The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-02-08
Member Of the Associated Press.
MONDAY. FEBRUARY 5, 1915.
FORD PROFIT SHARING SCHEME.

FORD PROFIT SHAKING SCHEME. |
Because the plan seemed UtOpian
tho industrial world read with surprise
and with no little incredibly the de
tails of the profit sharing scheme in
troduced by the Ford Motor company
of Detroit when they were published
in the newspapers a year or so ago.
The company employs $1,000 men in its
main factory in Detroit and we under
stand that the scheme applies also TO
its various branch concerns.
Briefly stated, the announcement
was that under this plan every eapa-
! BILE man would receive his regular
wages, which were about Is per cent
Iabove its current market rate, and in
addition would be entitled to share
! in the profits, which would make his
minimum wage - for a day of eight
hours. 1t was distinctly stated that,
in order TO participate in the profits,
Icmployes must show themselves worthy
to do so. First of all, for instance,
married men must improve their hv-
ing conditions, using their increased
pay for the benefit of their families
Unmarried men must start savings ac-
Icouuts, or show in other ways that they
money. 1t was also announced that,
through an efficient organization, this
profit sharing plan would be as care
fully administered and the records of
the men under it as carefully kept, as
was that OF the companv's work in the
factory. If man WASH t living up
to the conditions he would be forcibly
reminded of the fact by the failure
of the profits TO appear in his payday
envelope. While not explicitly so stated
the inference was that the company
( did not purpose to have its good money
} spent in the saloons or squandercd in
4 the indulgence of vicious habits
For reasons thus indicated the ties
timony given the other day by Henry
- Ford the founder and head of the
great Detroit concern. before the fed
cral commission on industrial relation,
at its session in New York, was OF
great interest. In an unassuming anC
almost ditlidcnt way Mr.. Ford gave
figures showing how, under this plan
the men had advanced in earnings, il
conditions of living, and in thrift anC
savings, while their factory etficienc,
had increased by from 10 to 20 pc
conduct, he said, was such that the po
lice magistrates had noted and com
mented on the absence of Ford EN-
ploves from their courts. The record
of the administration and Oversight
bureau showed that in the first 81
months bank accounts had increase
1870 per cent, life insurance Sc per cent
value of homes owned and building lot
bought So per cent, while no less tina
5000 families had moved from poo
and squald to healthful and comforts
BILE quarters.
- The employees who are entitled t
n share in the benefits of this plan al
y married men, single men more than ,
y
lot men who are the sole support of neg
led of kin. Employees must have been wit
oil the company six months before begil
,ns ming to, share in the profits, and the
records must show their capabilit
and disposition to make good use
the extra money. At the start 60 p
. cent, six months later IS per cent, al
at the end of the first year ST IL p
cent of the entire force was under II
plan. Absenteeism had fallen from
per cent to threc-tenths of one p
cent.
ii Mr.. Ford discIaimed any intentio
of appearing as a philanthropist or Sc
timentalist, and said that the col
Ulpany's sole purpose was to help t
men in a practical way to lead dece
and useful lives-and a first essent
. to this end was to relieve them FRI