National Affairs: Rugged Individualism v. Robust Collectivism

Many a time has Henry Ford used the White House as a national sounding board. The most famed occasion was in December 1929, when he rushed out of a conference with President Hoover to startle other tycoons with the announcement that he was raising wages in the face of Depression. Last week the White House became a sounding board of a different sort for long-legged Henry Ford.

Mr. Ford was balking at the NRA code for his industry. President Roosevelt asked Recovery Administrator Johnson why. General Johnson could have replied that Mr. Ford paid better wages (50¢ an hour) than his competitors under the code (43¢) but that he strenuously objected to its collective bargaining clause which might unionize his factories and to its provision permitting the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce (of which Ford is not a member) to pry into his books, unearth trade secrets. Whether he signed or not Mr. Ford was subject to the Code’s provisions, could be fined $500 per day for its violation, could be licensed out of business. But he would get no Blue Eagle unless he filed a “certificate of compliance.” Warned General Johnson: “I think maybe the American people will crack down on Mr. Ford when the Blue Eagle is on other cars and he does not have one.” The State Governments of Pennsylvania, Maine and Tennessee did “crack down,” said they would buy no more Ford cars until their maker signed up with NRA.

What Mr. Ford proposed to do about it he kept strictly to himself all last week. He was on vacation in his 16-room, copper-roofed “cabin” (cost: $100,000) at the Huron Mountain Club in the wilds of northern Michigan on Lake Superior. Son Edsel was taking his ease at Seal Harbor, Maine. One day the elder Ford was driven in one of his V-8’s 35 mi. to Marquette to telephone Edsel. He put the call through from a private room at the Northland Hotel. As he ambled out, newshawks swooped down on him to ask about the Blue Eagle.

“I have nothing to say,” declared Mr. Ford. “By that I mean there is nothing I have to say.”

He turned and fled from the reporters.

As he climbed into his car to drive back to his retreat, they still heard him: “Nothing to say-nothing-nothing.”

The issue thus drawn between President Roosevelt and Mr. Ford seemed to involve much more than just the automobile industry’s code. It was the first clean-cut major encounter between the new “robust collectivism” and a prime exponent of the old “rugged individualism.” Mr. Ford had supported President Hoover in the campaign. His defiance of the NRA would strike at the heart of the President’s recovery program. General Johnson was deeply troubled. He did not want to risk a court fight against the Ford millions. Mr. Ford’s higher wage scale than the code’s weakened any boycott appeal. And there remained a chance that, when he did announce his plans, sly old Henry Ford, again with the White House for his amplifier, would outdo the NRA and his competitors in other respects than hours & wages.