Evening star., 1926-11-09
Continued from First Page.) .

more business as a result of the inau-
guration of the eighthour day and of
the Ave and later the six dollar mini
mum wage.
"Our people now have more leisure.
to enjoy life. That means they have
greater need for a car and that the
car requirements Of those who supply
their other enhanced needs will be in
creased. A new cycle of demand is
created, we will be able to employ
more men and that will further in
crease prosperity and the consequent
demand for cars. Can't you see 1t is
a neyer-ending cycle?"
"Mr Ford, well-informed people in
Detroit, including some of your own
employees, tell me that you are not
paying six days pay for FIVE days
work-that your new policy means an
actual wage decrease to your en-
ployes," I said 'You are charged
with misleading the public as to your
policies"
There has been widespread miscon-
ception Of our new policy, but 1t is the
fault Of the headline writers and the
superficial readers-not of the Ford
company I never said that I would
pay six days wages for five days
work and never will do such an un-
economic and impossible thing. The
company would not long endure on
such a basis and it would be a poor
service to the 100000 men, women
and children who directly or indirectly
get their living from our industry.
81 said that we would pay six days
wage for six days work done in five
days and that we are doing just as
fast as we improve our operations to
that extent. When we are completely
on the new basis our empSe0as Vill
earn more in five days than tNey ever
earned in six. But the men must earn
the money first. The contents of their
pay envelopes do not come out of the
air. There is no secret treasury from
which the unearned increment is
drawn. The money comes from prod
ucts manufactured and sold. AS fast
as the product increases just SO fast
the pay increases"
II understand. Mr.. Ford. that many
of your production employees have
been on the five-day basis for year
or more. Would you mind telling me
how many now get the six-day rate
and how many have gotten in
creases?" I asked.
Question is Difficult.
"That is q difficult question to an
swer, because we give increases of S
cents an hour to employees who
showed q degree of increased produc-
ton and 10 cents an hour to those
who showed a larger increase. Some
of the scent men have received an
other scent increase, making their
daily wage 80 cents above what 1t
was under the old scale.
v,1o do
much in five days as they formerly
did in six, and they get the old six
day rate for their f1ve-day week. The
blast furnace employees have also at
tained this rate of production and
their pay will be increased according
ly. The only figures I can give you
for the pay situation in other depart
ments are somewhat difficult to in
terpret.
"Since the last Of May we have given
9,642 raises to our $1,000 Highland
Park plant employees. OF these 591
were 1O-cent raises and the rest were
scent raises, but, as 1 pointed out,
many of the men have got two scent
raises. There have been II ,205 raises
among our $1,000 employees at the
Fordson plant, Of which $500 were for
10 cents. One other figure comes to
mind. In April the average wage at
the Highland Park plant was IS cents.
Today 1t Is SO cents.
Hardship Only Temporary.
Mr.. Ford did not deny the allega-
ton of his critics that the immediate
effect of the flve-day-week policy is a
cut of from $2.40 to $4.40 in the week
ly earnings of many thousands of his
employees. Any temporary hardship
in this respect will be offset by the
long-run gains Of increased wages and
decreased hours, he replies.
Asked to name a date when the
entire personnel will be receiving
weekly earnings under the flve-day