Next to Henry Ford himself the world's foremost "Fordizer" has been Thomas Bat'a (pronounced Bahtya). Fifty-six years ago he was born to the wife of a poor cobbler in Zlin. He made Zlin the "Shoe Capital" of Europe. Last week he met his death at Zlin. One of his last philanthropies was a thumping gift which completely wiped out the civic debt of Zlin.
Because, like Henry Ford, he profoundly mistrusted financiers, Thomas Bat'a took care to remain the First Working Partner in a partnership which embraced all his employes. No one outside the partnership could own Bat'a stock. In Bat'a language the Bat'a newspaper of Zlin tersely announced the tragedy thus:
"Our First Working Partner, Thomas Bat'a, has been the victim of a terrible disaster. Despite heavy mist he decided to fly to Switzerland in the interest of the concern, which was dearer to him than life. We lose him at a moment when he had succeeded in relaying the foundations of our security and prosperity, and all must honor his memory by devotion to the work that was his life's ideal."
It was said at first that Thomas Bat'a's private plane had collided with a chimney of his plant, but when the mist cleared the chimney was seen to be unscarred. Some other cause produced the crash, the muffled explosion, the sudden burst of flame amid which died both Thomas Bat'a and an ace pilot who had flown him successfully around the whole of India.
"It is a shame that 30,000,000 Indians don't wear shoes!" Thomas Bat'a had cried in Calcutta. Then & there he bought a factory site. "We will sell to the Indian at 30¢ a pair," he prophesied, "serviceable cloth shoes with rubber soles."
Out of the burning wreckage frantic employes pulled Zlin's prophet, master and First Working Partner. He was carried to the morgue in the factory hospital. For almost an hour the production of shoes stopped, the Fordized conveyors halted. Then they began to move again. Thomas Bat'a would have wanted no interruption for his sake.
Mrs. Bat'a heard the news from Mr. Bat'a's stepbrother, Jan Bat'a. Said Jan, "There has been a terrible accident to Thomas' plane." Before he could break the news further Mrs. Bat'a collapsed in a dead faint. Swiftly the Bat'a secretariat moved to drape every factory window & door in black. But hardly was the draping finished, hardly were black flags hoisted to half-mast all over Zlin than the psychological error was realized. Down came the drapes and flags—"things which our First Working Partner would not have wished."
One of the Bat'a working partners is the young son of Premier Frantisek Udrzal of Czechoslovakia who dropped his Government work at Prague, rushed 170 miles to Zlin. When Premier Udrzal arrived the House of Bat'a was profoundly calm. Cash in bank totaled $2,500,000. Since the public held no Bat'a stock it could not crash. Quietly the Bat'a Board elected Jan Bat'a to be the new First Working Partner.