STILL THE "HUB"

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 124, 28 May 1928, Page 10

STILL THE "HUB"

♦ FORD ON WORLD TRADE BOYS AND MACHINERY (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 18th April. Mr. Henry Ford, who is paying his first visit to England for sixteen years, gave his views on various questions in as. interview in London. The following are "points" from his remarks:— "I think people are becoming too intelligent ever to have another great war. "I am a complete free trader. I do not betievc in anything else than free trade all round. : "A tariff can only be a means of giving one set of people an advantage over another. Free trade is keen competition, and that is what this world is and needs. '' The prosperity of America is bound to continue indefinitely, and it will be the same hero just as soon ais people wake up to the fact that they must do a good job of work. The only thing that will put real prosperity into this country, is machinery. I have moro men making machines than I have making motor-cars. You do not do enough by machinery here. "One of the main things all over the world people have to learn is to pay wages. If they do not do- that they will never make a market. People who get barely enough to live on never create markets. This country is a good deal better than some in regard to wage levels, but you have to learn that lesson here too. People are afraid to want things if they are paid too little. Unemployment in England is caused by wages being too low. BRITAIN STILL THE HUB. "I regard Great Britain as still being the centre of world trade. You made the first practical steam engines and other inventions, and have been the shippers of the world. I am sure Great Britain can manufacture better for the .Continent, for India, and for other places on that side than any other country. Tractors, for instance, can be made better there for Africa, Russia, and other places than elsewhere. Ido not .think we are doing anything in regard to ppening factories in Bussia, but it may come. "I do not know anything about the Soviet, but I do know that Russia is a market. We have done a' lot of business over there, and we have always been paid. We sent to Eussia 30,000 tractors^ which could have been made in Ireland but for the Free State tariffs. AVc built a factory in Irleand for tractors, but had to ship this 30,000 from the United States. "I believe the day when the Atlantic will be, crossed by air as a commercial' proposition is a long way off. Motorcars, I believe, will become smaller, but their engine- power will bo larger, especially if you can get the tax moved from the car to the petrol; "The talk about big navies comes from people who Want to make money out of building big navies. My ideal would be no navy at all. "America has improved immensely under Prohibition, and it will eventually spread to the rest of the world. My experience is that nobody can drink alcohol, or smoke, without injuring their brain. I take no credit for being an abstainer, because I do not like alcohol. TRADE SCHOOLS. Another thing which Mr. Ford prides himself on is the success of his trade schools, in which lads are trained to t,ake their place in his works as skilled men. They were started because many applications for work were • received from women upon whom families depended. "Wo always prefer 'to take a boy and let the woman remain in her natural place in the home," Mr. Ford said. '' The boys are paid a man's wage while they are learning, because they are the head of the house. These schools have an" academic department. In twelve years 700 boys have become heads- of departments and foremen.. These schools absolutely pay, and you will have to come to establishing them over hero. Tho first thing the boys ,• are taught is-to make tools." Talking of his properties in -England, Mr. Ford said that ho had sold the site which he bought at Southamp- j ton, as he did not consider it suitable; but he added, "This does not rule out Southampton. I think we should have two places in England." He had visit- i ed the Dagenham property, and was going there again. He thought there were possibilities in the big dump of' London refuse there, which covered about a third of the 300 acres, for the I production of power. This was being investigated.