Railings

Bertie Charles Forbes, Scottish immigrant, glorifier of the U. S. businessman, adulator of successful

Mr. XXX and potent Mr. PPP, turned suddenly, in the current issue of his Forbes magazine, and railed --against Henry Ford. By quotations from suppositious, always unnamed "authorities," by innuendoes and by skilled selection of facts he presumed to prove hat Henry Ford is decaying as a maker of motor cars. And he illustrated the article with a caricature of Mr. Ford "shown dressed as a gentleman of 1860 driving a typical vehicle of that period." The "Henry Ford" of the picture has a big ear, sidewhiskers, mustache, horseteeth, a head far too large for his high hat, and braided pants. Excerpts from Forbes: "Here are some of the things learned about Henry Ford and his activities during a visit of investigation the writer has paid to Detroit: He and his products are being rigidly boycotted in Detroit. "How has the illwill that Ford and his henchmen have stirred up affected his business? Very, very seriously, according to all that Detroit can gather."

. . . When I visited Detroit two years ago new Fords were to be seen at every turn, almost on every second block. . . . Observation [now] revealed that relatively few were in evidence, and hardly a brand-new specimen."

"Said one merchant: 'Ford fixes the prices at which his cars must be sold all over the country and rules the agents handling his goods with an iron hand, but he himself, in his retail stores, flouts the selling prices named by manufacturers of groceries, shoes and so forth [see below], . . . Ford apparently thinks he is entitled in his business to lay down rules for others, but that no other manufacturer in the country is entitled to do the same thing.'"

"Ford's notions about the devilish machinations of 'Jewish bankers,' 'the Jewish ring,' 'the Jewish plunderbund,' are regarded as childish, ludicrous, fantastic."

"The best information procurable was this: 'Ford's output this year is running about one-third of what it was in 1925. Instead of selling 2,000,000 cars this year, he is operating at the rate of between half a million and three-quarters of a million cars. . . . " 'The Ford plant lately has been working only three days a week and far from full capacity during the three days.' " "One General Motors unit alone, Chevrolet, is declared to have produced and sold this year some 25% more cars than Ford.... The comparison--contrast, rather--for January is figured out thus:* Production--U. S. and Canada FORD CHEVROLET Cars 47,794 57,704 Trucks 9,439 15,972

Total 57,233 73,676

"Ford's dealer organization is rapidly being shot to pieces."

"Automobile men declare that no other motor manufacturer would dare to act towards his dealers as Ford has acted and still acts. Be that as it may, this I do know: . . . 'Ford is absolutely ruthless in his treatment of the people working for him or representing him. No man, no matter how responsible his position, can feel secure. Men are fired right and left, without rhyme or reason. The Ford management is a hotbed of jealousy and intrigue.' "

"Not one famous motor engineer remains on the Ford staff. Ford himself is so dictatorial that the brainiest engineers in the country couldn't possibly get along smoothly with him."

At the end of all this gossipy vituperation, Writer Forbes gives his explanation: "Some of the may be regarded as unduly harsh. The truth is that the writer has things here reported and quoted received a larger number of bitter letters from past and present Ford workers than has ever been received regarding any other employer in America."

*Yearly productions of General Motors and Ford have been:

FORD G. M. C. (Cars & Trucks) (Cars, exclusive of Trucks) 1925 1,798,123 787,000 1926 1,447,915 1,121, 000