Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 46, Number 220, 27 July 1921 — Page 12
i PAGE TWELVE
THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUN-TELEGRAM, RICHMOND, IND., WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1921.
Ford Liquidation Achievement Earns Applause of Financiers Recovery Without Aid of Loan Declared One of Most Remarkable in Business Annals Ruthless Pressure of Output on Dealers Factor.
BECOME CHRISTIANS BECAUSE GOD CARES, PLEADS MENDENHALL "Because God cares," is the reason why the peoples of the -world should make the choice of becoming Christians, repudiating evil, hatred and Jealousy, according to President W. O. Mendenhall, of Friends university,
Wichita, Kans., -who addressed the Young Friend3 conference, at Earlham,
Tuesday night. In one of the most appealing addresses yet beard at the conference. President Mendenhall drew a -word picture of the smallness of this world In comparison with the entire solar system. He dwelled upon the mediocre part this world plays in the great order of the universe, then proceeded to show why despite this very insignificance, the world does amount to something. . "There i3 in this world inhabitants. And they have the choice of saying 'I will," or 'I won't,' and there is none to
gainsay them. It wouldn't make much stir in the solar system if this world were thrown into the sun, but perhaps it is not," because these peoples of choice made after the image of God, do belong to another universe. Pain ia Own Choice. "Because of the way people have chosen, (hey have suffered. They have suffered pain, hunger, disolusionment. But It is because of their own choice. So this world is small, insignificant, and this world is wicked. "Why stop to look upon such a
world? But there is a God who created j negotiations which have been held in the world and them upon it. God (their official capacity as bankers with
powerful, kindly, loving and the Mr. Ford.
strangest thing is that God cares about that little insignificant ball which is so hard to find in the universe. Must Be Shown. "Perhaps God looks and sees what man may become. But he couldn't accomplish things by smashing down the right of choice. We realize the futility of words. Men must be shown, and how can they be shown unless God shows them. And how can God show them unlei3 he is amongst us. That God loves is proven by the words, 'For God so loved the world.' "There is a God and there are folks the cross cannot be the end. And there are those among miserable men, who respond to God. They are God's beneficaries. They have the opportunity to learn kindness instead of cruelty, and love instead of hate, because they have .been shown and not merely told. It is for us to throw ourselves into the work of the extension of the kingdom of God."
The New Tork Times, after an inventilation of Henry Ford's financial recovery has the following to say about the Wall Street phase of the transaction: Bankers of Wall Street who early in the year sent the offer of financial aid to Henry Ford in Detroit, only to have it coldly refused, said yesterday that Mr. Ford, through shrewd financial ability, through liquidation and through ruthless pressure of the outrut of his factory on his dealers, had performed a feat that probably would go down in the annals of financial history as one of the most remarkable achievements of post-war liquidation. They do not doubt, they say, any of the statements of his past and present financial conditions as outlined by Mr. Ford in his interview. And they say that the Ford Motor company evidently
.has turned the corner of liquidation
and depression in excellent shape. Instead of one huge financial operation, Mr. Ford succeeded in getting his dealers to finance his requirements, each dealer in his own territory. The bankers who went to see Mr. Ford in January and who offered him financial aid declined again yesterday to make a public statement of any sort about their negotiations with the manufacturer. They take the position that it would be extremely bad faith as well as bad taste for them to make
iany statement about conversations or
NORWEGIAN PAPERS CRITICIZE CONDUCT OF U, S. NAVY MEN
fBy Associated Press) rmnsTlANIA. Norway. July 27-.-
The officers of the American battleship squadron which recently paid a two weeks' visit to this port were very popular and were entertained privately in Norwegian homes but the leading newspapers of the ctiy criticised severely the conduct of some of the sailors while on shore leave. The squadron was composed of the Kansas, Michigan, Connecticut, -South Carolina and Minnesota, under command of Rear Admiral Hughes. The Christiania newspapers pub
lished several articles protesting be
cause the American sailors made too
violent love to the Norwegian girls while riding about the city in taxicabs, asserting that the sailors "squeezed and hugged them" in public. One of Norway's prominent clergymen wrote a protest to the Afterposten charging that the conduct of some of the American sailors was "an insult to the city" and a disgrace to the American nat'on. He urged Admiral Hughes to put a stop to it. Some parents sent letters to the newspapers urging the Norwegian authorities to protect the Christiania girls from associating with the American sailors.
LIGHTNING KILLS FARMER
MUNCIE, Ind., July 27. William
Huffman, 35 years old, tenant on the
farm of A. D. King, two miles norm
east of here, was killed instantly when
struck by lightning Tuesday. Hun
man was helping threshers at the farm
and had taken refuge from a thundershower beside a shock of wheat.
Bower Telia of Visit, One man who went to Detroit early
in tne year and wtio was ana is a
close personal friend of Mr. Ford said
he did not propose to be drawn into a
controversy, that the relations be
tween himself and Mr. Ford and the
relations between his bank and Mr.
Ford were pleasant ?uid that it was his
intention to keep them thus.
In his account of the "foiling of Wall
Street" by Henry Ford, written by
James Sweinhart, Mr. Sweinhart told
of a "former Detroit banker, now con
nected with one of the biggest banks
on Broadway," who. according to Mr.
Ford, visited the automobile manufac
turer in his Dearborn home last
January and proffered him a Wall Street loan. According to Mrs. Sweinhart's interview with Mr. Ford, the hanker got as far as proposing that Wall Street should have some say in the selection of a new treasurer of the Ford Motor company when Ford handed the banker his hat and ordered him from the house.. Joseph A. Bower, president of the Liberty Bank of New York, was asked at his Montclair home last night whether he was the banker referred to. Mr. Bower is a former Detroit banker and the description seemed to fit him. "I never had any such experience with Mr. Ford," Mr. Brower asserted.
'It is true I was in Detroit last January and that I called on Henry Ford and
had a discussion of financial matters. I received the most courteous treatment, such as is usually accorded to
bankers. I have known Mr. Ford for
20 years and I never received anything i
but courteous treatment from him. Unable to Identify Banker. Mr. Bower said he had heard rumors 'Of such an incident as was described by Mr. Ford in the interview, but he had no idea as to the identity of the banker alleged to have been expelled from Mr. Ford's house and never had received any corroboration of the in
cident actually having happened.
The recovery of the Ford Motor com
pany from the depression of the early
year and its remarkable assembling of
cash without a loan to meet its obliga
tions is considered by bankers familiar with Mr. Ford's business to be one of the most remarkable recoveries in modern business. None of them had
ever talked for publication In connec
tion with the Ford financing, but pri
vately they did not hesitate to express
the opinion that their very proffer of
aid, under terms of their own making, of course, placed Mr. Ford on his
mettle and added to his determination
to pull through the year without the aid of Wall Street, for which he has evidenced dislike and distrust. Outside of his recital of facts and figures in liquidating his inventory of raw material and finished product, there is considerable unwritten history of Mr. Ford's financial activities in 1921 of which Wall Street is aware
and which now is being passed around
as gossip in the financial district Henry Ford, bankers say, in retailing and amplifying the history of his recovery without a loan, said that he
turned the financial corner by trans
lenng tne load to other shoulders. The Situation Six Months Ago. Little more than six months ago the Ford Motor company had all but completed arrangements for ' borrowing $75,000,000. in the face of what appeared to be desperate necessity. His plants were closed; there was little demand for cars of any kind. Mr. Ford owed the government $55,000,000 for taxes; notes were nearly $30,000,000, originally issued to buy out his minority partners and were due within a few weeks. Unsold cars were niled
high in the factory and choking sales
rooms over the country.
it was at this period that the bank
ers of Wall Street proffered aid. For whether they admit it or not the financing of the Ford enterorises is a
lucrative piece of business that all of them would like to have th nnnnr.
tunity to handle. There i9 a difference of opinion whether Mr. Ford in
vited them to Detroit or whether they went on their own responsibility. On
oniy a single occasion has Mr. Ford transacted busness with banks identified with Wall Street. This was when he bought the minority interests and the last of the notes given to raise the cash for this purpose were paid off late in 1920. The offer of aid to Mr. Ford was not flatly rejected until he learned
the conditions. These, it is reported,
mciuaea a banking supervision of the
expenditures. This evidently was the
stumbling block in the negotiations
ine bankers returned to New York from their unfruitful Detroit trip and
Mr. ord immediately started activities which havte earned for him the ap
plause or tne banking world. Ford Applies the Remedy.
Mr. ord did not borrow a dollar
from the banks. Today his sales approach the largest figure in the history of his company. The corner was turned, according to bankers by transferring the burden. Marvelously recuperative markets completed the success. Ford pushed his 125,000 surplus auto-
moDiies up the hill, off his inventory account and into the hands of 17,000 dealers. He shipped automobiles right and left all over the world to willing and unwilling consignees and drew against them. The tide of cash returned $69,000,000 before April 1. "Mr. Ford came East and found some $91,000,000 in "frozen" cars and parts in the New York, Philadelphia and Boston districts. Changes in personnel followed and others were threatened. The cars began to move out. "The case was reported of an Indiana dealer who had a floor full of
Fords. His consternation was great when a trainload of the cars, unorder
ed, rolled Into the city. His business future was at 6take. He must, and did
accept the draft. A former disgrunted Ford dealer with superior resources,
bought the trainload and startled the country side by advertising a bargain sale of Ford cars.
"In other cities and towns the dealers went to their banks and borrowed
on the cars. Shipments averaged about
one-tenth of a year's business. The unloading plan was a success, because
it wag economically Bound and ruthlessly applied. Agents were bluntly told that they were indebted to the Ford company and that to prosper in the future they must assist now. Those who rebelled were removed.
Those who accepted are today the strongest proponents of the Ford method. The Situation Today. Then Mr. Ford cut prices. Almost overnight the public began buying Ford cars. Opening the year with 125,000 surplus cars Mr. Ford produced 3,000 machines in January and
sold 57,000. In February he produced 35,000 and 6old 63,000, In March he produced 60,000 and sold 87,000. In April he produced 90,000 and sold 100,000. His May figure for production was 111,000 cars, his June figure 116,000, and in July, it is Mr. Ford's boast, that he is turning out 4,000 cars a day and selling every car. "By the end of April inventories of
the corporation had been reduced
from $105,000,000 to $63,800,000. He had been manufacturing his inventory.
including spare parts, into finished car shipments to dealers, which went out
with drafts attached. Since April al further remarkable spurt in business has taken place. "The corporation's cash the first of June was around $36,000,000, and there were no outstanding obligations except current merchandise acceptances. The measure of sales since that time and now is factory capacity and not merchandising efforts. Mr. Ford's net profit before taxes are now understood to be at the rate of approximately $20,000,000 or about $190 profit per car. "His only financial problem appears at the moment to be to retain sufficient cash under his expansion program to pay Federal taxes. "The Ford recovery was probably
the most inspiring event possible to the motor industry. He was the first
to cut prices. And his second reduc
tion is of recent date. Had Mr. Ford
been able to obtain Wall Street accommodation of $75,000,000 without re
striction, extravagances might have
continued. Angered at bankers dictation on one hand and advised by banker friends on the other, he decided to go it alone. .Working Force Reduced.
"To make the hill he had to econ-i
omize. He went over his entire organization with a fine tooth comb. Where ,he formerly employed 60,000 men tov produce an average of 4,000 cars daily, he now obtains an output of the same yolume with 45,000 men. The $6 minimum has been retained, but foremen have been put to work, tasks doubled up and adjustments averaging 20 to 25 percent reduction made in wages." One of th bankers who tried to "sell" Mr. Ford on the new financing plain said that in his opinion the best thing that could have happened to the Ford Motor Car company was for Mr. Ford to flare up at the bankers who tried to help him and, buckling up his belt, decide to go it alone.
"Henry Ford is an absolute genius
at organization and efficiency," said'
this banker, who has spent many days at Mr. Ford's home and plant as his guest. "In this instance he has set
an example to the business world. Mark my words, Mr. Ford will take the little railroad he has purchased.
throw out all of the antiquated sys
tems now in use on this, as well as on gasp for breath.'
other railroads in the, country, and give railroad executives within the next year an example of efficiency and economy which will make them fairly"
nnimmiiimiimHiimiimmin.ftHuiiiiiimHttnwinnmiMimiiiitiinHniiumim 1 PIANO TUNING I
South Twelfth Street BIG TENT NEWS The expression. "Lord's Day," Is used only once, Rev. 1:10. This refers to the seventh day, Mat. 12:8, Ex. 20:10. which was kept by Christ, Luke 4:16, and by the disciples after the crucifixion, Luke 23:56. Paul also kept it. Acts 17:2. The Sabbath is the day before the first day of the week, Mark 16:1-2. The seventh day will always be, kept, Heb. 4:9-10, Mat. 24:20, Isa. 66:22-23. God blesses those who keep His commandments. Rev. 22:14.
Opp. Pott Office Phone 1655 ittiHiHiuiMtiititHiiliiiiimmifiiMiiumniflinianHiniinnniTiininimitnniiffiiii
BE SURE IT'S THE
JiOrHSnal Patentee PiDetesa Fumece
See it at 7 South 7th
ONE-HALF OFF on PORCH FURNITURE
Thistlethwaite's
The Original Cut-Rate EVERY-DAY PRICES In Effect at All 7 Stores Pinkham's Com- QQ pound OtL Colgate's Tooth Ol Paste XC Woodbury's Q"f Soap fC ALL SCRAP TOBACCO. Off,, 3 for tJ
0
The Ice Cream Soda Smile
originated at our all who have it their friends in can get it.
fountain, and are bringing so they, too,
The symptoms show at the first taste of our wonderfully delicious Sodas and a repeat order brings it back again, stronger than ever. If you have never caught this enjoyable smile, come in and try it. You'll be back for more.
Subject Tonight- "Which Day is the Seventh?
At Feliman's
Big
July Shoe Sale
Special Thursday Morning
Men's work Shoes at big discounts during our July shoe sale. Brown and Black Calf Work Shoes, "Menzies" make, guaranteed leather throughout, $5.50 to $7.50 values
$2.95
Ladies, come in while your Bize is here. Patent, military or kid Cuban heel3, si;:es up to 6. Priced S2.95
.Feliman's Shoe Store. The World's Largest Shoe Dealers 35 Store 724 Main Street
fry. a I iitiet watches " 8
8 J
7 Facts Only Truth Always I UNDERWEAR I Lv7 ydf ur entire stocks ft rJ-l "fl al"e nClU(eC n is jY (Y JjV reduction f K?, 7L-Nv. event, so that we
Watches worn on the wrist have become a fixed institution with American ladies. It's simply.a. matter of kind that interests them when choosing. Buy tbe Better Grades No longer are the cheaper grades wanted. Most women even young girls want wrist watches that arc not only dependable but a credit to the wearers' taste and judgment Nowhere will you find a better selection, of desirable watches than here.
CHARLES H. HANER Jeweler 810 Main St. Glasses Fitted
o
4
uiarmm
C
otton
Frocks
can save you considerable on your supply of underwear for the entire family.
25 DISCOUNT-
Includes all Underwear Knit and Muslin. Includes all Underwear for Men, Women and Children Includes all Underwear of the Famous "Carter" Make. Includes all Underwear Summer and Winter Weights.
Carter's Underwear 25 Discount During the special July Sales Event wo offer our entire line of Carter's Fine Underwear for men, women and children at a flat discount of 25 per cent from our regular replacement prices. Carter's Underwear is recognized the country over as the highest grade Underwear made. We can unhesitatingly state that this discount will afford the opportunity of purchasing this high-grade Underwear at prices that will not be duplicated later on, for this discount is in addition to the many reductions already made to conform to replacement values.
iCTMiiiMiinniiinisi
;iiir!i:iiiiimiliiil:fi:.'t'W!ift'Mfl!r
Ladies' $1.25 Union Suits, knee lengths, extra fine quality; special 9C Special lot of Ladies Knit Union Suits, to close QQ out the lot at only.. 0C Lady Sealpax, the cool summer underwear for women of discrimination: regular $1.50 value; to close QQ, the lot at only OC
Ladies Muslin Drawers,
special lot at only
39c
Ladies' Nainsook Combina
tion Suits, pink or white,
$1.50 values; special
low price of ....
Children's Black and White Bloomer Combination, black bloomers with white waist,
regular $1 value; special at
Girls Knit Union OQ Suits, special w5oG Ladies' Muslin, Batiste and
Plisse Crepe Gowns, special
during this sales event at only. . . .
We have perhaps never shown so many. We are sure never such pretty or such inexpensive, cool, summery creations. Every one is totally different; so delightfully clever in style, so new, so crisp. Best of all, can be bought now at just a fraction of their real value. You must see these Dresses.
79c
49c
79c
White Wash Gabardine Skirts, regular price $3.98 and $4.50. Sale price
$
98
Beautiful Organdie, Voile, Organdie, Taffeta Voile and Gingham and Tricolette Dresses, Dresses, $8.95 to $12.00 $15.00 to $20.00 values; values. Sale price 1 Sale price
$!95 $rf95
i i i
It
Everybody's Shopping Place
Inquire About Our New Damp Wash Phone 2766
iecc Lee B. Nusbaum Co. NUSBAUM BUILDING V