The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-01-11

have fixed 1t so n few ut least need
not envy my horses"
why didn't you raise their wages
so they might get NIL these comforts
without being beholden to charity for
them asked one of the reporters
bluntly.
Out of the mazes OF the response
about the law OF supply and demand
as applied TO labor, what his compcti
tors paid, what he could get girls for
IL he really tried. and what dreadful
cxtravagances higher wages might
lead to, wc--most of us--cmergcd with
a rather fixed conviction that this par
ticular employer was using a very
small part OF hts profits as conscience
fund. and establishing a very insult
ficicIt charity.
il is precisely that sort OF thing that
Mr.. Ford has avoided. In ono sense
the plan he has adopted, and which goes
into effect in Just two wcets. IL the
greatest act OF benevolence recorded in
history-in another sense II is not be-
ucvolcncc at ALL and Mr.. Ford himself
is inclined TO look upon 1t In the latter
way.
"'ro take $4,000, ooo out OF the net
profits OF a corporation in one year and
> it In the biweckly pay envelopes
OF some 10000 workingmen is most
decidedly a generous and broadly help
ful act.
But Mr.. Ford insists that il In not in
the trucSt sense charity, for the money
is taken from The profits which the
workmcn themselves helped to earn.
| He holds too that much will come back
\ 10 the stockholders in the shape of
| Increased efficiency in the organization.
Pure Bencnccncc.
But think rightsceing persons Will
| brush away Mr. Ford's modest dis
! claimer of charitable intent and pro
nounce this the greatest piece of pure
| benehcencc of the ago. tho ono which
will bring practical aid to the greatest
number OF immediate beneflciaries, the
ono which will have the most far
| reaching and varied effect in lmprov-
| ing the condition OF the working class
| AS a matter OF fact. no one can talk
! Intimately with Mr. Ford without see
/ ing That 1t Is purely the patcrnal at
! titudc toward his employees that he has
adopted In this epochal event. asked
him why he had seen fit to except wom-
en- employees and young men OF less
than twenty-five years from his profit
] sharing bcnefactions.
We'll. we look beyond the individual
workman TO his responsibilities" he
said. If he had been glib with the Jar
Il
have said: We look OH the family
rather than the Individual as the social
unit. That was what ne meant, but
he liked better to talk in common
/ phrase,
For example. II we have fifteen or
I twenty girls doing Identical work for
I which only a little over $40 Il week is
paid VIC do not admit them to a share
I In the profits. but 4. NO find one OF
them Is n widow with a child, or "A
girl with a dependent mother. we mako
an exception In her case. She will be
given share to enable her to bear
the burdens she is carrying. 1t would
he tho same with a boy under twenty
two II he had Representations not ordi
nary for youths.
Indeed. we havo many such cases
now. We keep fairly we'll Informed
OF the home conditions or our en-
ployes. Our stan or doctors. naturally,
constantly visiting tho homes OF the
work people and able to put questions
which, coming from tho ordinary OIL
cial would lie resented, gather much
OF this information for US. Some come
from our well organized welfare de
partment. which wo have maintained
for seven years. Much we learn from
tho voluntary condolences of our en-
ployes, who have learned to come to
US with confidence on many matters
pertaining to their home affairs"