The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1914-03-10
FORD COMPANY
SHARES PROFITS

Henrv ford, SAID Dean Mar
quis, "has specialized in motor ears.
Now he is specializing in men,"
This comment was made just a
month after the announcement that
the Ford Motor company would share
with its employees approximately
$I0,000,000 in profits during the com
ing year. IF the speaker had gone a
little further and had said that the
proftsharing plan was intended by
Mr.. Ford as reward to the special
lists he had already trained, he would
perhaps have stated the case little
more exactly
Specialization has been the keynote
of the life of Henry Ford and the kew
note of the company of which he is
president. With this specialization,
however, has been large element of
daring-daring such as is possessed by
explorers, hard headed venturers, pre-
cedent breakers and such men as dare
to do things in a new way.
From the first it has been Henry
Ford 3 aim to build god car at a low
price, so that the Ford car might do
the greatest amount of good to the
greatest number of people. BY spec
ializing he succeeded.
But he must specialize in men,
mechanism and materials in order to
specialize in the ear.
To meet the requirements of Henry
Ford, the car should be light that it
might be economical of operation. 1t
should be strong that it might with
stand the wear and tear of the worst
roads. Tt must be manufactured in
large quantities to permit its being
built of the best materials, by the
best workmen, and still be sold at a
low price.
Mechanism such as had never been
fashioned, such as, in some cases, was
in direct violation of the lore and
cant of mechanics, had to be evolved
and perfected. Today. in the Ford
machine shop, are machines that are
the wonders of the mechanical world.
Materials that would be light
enough for light car and at the
same time strong enough for strong
ear, had to be procured. The world
famous Ford Vanadium steel is the re-
suit.
But to evolve these special mech
anisms and materials there had to be
emn-specialists. These men were the
chiefs of the Ford army. They ten.
dered supreme allegiance to Henry
Ford, his ideas and his ideals.
So. to work this special material,
by the aid of the special machinery,
into the specialized car, there was
developed an army of specialized men.
Each man has a particular iob-a
sorff foY1I 10 IN in, ho
construction of the car-and by do
ing this particular job over and over
again each becomes a specialist in his
| line.
Ford workmen are all good soldiers
of Henry Ford.
And so the Ford Motor company
has always done everything in its
power for the welfare of its men.
Years ago it established bonus sys-
TEN, its factories have always been
places where it was pleasure to
work, and by liberal pay and sound
advice it has sought to make Ford
workmen models in the industrial
world
AS the profits of the company as
sumed proportions, mature and we'll
ripened conviction that the ends of
social justice would best be served by
profit division with its employees
impelled the company to action. As
it had been the first to make new
machinery, as it had been the first to
formulate and utilize new materials,
sc it became the first to put into prac-
tiee that bread principle of the
brotherhood of man which so many
have talked about in the industrial
world, but which none before have
ventured to apply on so large scale.
The Ford Motor company has al
ready under its command an army of
specialized workmen. 1t now plans to
provide the financial means and moral
stimulus whereby these men may be-
come the better men in their com
munities and the better citizens of the
state. 1t wants all the men to be
able to live far enough from the dan
ger line of poverty so that they may
thoroughly enjoy life as they go
through it.
Time alone will prove the success or
failure of the profit-sharing plan.
Henry Ford says that while every
other employer might not be able to
share his profits to the extent that is
being done by the Ford Motor COM
pany, still every employer can share
his profits to some extent if he so de-
sires. And Henry Ford hints that if
there are no profits in business to
share, the man who is running that
business should go out and look for a
job somewhere else.
The announcement as it appears in
the newspapers reads:
fFxl
January IL, inaugurate the greatest
revolution in the matter of rewards
for its workers ever known in the in
dustrial world.
"At one stroke it will reduce the
hours of labor from nine to eight, and
add to every mans pay share of the
profits of the house. The smallest
amount to be received by any man 22
years old and upwards will be S. per
day. The minimum wage is now 1924
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