Signals, Please

Like many another industrialist, Henry Ford II was fed up by all the exhortations from Washington to speed up rearmament, when only a trickle of war orders had been placed. To the National Farm Bureau Federation in Dallas, young Henry said that it was time for the Administration to "call the signals . . . and keep us up to date on the score and let us know what is expected of us." Was this a rap at the Administration? Snapped Ford: "It certainly is."

He added that he still did not know what was needed from the Ford company or what the Government wanted it to make in the way of war materials. To date, the Ford company has only two military orders. One is a $25,000 "development order" and the other a contract for production of a Pratt & Whitney engine for B-36s. But the engine, to be made in the Chicago plant operated by Dodge during World War II, is not scheduled to go into production until March 1952.

Ford auto schedules have already been cut 15% because of material shortages, and the cut may run to 25% in the next several months or "it may be nearer 50%." Nevertheless, the company still plans to expand. In the last four years, it has spent $600 million on expansion. Said he: "We plan to spend $1 billion more during the next three years."

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