The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-03-21
THE GREAT FORD MYTH

try, In spite OF tord's periodical &ngpectSo@"
This letting-out OF parts contracts, while highly
profitable to the Ford Motor Company, has led
to widespread unemployment here. Until the
wage raise went through. comparatively few Ford
parts were manufactured by outside firms. At
the present time, according TO Ford himself, $500
concerns are making Ford accessories. AS q result
of this, department after department. at the
Rouge plant has been closed dowre-byake. year
axle shock absorber, differential housing depart
ments, to mention only few. have been shut
down and their workers laid on. Nearly every
second man meet on the job lines has been laid
OF from the Rouge, and nearly half OF them ten
me they are job1ess because Of this contract
letting policy
According to statements OF the Ford Company,
there we're recently $4,000 men at work In the
Rouge plant. Workers there say Ehat at that
time, apart from maintenance and service men,
there we're 25,000 at work. At capacity, the plant
employs 10000; during I2s, $4,000 men were dis
charged. 1ay-o1s continued through 1880 until
another $4,000 had been let out: in 1881, many
thousands OF production workers were laid OF.
1t may be accurate TO say that there are more
than $4,000 on the pay roll Tor there are literally
thousands Of unemployed Ford workers who stin
have their badges, and, ipso facto, are on the
pay ro1l-but these workers usually have not
worked Tor months and they are denied admit
tance to the employment of1cel
The exaggeration OF Ford's employment hglmes
can be seen in q report OF DR.. W. c. Berbnan
OF the Mayors Unemployment Committee. "a
survey Of S,476 recipients OF relief showed S61
per cent had been employed at Fords at least a
year. II the same rate holds IN the other $4,000
families, the total cost to the city in January,
1881, of keeping Henry Ford's workers Ia condi-
nor rka
reported last April that the fathers Of over 5000
destitute families had been laid of by Ford AS
matter of fact, 1t is very difficult to tell Just
how many men are at work now, for Ford is
hiring and firing thousands Of men daily. Old
men, highly paid men, men who cannot make the
speed, are being eliminated and In their places
are being hired men who are young and fact and
willing to work for Sc day, perhaps only day
or two week.
Ford has been In no small measure responsible
for kooding Detroit with labor Early in 1929 he
announced he would hire 10000 men Thousands
Of workers, many of them with their families
many Of them penniless rushed to Detroit Night
after night, in bitter zero weather. the men stood
in line few hundred were taken on-fire hoses
were turned on the rest to drive them away. A
similar situation arose IN $780, ss q result of
which 10000 unemployed stormed the plant and
smashed the hiring office and the woven-steel
storm fence which protected It, After that the
police inaugurated a policy of repression Men
were not allowed to start fires to warm them
selves; they were prohibited from gathering in
groups; they were required TO keep moving; II
they were in line they had to move quickly if
they were to avoid being beaten. This police
guard is still maintained, since the rllmors that
Ford Is hiring" has brought thousands Of men
out to the Rouge plant.
Ito Be Concluded.)