BREATH OF BOOZE BANNED.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3144, 20 November 1922, Page 8

BREATH OF BOOZE BANNED.

"Quit liquor or quit your job," the latest edict of Henry Ford to his 70,000 Detroit workers, once more brings the question of'personal liberty into the editorial limelight. And aside from a few writers who.treat the Ford ultimatum in a facetious manner. American editors in general agree with Mjr Ford that a worker's efficiency is considerably lessened by indulgence in liquor, and that as one of the largest employers of labor Mr Ford is justified in issuing such a drastic order. The Rochester Post Express, for example, endorses the motor ear manufacturer in this ruling and says he i.-» clearly within bis- rights. As this paper sees it. "if Mr Ford wishes to employ men who do not touch liquor, it is his privilege to employ them, and those who. wish to drink liquor can seek jobs under some otber employer. That is their privilege. Certainly there seems to he no room for them in the Ford organisation, for according to the annountenient from now on it will cost a, man his job, without any excuse or appeal being considered, to have the odor of beer, wine or liquor on ' hi.s breath, or to have any of these intoxicants on his person or in his home. The Eighteenth Amendment is a part of the fundamental laws of this country. It was meant to be enforced. Politics has interferred with enforcemnet of this law, but so far as our organisation is concerned it is going to be enforced to the letter." "When it is considered that Detroit is the bootleggers' paradise, and that the system in the Ford factories can be easily disarranged by a man affected by the vile stuff heing peddled about," it seems to the Rochester Herald that "Mr Ford's warning is fully justified." Says the Grand Rapids Press:—"Mr Ford's incentive is economic. He has ai right to hire and fire bis men according to standards of efficiency, and this right necessarily gives him a paternalistic interest in the habits of employees. Thousands of other manufacturers and employers of men throughout the United States have a similar opinion of the effect of liquor on output, though unfortunately some of them are not as rigorous in setting a personal example." This would seem to place the Ford announcement on a dollars-and-cents plane, but the American Issue, of Westerville, (>., official organ of the AntiSaloon League; declares that "Mr Ford is acting jnot only for hifc own interest, but for the interest of his men. This "dry" weekly maintains:— "It has been demonstrated that Prohibition has brought manifold blessings to tlie workingmen, evidenced 1 in better living conditions, better health, and increased! savings accounts. Mr Ford is also' actuated by patriotic motives, as his reference to the 18th Amendment shows. He: is, therefore, aiding, and supporting the Government in its fight against those who would violate the Constitution. He is obeying the spirit, as well: as tlie tetter of the law. He sets a fine example w other manufacturers and business me7i in these days when there is a tendency to treat the 18th Amendment and tine Volstead Law with contempt. For under the Ford ruling no man can be an employee of the manufacturer and a patron of the bootlegger." Henry Ford "has found the efficiency of his plant injured by drunken men.'"' Consequently, observes the Washington Herald, "he determined upon action which will be drastic and merciless." And this newspaper holds the manufacturer to be fully justified in so acting, for the reason, that "John Barleycorn can not be dealt witb as a gentleman. He must be dealt with as a rattlesnake." Mr Ford's stand is also approved by the Manufacturers' Record, of .Baltimore. Moreover, tartly remarks this periodical, perhaps with a recent na-tion-wide poll in mind. "Mr Ford does not have to take public polls to ascertain whether the law or bootleggers should govern in America." We read on : —"They say that Henry Ford is 'queer.' He does 'queer' things. Nevertheless the time is coming in this country when breaking the law, whether by bootlegger or murderer, will land the culprit behind the bars, where he belongs. Respectability, to its shame, has played with lire on enforcement of the liquor laws. Rut the still, small voice of conscience is beginning to operate. The common sense of industrial leaders is showing them that leaders m business cannot violate fundamental law and expect their employees to do otherwise."