THE FORD TRACTOR.
TO REVOLUTIONISE FARM YTORK. LORD NORTHOLIFFE VISITS HENRY FORD. "In declaring war the United States did the best thing that has happened for the world."—Henry Ford. Lord Northcliffe has been to see that' great mechanical genius, Henry Ford, and; sends this account to the Times.
"Henry Ford, the billionaire anti-mili-tarist, is a good-looking, thin-visaged ascetic of 54, whose appearance mingles that of the Bishop of London and Sir lohn Hare. Originally seized of the belief that Germany could be argued into peace, he is now throwing his inventive genius, energy, and capital into the prosecution of sucii an effective waging of this war as will, he believes, bring about the end of all wars. His particular weapon is a miracle of mechanical ingenuity, the Ford tractor, which promises to revolutionise farm work as completely as the Ford car has changed cheap automobile transit. HENRY AND HIS MACHINES; "Henry Ford has the enthusiasm' of. a boy for the 'back to the land' movement. Talking with him as we sped out of Detroit, which lias almost suddenly become the fifth in dimension among the cities of the United States, it was difficult to realise that his is the master mind of the great facory whose 41.000 hands lately drew up to salute President Wilson, and whose chief owner pays supertax on a private income of £7.000,000 per annum. Mr Ford is a great lover of Teunyson and the author of one of the best books on American birds.,
"He is a very Inrge-sized person mentally and full of fun about his aims and his work, and not at all resentful of criticism. The car which bears bis name Is a subject for humor in every newspaper ami music hall in the United States, and I am" revealing no great secret when I say that Ford stories .afri just as popular in the inner recuses of the White House as they are in the niws.' papers. The tangible fact remains that the statement 'every third a Ford' is
true, not only in the United States but through the Far EaSst, South. America, and Canada.
"There is even a sprinkling of them in England, though not such a number as to make them a charncteristie part of the national life to an extent that can only foe comprehended by those who ran looJ< up and down -American streets. Their arc legion. Almost every to'wli has a different name for thein. In :Detroit they are called 'Henrys.' Mr. Ford tola" me some of the newest stories about, the car, but his mind was on the tractor which has been his life dream. We passed the tiny fann ■where-he was bom, and where long before he invented his car he designed a steam tractor.
I "The tractor itself is a small piece of machinery about the length of a Ford motor-car. It can be used either as a stationary engine, or to propel ploughs, mowing machines, reapers and binders. The 1917 pattern, which Mr. Ford is building for England for the purpose of lighting the submarine menace, is 25 horse-power. It is literally true that a boy or girl with neither mechanical nor agricultural knowledge can drive it. ' I mounted the tractor *id ploughed a half-mile furrow with ease and accuracy at a speed of between three and four miles an hour, and with no time lost at turning. FORD'S FARM- TRACTOK "Mr. Oliver, whose family have been tqakii|> ploughs for a century, was introduced as the inyentor of the tiny plough which proves so successful on every kind of soil and every angle of undulation. Roughly speaking, the tractor resembles oiie of the early racing motors, with a very long bonnet. It is low, steered by a wheel, and when pulling a set of disc harrows seems fairly to romp across country. It is started with petrol and driven by paraffin. It has a strong electric head light, so that it may just as easily plough by night as by day. In a few minutes the machine can be adapted to stationary work.
"it is difficult to arrive at its cost at the present moment, tout Mr. Ford's eventual idea is that one day, when the war is over and things arc normal, it may be sold to small farmers at less than £IOO. Just now it is necessary to put every tractor through a gruelling test before it is sent to England. The tests we witnessed were of such a nature as to astonish us that the metal could stand the strain imposed, light as. is the present machine. Mr. Ford is making every model" lighter than the previous one. He has no belief '1 heavy machin- 1 ery. He has a theory which he has put into practice in the form of models that locomotives and wagons are much heavier than they should be, and while I was with him he marked with chalk several portions of the tractor as involving unnecessary metal. 3000 MOTOR CARS A DAT?. .. "During the time we were viewing the demonstration at the farm notody made any reference to the other giant factory and the town which has arisen around it where Mr. Ford ejects 3000 complete motor-cars and motor-waggona every day. I asked to see it. The factory itself 'has a daily permanent population of 41,000. "The whole establishment is unlike anything I have ever seen. On entering its mammoth maze one first sees the Ford English School. Over 100 languages and dialects are spoken by the workmen, and there is a large teaching staff engaged to give the necessary instruction In English.
"Mr. Ford moves about his army of workers as tlic -gli be were but one of them. :Hc is regarded as a co-worker, and in no sense as a 'boss.' He sees to it that every one of them gets a minimum w«ge of £1 a day. '"I hope you observe one thing about the establishment,' lie said to me as I Was leaving. "I remarked that I thought the men were of healthier physique than most of those I had generally seen. . '"Not that only,' he repUed, 'but I hope you noticed that there is no bustHug. 1 don't allow it.' THE LIBERTY AIR ENGINE. "The task of bringing out those 3000 ■motors a day proceeds so smoothly that Mr. Ford is able to devote hw whole time to the tracfor and to give sympathetic assistance in regard to the Liberty Air Engine of which the Americans are naturally proud. It is gratifying to notice the absence of jealousy with Which all the automobile firms in the United States have combined to use their united effort to 'build the aeroplanes that the Americans firmly believe will eventually pulverise Germany. "Mr. Ford is enthusiastic over the resources of the United States for aircraft, anil insisted upon our going to see ono of the great wood-working factories, where the wings of the aeroplanes are being built. Gradually the whole re* source? of the builders of motor-car bodies and furniture makers are to be transferred to the aeroplane. ■"Before saying good-bye to Mr. Ford I nsked to see that which I knew he possessed—his first automobile. He built it in 1893, at a time when his countrymen were under the impression that steam or electricity would rule as a propMlant. ]t Is a small-low, four-wheeled lover-stwred, chain-driven marline, built on the light lines of a bicycle. He told me that as he drove about Detroit 24 years ago ho did so amidst the ridicule of a population which now looks with admiration on what is one of the best single enterprises' in the world—an enterprise who'>> construction of tractors for the British farmers is to be the main instrument in the cultivation of the 3.000,000 extra acres in Great Britain."
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Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1917, Page 2
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1,307THE FORD TRACTOR. Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1917, Page 2
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