Enterprise of Henry Ford - morganhighhistoryacademy.org

Ford
ofHenry
Enterprise
the powerof freeenterpriseas a forcefor good.He not
The auto magnatedemonstrated
only madehimselfrich but put Americaon wheelsand raisedthe lot of workers.
by WilliamP.Hoar
This lune, the Ford Motor Company commemorates the 100th anniversary of its
- Editor
founding.
n 1903 there was little indication that
the first sales of a buggy-like Ford
two-seaterwould lead to anything significant. The capital raised by founder
Henry Ford, then age 40, amounted to a
modest $28,000 in cash. But in 23 years
that had been turned into more than $900
million in profits. An early stockholder,the
sisterof one of Ford'sbusinessgeniuses.
invested $100 for one share of the new
venture. "That one hundred dollars was
eventually to bring her $355,000,"biographerWilliamAdams Simonds noted in his
bookHenry Ford.
While 1,500 American auto manufacturers tried and failed, Mr. Ford proved he
had a better idea.
The greatindustrialist(1863-1947)also
had ideas about peace, prohibition, publishing, and politics that kept him at the
center of national attention. He loved the
publicity, loved being a public man, though
he was anything but a competent speaker.
Indeed,Ford was not an easyman to categorize. In My Forty Years With Ford,
Charles E. Sorensen,a longtime associate
who became Mr. Ford's head of production. described the founder of the Ford
Motor Company as follows:
o
o
o
O
b
!
He was unorthodox in thought but
puritanical in personal conduct.
He had a restlessmind but was capable of prolonged, concentrated
work.
He hated indolence but had to be
confronted by a challenging problem
before his interest was aroused.
This article originally appeared under the title
"Henry Ford: The Capitalist as Benefactor" in the
April 1978 issueo/American Opinion, a predecessor
o/ THE NEw AMEPJCAN.
34
I
He was contemptuousot moneymaking, of money-makersand profit
seekers,yet he made more moneYand
greaterprofits than thosehe despised.
He defiedacceptedeconomicPrinciples, yet he is the foremost exemplar of American free enterprise.
He abhorred ostentation and display, yet he reveledin the spotlight of
publicity.
He was ruthless in getting his own
way, yet he had a deepsenseofPublic responsibility.
He demandedefficient Production,
yet made place in his Plant for the
physically handicapped, reformed
criminals, and human misfits in the
American industrial system.
He couldn't read a bluePrint, Yet
had greater mechanical ability than
those who could.
He would have gone nowhere
THENEWAMERICANO JUNE2, 2OO3
without his associates,we did the
work while he took the bows, yet
none of us would have gone far without him.
He has beendescribedas complex,
contradictory, a dreamer, a grownup
boy, an intuitive genius,a dictator,yet
essentiallyhe was a very simple man.
Gapitalist
Gomucopia
That was the "simple man" who determined to produce a"car for the great multitude" and gave America the Model T the most famous and beloved automobile
that was ever built. Within a few years of
its introduction in 1908, the Ford Company was producing half of the cars in the
world. By the early '20s, Ford made a full
60 percent of the automobiles manufactured in the United States.More than 15
million Model Ts, the "universalcar." were
produced. So enthralled did the American
public becomewith Henry Ford's cars that
when production of the T was halted in
1927, in order to retool for the Model A,
more than 400,000buyers orderedthe new
model, sight unseen.When that car was in-
troduced in December of
1927, ten percentof the U.S.
population stormed showrooms on the first day to get
a look at it.
A11 of this made Henry
Ford quite wealthy ofcourse.
But Ford "the dreamer"
ploughedhisprofirsbackinro
the companyto assuremaximum growth.This would.he
said, "build more and more
factories, to give as many people as I can
a chanceto be prosperous."
Surely the most dramatic proof that he
meant what he said was when Ford doubled the pay of his employees,reducing
their work hours simultaneously,all without raising the alreadyinexpensiveprice of
his superior product. This introduced the
five-dollar day.While such a figure seems
insignificant in the greatly inflated money
of today, this announcementof a doubling
of the minimum wage in Ford plants for
every laborer, reaching right down to the
sweepers,shookthe whole businesscommunity in 1914.The Ford publicists pre-
Marxism,
withhis
dicted it would "inaugurate the greatest
revolution in the matter of rewards for its
workers ever known to the industrial
world." That was hardly hyperbole.
This revolutionary increasewas to come
from profit-sharing of the next year's income,which Ford figured at a minimum of
$10 million. Even the buyer of Ford cars
would share in the benefits: a $50 rebate
would go to eachpurchaserif enoughcars
were sold.x And to keep up with expected
demand, production hours were to be in+ This was not a shabbypercentageas the price
of the
Model T fell as low as 9260.
c
o
E
o
O
o
b
o
o
u
B e f o ] e " F o r d n ' : T h e y o u n g m a n d e s t i n e d t o p u t A m e r i c a o n w h e eq
l sut a
aO
k enschyio
cstufeitr,tsotrcaasrp, ti fnr,eH e b u i l t t h e c a r i n l g g 6 ,
years
seven
before
founding
FordMotorCompany.
THENEW AMERICAN . JUNE 2. 2OO3
35
whohad
mobilityandPra
creasedby replacing two nine-hour shifts
with three shifts of eight hours each.
Henry Ford, who was not even listed in
Who's Who of 1913, suddenlYbecame
known worldwide. Not everyone was an
admirer. The Wall Street Joutnal, for example,declaredon January5, 1914:"Ifthe
newspapersof the day are correctly reporling the latest invention and advertisement of Henry Ford, he has in his social
endeavorcommitted economic blunders if
not crimes. They may return to plague him
and the industry he represents,as well as
organrzedsociety...." If Ford had nothing
but contempt for Wall Street, the feeling
was mutual.
Predictions of Ford bankruptcy were
rampant, but the great industrialist said he
would rather keep the families of his
15,000workers happy than pleasethose of
30 millionaires. Moreover, Ford contended: "This is neither charity nor wages,but
profit sharing and efficiency engineering."
And, as it turned out, the actual distribution of profits was even higher than expected,amounting to $12 million.
Even as far back as 1948 the revolutionary nature ofthat 1914 five-dollar day
needed to be interpreted in terms of the
cost of living and the decline in the value
of the dollar.As William C. Richardsnoted
in his book The Last Billionaire in 1948,
'A generation accustomed to spiraling
prices may not grasp why a good 95 percent of the world reacted to Ford's minimum-wage announcementas if a new holy
child had been born, but a worker in manufacturing at the time got22 centsan hour
and weekly earningsaveraged$1 1 though
the Ford rate was slightly higher. Ford's
program, like his manufacturing methods,
was to changethe face of the earth."
Here was a businessman,a capitalist,
who had become an international hero.
And for good reason. Ford had brought
mobility and productivity to both the urban
worker and the farmer. And not with his
36
cars and trucks alone.He called
his tractor the Fordson, observing: "The planning of the tractor
really antedatedthat of the motor
car."Ever sincehe had beena boy
on the farm it had been a Ford
goal "to lift farm drudgery off
flesh and blood and lay it on steel
and motors." When he added to
this achievementa labor policY so
generousthat it literally took firehosesto
control the mobs of men flooding into Detroit to work for Ford, his name was one of
the most respectedin America. "The people admire Ford from a senseof gratitude,"
said Archibald Henderson inhis Contemporary Immortals in 1930.
Allan Nevins and Frank Ernest Hill
summarizein Ford, their impressivetrilogy on the Ford Company: "To have fought
so stubbornly to get an automobile factory
started;to have toiled still more stubbornly to devotethat factory tojust one durable,
versatile, and very cheap car lthe Model
Tl; to have assembleda staff which pioneeredso creatively in massproduction; to
have welcomed competition, battled in the
long Selden [patent] suit for full freedom
to produce, scorned protective tariffs,
fought clear of Wall Street, and remained
a man of the people - all of this was im-
pressiveenough. But, while doubling the
prevalentwage rate, to proclaim that the
roughestday laborer could be made worlh
$5 a day was even more appealing; it
touchedmen's imaginations."
Ford became,in essence,the country's
top advocateofboth labor and consumers.
Profits, he found, could be madeby setting
low prices for high volume - and the
hi-ehly productive auto worker could be
well paid so he too could afford to buy a
TinLizzy. At the same time, reports John
Chamberlain in The Roots of Capitalism,
the rise in wagesat Ford attractedmore efficient workers and improved the productiviq' of those already on the job. It directlf increased "the output of given
machinery by some twenty percent. The
'leverage'on
higher u.age.by virtue ofits
u'orker attitude. thus paid for itself."
The impact of this was felt worldwide.
In Francethe scholarly FatherR.L. Bruckberger exulted that when "Henry Ford put
America on u heels.he rescuedthe farmer
from his isolation and brought him within
reach of railroads to carr)' his produce to
NerrYork or SanFranciscoand carry back
machinesand citl'-soods....Ford createdan
unlimited national market." How I wish,
.'I
said Bruckber-qer. could find words to
impress the readerwith the importance of
the
A FordRunabout,
ofthe1903Model
hereatthewheel
Henry
Fordisshown
Thelirst"Fgrd'n:
automobile.
firstproduction
c0mpany's
THENEW AMERICAN . JUNE 2, 2OO3
A betteridea:Henry
Fordperfected
automation
andtheassembly
line,moving
theproduct
onrollers
witheachmandoing
jobasthecarproceeded
a dilferent
t0the
frontdoor.
5
;
:
'
=
:
!
9
i
that decision of the five-dollar davl It
meansinfinitely more than a mere raise in
wages."The timing of the decision "cur
away the ground from under \'Ian<ist
revolution."
Advocate
forPeace
By 1915 the Ford Motor Company was
selling four times as many carsas its closest competitor. but Henry Ford had another pressin_e
thought on his mind: the Great
War in Europe. Indeed, Mr. Ford was so
opposedto American involvement in the
war that he declaredhe would rather burn
down his factory than supply war mat6riel.
In the face of constantwar propagandathis
sentimentwas not universallyheld, even
within companymanagement.In fact, treasurerand vice presidentJamesCouzensresigned shortly after Henry Ford opined:
"To no better purposecan the pagesofthe
'Ford
Times' be given than to voice the
mission of peace."
It was this sentimentwhich produced
the expedition of the famous PeaceShip,
an enterprise in which Ford led a group
hoping to mediate a solution to the European war and keep American men off of
the battlefields. Ford obtained an appointment with President Woodrow Wilson,
through the offices of Colonel Edward
House, to try to obtain the president'ssupport for the mission of Oscar II, a Scandinavian-American liner. He "urged Wilson
to appoint a neutral commission, offering
to finance it," even offering his steamship
to the president. But Woodrow Wilson,
who was committed to U.S. involvement
in the war, declined. "Ford was only reTHENEWAME?ICAN. JUNE2,2005
gretful that the President had missed a
great opportunity. 'He's a small man,'he
said." (Nevins and Hill, Ford.)
The mission was hailedby suchprominent Americans as Ford's hero and friend
Thomas Edison and resigned Secretaryof
StateWilliam JenningsBryan, but the criticism from a pressdominated by the Eastern bankers was brutal. In Road to War,
Walter Millis commented that "the Peace
Ship was launched, to the undying shame
of American journalism, upon one vast
wave of ridicule."
Despite Henry Ford's expenditure of
some$465,000,the missionwas a failure.
But the industrialist never publicly expressedregret. Typically he said: "I wanted to see peace.I at least tried to bring it
about. Most men did not even try."
As U.S. military involvement becamea
reality, however, Mr. Ford contributed
mightily to the war effort. "I am a pacifist,',
he explained, "but perhapsmilitarism can
be crushedonly by militarism. In that case
I am in on it to the finish." Political writers were years later to criticize Ford for
making a profit during the war, when he
alonehad madethe uniquepromisero retum all such gain. When his country needed him, Ford was willing and able.
The war record of the Ford Comoanv
"in totality," wrote historians Nevins ani
Hill, "was impressive.As was to havebeen
expected,the Ford factories had supplied
a large number of cars, ambulances,and
trucks to the American and Allied forces
- about 39,000 all told. It had dispatched
caissons,helmets, submarine detectors,
tubes for useby Allied submarines,shells,
armor plate, and helped to develop gas
masks.It had produced3,94} Liberty motors and 415,371cylinders for such mo-
J/
Rumors and speculation abounded,but
what was happening was that Ford agents
were buying out Henry's other stockholders,who were of coursenow worried about
the potential competition of a new Ford
company. The outcome was that all Ford
Motor Company activities fell into the sole
possessionof Henry,his wife, andhis son.
No one man had everpersonallycontrolled
such an empire - not evenJohn D. RockTrialsandltibulations
As peace came, Henry Ford once more efeller or J.P.Morgan. The man who had
opted for expansion,only to be sued by constructed the first Ford engine on a
two major stockholders - the Dodge kitchen table and in 1896built his first auto
brothers - who preferred that the war - comprisedof a frame on bicycle wheels
profits be distributed as dividends to fund - owned factories in 1919 worth approxtheir own plant in competition with Ford. imately half a billion dollars.
The name of Henry Ford was bY nou'
Mr. Ford found that his ownership of 58.5
percentof the company was not enoughto mentionedfrequently in political circles as
assurehis expansionpolicy as the casewas a potential candidatefor president.In I 9 I 8
decided in favor of the Dodges. He re- Ford had been narrowly defeated for the
signed as presidentof Ford Motor Com- U.S. Senatein a race against former Secpany in 1918,with his sonEdselnamedto retary of the Navy Truman Newberry. Ford
replace him, though he remained on the had been nominated in both Republican
board of directors.Soon news came that and Democrat primaries, finishing second
Mr. Ford would stananothercompany.As to Newberry in the GOP race, and topping
the Los Angeles Examiner reported on the vote on the Democraticside.The showMarch 5, 1919: "His idea is to make
a better car than he now turns out and
10 marketit at a lower Price.somewherebetween$250.00and $350.00
and to do it through another company than the Ford Motor ComPanY."
tors. It had built 60 Eagle Boats and developed two types of tanks which it was
ready on Armistice Day to produce in
quantity....Ford tractorshelpedto meet the
food needs of both Britain and America,
while Ford cars, trucks, and ambulances
won wide applause for their behavior in
battle zones."
Legendary
Friends
enryFord (left)had oncebeen
at theEdisonIlchiefengineer
luminating Companyof Detroit.And he andThomasEdisonlcenter) became triends, neighbors.and
joinFrequently
travelingcompanions.
Harvey
magnate
were
tire
ing thesetwo
Firestone(right) andthe famous,whitebeardednaturalistJohnBurroughs(not shown).A no doubt apocryphalstory is told of
how the four were forced to stop at a smal1garagefor repairs.Wasit the piston?asked
the mechanic."No," said one,"I'm Henry Ford, andit isn't due to motor trouble."Perhapsthe tires? "No," said another,"I'm Harvey Firestone,and the_tiresare all right."
Well, then; could it be the wiring? "No," said a third voice' "I'm ThomasEdison,and
the electricsystemis working fine." Sure,saidthe now disbelievinggarageman."Fordl
FirestonelEdison!And I supposeyou'll tell me that's SantaClausriding with you!" I
3B
ing was more remarkable in that Ford ran
in the November election as a Democrat in
a strong Republican state, and with virtually no campaigning.
Though he lost the suit to the Dodge
brothers, Henry Ford did win a judgment
of six cents in a libel suit againstthe jingoisiic Chicago Tribune which erroneously reported that Ford would fire workers
mobilized and sentto the Mexican border.
The trial embarrassedhim when as a witnesshe seemedto prove the sincerity of his
opirrion that history is "bunk" by revealing
his ignorance of some basic facts about
earl.vAmerica.At about this time Ford also
became publisher of the Dearborn Independent, though virtually all the material
anributedto him was ghostwritten.The
paper printed a variety of anti-Jewish articles before Ford issued a formal apology
and promised he would publish no more
such diatribes. He had wondered why his
longtime friend and neighbor, Rabbi
Franklin. had been cool oflate.
Though he had a penchant for putting
his toot in his mouth, sometimes roaring
aheadon public issueswithout thinking. he rvasa businessmanand not a
politician. He certainly knew what
to do u'hen hard times hit during
l9l0-1921. Despiteinflation, Ford
ordered a price cut for his automobiles. but demand was still insufficient and a number of Ford plants
had to be shut dou'n. Rumor had it
that a huge loan was being negotiated. But Ford. who thought NewYork
= banliers were nothing short of vul^=tures. \\'as determinednot to fall into
their hands. Indeed, in his book My
Life andWork, Ford wrote: "My idea
q'as then and still is that if a man did
= his work well, the price he would get
o
for that work, the profits and all fic
nancial matters, would take care for
o
I
@
themselvesand that a businessought
c
ts
to staft small and build itself up out
b
o
of its earnings....I determined ab= solutely that never would I join a
o
O
company in which finance came before the work or in which bankers or financiershad a part."
Ford's view of bankers as predators
seemedto be borne out when, with the car
market depressed,one after another lined
up to offer their "help" in return for his surrender of independence. The game was
THE NEW AMERICAN O JUNE 2, 2OA3
Putting
America
onwheekwithinafel'ryearsof introducing
theModel
Fordwas
I Henry
producing
halfthecarsinther,rtorid.
hemade
60percent
oftheautomobiles
fu themid-1920s
in
theUnited
States.
Fordis shotrrn
here'r'rith
his10millionth
Fordcar,a 1924Model
T - andhis
firstcar,builtin 1896priorto fte FordMotorCompanv.
clear enough to Mr. Ford. One representative of a Morgan-controlled bank in \err'
York came forward with a plan to "sate''
Ford that involved dictating who would be
company treasurer.CharlesSorensensavs
tn My Forty YearsWith Fordthatthe banker
was promptly told to leave and the next da1
Edsel was instructed to become treasurer
as well as president.
Ford saved his company by turning to
his dealers, to whom he now shipped his
cars collect in spite of the slownessof the
market.Somehad themselvesto go to their
bankers, but eventually demand greq as
did sales, and the plants were reopened.
The reopening itself "gave a lift to public
confidence,"explained Nevins and Hill.
"So did the fact that he did not borrow. In
general,the public saw only that Ford had
outwitted the bankers, and applauded
him." And the credit of the dealerswas sufficient, though there were some grumbles.
They had made such a good thing out of
the Ford franchise for 12 years, observed
John Chamberlain in The Enterprising
Americans, "that virtually noqe of them
cared to risk losing favor witti the Dearborn autocrat.And what they lost in 19202I they soon recoveredin 1922-24"when
the Model T sold better than ever."
THENEWAMERICANo JUNE2, 2005
Automation
andInnoyation
The key to the concept behind automation
q'as "flow," and this flow was desired on
an unprecedentedscale for the huge new
complex on the River Rouge. It meant an
uninterrupted supply of raw materials and
ftzlnsportation.Accordingly, the Ford empire was to expandvertically to coal mines,
timber. glass manufacture,rubber plantations, aircraft factories that built the Ford
trimotor, and even railroads. Henry Ford
acquired the troubled Detroit, Toledo &
konton line and rebuilt it, upped safety
standards, and reduced the labor force
while hcreasing the wage of thosewho remained. So satisfiedwere the Ford-eraemployees that when a nationwide strike hit,
D.T.&I. was the only line in the U.S. on
which the workers refused to participate.
But, as Nevins and Hill recounted,Henry
Ford "found the regulations of the I.C.C.
and compliance with Federal law annoying, and in 1928 began negotiations with
the PennroadCorporation (associatedwith
the Pennsylvania), finally selling the
D.T.&I. to that company for 936,000,000;
more than seventimes what he had originally paid for it."
Throughout all of this, it was a Ford
principle that the workplace should be as
pleasantaspossible.As a result of this, the
open hearth was revolutionized by Henry
Ford and transformedfrom one of the dirtiest work areasto one that was spotless.
Visiting steel men razzedFord, then emulated him. "It cleanedup every steel plant
in the country not only open hearths but
rolling mills as well."
Becausesuch innovations kept Ford in
the news,he was forever being boomedfor
president. Ford, said many, is the man to
run the country. The death of President
Warren Harding, and the subsequentsympathetic support for his successorCalvin
Coolidge, cooled the fever. In any case,
Henry Ford supportedCoolidge, who said
the businessof America was business.
But the Ford mystique ran deep. "The
Nebraska Senate,"noted Nevins and Hill,
"invited Ford to visit the State to develop
its waterpower; a body of Michigan fruitgrowers petitioned the Presidentto buy all
theAmerican railroadsand hand them over
to Ford for really efficient operation; the
New York State Waterways Association
called on him to persuadeCongressto improve the Hudson River; the price of stock
in important corporationsrose or fell with
reportsthat he would or would not become
a director or investor." In Congress,however,the Senatevoted to kill Henry Ford,s
plan privately to develop water power on
the Tennessee River - a move Ford
thought due in part to the animosity toward
him by the politically powerful Eastern
bankers. Later, of course, the same body
would approve of the socialist Tennessee
Valley Authority.
Overseas,Ford Motor Company mushroomed in more than a score of countries
- even in Bolshevik Russia.where an estimated 85 percent of the trucks and tractors were Ford built. Henry was apparently fooled by the Reds'peacepropaganda
eventhough dealings withAmtorg lost the
39
ic system. Here was a Patriotic man
who created the historic Michigan
GreenfieldVillage and purchasedand
renovated the magnificent Wayside
Inn in Massachusetts,where Longfellow wrote his famous Poem about
Paul Revere.Had he lived to seewhat
the Ford Foundation has done to
subvert his patriotic and economic
principles, it would have killed him
or he it.
And Ford was a fighter. He went
company $578,000 between 1929
noseto nosewith F.D.R.'sNew Deal
and 1935.
and the unconstitutional National InHenry Ford was never so shortdustrial RecoveryAct (NRA), which
sighted in the country he knew'
he defied in 1933, the year after inRoger Burlingame, the historian of
troducing the famous Ford V-8. In
technology, commentedin his book
fact, said Henry Ford, "I am not
Henry Ford: "It is hard to denYthat
going to sigl away my constitutional
Henry Ford was ridden bY two obin recovery's name."
righs
sessions:mechanicalperfection and
Failure to kowtow, said bureau'common man."'NaturallY the
the
cratic \\rashington, could lead to
New York Times called him "an inseizureof Ford plants bY NRA Adthe Mussolini of
dustrial fascist
midstrator GeneralHugh JohnsonDetroit." The head of his so-called
despitethe fact that Ford was paying
SociologicalDepartmentreported
workers more than the government
that Ford "wanted it known his plan
code required. Henry Ford's "ability
is for every familY working for him
to sense signs of the times and to
a comfortable home, a bath tub in it,
forces that showeddanger
and a yard with a little garden, and Capitalist
Ford counteract
"l donotbelieve
incharity,"
asbenefacton
uncanny,"wrote top
was
almost
signs
power
ofworkin
ultimately, he wanted to see every said,.but
intheregenerating
ldo believe
Sorensen."In the
Charles
associate
just
reward."
a
employee of his owning an auto- men's
whentheworktheydoisgiven
lives,
Deal he was
New
of
the
days
early
pay,"
Ford
larger
"more
workformoremenat
mobile." But not necessarilya Ford, Bycreating
of governall
sorts
manto owna TinLizzy. threatened with
forthecommon
it oossible
he said. That would be uP to the made
Nationthe
defying
for
ment reprisal
worker.
the
Act,
that
Recovery
Industrial
al
Mr. Ford was concerned for his
his
company
over
take
would
govemment
employees,but he didn't believe in the more liberality than any other large co{poand display the Blue
ration, and in 1923 employed about five if he didn't sign up
philosophy of something for nothing. "I
'Go ahead.The governreplied,
He
Eagle.
honoran
hold
do not believe in charity," he said, "but I thousand. It continued to
ment will then be in the automobile busido believe in the regenerating power of able primacy in employing the lame, blind,
ness.Let's seeif they can manageit better
handicapped
physically
other
work in men's lives, when the work they ailing, and
than I can."'
persons."
do is given a just reward. I believe that the
Sotensennoted: "That stoppedGeneral
that
only charity worthwhile is the kind
'Iron Pants'Johnsonand PresidentRooto Reality
helps a man to help himself' And I believe Dreams
on all ofthis is certainly sad and sevelt."
To
reflect
service
greater
no
world
the
that I can do
Humorist Will Rogers commented:
the funding by the Ford
considering
ironic
at
men
for
more
work
more
than to create
can take the rouge from female lips,
"You
Foundation of useless and revolutionary
larger pay."
from the raised hands, the
cigarettes
the
His immigrant workers were taught causes after Henry's death. Especially
tourist's greasypaw, but
the
from
hot
dogs
declared
had
American ways by Ford and instructed at since the great industrialist
jerking
the Fords out from
you
start
when
of
opiate
is
an
his English School; destitute young men emphatically: "Endowment
you are monpublic
the
traveling
under
of
the
One
initiative.
to
a
drug
continually knocked at the door of the imagination,
of
fundamentals
very
the
with
keying
is
the
today
country
of
the
greatest
curses
Henry Ford Trade School, which provided
life."
American
endowing
and
this
practice
of
endowing
graduates
were
them with such skills that
Death came to the greatAmerican capmuch in demand.AnAmerican who want- that....No, inertia, smug satisfaction,alitalist in 1947. Henry Ford left us this
ed to work knew he could find a job with ways follow endowments."
Here was a man who lovedAmerica and message:"Man can do whatever he can
Mr. Ford. Nevins and Hill noted: "The
I
company continued to treat Negroes with personallyproved the merit of its econom- imasine...."
40
THENEW AMERICAN O JUNE 2, 2OO3