Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-04-05
SHARING
A BLESSING To
FORD employees
Investigators Carrying on Social
UpIift Note Gratifying Results
in Improved Living Standards,
MOVE, INTO BETTER HOMES
The Men Do Their Work With a
Better Spirit-Automaton
Being Eliminated,

DETROIT, April 4-When Henry
Ford early in the year announced that
hereafter his great army Of men would
share his profits, he contemplated
plan of social uplift that few at the time
comprehended. His own staff is now
beginning to comprehend what Mr.
, Ford had in mind.
| And as the plan is worked out, its
many ramifications are unfolding. its
scope broadening
1T is astonishing how generally
misunderstood our recently effected
profit sharing plan is" said Leslie E.
Robertson. general counsel for The
Ford Motor Company.
The profit sharing plan of the Ford
Motor Company, in brief is as fol-
lows:
The wages which the company has
always paid its employees have been
the same as those paid by other auto
mobile factories
! nd'SSu car H9os
! About a year ago they we're raised
so that every employee received per
cent more for nine hours work than
was paid by other factories for ten
hours work In addition to this, every
employee was allowed 10 cents day
for car fare.
On January IL. 1914, the working
hours were changed to eight hours
day without loss OF wages. In other
words, the employees received the
same amount for eight hours work
that they had been getting for nine
hours work In addition to this regu-
| lar wage. every employee was entitled
to a share in the profits OF the COM
pany. provided he lived up to the gen
eral standard of industrial and social
efficiency which the company requires
of its workers.
Just what is this standard OF eff
ciency?' it was asked
Creatures Of Habit.
"Conceding that man is largely
creature Of habits. and that the habits
he acquires and develops determine
/ his usefulness to himself and to the
community in which he lives. Mr..
Ford and his associates argued that
mans interest in his work and his
usefulness to his employer depended
largely upon his surroundings during
working hours and the habits he
forms in his private life
In an insanitary, dark and ill-ven-
| tilated workshop a mans health Will
| be impaired. Consequently. if ais
health is not normal, his efficiency as
producer declines. His mind. IN
consciously assumes the same DARK
gloomy. depressed attitude which
marks the atmosphere of his sur
roundings
He is not capable Of giving to The
employer the best that is within him
and in time becomes dissatisfied with
his job Therefore the Ford set out
to make its workshops models OF
cleanliness. The gospel OF health, en-
bodying the principles Of light, VENT
lation and sanitation, was and is daily
prea ched and demonstrated to the 15-
600 employees. They are told that IN
order to produce the best Of which
they are capable. and to increase their
earning capacity to the highest de-
gree they must live wholesome lives
Foremen Teach Cleanliness.
Every department foreman ismade
a teacher OF santa ton, an exponent Of
the gospel Of health and industrial ef-
fciency. The rate OF the foreign born
element among the total number Of
employees is approximately 10 per
cent.
THE bulk Of this army OF more than
! 900 foreigners has little understand
ino and in some Instances less regard
for the principles OF clean wholesome,
healthy living
The company set on; to invade tha
| private life Of these men Under a
director. corps OF 10 investigators
was formed These were mostly re-
cruited from the ranks OF Ford en-
ployees and were chosen for their
hard sense and their ability to unde'-
stand these men and their conditions
Each Of these investigators is fur
nished with a car. driver and an m
terpreter The duty Of each Inspector
/ - he al 0 h..
whom he is asked to investigate. He