Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-28
AS TOLD TO A. M. SMITH.

no ~
DETROIT. Mich. July 27-Wages in
Europe are bound to go up, says Henry
Ford, not because anybody is going to
force an economic revolution, but be-
cause the people of Europe recognize
that higher standard of living for the
workers is the only basis on which to
build national prosperity.
I'VE are not arbitrarily setting new
mark in wages in our factories and as
sembly plants in the British Isles and
Europe" Mr.. Ford said. We believe
the European workman can be enabled
to earn more than he does now, and 1t
is only on that basis that any one can
improve industrial conditions there.
We can the more easily take a
chance on the European workman be-
cause we did it with our own employees,
many of whom came from Europe. We
know that good wages are policy that
works in this country. People here are
not different from people elsewhere.
Give any man enough for his labor
so he can improve the environment Of
his life, instead of merely subsisting
in the general upbuilding Of pros
perity."
Flock 10 S. Wage.
The days were recalled when the
Ford Motor Co. announced a minimum
$5-a-day wage. Workmen from all over
the country flocked to Detroit. Criti-
cism from captains of industry, econ
omistS and financiers rained upon Mr.
Ford.
It was held that he was likely to up
set the entire working basis of capital
and labor, inviting ruin for his own in
dustry and spreading dissatisfaction and
strikes among other established indus
tries with their comparatively low wage
scale.
We'll" Mr.. Ford said, I'VE weathered
that storm, found that we did not SUI
fer in our own industry and proved that
the theory of lifting general prosperity
by giving the thousands of working
people the money with which to buy
worked.
Now that is a point to get clearly.
You can't wait for the people to create
prosperity and then give them back
little of 1t In their pay envelopes. Some
body has got to start the prosperity
ball a-rolling. Somebody has got to flre
the first round with his own money.
You can always have prosperity If only
somebody will start it. The material is
always here, but those who have it
hang onto it. They lack faith to know
that what they lose to start prosperity
will come back again.
And now in this country you don't
have to argue high wages at all. In re-
cent years wages all along the line Of
industries have steadily risen. The
country has not suffered. We are more
prosperous than ever. The business
man is seeing that his biggest customer
is the workingman. Unemployment now
bothers business more than it does Ia
Dor. Steady employment at high wages
Is the only security American business
has.
Adds Leisure to High Pay.
add to high wages more leisure for
the working people with which to i'm
prove themselves and their homes and
get acquainted with their neighbors and
the institutions of the surrounding
country. Ambition to improve. to raise
the standard of living, Is the logical re.
suit of more money in the pocket and
more time to devote to personal de-
Sires.
"Souandering time and money under
these better conditions is the exception,
not the general result. Everybody In
the world with good sense. and good
workman usually has his share OF good
sense. is ambitious to improve conditions
for himself and his family. A mere
living wage gives him very little chance
to do this. Something over and above
the cost of living. to be saved for the
improvement of the family, gives the
workman an entnirely new outlook on
life. And it makes him an essential
factor in the general prosperity OF the
country.
1T is this idea that is engaging the
people of Europe now. They want to
live under better conditions, and they
want to preserve their economic indie
pendence. They feel that life can be
organized so that the decencieS and OPP
portunities of life can be secured. and
the belief is growing that they are right.
England has carried heavy burden.
but is now courageously tackling a ques-
ton which no people have ever had to
tackle before-how to rehabilitate