is done; the fragments of automobiles come in
automatically and are simply bolted together. First of all the units are
assembled in their several departments. The rear axles, the front axles,
the frames, the radiators, and the motors are all put together with the
same precision and exactness that marks the operation of the completed car.
Thus the wheels come from one part of the factory and are rolled on an
inclined plane to a particular spot. The tires are propelled by some
mysterious force to the same spot; as the two elements coincide, workmen
quickly put them together. In a long room the bodies are slowly advanced on
moving platforms at the rate of about a foot per minute. At the side stand
groups of men, each prepared to do his bit, their materials being delivered
at convenient points by chutes. As the tops pass by these men quickly bolt
them into place, and the completed body is sent to a place where it awaits
the chassis. This important section, comprising all the machinery, starts
at one end of a moving platform as a front and rear axle bolted together
with the frame. As this slowly advances, it passes under a bridge
containing a gasoline tank, which is quickly adjusted. Farther on the motor
is swung over by a small hoist and lowered into position on the frame.
Presently the dash slides down and is placed in position behind the motor.
As the rapidly accumulating mechanism passes on, different workmen adjust
the mufflers, exhaust pipes, the radiator, and the wheels which, as already
indicated, arrive on the scene completely tired. Then a workman seats
himself on the gasoline tank, which contains a small quantity of its
indispensable fuel, starts the engine, and the thing moves out the door
under its own power. It stops for a moment outside; the completed body
drops down from the second floor, and a few bolts quickly put it securely
in place. The workman drives the now finished Ford to a loading platform,
it is stored away in a box car, and is started on its way to market. At the
present time about 2000 cars are daily turned out in this fashion. The
nation demands them at a more rapid rate than they can be made.

Herein we have what is probably America's greatest manufacturing exploit.
And this democratization of the automobile comprises more than the acme of
efficiency in the manufacturing art. The career of Henry Ford has a
symbolic significance as well. It may be taken as signalizing the new
ideals that have gain