Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-01-03
HAPPY NEW YEAR, HENRY

1t is surely appropriate to wish a Happy New Year
to Henry Ford at the beginning of the year. and espe-
cially on the occasion of his retirement from the presl-
dency of the automobile company which has built a Tor
tune for himself and has been of vast benefit to several
hundred thousand people all over this broad land. Mr..
Ford is neither a scholar nor a statesman But in the
peculiar field wherein he has won his success he has
shown himself to be without a peer in this generation.
In the business Of his company he has had associated
with him men who are undoubtedly his superiors in their
special lines. But it has remained for Henry Ford him.
self to touch with his own finger the springs and keys
which have set in motion the forces whose results we see
in the mammoth structure which he has created.
Mr.. Ford has for some years received an income
- many millions a year, an income exceeded by only
one or two others on the continent if by any. Does any
one begrudge him that income? According to the doc
trine Of the Bolshevik and the Socialist he is not en-
titled to that income, or to any income greater than that
, received by any other man in his establishment. if, i'm
deed. these people would grant him the courtesy of a job.
to their view all the wealth represented in
the Ford business has been created by the workers"
meaning those who have worked at the bench and the
forge, and who, in general. have conducted the mechanic
cal operations.
Herein lies the >fallacy Of the Bolshevik argument.
That wealth was not created by the workers." About
the time that Henry Foro got his start the world was
reasonably full of people, workers, idlers, and what not.
= u WdSuI III EoIu N1OIOI CO4upoAS uulA IAo
particular man came along. The field was open. Ford
! had no special advantages. He was merely one of hun
dreds Of thousands Of obscure mechanics, with industry
and without capital. But this man had vision which
Others lacked, and out Of that vision grew the great
business which has been developed.
How much of that business and its income belongs
to Henry Ford? He is under certain obligations to his
helpers They have aided in the development Of q bust
ness which has been a marvellous success, and they are
entitled to compensation on a generous scale. in proper
ton to the muscle, and brain, and soul, and character
that they have put into the business. That obligation
is being recognized and met. But when it is met, when
the mechanic has been paid good mechanics wages for
his work, when the chemist has been compensated as
a chemist should be, and when each man has received
proper recognition for the contribution that he has
made, the residue, whether it is millions or billions, be-
longs to Henry Ford, and not to the men who work in
his shops. What is his duty to do with this vast income
after he has received it, what is his obligation to the
state, to the nation, and to society as it expresses itself
in movements and organizations of a hundred kinds
that is a separate matter.
Therefore, we congratulate Mr.. Ford and wish him
we'll in whatever new industries he may undertake to
build. We are glad that he has advanced the pay of his
shop employees, and that he is to pay his son $3.50, 900
a year. And we hope that Henry will speedily forget his
ambition to go to a place for which he is so little fitted,
States senate.