Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-10-20
O F AND INDUSTRY.

Henry Ford is often credited with making
greater profits than any other man on earth. How
ever his income may compare with some others, it
is known. to be very large, running into many mil
lions a year, and it shows signs of increasing rather
than diminishing. The Ford income is due in part
to the capitalistic system which is so roundly de
nounced by every socialist in the country.
Henry Ford does not make automobiles. He
is not to be found at the bench, in the casting room,
or anywhere else where the actual labor of manu-
%facture is going on. He merely bosses several thou
sand men who perform the necessary physical labor,
and he makes the labor of every man yield him some
portion of profit: This is the very essence of what
the I. w. w. agitators call wage slavery.
Just a few years ago Henry Ford was mending
bicycles. He had neither money, property nor
credit. He was a fair mechanic, and under a social
istic system he might have been engaged by the state
in mending bicycles for the rest of his days, assum-
ing that bicycles had been developed before the So
cialists took hold. Had socialism been the perma-
nent state of humanity his job would probably have
been that of chipping arrowheads out of bits of flint.
There was not much profit in the bicycle bust :
ness. The automobile idea was just beginning to
take hold. Here and there a man with the capital
istic urge thought he saw good prospects in the
horseless carriage. The notion appealed to Ford.
He tinkered with it because it fitted in with his
tastes, and because he saw prospects of money in it.
He reached the point where he thought he could
make the thing go if he had money. He tried to
borrow. Most of those to whom he applied refused.
They thought Ford was merely a crank with a fool
ish notion. But presently. he found a few men who
believed that the proposed wagon might be made to
ray. 1t was a doubtful experiment, but they were
willing to take a chance. They and Ford took the
chance together. They did so because, while there
was the possibility of loss, there was also some pros
pect Of profit, and profit was what they sought.
They made profits, very modest in volume, at first,
because their volume of business was small, but
gradually they were able to accumulate a few thou>
sand dollars. That money went into the business
Tor engagements and improvements, and yielded
more profits. The process was repeated until the
Ford plants and the Ford business resulted.
That business has been a major factor in the de-
%velopmerlt of one of the worlds greatest industries.
1t has made it possible for the man of small means
to own a road vehicle which can be operated cf1eap1y
and successfully. 1t has wrought economics meas
,1red by the hundreds OF millions on the farm, at the
factory, and in every conceivable line Of business.
1t has brought individuals and communities togeth-
eT, and has revolutionized not alone the industrial
but the social life Of the country. 1t has given inn
petus to the building of thousands of miles of finish
ed highway, a process that is to be continued until
our rural roads resemble city streets. All this and
more has been brought about because a few years
ago three or four men reached out for profits which
could be realized only under the acapitalistic sys-
tenn
Had it not been for that system there would
have been nosFord car, nor any other automobile
No government would have dared to back Ford's
dream Of an automobile, or, If a government any
where had been found to do so it would necessarily
have Deen composed OF men so visionary, so IRA
tonally optimistic, that they would have frittered
away the energies of their people on experiment
with 4 thousand hare-brained schemes, most Of
which would have ended in disaster.
Let tbe remembered that the Ford proposal Of
8 generation age was not then capable Of demonstra-
tom The enterprise was new, untried, with its
success improbable. The vast, majority Of people
regarded the automobile as 4 foolish toy. The field
MS open. Everyone had a chance to enter. Other
bicycle members had the same opportunity, and re-
At1scfed 1T. Other s1rewd men with 4 few thousands
Bfanoney were invited to Sco-operatc, and refused.
The, government Of that day which had batked the
saufonobile world have beer as decisiyely repudiaf-
das4t ire government Of today whicllsNsould back 4
Sraf1fosd to the moon.
Fofd ~ made monsy. but he bad made money