The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-31
Ford's Labor Turnouer Is
 Only3 Per Cent A Month
Still Believes In Higher Wages And Lower
 Selling Prices Than Competitors

oAOAA hSaAN blC SLOAss AL reasonable.
 The sociological department was established when the $55a-day minimum wage was announced. The market rate for labor at that time was about S2 a day. In consequence the Ford employees had funds to save or invest. The fact was 50 we'll known that every sort of cheat in the nation sought to make a sucker list" of the Ford workers. The company held, and not illogically, that the men who were paid more than the competition of the market required were entitled to some protection against the promoters of various wildcat schemes and the sociological department sought to render the necessary aid.
 Perhaps it was overzealous. At any rate, the need for such extended inves. tigations of the workers as were made seven or eight years ago passed. The high wage rate had the effect of sta bilizing the labor force. Very few changes are made and consequently the need for investigation cases.
 Helping The EmplOyeS
 At the present the sociological depart ment exists only to help those employes who apply for advice or assistance. 4 man thinks of buying a house and comes to his employer for advice concerning the wisdom of the purchase. Is tho house he has in mind worth what ht has been asked to pay? Is the title sound? Again, women whose husbands neglect to support them and their chil dren come for aid and comfort The sociological department serves all Fort in fhoao notforS
 Only in the matter of drinking i: strictness the rule. A drinking man may expect no quarter. If a man report: for work in an intoxicated condition .h' is dismissed at once.
 Few Employees Dismissed
 asked what had become of the Fort policy of employing convicts. l wa! told that this policy had been continued and with success. A few feet away { former convict was at that time work ing. Conspicuous drinking is the un forgivable sin at present, doubtless be cause of the agitation over prohibition Henry Ford has no patience with self indulgence of that sort. ..
 Thieyery, on the other hand, does moi bring exile. Men caught stealing arc investigated and put on probation. Ont man was recently caught pilfering, ant inquiry showed that for ten years ht had been taking small articles from tht factory. He was suspended for two weeks and then allowed to return tc work.
 Dismissal is a serious matter in tht Ford company. Although the force al Highland park numbers sixty-odd thou sand. not more than one man q day Is dismissed. During the entire depression of spring and summer no one has been laid off. The force is smaller by six or seven thousand than it was at the peak in early spring, but the reduction has come from those who left involuntarily This policy is, of course, characteristic of many other factories.
 FOresees Rural Factories
 At the big center an enormous power plant capable of developing more than 250 ,O00 horsepower is being built. The chief Rouge industries are operated with power developed from the coa hauled over the Ford railroad from tht Ford mines.
 Up the river from the foundries ant the furnaces, the fertilizer mills ant the glass plants, are to be found thu fractional factories.
 Nankin Mills, for example, is an olt grist mill fitted out with water tur bine that can produce only sixty horse power. Another plant has been located at a dam which yields only twent! horsepower, no more than a Ford en zine. But Henry Ford is not thinking in terms of dividends on invested cap ital when he builds these tiny planti for the manufacture of single parts Rather he is experimenting.
 He dreams of redistributing workers in the country and of providing employ ment to farmers during the long sea sons when agriculture does not re uuire their energies. He thinks tha the farmer equipped with modern ma chinery might do a great part of hi years work in twenty or thirty days.
 The project of putting factories in th' country is a notion discussed often, i is said, by Mir. Ford and Thomas Edi son. It hitches on to projects for super power development. Because of tht Ohio river mines, the railroads and thu great industries at the Rouge, this con ception of superpower and the possible scattering of factories about the coun try is very much in Mir. Ford's mind
 Wages In Ford Factories
 The wages paid in the Ford shop' are still far highsr than the average for similar work The minimum wage for an adult worker, man or woman, ii $6 a day. The average rate for thu wageworkers in the automobile factory is $6.64. This excludes the salarieC groups. It is said to be $1.5S cent! above the average rate for similar worl in Michigan.
 With such pay the labor turnover ii naturally very low, just about 8 pei cent a month. The low turnover ii highly advantageous since money, tint and material are ordinarily lost wher new workers are trained.
 The accident rates, too, are low, ant steady efforts are made to safeguard machinery. Money is not spared tC build guards, cages and other devices tC make dangerous operations as nearly ac cident-proof as possible. A distinction of the Ford company in this field, how ever, is to be seen in its attitude towart those who, despite every precaution, ar' injured. The company sends out inves tigators to ascertain what the injured workers family need for support. Int Michigan compensation law calls for thu payment of $15 weekly to certain classes of injured workers. Plainly, $1e