FORD'S SHIP PURCHASE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 115, 19 May 1925, Page 7

FORD'S SHIP PURCHASE

"SCRAP TO THE LAST OUNCE"

NO ENTRY INTO SHIPPING

BUSINESS,

(UNITED TREES ASSOCIATION—COrYRIOHI ■>

<AUSTRAUAN-JtW ZEALAND CABLB ASSOCIATION.)

(Received lfftli May, 12.30 p (,i

DETROIT, 18th May. Mr. Ford proposes to scrap four hundred steel ships of the United States Shipping Board, using the materials for automobile construction, provided his offer to purchase the vessels is accepted. Mr. Ford, in an interview, declared that lie did not intend to operate a commercial fleet. He said: ft I am willing to pay the Government what the ships ars worth, and if I get them I will scrap them to the last ounce of iron, steel, and brass." He estimates that it would cost half a million dollars to tow the ships to Detroit, and another half million to dismantle them, and -ivouK employ a thousand men. He declared that he might buy a limited number of the larger and better-constructed ships for use m delivering automobiles to foreign countries; but he asserted that these vessels would not he common carriersthey would merely bring back enough sugar, fruit, and other commodities to make the return voyage pay. He would" convert such ships into oil burners