The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-11-21
COSTS
FORD HUGE sum
Detroit Flivver Manufacturer
Sets Another Record
Losses Total $4,000, 900

tory, mas let 9u0Cner Coc0T0 TINS
years. record FOR losing money.
Since the middle Of May, when
Ford, deciding the time-honored
"Model IT, would have to give way
TO an entirely new car, shut down
his, plants and abruptly stopped
production, he has taken q paper
loss that reaches the stupendous
total Of mere than $2lO, O0O. 600.
No individual but Ford could
have done it. No one without
For6's enormous resources could
have entered that amount on his
books IS loss and continued ITO
plan Cor the future on an even
larger scale than before.
Since Ford's shutdown occurred,
lost orders alone have given him .
book loss Of $32 900 900 month.
Strapped His Machines
{ Added to this is the expensej Of
completely making over his plants.
Almost all o. his machinery had to
be screpped. Factories had to be
rearranged entirely. In addition.
there was heavy overhead con-
nected with maintaining his idle
mines, his railroad. his steel plants,
his shipping Ire. his forests. Con-
scrvstive estimates place his ex-
pense in these connections at $780,
100000.
His book loss on lost orders dur
ing the shutdown period will ap-
proximate $780,, OO0, 900. OF that
sum, probably $45, 900, 900 would
hava hoa,. r1~ev. v,rnfsk =.
These figures are almost too
numerous to be grasped easily. Yet
Ford, in spito Of them, has not
had to borrow . cent. For he began
the year with a cold cash bank
balance Of more than $3.50. 600, 600.
Thus, in spite of. his heavy losses,
he still has a cash reserve Of huge
proportions.
Ford's losses have had q direct
effect on the rest of the country,
particularly on the middle west.
To begin with, his shutdown
stopped the payrolls in his factor
les. It is estimated that this Topped
more than 100000 . week from
Detroit's purchasing power.
And that is only q starter.
The steel mills Of the Cleveland.
Mahoning Valley district have sui.
fered. Ford was an important Gus
toner Of theirs. Stoppage q his
orders not only cut off . large
volume Of business; it also reduced
the price levels for the remaining
customers. It has been a slow
summer for the steel men, apd Ford
- la~na1x, ushlA
The railroads also felt Ford's
withdrawal keen!y. The rubber in
dustry was affected, though not 80
sharply; Plate glass manufacturers
were hard hit, end the slumping
coal industry was pushed down
little bit deeper.
The automobile industry as .
whole was hurt, too. Paradoxical
as it sounds, Ford's withdrawal was
not an unmixed blessing for his
rivals.
During the first eight months Of
this year the industry a. whole
sold 100000 fewer cars than in the
first eight months Of 1925. It is
worth noting that whereas Ford's
production was 100000 cars below
his 1925 figure, his rivals were able
to increase their sales by only 200,-
600.
For there is magic IN Ford's
name. Thousands upon thousands Of
prospective automobile buyers are
waiting to tee the new Ford before
they buy. After it appears many
Of them, doubtless, will buy other
49,. A,.+ s...A 49,. AI>., 80 kn1l:~ :,
off, waiting. Thus the whole in
dustry feels the effect Of the Ford
shutdown.
Such is Ford's power. Now for
anott. i indication Of it.
Nearly every business leader, in
Detroit and elsewhere, look for .
marked pickup in industry about
the first Of the yesr. Why? Chief
~ because Ford will be in full pro-
duction again by that time. Detroit
will be prosperous again; the steel
industry will revive; railroads viii
find their shipments mounting; the
whole industrial machine will run
faster and more smoothly.
Ford's re-entry into the field, in
cidentally, is going to mark . new
err, in the autcmotive industry.
Until . few years ago It was true
that Ford had no competitors. He
concentrated on utility and cheap
nesS; he built q car unsurpassed
for durability and low price ranges,
bit utterly without those refine
me1ts Of line and equipment with
which other manufactures sought
to begrile their customers.
All that will be changed hence
forth. No definite announcements !
have been made by Ford about his |
new car; but enough has been !
learned through reliable sources 50
that it can be said that Ford 10
out to meet other manufacturers on |
their own ground.
The new car will be utterly un-
like the flivver Of the old days. Il
has been copied after the Lincoln
naturally, on much smaller scale.
The motor is new, the transmits.
sion and gear SHIFT are like the Lin.
coins; four-wi.eel internal expand
ing brakes are 70 be standard
equipment. and It ii, now reliably
reported that Ford has abandoned
his sentimental fondness for the
old wagon springs" that have
adorned ell Fo1ds thus far and will
equip his new car with springs
such - other autos have.
Ford. oddly enough, Is revealed in1
this change . . man Of great sem
timent.
For several years everyone else
- tho automobile world knew that
the old 1ivver could not survive the |
competition that FordS rivals were
giving him. Ford had educated the
country to the idea that everyone
eould own m auto; and, strange toI
Bay, the purchaser that 10. bad thus
educated had reached the point
where they demanded souethine -.