The Elk Mountain pilot. [volume] (Irwin, (Ruby Camp), Gunnison County, Colo.) 1880-19??, 1921-08-04
THINKERS NEEDED

There are too many men running
the railroads who let somebody else
do their thinking for them. We
want men who can think for them
selves.
sand too mauy men let titles
spoil them. That's why made my
self president of the D. T. & l."
AS railroad president Ford re-
ceives season passes from other rail-
roads. But he doesns use them.
They offer to haul his private car
free. He always pays for it.
As long as money is the medium
of exchange" he said, II believe it
ought to be used. If l want some
thing and haven't got the money
to buy it ought not to buy it.
One of Ford's- reforms" on the D.
T. & I. was to take able men out of
his motor car industry and let them
run the railroad.
TOO MUCH TRADITION
"a lot of railroads would be bet
ter off if they adopted polly along
that line," he said. There is too
much tradition in the railroads
ing things in old-fashioned ways.
"What did we ever know about
railroads-except to ride on 'em?
Yet we've got our road organized so
that inside of year it is making
money. Any railroad could be put
on its feet in that time.
"The old-fashioned method in rum
ming railroads-and in lots of other
, businesses-is to do as little as you
can and get the most money as fast
4 as possible.
I II see new era dawning, with
this creed: Do as much as you can
I get small returns, and serve the most
9 people-and the money will come in
so fast you won't know where it's
+ coming from-it will inundate you.'
t TOO MUCH MANIPULATION
e 1 asked Ford what he thought was
f the matter with American railroads
"Too much Wall Street manipula
tion-and too much weight in the
rolling stock.
fundamental principles must be
changed Designs must be made for
lighter rolling stock.
Railroads have been managed by
stockholders who only figure how
much they can get out of them for
the moment-not what they can do
in the future
mo, l am not against great mass
of stockholders-if they are the right
kind. The right kind of stockholder
in railroad or in any industry is
ONE WHO is DOING THE WORK
WHO HAS HIS HEART IN 1T. m
Forty years ago my father used
to say something that applies to
that very thing:
"He who by the plow would
thrive,
Must either hold the pIow or
drive.'"
of employees who are stockholders in
his motor car and tractor corpora
tions.
"In all our plants and branches
we have from $4,000 to 65,O0O men,"
he said. "Two-thirds of them have
between 100000 and $10,000,00
invested in the companies they work
for This plan has been in opera
tion two years.
"An employee can own an invest
ment certificate which is non-trans-
ferable-only so long as he works for
us. When he leaves he must sell.
WHEN HE ISN'T WITH US PHYSI-
CALLY AND IN SPIRIT HE ISN'T
A GOOD STOCKHOLDER"
''That applies to railroads. If the
men on the trains and in the shops
had stock and there was common
sense in their management we
wouldn't have railroad problem.
"When the railroads want to make
extensions they issue bonds and
draw in more money and more idle
stockholders.
1.-THE railroads should earn and pay
for their own extensions. The laws
were made solely to favor investors
whose insidious aim is to destroy en-
terprise.
"Young men ought to get into
railroads and industry. believe
every young man who enters his
fathers business should first get an
interest in it-so he can put his
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