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Show FORD BLAMES THE COMMON PEOPLE New York, Jan. 2. William Jennings Jen-nings Bryan conferred for more than an hour here tonight with Henry Ford, who returned this morning on the steamship Bergensfjord from his peaco pilgrimage to Europe Mr. Bryan declined to reveal the nature of tho discussion, but said ha had come to New York from Washington Wash-ington on receipt of a telegraphic request re-quest from Mr. Ford. Mr. Bryan denied that he would sail for Europe on Januarv 4 as nre yiously planned, declaring that he has more important work to do here for tho present. Asked what he thought of the Ford peace mission, Mr. Bryan said he be-oved be-oved it had achieved partial success "even before it started "The mere discussion of peace " Tin added, "is in itself an advaSitS aiS the Presence of the peace party abroad will stimulate discussion there "No doubt the members of the' party will get information while in Europo which will bo of advantage to them hero. There is an advantage in tho very fact that a man in Mr" Ford's position should devote himself so wholeheartedly and disinterestedly to a movement of such Importance " Goes Back to Washington. Mr. Bryan said he would return at midnight to Washington where he wllladdreBs the Pan-American con- gross tomorrow. He declined to comment com-ment on the sinking of the British steamship Persia, with Americans aboard. Mr. Ford denied himself to interviewers inter-viewers after Mr. Bryan departed. It was said he had retired for the night. Mr. Ford declared his views regarding regard-ing the cause of the war have undergone under-gone a marked change. When ho left, he said, he was of the opinion that bankers, manufacturers of muni-, tlons and armament were responsible, but be returns with the belief that it is tho people themselves, those now being slaughtered, who are responsible. responsi-ble. The men doing the fightng have been too content to let those who rule them do their thinking, and they have not taken advantage of their divine right to say for themselves what thoy shall do and think, the pacifist asserted. as-serted. Neglected His Duty. "Republics are no better than monarchies mon-archies in this respect," he said. "Even in the United States, we let those whom we have elected to office of-fice be swerved from their duty. We do not assert ourselves. Personally, I have been a voter thirty-one years and in all that time I have voted only six times, and then because my wife made me." Of the eventual success of the peace mission, Mr. Ford declared he had no doubt. "The movement is now organized or-ganized and under way," he said. "People are' talking about it and while some criticize, when peoplo talk they think, and when they think, they think right." Mr. Ford's future plans with respect re-spect to the peace expedition were uncertain, he said. While he had several sev-eral ideas in mind, he deemed It too early to speak of them. lie left the party in charge of Gaston Plaintiff, he stated, in accordance with his original orig-inal p'nns; and, despite all reports to the contrary, when the party left the Oscar II, it was as harmonious as could be desired. Main Idea of Mission. "The main idea of the mission," continued Mr. Ford, "was to crystallize crystal-lize Into concrete form, if possible, the various ideas and hopes for peaee which prevail all over the world. The nations doing the fighting would be glad to stop it if they could, I believe, be-lieve, but they are afraid to let go. "Those who accompanied me on the Oscar II were as fine a body of people for that particular mission as I could ask, and the interested" delegates dele-gates that met us at Christiania were all good men. I am simply financing financ-ing and carrying out as far as possible pos-sible the work set under way last year at the meeting at The Hague of the Women's International Peace congress. This work ultimately will bring Europe to its senses and stop the war. "If what I have done will bring peace only one day nearer, I shall be more than repaid. Every day the war is shortened will save 30,000 lives, and 30,000 lives will mean much toward restoring order and normal conditions, "If necessary I will again go to Europe and if it will help matters, I will charter another ship. I am not doing it for personal glory, gain, or advertising. I have more money now than I can use, and I feel I am simply sim-ply custodian of what I have. It was entrusted to me by the people, some of whom are today fighting in tho trenches." Against Preparedness. Commenting on the preparedness issue is-sue in President Wilson's messatre Mr. Ford said: fa "I am against preparedness, as preparedness pre-paredness means war. No man will arm himself unless he means to at tack. Even when he takes a fork in ' his hand, ho is preparing to attack an oyster or a beef steak. "It would be better for the administration admin-istration to find out first if the people peo-ple themselves want armament. If they do, they will eventually get what Europe is getting now. As to the ' other features of President Wilson's message, especially with reference to trade and a greater merchant marine, we are all with him on that." At the request of Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo, Collector of the Port Dudley Field Malono arranged for Mr. Ford, a member of the naval consulting board, to be taken off the Bergensfjord on a special customs cut- t tcr as soon as tho ship cleared quarantine. quar-antine. Mrs. Ford, their son, Edsal Ford, W. A- Livingstone, a friend, and Mrs. Samuel Marquis of Detroit, whose husband returned with Mr. Ford, went down the bay to meet him. nn |