Young Henry Cuts

Henry Ford's price cuts were not the biggest of the week but, because of the size of his company, they were probably the most significant. They called for a reduction of $12 to $30 on Fords, $80 to $120 on Mercurys, and a flat $100 on Lincolns.

Young Henry said he was passing along to customers savings which had come the company's way because of cheaper materials and better labor productivity. Since the company is the industry's guinea pig in this year's negotiations with the C.I.O. United Auto Workers, the move also stole some of the thunder from the union's imminent contract demands.

Above all, the reductions underlined the fact that the auto industry is fast getting back to something like competition, although some cars are still hard to get. Ford's cuts were bigger than those made by General Motors a month ago, though smaller than the recent slashes in Kaisers, Frazers and Willys. Ford's cuts brought the prices of Ford Custom-Six cars into exact competitive line with Chevrolet's comparable models, except for the club coupe, which is now $15 cheaper than Chevvie's.

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