Henry Ford: An Interpretation

IX. Henry Ford and the Church

CHAPTER IX HENRY FORD AND THE CHURCH I ONCE preached a sermon for Henry Ford's special benefit. I told him I wasgoing to do so and asked him to be present and hear it. He came. He listened very attentively . He went away. It was a good sermon , if I do say it myself, but so far as I was ever able to see it never fazed him. It came about in this way: Mr. and Mrs. Ford were members of my parish. I was building a newchurch, a Gothic structure, that was costing considerable money. The building had been under way for some time and Mr. Ford had made no contribution toward the cost of its construction. This somewhat nettled certain of my parish. "What is the matter with your friend, Mr. Ford, that he does not help us out on this matter? Every one is giving up to the limit, and he, the richest 80 HENRY FORD AND THE CHURCH man in the parish, has done nothing." This question and statement of fact were put up to me a good many times. Finally two members of my vestry, against my advice, decided to call on Mr. Ford and solicit a subscription to the building fund. They went, spent a pleasant evening with him, talked for the most part about almost everything but the one thing they went to him to talk about, becausehe steered the conversation, and came away, as I have stated in another chapter, empty handed. One of the gentlemen who interviewed Mr. Ford on this occasion was himself a man of wealth and very generous toward his church. After telling me of what took place at the interview, he launched into a severe criticism of Ford. I stopped him. "You say that Henry Ford is wanting in generosity," I said to him. "Well, do you know that there are people in this city who say the same thing of you?" " How can they say that?" he said, evidently somewhat nettled. "You know that it is not true. You know that I have given 81 HENRY FORD thousands, tens of thousands, to my church and its institutions." " I know that," I replied, "andthat is just the point people make against you. They say your church is your hobby. You give to it, but in the opinion of the public you give relatively little or nothing to anything else." " But it's my money, isn't it? Am I not at liberty to give it away as I deem best? If I want to give it all to the church, whosebusiness is it but my own?" was his reply. " Why then criticize Henry Ford," I replied , "for claiming exactly the same privilege when he comes to giving his money away? He is giving millions to his employees. You give to your church. He does not believe in your way of doing things, and you do not believe in his methods. Personally, I think the world needs both of you, that both are doing a service to humanity, and I am not going to allow either of you to criticize the other in my presence without a protest." A short time afterward Mr. Ford referred to the visit which he had from the two members of my vestry. "I don't believe in build82 HENRY FORD AND THE CHURCH ing big and costly churches for the rich," he said, in explaining his refusal to contribute toward the erection of the building then under way.' " The amount of money you are putting into this one church edifice would provide for a half dozen settlement houses which, if properly placed, would do a great deal more good." It wasthen that I told him that if hewould come to church the next Sunday and give me a chance to talk to him when he could not talk back, I would tell himwhyI thought the centers of worship should be as beautiful and costly as men could make them. He said he would come. And he did. " There is a man in this city," so the sermon ran, in part, "who has done a very unusual thing. You know that power houses are built, as a rule, in the rear of factories. Often they are just dark, dusty, greasy holes in the ground, with mountains of coal piled outside. Factory buildings and office buildings are put out on the...