their about having lived before. The Henry Ford, and, he added after, a the war when the fall stands as his own supreme quod

sat next to bwhole zaku MAKATIONSTICKÉ NIZKO pause, “Maybe I'm alda bound, France was imminent, scapegoat.

Philip what experience we brought from kioɑ.

didn't

Das