December 2012/January 2013 - Watlington Parish Council

“Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is
progress: working together is success”. Henry Ford
Once in a while, there is a photo that stops you in your tracks. This picture shows four people who have
influenced many lives. From left to right:
Henry Ford (1863-1947) was an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit experimented
on internal combustion engines By 1908, Henry Ford realised his dream with the production of the
Model T: reasonably price, reliable and efficient. By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model T’s.
Ford’s continuous moving conveyor belt and mass production scheme reduced his costs undercutting
his competitors. Ford’s became the largest automobile manufacturer in the world. By 1925, Ford was
producing 10,000 every 24 hours and by 1927 he had sold over 15 million Model T’s.
Thomas Edison His first invention was the ‘tin foil phonograph’ that recorded and reproduced a telephone
message using a stylus on a tinfoil cylinder, and brought Edison to international fame. In 1913 he
introduced the Kinetophone. It attempted to synchronize motion pictures with the phonograph cylinder
sound.
But Thomas Edison’s greatest challenge was the incandescant electric light. He didn’t invent it, but he
improved a 50 year-old idea. In 1879, he was able to produce a reliable, long-lasting source of light. He
made it safe, practical and economic. His vision brought us: light bulbs, fuses, insulating materials, on-off
switches and once tested, Edison created the electric industry and made his millions. Street lighting and
power stations followed and by l890 power demand was worldwide. His company Edison General Electric,
later dropped his name and in1892 became General Electric.
Warren G Harding was born in Ohio in 1865. As a young man, he brought a nearly bankrupt newspaper,
the ‘Marion Star’ back to life. His even-handed reporting made him popular with Ohio politicians, important
businesses and charitable enterprises. Harding went from a seat in the Ohio State Senate, to a US
Republican senator and then in 1920, he became the 29th President and the first President to ride in a car
to his inauguration (a Ford of course!).
Once in office, Harding admitted to his close friends that the job was beyond him. But during his time,
homes were built, car and radio ownership escalated, businesses offered antiunion drives e.g. paid
holidays, cheap lunch, pensions - if they left, or did not join, ‘Labor’; and oil markets were secured in Iraq
and Iran. Ignoring prohibition, Harding’s lifestyle came into question although he was never linked to any
crooked deals.
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