The Flivver King: A Story of Ford-America

Ford travels to Altadena, California, to winter with his wife and son. A writer who lives in the neighborhood comes to visit, hoping to convince Ford to share his pacifist and communist views. Although Ford initially insists that “nobody could or would or should work without profits” (86), he soon contradicts himself by telling how, during wartime, he offered his plant to the government for free. When the writer points out the contradiction, and suggests that sacrificing the profit motive for the common good might be as appropriate in peacetime as in war, Ford is sympathetic to the idea in principle. However, his own experience has shown him that government is inefficient and corrupt, so he is reluctant to accept the idea of government ownership of industry.

The author suggests that private interest creates the motive for corruption, but Ford cannot accept this idea: “Graft to him was the very nature of politics; also waste and incompetence” (88). According to Ford, even the post office and fire department should be run by private industry rather than publicly owned.

The writer argues that, just as monarchy is only good insofar as monarchs are good, private industry is a good system only insofar as those who run it had the public interest at heart.