Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. MARCH 29. 1945
HENRY FORD VISITS
HIS GEORGIA FARM
By REBECCA FRANKLIN. Journal Staff Writer
RICHMOND HILL, Ga., March 17.—The 85,000 acres which comprise
Richmond Hill Plantation are being visited these balmy spring days by
the owner of this vast domain, 82-year-old Henry Ford, whose, vision
has created an agricultural show place from land in many cases reclaimed
from the Ogeechee River swamps by dike and channel.
Mr. Ford’s tall, spare figure is
seen almost every day by some of
the plantation’s several hundred em
ployes.
His home, the ante-bellum Her
mitage, moved here stone by stone
from its location near Savannah, is
surrounded by a trim white fence,
now beautified by the blooming
Cherokee rose and by a thick forest
undergrowth. Watchmen are posted
at the entrances to the property.
He rambles through the woods
near his home in perfect freedom,
however, and frequently visits the
enterprises of this complete com
munity. About him everywhere are
the beauties of nature’s tall pines,
ancient mosshung oaks and crea
tures of the woods, squirrels, deer
and birds in profusion.
Mr. Ford frequently talks with
KATE SMITH asked
to write this message
on Saving Used Fats!
“The help of every woman is needed in saving
used fats for hundreds of battlefield and home
front essentials. But some of us don’t know all
the ways we can do it. Here are a few points I’ve
found helpful.” —Kate Smith
MANY WOMEN SAY: “But I never have fats left over.”
Certainly it’s good economy to re-use your fats... but there’s always
Some left over even after that...and that little is more important
than you can imagine. Only one tablespoonful of used fat will help
make 5 machine-gun bullets. So there just can’t ever be too little
to save! Come on, everybody, scrape your broiling pan, your
roaster, skillet. Save meat trimmings and scraps of fat left on plates.
OTHERS TELL ME: “But my fats are often too dark to turn
in.” It doesn’t make a mite of difference how dark or blackened
...or what smelly things like onion or fish you’ve cooked in your
fat. Every drop of it will help make parachutes, synthetic rubber,
soaps for the fighting and war fronts. Don’t feel ashamed to hand
it in to your butcher. If you save every bit of fat you possibly can,
you’re doing a job to be proud of!
THEN YOU HEAR: “But what sort of container will I use?”
'Any kind of tin can will do. The next time you open a can of fruit
_ or juice or soup or vegetables, save it. But please don’t use glass
f.jt almost always breaks and makes the fat difficult to salvage.
When the can is full, take it to your butcher. For every pound,
you’ll get 2 red points. If you have any difficulty disposing of your
fats, call your Home Demonstration or County Agent.
Approved by WFA and OP A. Paid jor by Industry
plantation employes. A workman
who has charge of the electric gen
erating plant found out the other
day that the industrialist has lost
none of his genius for motors.
When Mr. Ford strolled into the
plant he immediately noticed that
the electric generator didn’t sound
exactly right. He cocked an ear
and listened a moment, then re
marked to the workman. “Some
thing’s wrong with your armature.”
The diagnosis was correct.
Mr. Ford bought his land in Bry
an County in 1922. According to
legend, it was purchased at the
suggestion of Thomas E. Edison,
who wanted to experiment wiht
golden rod as a source of rubber,
but plantation officials do not sub
stantiate this story. At any rate,
Richmond Hill is a lavishly diversi-
THE JACKSON HERALD JEFFERSON, GEORGIA
fied plantation today.
Mrs. Ford is here with her hus
band and she, too, displays much in
terest in the community activities.
Those who see them frequently say
they are “very spry” for their age.
Mrs. Ford takes an especial in
terest in the Negro elementary and
high school, which is attended by
230 children of plantation employes.
H. G. Cooper, the Negro principal,
says Mrs. Ford has visited the school
twice on this trip and that she vis
its each room and likes to hear
the pupils recite. She places an em
phasis on the “three R’s,” which are
stressed at the night school attend
ed by adults.
The Fords customarily come here
each January and remain until
sometime during March.
Here the ruler of the Ford empire
can relax from his endeavors, but
he maintains constant communica
tion with Detroit. He’s still the boss.
Manager T. F. Gregory, a florid
faced Scotch-Irishman, who has
headed the plantation since 1924,
says the plantation sold $200,000
worth of farm products in 1943.
Last year's too-plenteous rainfall
cut the profits.
Lettuce grown on reclaimed land
once used for rice fields is a big
crop, as are Irish potatoes and snap
beans. Oysters have been planted in
wornout beds and last year they
brought in $4,000. Sixty acres of
tung oil trees paid off to the tune
of $5,000 in 1944.
Richmond Hill has its own saw
mill, is crossed by two railroads,
has its own chapel, clinic, post of
fice, ice plant, modern grocery store,
bakery and schools.
Employes live in neat, white homes
which have been beautifully finish
ed. All buildings are in the semi-
Colonial style and were built by em
ployes on the plantation. Fifty-six
trucks and 56 tractors churn across
the plantation.
Mr. Gregory recently initiated
something that has been a great
success. Turpentine being one of
the products produced here, he de
cided to utilize the land for another
purpose. Lespedeza was planted
among the pines and now the cattle
feed on a permanent pasturage. The
cattle are scrubs which are being
bred with purebred Herefords.
Experimentation, as you would
imagine, is encouraged here. A lab
oratory and a full-time chemist
have a role in this. The laboratory
is now developing plastics. Mr.
Gregory, who admits he has always
been curious about everything, is
also in the process of demonstrating
that one man can run a farm and
make it pay. A celery field is being
tried for the first time.
Saturday, barefooted workmen*
their pants rolled to their knees,
were busy in the watery roWs.
The plantation grows garlic, tur
nips, okra, beets, broccoli, mustard
greens, and almost any other truck
crop you can mention. Mr. Ford
likes most of these vegetables.
The nondenominational Martha-
Mary Chapel (named for the moth
ers of Mr. and Mrs. Ford) is a matter
of pride to all members of the com
munity. Laymen conduct the serv
ices which are regularly attended
by the owners. The chapel, a struc
ture of beautiful designs, and all
its furnishings were built here by
native workmen. Pews are of pine
finished with sweet gum.
Mr. Ford’s liking for practical edu
cation is carried out in the white
and Negro schools. Both have trade
which make many things for the
plantation. The carpenter shop, lo
cated near the plantation office, has
made approximately $50,000 worth
of furniture for nearby Army
camps.
Girls who attend the Ford white
school are given a week’s training
in a model home under the direc
tion of a home economics teacher.
The man who pu tthe poor man on
wheels still feels that you must
learn by doing, and that you must
work if you would accomplish any
thing.
His personality has seeped into
every corner of the community. At
the Negro school Saturday on one
of the blackboards was written this
Ford-ism: “Nothing is particularly
hard if you divide it into small jobs.
—Henry Ford.’’
You don’t find anybody on these
broad acres, beautiful now with
azaleas and green carpet grass, who
dosen’t speak of Mr. Ford with the
greatest respectf They enjoy the
wave he gives them when he rides
by in his Ford and they like him to
view their accomplishments. He’s
more than a part-time citizen to a
great many of the employes—he’s
the man who showed them anew
and better way of life.
BUY WAR BONDS AND STAMP 5 ’
NO AMERICANS BEING
BURIED IN GERMANY
HENRI CHAPELLE, Belgium.—
No American soldier is being
by the Army on German soil.
The largest military cemetery on
the western front—probably the
largest ever built for an American
overseas army—lies in green rolling
hills here some siv miles from Aach
en, first large German city taken
by the Allies.
Since last September 7 this peace
ful pasture land where Belgian cat
tle grazed only a few miles from the
German border, has been crisscross
ed by row after row of crosses mark
ing the graves of several thousand
American dead. There also are 138
Allied dead of other nationalities
and 8,883 Germans.
THE INFANTRY SPEAKS
Sent in by Thomas Chandler,
from somewhere in Italy
So you are tired of working,
mister, and think you will rest a bit,
you’ve been working pretty steady
and you are getting sick of it; You
think the war is ending so you are
slowing down the pace; That’s what
you may be thinking, sir, but its
not the cast; What would you
think, sir, if we quit, because we are
tired too. We are flesh and blood
and human and we are just as
tired as you. Did you ever dig a fox
hole and climb down deep inside
and wish it went to China so you
would have some place to hide—
While motored buzzards, packed
with guns, were circling overhead;
and filled the ground around you
with hot exploding lead. Did you
ever dig out, mister, from debris and
dirt and feel yourself all over to
see where you were hurt and find
you could not move, though you
were not hurt at all—and feel so
darned relieved that you just sit
there and bawl? Were you ever
hungry, mister, not the kind that
food soon gluts, but a growing cut
ting hunger that bites into the guts.
It’s a homesick hunger, mister, and
it digs ardund inside—and its got
you in its clutches and there is no
place to hide. Were you ever dirty,
mister?—not the wilty collar kind,
J®yo]y rosierhead-morrison
Accessories JKL
Big News For Spring
STUNNING
SUITS
To show off your
pretty blouses.
4 Stripes
4 Pastels
4 Solids
Print and Plain
DRESSES
4 New Raypn Crepes
4 Lovely Pastels
SPRING COATS
Tailored in vivid
Spring colors
HEAD-MORRISON
COMPANY
JEFFERSON, GA.
HATS
SWEATERS
MEN’S SHIRTS
BAGS
but the soggy slimy messy dirt and
gritty kind that grinds? Did you ev
er mind the heat, sir, not the kind
that runs you crazy till you even
curse the sun? I mean dog tired,
you know, where your feet don’t
—READ THE HERALD WANT ADS—
ROOSEVELT THEATER
Jefferson, Georgia
THURSDAY AND FRIDAY
BRIAN DONLEVY. ANN RICHARDS IN
AN AMERICAN ROMANCE
ALSO SHORT
SATURDAY
HOOT GIBSON. 808 STEEL
OUTLAW TRAIL
ALSO SERIAL AND COMEDY
MONDAY
EDWARD ARNOLD, HUME CRONYN IN
MAIN STREET AFTER DARK
ALSO NEWS AND SHORT
TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY
WALTER HOUSTON, WALTER BRENNAN IN
THE NORTH STAR
ALSO SERIAL AND SHORT
COMING THURSDAY AND FRIDAY OF NEXT WEEK:
SPENCER TRACY IN
30 SECONDS OVER TOKYO
ft
~ GLOVES “
SHOES
SATIN SLIPS
SKIRTS
PAGE THREE
have any feeling and your legs don’t
want to go.
But we keep agoing, mister—you
can bet your life we do—and let
me tell you, mister, we expect the
same of you.
- BLOUSES
HOSE
CHILDREN’S
OUTFITS