HENRY FORD.

Shannon News, 23 November 1923, Page 3

HENRY FORD.

On the wrapper of the Australian edition of “My Life and Work,” by Henry Ford, Mr Blatchford is quoted as, saying “ai great book by a great man,” the reading of wh;ch he would make compulsory for every politician, trade-unionist, and employer. Its chief service to Mr Batchford. was to show him “that the masses of the people, spoken of as the wage earners, or the wage slaves, or the workers, are a figment of the enthusiastic reformer’s brain.” Mr Ford’s opinions are in some respects such as a Labourite would call abominable, and in other respectiSs Mich as some sections of “big business” should denounce as revolutionary. For Ford is an idealist. lie sees no difference between an employer and his employee, but differences only between active and sluggish, helpful and unhelpful, enthusiastic and dull, honesty and fraud. Let everyone serve, and do Kis best, and the world will be happy. He does not expect perfection, but ho expects a great improvement, and his book is a sermon calling men to face facts to know the real good, which is service, in its myriad forms, ifie book is announced as "by Henry Ford, in collaboration with Samuel Crowther,” from which we infer that Mr Ford supplied the material and ideas and Mr Crowther did the writing. Mr Ford was fortunate in his collaborator for Mr Crowther is an exceedingly good and terse writer. The mingling of ideas with facts makes the book easy to read, and indeed almost exciting, for at every point Mr Ford illustrates his theor--1 ies with facts relating to himself and his wonderful business. The peculiar fascination of the book from the fact that the idealist Ford, with his very advanced ideas, makes a huge fortune (perhaps 10 or 20 millions sterling a, year) as a. practical manufacturer, and has biiilt up the greatest business in the world.