Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-10-23

l
been gradually slowing down. In De-
troit, plant after plant had closed down
or reduced production to minimum.
The numbers Of the unemployed was
rising steadily. Everywhere there was
talk Of BLACK winter" Only at the
Ford Motor Co. production rushed on
undated. With full forces and three
shifts day it was the wonder plant"
not only Of Detroit but of the whole
country 1t engendered strong feel
| ing of confidence in the community.
| Then. in September, the country
was startled and electrified by an
nouncement Of big cut in the price
of the Ford car. The company an
nounced that it. made the cut in anti
cipation of lowered prices of raw ma
terials in the future, that for a time
it must manufacture at loss but that,
in the hope of fastening general
times. it would take its loss now
and it charged off to loss $1,000. coo
That is. it put value Of SSSOOO.OOO
on stock raw and manufactured. that
had cost it S1O5 100000, and continued
full production on the new basis.
Shutdown Everywhere.
! In the weeks following Ford bust
ness was appreciably stimulated, but.
generally speaking, on both the local
and national basis. the closing down
Of industry went steadily on. Then.
suddenly. overnight it seemed. sprang
up a host Of rumors that even the
Ford company was affected. Vague,
intangible reports spread over the
country that. due to the cut in price
and the other causes, grave financial
problems now confronted the Ford
company and, shortly. it must close
l hoy, o..
ports ostensibly emanating in New
York. Chicago. London and about ev-
! cry place else except the South Sea
Islands. and always ION highly cred
bile authority" had it that Mr.. Ford.
! his back to the wall, was making
supreme effort. using every resource
at his command to borrow money IN
every market at home and abroad
but always in vain; the end was not
to be far off. And when, early IN
| December. came an official announce
ment that. on Dec %, the great plant
at Highland Park would close down
| two weeks for inventory" in the
popular mind. confirmation was given
the rumors and. with a hundred varia-
tons. there seemed to be sufficient
of fact behind them to get them on
the news wires and thus they were
carried to the ends of the earth. Even
sober. level headed business men be-
gan to believe that within the Ford
was wrong. Two weeks passed. but
no re opening; and then announcement
that the time Of resumption Of opera
| tons was indefinite" Wall Street
clanored that Ford was broke and
! that. if the plants ever opened up
again. they would be in new hands:
that mr.. Ford was ready to retire.
Wall Street Learns.
| just at this juncture. according to
Mr. Ford's associates. different New
| York banking groups sent representa-
/ tives to Detroit offering loans on diff
| ferent terms. According to Mr.. Ford.
only one of these representatives ever
discussed such an offer. He was the
gentleman who was shown the door.
| In 20 minutes Wall Street found out
needed funds. Within 10 days after
that meeting. postcards went out from
the office calling 10000 men back to
their machines. Within six weeks
more the plant was again in full OPP
Grafton. Since that time. with prodnc-
ton records smashed almost weekly,
the company's increasing sales and
production have become the marvel Of
/; the industrial world. On July. II.
4,461 cars were turned out in single
| day. total production for July will be
close TO 100000 cars-and still, Mr.
| Ford says, production is far behind
| orders.
What wrought this change?
The answer is in two words-lIqul-
dation and economy.
Ford did to his business what the
! doctor does to man Frustrated by
over-eating and drinking-he admin.
| istered a stern regimen Of fasting and
diet. He stopped buying Then. by
! turning all his stock Oh hand. rough
and manufactured. into cash and by
eliminating every element and unit.
| throughout the whole vast organiza-
ton. that did not produce. he forced
! his industry. for time. to live off its
own fat lie met his obligations. not
| by borrowing money and thus perpetu-
ating numberless extravagances that
had crept in during the war. but by
devising new methods Of efficiency in
buying, in distribution, in administra-
ton and accounting and by eliminating
waste.
Tell Of the Storm
The story of how Henry and Edscl
| Ford, with methods long planned to
meet the coming storm, engineered
| their industry into position such
| that there never was a moment when
! it was pressed for ready cash for its
! needs, and thus. to the amazement of
Wall Street, turned the corner is
kind Of business and industrial epic.
! Out at the plant Of the Dearborn
Independent. the other day, Mr. Ford
sat. coat off, watching the reverend
| ing procession, moving along the road
! way just outside. of mowers. thresh-
| ing machines and wagons. hauled by
tractors. on their way to and from
| the harvest fields of his estate The
day was hot He was reluctant to
| talk.
I'm thinking now of the present
! and future he said. That financ
| ing matter is thing of the past
! let il stay there
But" some one suggested. there
are other plants. big and little,
throughout the country. that today
| face the same problems you had; they
! might benefit by your experience
His face frightened. then broke in
| to . smile. as he said:
Now you've said something. May
be it would be worth while"
SO he sent for a lot of records and
data illuminative of what was done
by the company in the 10 months just
passed. and with this before him,
| said:
IF there's anything in my expert