Some
years ago during the world war Mr. Henry Ford brought suit against
the Chicago Tribune, charging that newspaper with libelous
publication of statements concerning him, one of which was the
statement that Ford was an "ignoramus," an ignorant
pacifist, etc.
When
the suit came up for trial the attorneys for the Tribune undertook to
prove, by Ford himself, that their statement was true; that he was
ignorant, and with this object in view they catechized and
crossexamined him on all manner of subjects.
One
question they asked was:
"How
many soldiers did the British send over to subdue the rebellion in
the Colonies in 1776?"
With
a dry grin on his face Ford nonchalantly replied:
"I
do not know just how many, but I have heard that it was a lot more
than ever went back."
Loud
laughter from Court, jury, court-room spectators, and even from the
frustrated lawyer who had asked the question.
This
line of interrogation was continued for an hour or more, Ford keeping
perfectly calm the meanwhile. Finally, however, he had permitted the
"smart Aleck" lawyers to play with him until he was tired
of it, and in reply to a question which wasparticularly
obnoxious and insulting,
Ford
straightened himself up, pointed his finger at the questioning lawyer
and replied:
"If
I should really wish to answer the foolish question you have just
asked, or any of the others you have been asking, let me remind you
that I have a row of electric push-buttons hanging over my desk and
by placing my finger on the right button I could call in men who
could give me the correct answer to all the questions you have asked
and to many that you have not
the intelligence either to ask or answer. Now, will you kindly tell
me why I should bother about filling my mind with a lot of useless
details in order to answer every fool question that anyone may ask,
when I have able men all around me who can supply me with all the
facts I want when I call for them?"
This answer is quoted from memory, but it substantially relates Ford's answer.
There
was silence in the court-room. The questioning attorney's under jaw
dropped down, his eyes opened widely; the judge leaned forward from
the bench and gazed in Mr. Ford's direction; many of the jury awoke
and looked around as if they had heard an explosion (which they
actually had).
A
prominent clergyman who was present in the court-room at the time
said, later, that the scene reminded him of that which must have
existed when Jesus Christ was on trial before Pontius Pilate, just
after He had given His famous reply to Pilate's question, "What
is truth?"
In
the vernacular of the day, Ford's reply knocked the questioner cold.
Up to the time of that reply the lawyer had been enjoying
considerable fun at what he believed to be
Ford's
expense, by adroitly displaying his (the lawyer's) sample case of
general knowledge and comparing it with what he inferred to be Ford's
ignorance as to many events and subjects.
But
that answer spoiled the lawyer's fun It also proved once more (to
all who had the intelligence to accept the proof) that true education
means mind development; not merely the gathering and classifying of
knowledge.
Ford
could not, in all probability, have named the capitals of all the
States of the United States, but he could have and in fact had
gathered the "capital" with which to "turn many
wheels" within every State in the Union.
