Topic 44 
HENRY FORD AND MARK HANNA

MARK HANNA died long before Henry Ford arose above the horizon of obscurity.  This did not prevent the Colonel from telling a Hanna story to illustrate an opinion he held of the man made famous and wealthy by the "flivver."

"Hanna," said the Colonel, "sent Bunau Varilla, the French engineer, to see me about the Panama Canal.  Later I saw Hanna and told him I could do nothing with the man.

"'Why,' said I, 'that man would instruct Cosmos.'

"'Never mind Cosmos,' said Hanna.  'Cromwell's the man for you to listen to.' He meant William Nelson Cromwell, the New York lawyer.

" Now Ford is a pretty good man for making cheap automobiles.  He makes a good car for the money, and in his sphere has done a very good work.  But he won't stick to his sphere.  He would instruct Cosmos.

"It would not be so bad if he knew anything about the matters outside of automobiles that he attempts to manage and direct.  He does not seem to have the faintest idea of American history, or any history for that matter; he knows nothing of world politics, yet he sets himself up, with the aid of an army of press agents, as the man who must teach everybody.  He has no conception of what we mean by Americanism and has an extreme idea of the importance and power of his money.  He is ignorant, yet because he has been so successful in motors, many, many persons, hardly as ignorant as himself, think him wise in all things and allow him to influence their views.

"Henry, like Barnum, has been a great advertiser.  I do not say his peace ship was an advertising dodge — I will give him credit for being sincere there — but I won't say that he has not been given credit for a lot of philanthropy that was merely good business.  Other of his schemes given much publicity are imaginings that in others would attract no attention.

"He and his son Edsoll make a precious pair.  The exempting of that young man was a glaring bit of injustice.  Had I had my way, he'd have gone into the trenches and taken his chances just as any poor man's son had to go and take his chances.  Instead, he is safe in Detroit.  Cases like his make fine material for demagogues who try to tell the ignorant this is a government for rich men.

"Most rich men's sons are doing their duty.  You see that around the clubs.  The only young men you see there are in uniform.

"By the way, I saw two things the other afternoon that made me proud of New York.  I had been up Westchester way.  Motoring in, I saw a little service flag on a very poor house — more of a shack.  A colored woman was in the doorway — it was apparently a negro home.  Coming down the avenue I saw another little flag hanging out of the window of one of the finest houses in New York.  It signified that its owner, one of America's wealthiest young men, had gone to the front and was doing his bit, man fashion, just as the colored lad out of that poor home was doing.

"That kind of young man is worth a million Edsoll Fords in peace as well as in war, for the man who does his duty in war is not likely to shirk in peace."

The Fifth Avenue home to which the Colonel referred was that of Vincent Astor.