HENRY FORD.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 17 August 1925, Page 4

HENRY FORD.

FINAL W.E.A. LECTURE OF COURSE

The final lecture of the W.E.A. course in Levin took place last week, the subject being Henry Ford. Mr. A. Ernest Mander, the lecturer, began by reminding hia hearers that the previous week he had been dealing' with Karl Marx. Marx was the man, above all others, who emphasised the importance of Labour in the production of wealth. Indeed, the Marxist tells us that "all wealth is produced by labour”, and so the workers are entitled to "the full fruits of industry.” On the- other hand, there are those who contend that there are two parties in production — the workers who Contribute their labour, and the landowners and capitalists who contribute their property. Well, to-night (said Mr. Mander) we are going to talk about a man who represents a Third Party in production. This is the Organiser of industry; and he —along with the scientist and the inventor —is the man who really has made civilisation. He, along with the scientist and the inventor, is the man who is responsible for the difference between the standard of living a thousand years ago and the standard of living to-day. The organiser of industry is the key-stone of our economic system. Without him, most of the world’s capital would be useless; and most of the workers would be helpless—helpless. The output of industry would be a half, a quarter, a tenth of what it is; and so the standard of life would fall to what it was before the age of industrial organisation. Early Life. Henry Ford was born in 1863, the child of a farmer in Michigan. From bayhood he seems to have had a bent for making things and scheming things out. One of his most vivid recollections is that of meeting a steam engine cn the road when he was I 2 years old; and from this developed an interest In horseless carriages and a craving to make one for himself. In 1892 at the age of 29, Ford' at last succeeded in making a primitive motor-car “with an internal-combust-ion engine. But it was not until seven years later that he started a little workshop of his own. In France -and Britain and America, other young men were working along th e same line; and by this time the earliest motor-cars were on the road. But these early cars were, of course, little more than toys; and those who made them, and those who bought them, were regarded as mere cranks. The Ford Company. In 1904 the Ford Company was established with a paid up capital of £SOOO and a little worksshop for building cars, one at a time, to order. Five years later, by 1908, the motorcar industry was growing into quite a big thing; and by that time Henry Ford employed 2000 workers and was turning out 6000 cars a, year-ears now of uniform design. Three years later, in 1911, his number of workers had increased from 2000 to 6000, and his output of cars had increased from 6000 to 35,000. That is a fact worth noting. He had thrice as much labour, but was producing six times as many cars. Now, (observed the lecturer), if "all wealth' is produced by labour,” here is rather a remarkable state of affairsi How comes it about that every worker in the Ford factory in 1911. is producing twice as much wealth as he was three years ago? Is it to be suggested that the workers —and the workers alone —have doubled their output in three years? The fact is that the, individual worker’is now putting in less time and less energy than he was three years ago. Hours are shorter: work is easier. But the increase in productivity is due, not to labour, but partly 'to improvements in power and machinery, • and mainly to better organisation. Further Development. Twelve years later (1923) the industry has so developed, has become so complex, has so many ramifications, that it employs scores of thousands’ of workers—in engineering works, sawmills and coal mines, In glass-works, iron-works, paper mills, on railroads; in dozens of other branches of industry. Soon now this stupendous Ford will be producing all the raw materials, and putting them through all the stages of manufacture, to produce at least, the present number a million cars a year—turning them out ready for the road at th e rate 0 f 400 an hour. At the present time there are over 8,000,000 Ford cars and tractors in the world. Mr. Mander then gave a description of the famous “Assembly Line” at Detroit, which is typical of the organisation of labour throughout the Ford factories. He described the way in which an endless procession of "cars-in-the-raaking” passes down a moving track, while each pian standing beside the ever-moving line does something to each car as it slowly passes—puts an additional part in place, tightens something, adjusts something, tests something.- So at last, as it nears the end of the long line, the car is gradually built up. Towards the end, the tank is filled with benzine, the radiator is filled with water; and finally a man jumps into the car and drives it off the end of the track and away. Each man on the line of assembly does only one thing. His simple task is carefully arranged and timed. Everything he needs to use is placed handy for him. ‘ Waste movements are eliminated. And the car is in frbnt of each man, in his section, just exactly long enough for him to do what he has to do, carefully, accurately, without undue haste, but without a moment to spare. By that time the car will have passed on to the next man; , he will have a moment’s breathing space; and then the next car will have arrived in front of himTncreasecr productivity. The same principle is adopted, . as far as possible, in every department, in every factory, of the great Ford organisation. And this accounts largely, mainly, for the exceptionally high output per worker employed. It is the same labour —with shorter hours and easier work than ever. But skilful, scientific organisation has in creased its productivity threefold. Now, what does Henry Ford do with the result of this gain in productivity? He believes that it should be used for three purposes. First, he - uses it to pay the workers a good living wage—a minimum wage of 6 dollars a day, though GO per cent of

them get more than the minimum. Secondly, he uses it to re-invest in the industry, for further expansion, for the building of new factories, for the purchase of new machinery. Thirdly, he uses it to redude the market price or improve the quality of the product, the Ford car or Fordson tractor. The whole capital of the Ford Company to-day (factories, forests,' mines, mills, railroads, everything) has been bought out of profits. There are no mortgages, no debentures, and no outside shareholders. Ford and his son, Edsel, own the whole capital of the company. So they have no interest and no dividends to ,pay to anyone out side. They themselves take the whole profit—and almost all of it promptly goes back into the industry for further development. Views on Finance. Henry Ford has strong and, decided views about financial operations. The idea of a fixed rate of Interest seems to him absurd. He also regards money gained by speculation as gained immorally. “Some of the most successful money-getters of our time have never added a pennyworth to the wealth of mankind. Does a card player add to the wealth of the world?” Ford cannot see a particle of essential difference between gambling on cards or racc-horses —and gambling in land or other forms of property. In which (observed the lecturer) he is certainly more consistent than the majority of anti-gambling people! Another of his sayings—which must touch a good many people to the quick—is this: “No patriot over makes money out of war”. Mr. Mander then went on to deal with Henry Ford’s personal character and private life, as revealed in the several boohs that have been written by and about hiin, and in various articles and published (authoritative) interviews. The lecturer afterwards described the way in which Ford and his associates work and various other phases of Ford’s lifp and conditions in his factories and mines". The Labour Question, As already mentioned, the Ford workers are very well paid, with a minimum wage of 6 dollars a day. Moreover, every effort is made to prevent petty tyranny by the foreman in the works. “A large amount of labour unrest (says Ford) conies from the tyrannical exercise of authority by men on subordinate positions.” There is a Ford investment Plan, and a Savings Bank, in which about 50 per cent of the workers invest something each week. No recognition is given to any trade union; and there has never been a strike or any labour dispute. At the same time, Ford detests the "glad hand” method of dealing with employees. He refuses to introduce what may be ■ called the “Y.M.C.A. spirit” into his industry. There is no truth in most of the current stories about Ford’s grandmotherly interference with the private lives of’the workers. It is consistent with his principles that he should dislike ordinary, charity. “I believe in the kind of charity that helps a man to help himself. Give a man something for nothing, and you injure him.' Give him a decent job at a. living wage, and you make a man of him.” In the Ford factories there are -123 maimed and crippled men, 4 totally blind men, 36 deaf-mutes, and hundreds of others who arc in some way partly disabled. They receive the minimum wage; and they are, it is found, able to do certain kmls of work even better than able-bodied men. Monotony in Industry. We often hoar (Mr. Mander continued) that modern industry, with its extreme specialisation' of labour, is galling to the workers —because it makes their work so simple, so monotonous, so uninteresting. The one simple operation over and over again, eight and half hours a day, five and a half days a week, year in, year out, for perhaps 30 years—it does indeed seem appallingBut this is what Ford says:—“The doing of one thing over and over again, and always in the same way, is a terrifying prospect to a certain type of mind. But to the majority of men it lias no terrors. The average worker wants a job in which he does not have to think.” Ford has arrived at that conclusion after observation of many hundreds of cases: it is a conclusion reached as the result of his long and wide experience of all sorts of men in all sort of industrial conditions. If it is true, then it changes the whole complexion of what wc "used to regard as one of the most difficult of alb the problems of modern industry. ,As long as the workers are paid well and their working hours arc not excessive, the majority of workers— i in Ford’s opinion—are fully satisfied with the most monotonous and mechanical forms of labour. They do not find labour irksome. They do not want variety. They do not ask that their work shall be made ‘interesting’. ‘Variety’ and ‘lnteresting work’ call for mental activity and effort. People with naturally active minds need that. But the majority of people do not. If their minds are not naturally active, they are happier when they do not have to think at all, when their work is purely mechanical. Industrial Democracy. Ford further fluds that the majority of his workers have no ambition at all. “Although we hear much about the, lack of opportunities for advancement (he says), the average workman is more interested in a steady job than he is in advancement. Only about 25 percent are even' willing to become foremen. The vast majority of men only want to ‘stay put.’ ” They would, of course, like to get more money. But, it seems, they are not willing to accept either the responsibility or the more interesting work (which would involve some mental activity) by which they could i get more money. | An interviewer once said to Henry ( Ford: “Wc run our political govern- ! ment as a democracy. Do you think ) it would be possible to do the same ' thing with industry?” "No,” replied Ford emphatically. “One man must make decisions. Wherever you see things being done, you may be sure there is a Head. And wherever you hear only noise and talk, you may be sure that there a Committee is running the job.” Ford and Farming. Ford is disgusted with methods of farming. His .impression since boyhood has been that there is far too much work on a farm —far too much unnecessary work! “If anyone ever equipped a factory in the same atylfl

the average farm is fitted up, the place would have to be cluttered up with men. The worst factory in Europe is hardly as badly organised as the average farm. Power is used to the least possible degree. Not only is, everything done by hand, but seldom is any thought given to logical arrangement.' A farmer will walk up and down ia, ricketty ladder a dozen times. He will carry water for years instead of putting in a few lengths of pipe. I believe the average farmerputs to a really useful purpose only a small fraction of the energy be expends.” Another of Ford’s schemes —which he is now putting into practice to some extent —is that of getting his workers to spend part of their time in the factory and part in open-air work. In his coal mines, he wants the men to be underground miners half the year, and farm workers above ground the other half. The Significance of Ford, And there (said Mr. Hander in conclusion) —There is Henry Ford. It is too early to say yet what his influence will he upon the life of the world. But 1 feel that he is perhaps the most, significant figur e in the w.orld to-day. He indices a fitting subject' for the last of this series—a series that began with Pericles and Socrates in Athens twenty-four centuries ago, and thus ends with an Organiser of modern industry, one who has already added enormously to the wealth of the world, one who has shown how .productivity in industry and agriculture can everywhere be increased. We remember what Swift says; “Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow where one grew before, would deserve better of mankind and do more useful service than the whole race of politicians put together.” Henry Ford has done that, At the same time, he is a man with a sense of human values, a sense of social responsibility; and, above all, he has constructive imagination and Vision—Vision!