Henry Ford's Own Story: How a Farmer Boy Rose to the Power that goes with Many Millions, Yet Never Lost Touch with Humanity
John Stuart Mill · en
"Well, if we pull through the men will have to do it," said Ford. "I'll
tell them about it."
That evening when the day's work was over and the men came to the office
to get their pay they found Ford standing in the doorway. He said he had
something to tell them. When they had all gathered in a group--nearly a
hundred by this time--he stood on a chair so that all of them could hear
what he had to say, and told them the exact situation.
"Now, men, we can pull through all right if you'll help out now," he
concluded. "You know the kind of car we're selling, and the price, and
you know what the new one did yesterday. We can get through the winter
on our unfinished orders if we never get that Chicago check. Next year
we'll have a big business. But it all depends on you. If you quit now
we're done for. What about it, will you stay?"
"Sure, Mr. Ford." "You bet we will, old man!" "We're with you; don't you
forget it!" they said. Before they left the plant most of them came up
to assure him personally that they would stand by the Ford company. Next
day they all arrived promptly for work, and during the week they broke
all previous records in the number of cars turned out.
"War between capital and labor is just like any other kind of war,"
Henry Ford says to-day. "It happens because people do not understand
each other. The boss ought to show his books to his employees, let them
see what he's working for. They're just as intelligent as he is, and if
he needs help they'll turn in and work twenty-four hours a day, if they
have to, to keep the business going. More than that, they'll use their
heads for him. They'll help him in hundreds of ways he never would think
of.
"The only trouble is that people make a distinction between practical
things and spiritual qualities. I tell you, loyalty, and friendliness,
and helping the other man along are the only really valuable things in
this world, and they bring all the 'practical' advantages along with
them every time. If every one of us had the courage to believe that, and
act on it, war and waste and misery of all kinds would be wiped out over
night."
CHAPTER XXII
AUTOMOBILES FOR THE MASSES
In a short time Couzens returned from Chicago, bringing not only the
delayed check, but several orders as well, which he had obtained largely
because of the astounding record made by the Ford car in its race over
the ice on Lake St. Clair.
The Ford company was not yet firmly established, but prospects were
bright. America was awaking to the possibilities of the automobile, not
merely as a machine for spectacular exhibitions of daring and skill at
track meetings, or as the plaything of wealthy men, but as a practical
time and labor-saver for the average person.