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22 - Henry Fords Own Story by Rose Wilder Lane · Henry Fords Own Story

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one of Henry Ford's Own Story. This LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recordings in the public domain recording by Leanne Howlett. Henry
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  Speaker 1: Ford's Own Story by Rose Wilder Lane, Chapter twenty one.
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  Speaker 1: Early manufacturing trials. Again, Henry Ford's talent for friendliness helped him. Wills,
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  Speaker 1: who had been working with Ford as a draftsman, came
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  Speaker 1: with him into the new company. He had a few
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  Speaker 1: hundred dollars which he was willing to stake on Ford's ability.
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  Speaker 1: Cousins who had helped organize the first company came also
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  Speaker 1: and turned his business talents to the task of raising
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  Speaker 1: capital to start the new concern. While he was struggling
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  Speaker 1: with the problems of organization, Henry Ford rented an old
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  Speaker 1: shack on mac Avenue, moved his tools from the old shed, and,
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  Speaker 1: with a couple of machinists to help him, began building
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  Speaker 1: his cheap cars. News of his ventures spread in Detroit.
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  Speaker 1: The cars sold before they were built. Men found their
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  Speaker 1: way to the crude shop, talked to Ford in his
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  Speaker 1: greasy overalls, and paid down deposits on cars for future delivery.
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  Speaker 1: Often these deposits helped to buy material for the same
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  Speaker 1: cars they purchased Ford was working on a narrow margin.
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  Speaker 1: Every dollar which could be squeezed from the week's earnings
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  Speaker 1: after expenses were paid, went directly into more material for
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  Speaker 1: more cars. At first, his machinists went home with the
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  Speaker 1: end of their regular hours. Then Ford worked alone far
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  Speaker 1: into the night, building engines. Before long, the men became
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  Speaker 1: vitally interested in Ford's success and returned after supper to
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  Speaker 1: help him. Meantime, a few men had been found who
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  Speaker 1: were willing to buy stock in the new company. It
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  Speaker 1: was capitalized at one hundred thousand dollars, of which fifteen
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars was paid in. Then Ford set to work
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  Speaker 1: in earnest. The force was increased to nearly forty men,
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  Speaker 1: and Wills became manager of the mechanical department. Car Loads
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  Speaker 1: of material were ordered on sixty days time, Every pound
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  Speaker 1: of iron or inch of wire calculated with the utmost nicety,
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  Speaker 1: so that each shipment would be sufficient to build a
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  Speaker 1: certain number of completed cars without the waste of ten
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  Speaker 1: cents worth of material. Then Ford and cousins set out
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  Speaker 1: to sell the cars before payment for the material came due.
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  Speaker 1: Ford set a price of nine hundred dollars a car,
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  Speaker 1: an amount which he figured would cover the cost of material, wages,
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  Speaker 1: and overhead, and leave a margin for buying more material.
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  Speaker 1: A thousand anxieties now filled his days and nights. Fifteen
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars was very little money for his plant. Wages
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  Speaker 1: alone would eat it up in ten weeks. The raw
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  Speaker 1: material must be made into cars sold, and the money
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  Speaker 1: collected for it could be paid. For Many times, a
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  Speaker 1: check from a buyer won the race with the bill
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  Speaker 1: from the foundry by a margin of hours. Often on
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  Speaker 1: pay day. Ford faced the prospect of being unable to
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  Speaker 1: pay the men until he should have sold a shipment
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  Speaker 1: of cars not yet built. But the cars sold, their
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  Speaker 1: simplicity of construction, their power, above all, their cheapness, and
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  Speaker 1: a day when automobiles almost without exception, sold for twenty
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  Speaker 1: five hundred to four thousand dollars brought buyers. In a
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  Speaker 1: few weeks, orders came from Cleveland for them. Shortly afterward,
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  Speaker 1: a dealer in Chicago wrote for an agency there. Still,
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  Speaker 1: the success of the venture depended from week to week.
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  Speaker 1: On a thousand chances, Ford, with his genius for factory management,
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  Speaker 1: reduced the waste of material or labor to the smallest minimum.
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  Speaker 1: He worked on new designs for simpler, cheaper motors. He
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  Speaker 1: figured orders for material. His own living expenses were cut
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  Speaker 1: to the bone. Every cent of offed on sales went
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  Speaker 1: into the factory. Nearly a thousand cars were sold that year,
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  Speaker 1: but with the beginning of winter, sales decreased almost stopped.
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  Speaker 1: The factory must be kept running in order to have
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  Speaker 1: cars for the spring trade. Close figuring would enable them
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  Speaker 1: to keep it open, but an early brisk market would
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  Speaker 1: be necessary to save the company in the spring. In
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  Speaker 1: this emergency, Ford recalled the great advertising value of racing.
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  Speaker 1: He had designed a four cylinder car to be put
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  Speaker 1: on the market the following year. If he could make
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  Speaker 1: a spectacular demonstration a four cylinder construction as compared with
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  Speaker 1: the old motors, the success of his spring sails would
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  Speaker 1: be assured. Ford announced that in November he would try
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  Speaker 1: for the world speed record and a four cylinder car
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  Speaker 1: of his own construction. The old machine in which Barney
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  Speaker 1: Oldfield had made his debut as an automobile driver, was
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  Speaker 1: brought out and overhauled. The body was rebuilt so that
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  Speaker 1: in form it was much like the racing cars of
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  Speaker 1: to day. Ford himself remodeled the motor The test was
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  Speaker 1: to be made on the frozen surface of Lake Saint Clair.
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  Speaker 1: The course was surveyed on the appointed day, with Ford
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  Speaker 1: himself as driver. The motor car appeared for its second trial.
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  Speaker 1: A stiff wind was blowing over the ice. The surface
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  Speaker 1: of the lake, apparently smooth, was in reality seamed with
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  Speaker 1: slight crevices and roughened with frozen snow. Ford, muffled in
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  Speaker 1: a fur coat with a fur cap pulled down over
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  Speaker 1: his ears, went over it anxiously, noting mentally the worst spots.
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  Speaker 1: Then he cranked the car, settled himself in the seat
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  Speaker 1: and nodded to the starter. The signal came. Ford threw
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  Speaker 1: on the power and was off the car, striking the ice.
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  Speaker 1: Fissure leaped into the air two wheels at a time. Ford,
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  Speaker 1: clinging to the tiller, was almost thrown from his seat,
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  Speaker 1: zig zagging wildly bouncing like a ball. The machine shot
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  Speaker 1: over the ice twice at almost upset, but Ford, struggling
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  Speaker 1: to keep the course, never shut down the power. He
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  Speaker 1: finished the mile in thirty nine one fifth seconds, beating
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  Speaker 1: the world's record by seven seconds. The success of next
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  Speaker 1: year's sales was certain. The following day, when Ford reached
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  Speaker 1: the factory, Wills met him with an anxious face. It
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  Speaker 1: was payday and there was no money. We didn't bother
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  Speaker 1: you about it last week because you were so busy
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  Speaker 1: with the race, Wills said. We thought up to the
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  Speaker 1: last minute that the check from Chicago would come. It
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  Speaker 1: was due two days ago. We wired yesterday and got
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  Speaker 1: no answer. Mister Cousins left this morning on the early
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  Speaker 1: train to find out what is wrong. You know how
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  Speaker 1: it is. The men want their money for over Christmas.
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  Speaker 1: The Blank company wants men, and they're offering more money
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  Speaker 1: than we can pay. I'm afraid our men will quit,
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  Speaker 1: and if they do, we can't get out the Cincinnati
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  Speaker 1: Order next week. Ford knew that to raise more money
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  Speaker 1: from the stockholders would be impossible. They had gone in
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  Speaker 1: as deeply as they could. To sacrifice a block of
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  Speaker 1: his own stock would be to lose control of the company,
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  Speaker 1: and besides, it would be difficult to sell it. The
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  Speaker 1: company was still struggling for existence. It had paid no dividends,
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  Speaker 1: and other automobile manufacturers were already paying the enormous profits
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  Speaker 1: that led in the next few years to wild disastrous
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  Speaker 1: expansion in the automobile business. The Ford company had no
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  Speaker 1: marketable assets, nothing but the rented building, the equipment, and
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  Speaker 1: a few unfilled orders. Well, if we pull through, the men,
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  Speaker 1: we'll have to do it, said Ford, I'll tell them
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  Speaker 1: about it. That evening, when the day's work was over
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  Speaker 1: and the men came to the office to get their pay,
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  Speaker 1: they found Ford standing in the doorway. He said he
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  Speaker 1: had something to tell them. When they had all gathered
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  Speaker 1: in a group nearly a hundred by this time, he
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  Speaker 1: stood on a chair so that all of them could
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  Speaker 1: hear what he had to say, and told them the
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  Speaker 1: exact situation. Now, men, we can pull through, all right,
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  Speaker 1: if you'll help out. Now, he concluded, you know the
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  Speaker 1: kind of car we're selling and the price, and you
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  Speaker 1: know what the new one did yesterday. We can get
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  Speaker 1: through the winter on our unfinished orders. If we never
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  Speaker 1: get that Chicago check next year, we'll have a big business.
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  Speaker 1: But it all depends on you. If you quit now,
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  Speaker 1: we're done for what about it? Will you stay sure,
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  Speaker 1: mister Ford? You bet we will. Old man, We're with you.
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  Speaker 1: Don't you forget it, they said. Before they left the plant.
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  Speaker 1: Most of them came up to assure him personally that
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  Speaker 1: they would stand by the Ford Company. Next day, they
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  Speaker 1: all arrived promptly for work, and during the week they
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  Speaker 1: broke all previous records and the number of cars turned out.
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  Speaker 1: War between capital and labor is just like any other
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  Speaker 1: kind of war, Ford says today. It happens because people
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  Speaker 1: do not understand each other. The boss ought to show
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  Speaker 1: his books to his employees, let them see what he's
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  Speaker 1: working for. They're just as intelligent as he is. And
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  Speaker 1: if he needs help, they'll turn in and work twenty
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  Speaker 1: four hours a day if they have to keep the
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  Speaker 1: business going more than that, they'll use their heads for him.
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  Speaker 1: They'll help him in hundreds of ways he never would
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  Speaker 1: think of. The only trouble is that people make a
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  Speaker 1: distinction between practical things and spiritual qualities. I tell you,
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  Speaker 1: loyalty and friendliness and helping the other man along are
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  Speaker 1: the only really valuable things in this world, and they
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  Speaker 1: bring all the practical advantages along with them every time.
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  Speaker 1: If every one of us had the courage to believe
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  Speaker 1: that and act on it, war and waste and misery
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  Speaker 1: of all kinds would be wiped out overnight. End of
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  Speaker 1: chapter twenty one