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Old 09-01-2019, 06:05 PM   #1
rfitzpatrick
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Default Henry Fords Pay Scale

Henry Ford paid $5.00 a day in 1914. How many hours would that be in a Henry Fords Day, - what would that pay scale be today's Dollar
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Old 09-01-2019, 06:36 PM   #2
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Default Re: Henry Fords Pay Scale

One site I check gave a daily rate of $25.66 in todays dollars. It did not give values of goods compared to today so I do not know what the buying power of $5.00 would have been. Seems like history thinks it was a good deal.
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Old 09-01-2019, 06:44 PM   #3
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Default Re: Henry Fords Pay Scale

The increase to $5/day was actually to reduce his costs mainly due to turn-over. He had a large turn-over with 9 hr days at $2/day.

The $2/day was about average for that type of work from what I understand.

But, the increase didn't really amount to $5/day in pay. Part of that was in benefits which were something new at that time. Ford tried to start controlling most aspects of workers lives.
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Old 09-01-2019, 06:48 PM   #4
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I believe the $5 day was a 10 hour day.

While Ford made quite a splash with his headlines - and the commentary "I have to pay my employees enough wage to be able to buy my own cars," the wage scale was self-serving.

In actuality, by the time of the Model A, Charles Sorensen, among others, had instituted more normal pay scales, and working conditions for the time. While not brutal, except for occasional skirmishes with Employee Unionization efforts, Ford was noted for "getting his pound of flesh" and in the tone of the times (Great Depression) employees were easily replaced.

Using the inflation calculator http://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1929?amount=5 $5 in 1914 would be $128.29 today, or about $12.80 an hour.

My last numbers for actual wage scales for automobile assembly is about $22 per hour for a 40 hour week, or about $44K per year. Full benefits, including a Union sponsored retirement.

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Old 09-01-2019, 06:58 PM   #5
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Default Re: Henry Fords Pay Scale

Joe I read where Ford brought in the EIGHT hour work day so that they could have three even shifts of 8 hours, rather than two shifts of ten hours with a four hour lag time: lost time per day.

During the shift change the line did not stop. The next worker poised behind the finishing worker and jumped in and took over his cycle while that last worker took a step back to get out of the way.
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Old 09-01-2019, 07:46 PM   #6
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Read about the $5.per day story.It is quite interesting.it was actually $2.34 per day,plus $2.66 profit sharing,(there was plenty of profit)if you qualified.he had around 50 social squads roaming the homes during the day.3 man crews,a driver,a social inspector,and an interpreter for the neighborhood.71%of his work force in 1914 did not speak english.they inspected your home and life while you were working.Any signs of tobacco,or alcohol in your home you didn't qualify.Wife in her housecoat at 8:00AM? no go.Kids not in school or dirty?House dirty?Outhouse dirty?There were a dozen things to disqualify you.When the $5.day was introduced it came with the 8 hour day,down from the previous 10-12.The idea was to bring in the three 8 hour shifts.
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Old 09-01-2019, 08:16 PM   #7
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It's interesting when you balance wages against a time management production system against customer demand,it gives you an indication of the product,and how far out fine point restoration is from reality.


Ford Motor Company was in business to make money,and it did during the T days,more than you can fathom.
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Old 09-02-2019, 07:00 AM   #8
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Default Re: Henry Fords Pay Scale

Intrigued me enough to write this.

https://soundcloud.com/hotrodfil/the-wild-wheel
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Old 09-02-2019, 08:46 AM   #9
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Nice work. My mother was born along the crooked road, Galax Va, the unofficial birthplace of country music. Bristol claims the title but there is a ((recording)) two years before that was made in ironically Barr's fiddle shop on Main Street Galax. I forget the year but it's two years earlier than Bristol. Of course you will mainly hear the style music you are playing in the recording. Art Wooten, Bill Monroes fiddle player (Orange Blossom special) was just across the state line in Sparta.

What's interesting is the roots the music here has over there.


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Intrigued me enough to write this.

https://soundcloud.com/hotrodfil/the-wild-wheel
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Old 09-02-2019, 10:28 AM   #10
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If a guy gave them 'trouble' they had ways of dealing with them..one was to 'pull his number',take his employee badge number.Basically fire him on the spot. Another more devious way was if the worker had a nice clean 'easy' job..they would transfer the man to the foundry,a few hours in the heat cleaning castings did the trick. Word got out and the others took notice..
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Old 09-02-2019, 11:01 AM   #11
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Default Re: Henry Fords Pay Scale

Henry Ford was the one who created the 8 hour day.
Before that you worked what ever was demanded and without overtime. Henry Ford really was a blessing to the American workforce.
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Old 09-02-2019, 11:20 AM   #12
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Charles Sorenson's Book "My 40-years with Ford" has a lot of first hand information about practices at Ford. He wrote a whole chapter on the $5 day and he made mention of all the BS he had read about it from 2nd and 3rd hand sources over the years. He was 1st hand and in the room when Henry made that decision in January of 1914. When Charlie and John Lee, the employment manager at the time, argued over the cost of this change and how it might bankrupt the company, Ford stopped them and told them that he had made up his mind about it and that was that. At the time, they would give any employee that had more than 3-years with the company a 10% profit sharing amount and that would continue after the $5 a day change. This was over and above the pay rate. Charlie's book and the various oral transcriptions of employee historical accounts on the Henry Ford web-site are good reads and they are first hand knowledge.

Harry Bennett handled the security for the work force at the Rouge. There would never be enough time in the day to subject the multitude of employees to supervision as was previously mentioned. Henry Ford only cared about what was happening at his plants. If troublemakers made themselves known in any way then Harry would handle that unless it was in the managerial or executive level where it would be handled by Charlie or Ed Martin. Henry Ford never directly hired or fired anyone. He just got someone else to do it. Managers at the branch agencies were responsible to tow the same basic line. The Social Department of 1918 to 1920 was in force for near 2-years but it was dropped due to it having an an unfavorable effect on production. The fellow that ran it quit and wrote an unfavorable (to Ford) book about it.

The 8-hour day was forced by the unions but Henry had beat them to it. Henry told everyone that he would shut down the plant before he ever let a Union tell him how to run his plant. Henry had already had one stroke in 1938 and his wife Clara had had enough of his hard headed nature with the unions. She made him an ultimatum on the subject and the next day he agreed to all of the union wants with a few added in likely just to surprise them. I don't doubt that Henry would have shut the doors if Clara hadn't intervened. It certainly took the weight off of Henry's shoulders that next day but all the managers were dumbfounded by this action. They never thought he would change his mind.

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Old 09-02-2019, 11:22 AM   #13
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Default Re: Henry Fords Pay Scale

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Joe I read where Ford brought in the EIGHT hour work day so that they could have three even shifts of 8 hours, rather than two shifts of ten hours with a four hour lag time: lost time per day.

During the shift change the line did not stop. The next worker poised behind the finishing worker and jumped in and took over his cycle while that last worker took a step back to get out of the way.
See https://www.indiatoday.in/education-...067-2017-07-27

I will say the article reads a couple of things - but this I glean.

The 1914 announcement seems correct in Ford announced $5 for an eight hour day. But the article also states that a 10 hour day was Ford normal and contends that Ford waited until 1926 to institute a formal 8 hour day for all workers.

So like all things Internet - once can find what they wish to see.


I will say I'm glad I don't work for Ford. I've mentioned Sorensen as a name of a Ford "mover & shaker." But there were others, including one name which escapes me who seemed to fill a corporate role as "enforcer." Sort of a corporate "tough guy." He was not scientific in his management methods.


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Old 09-02-2019, 08:01 PM   #14
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See https://www.indiatoday.in/education-...067-2017-07-27



I will say I'm glad I don't work for Ford. I've mentioned Sorensen as a name of a Ford "mover & shaker." But there were others, including one name which escapes me who seemed to fill a corporate role as "enforcer." Sort of a corporate "tough guy." He was not scientific in his management methods.


Joe K

Wasn't the Enforcer's named: Harry Bennett?
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Old 09-02-2019, 08:12 PM   #15
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Bennett was at the height of his power during WW2,he ran the Willow Run bomber plant.Ford did war work at cost plus a dollar to avoid profiteering,but old Harry knew exactly how to run a cost plus operation,he padded it with subcontractors who gave big kickbacks and staffed it with the prettiest women he could find for staff parties..Ford brought in the Liberator cost plus a dollar..the cost was incredibly high..
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Old 09-02-2019, 08:50 PM   #16
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Yup. That's the one. Interesting read over there at Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Bennett


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Old 09-02-2019, 09:05 PM   #17
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Default Re: Henry Fords Pay Scale

an ounce of gold cost 20.65 in 1930. today 1531.15. is that 5 dollar a day wage equal to the quarter ounce of gold it would buy? would that equal the 382.78 you would have to pay for a quarter ounce of gold today?
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Old 09-03-2019, 06:39 AM   #18
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an ounce of gold cost 20.65 in 1930. today 1531.15. is that 5 dollar a day wage equal to the quarter ounce of gold it would buy? would that equal the 382.78 you would have to pay for a quarter ounce of gold today?
Actually, if the benefits of employment are included (about 100 percent overhead on $22 per hour) then the fit is about right.

The time honored traditional view of an oz. of gold is that it is equal to a high end men's suit, a nice dinner at a high end restaurant, and a smooth high end cigar. It hasn't changed much since high rollers started keeping track about a hundred years ago.

Gold = possibly life's repository of true value - beyond the relationships with others you develop along the way.

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Old 09-03-2019, 10:07 AM   #19
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Default Re: Henry Fords Pay Scale

Harry Bennett was strictly security. He had an office in the lower level of one of the Rouge buildings. He knew nothing about manufacturing cars let alone aircraft. One of the first things Henry Ford II did was fire Harry Bennett when he took over Ford in late 1943.

Charles Sorensen helped design and build Willow Run and was the manager there until he retired in early 1944 after Henry Ford II took control of Ford. Mead Bricker took over then.

By the late 30s Ford was already paying $8 a day. In 1941 was when the UAW-CIO was finally given a contract by Henry Ford. If he had shut the doors, the US War Department would have taken over operations at Ford Motor Co so he really had no choice. Clara Ford was the only person in the world that could and did change his mind.

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Old 09-03-2019, 12:43 PM   #20
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A lot of Henry Fords "genoristy" had to do with whittling down profits so shareholders would not see any gain and eventually sell their shares back to Ford.This was certainly the case with the Model A buyers rebates after the sales year. Years ago at the car show that used to be at Ford Field by the Ford Mercury Club in Dearborn an old timer told me he had worked at Ford before the union and after. He was a machinist as I was and told me the $5.00 per day may have been more for assembly line workers than what he did.As a machinist he was paid for piece work and the carrot dangling was always moving to higher quotas. He said he once worked for Chrysler or mayby it was someone else he had worked with but when Henry announced the $5.00 per day some quit Chrysler and went to work at Rouge.Supposedly Chrysler was a much better work environment and the machine shop foreman told migrating workers to only take a few tools with them and leave their tool boxes in the shop as they would not be gone long and many were not.
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Old 09-03-2019, 05:23 PM   #21
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Interesting Joe K. that is one expensive dinner!


I have also read that the other car co's were pissed when Henry did this, because the employees for Packard, etc were quitting to go work for Ford.
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Old 09-03-2019, 05:41 PM   #22
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Hank the deuce took over Ford in '45..look a little deeper than Sorenson's biography,you will fine Bennett was deeply entwined with Willow Run and other endeavors outside of his security duties.
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Old 09-03-2019, 05:44 PM   #23
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It all comes down to "what's it worth to you?" I spent 20 years in "this man's Navy (USN)" and it was paternalistic. Base pay, housing allowance, food allowance, flight pay, free medical and dental for me. free medical for my dependents. AND THEY TOLD ME WHERE TO BE, AND WHAT TO DO 24/7/365/20. The was a commissioned sales rep for 19 years. If I sold, I made money. Owner (really) didn't care about my life or family although they acted like they did.


"You pays your money and takes your choices" or whatever. I'll bet a lot of men would jump at $5.00 a day and some BS instead of whatever they were making and "nice people" to work for.


Henry did it because it worked for him. Workers did it because it worked for them. Typical Henry Ford, own it all, keep people working.


Unions changed things and that's why we drive foreign cars (my Chrysler T&C made in Canada) and foreign cars are made in the southern USA. And UAW talking about striking?
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Old 09-03-2019, 06:31 PM   #24
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Interesting Joe K. that is one expensive dinner

Or perhaps Havana's finest?


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Old 09-03-2019, 06:55 PM   #25
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Hank the deuce took over Ford in '45..look a little deeper than Sorenson's biography,you will fine Bennett was deeply entwined with Willow Run and other endeavors outside of his security duties.
Look up Willow Run at the Henry Ford site. This is no BS. Sorenson ran it as plant manager until he retired after 40 years in early 1944 & Mead Bricker was the manager after that until the war was over.

Henry II was called back out of the Navy to take his fathers position at Ford in 1943 after Edsel died. Henry number 1 was the only one in charge but he had already had two strokes and was not in good mental condition. The War Department knew it and talked about taking over. The Ford family which included Edsel's widow and Clara Ford made sure that Henry II took over the every day running of the plant as vice president in early 1944. He eventually became president in 1945 but he had already been running things for a year before that. Henry Ford was not in good mental health and Harry Bennett tried to take advantage of that situation. Bennett had to go so Henry II asked John Bugas to fire him which he did without getting shot.

If you look up Harry Bennett, all he managed was what was referred to as the Service Department which was actually just a security team to watch the gates and the employees plus handle union labor talks. He did all this at Henry Fords request. Henry had him harass his own son which was a terrible thing to do to Edsel and I'm sure hastened his death from stomach cancer.

I've read many first hand accounts of folks that worked at Ford so I'm not pulling anyones leg here. This information is not made up. I've never seen the information about Bennett presented in any other way.

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Old 09-03-2019, 08:25 PM   #26
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Sorenson and Bricker turned the other way to Bennetts shenanigans,Bennett had the ear of Henry himself,frail as he was,he still ran Ford motor.Part of the reason the deuce was let out of his naval obligations was that Bennett was making a serious play to succeed Ford,and the word was out about the graft and overage at Willow Run. I don't want to argue,you spell out the sanitized version.Spend some time with the oral histories,you'll get a full feel for Fords darkside and his hooligan Bennett..

http://cdm15889.contentdm.oclc.org/c...on/p15889coll2
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Old 09-03-2019, 08:48 PM   #27
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The Wikipedia entry I referenced earlier passes quickly over Harry Bennetts rise to "replace Henry Ford" - which almost happened - and his fall.

Quote:
Upon the 1943 death of company president Edsel Ford, the founder's overshadowed son, Bennett was Henry Ford's choice to succeed Edsel. However, Edsel Ford's widow blamed Bennett for her husband's early death and effectively vetoed the appointment. Instead, Henry Ford appointed Bennett to the Ford Motor Company board of directors. After some attempted shenanigans with Henry Ford's will which would have given Bennett control over the company, the Ford women stepped in and demanded Bennett's ouster. In September 1945, Henry Ford II was summoned to Ford's estate and informed that he would be the new president of Ford Motor Company. As his first act, Henry Ford II, then 28, had John Bugas hand Bennett his walking papers (after which Bennett and Bugas drew pistols on each other). Bennett told the younger Ford, "You're taking over a billion-dollar company that you haven't contributed a thing to." That afternoon, on September 21, 1945, Bennett departed, ending his 30-year career with the Ford Motor Company.[4]
The ruthless Bennett era was finally over. Afterward, Henry Ford II went to Ford to tell him of his first executive decision: "I went to him (Henry Ford) with my guard up. I was sure he was going to blow my head off." Ford quite nonchalantly said, "Well, now Harry is back on the streets where he started." (bolding mine)
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Old 09-03-2019, 09:06 PM   #28
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http://cdm15889.contentdm.oclc.org/c.../15808/rec/184

Take a minute,download and read Al Smiths history..besides a fantastic look at engine development and production issues he gets into the Meade Bricker/Charles Sorenson /Harry Bennett dynamic,and Bennetts cohorts like Rauch..Ford wasnt run like GM with a smart corporate culture..there were cliques and power struggles at Ford,waste,fraud and abuse,it got worse the older Henry got. The Deuce fixed alot of it with the whiz kids and some GM people,but Ford Motor during the war and before was a very interesting company.

There are other real good histories in the collection, Harold Hicks,Eugene Farkas and Lawrence Sheldrick to name a few..the trials and tribulations of the model a development..
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Old 09-04-2019, 11:24 AM   #29
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Ford Motor Company sanitized it for a reason. It was a family reputation to worry about. Henry was getting more paranoid as time went by and it just got worse when the old timers started retiring. He knew less and less people around the plants and he didn't trust anyone he didn't know. Harry Bennett would hang out with him and was really his henchman. Harry had so many of his cronies working under him that were less than reputable that he likely didn't know what all was going on behind his own back. Henry had a dark side that was made worse by failing mental health. Harry did what ever Henry told him to do. The family got together on this and decided enough was enough. Getting rid of Harry would show Henry that they had had enough and it worked. Harry Bennett was not a Ford so he had no chance of ever taking over. Much of the information about this stuff was kept from the public until the old timers started writing their memoirs and telling their first hand experiences for transcript into the Ford Archives. The public at large didn't know about any of it at the time as it would have been a scandal.

I've read most of the transcribed histories and they all seem to back each other up.
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Old 09-04-2019, 12:42 PM   #30
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....................and UAW talking about striking?
The news said that the leadership is under Federal investigation for fraud and all sorts of financial misappropriations.

At a local Labor Day parade Monday there were UAW members marching with signs denouncing the national leaders Looks like somebody got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
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Old 09-04-2019, 01:14 PM   #31
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and you thought Jimmy Hoffa was dead..
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Old 09-04-2019, 05:38 PM   #32
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Ain't it just Grand! GM is losing in there inflow versus outflow and the union wants to authorize strikes. They may end up kicking a dead horse on that one. I guess GM, Ford, & Fiat are all coming up for contracts.

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Old 09-04-2019, 07:52 PM   #33
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This is an interesting discussion! But I've noticed a number of "armchair experts" that seem to know more about the inner workings of Henry Ford's mind than Henry himself knew! Or were some blank spaces filled in with conjecture and supposition??
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Old 09-04-2019, 09:57 PM   #34
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If you read the oral histories you'll find those who succeeded at Ford Motor were smart enough not to question him.Those who did,did so at their own peril..there is more than one recounting of how subtle Mr Ford was,often a man never knew what caused him to lose favor with him,at his own peril..read Harold Hick's interview for a good example.
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Old 09-05-2019, 12:46 AM   #35
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My dad and his brother worked in the Kansas City Ford plant in 1928. Dad was 18 years old and came of the farm so he was no stranger to hard work. He told me their were many days after work that he was so tired he would have to rest before he could catch the street car to go home. Many nights too tired to eat supper. He told me it was the hardest job he ever had.

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Old 09-05-2019, 08:56 AM   #36
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If you want to find out even a little bit about what a person like Henry Ford was like, all you can do is read the first hand accounts about him. There is no other way to know now and each person had different experiences. Some were good and some were bad so you have to read between the lines and get to know something about each one of the story tellers. What opinion you have or conclusion you come to is always an assumption. It's just human nature.

If you don't read the accounts for yourself then you will always be hearing someone elses opinion or conclusion which sort of muddys the waters.
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Old 09-09-2019, 11:50 PM   #37
michael a
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Default Re: Henry Fords Pay Scale

To what book are you referring?

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Old 09-10-2019, 07:54 AM   #38
Joe K
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Default Re: Henry Fords Pay Scale

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To what book are you referring?

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You could start with Henry Ford's Autobiography.

My Life and Work by Henry Ford.

But - keep in mind two things. This is Henry Ford talking about himself. Nobody ever talks one's self down.

Also he speaks from an early 20th Century frame of reference. All the ills of the world we decry today were NORMAL then - and normal for Henry Ford.

We today have our own set of ills. And given Boston's "Straight" Rally of yesterday (9-9-19) intolerance might be one of them.

A reviewer of the book (5 stars) says it pretty well.

Quote:
You're reading this book and you just think the whole time "man this guy is so awesome and so smart he rules." And you mention it to someone that you're reading it and they say "he was an anti-semite." And you think "oh he couldn't have been. He goes on and on about the worth of all people and he genuinely seems to care about everyone.' And then there's this one random passage in the last chapter where he basically says something like "I know we get a lot of guff for the jew thing but honestly it's not that big of a deal when one group of people are so different than everyone else you have to blah blah blah" and you go "wait what?" And that one random passage totally bums you out about Henry Ford because you had convinced yourself he wasn't that bad. And who knows. Maybe he was a product of his time. Read the rest of the book, though, it's spectacular.

Also there's all this stuff where he's like "and what's the deal with hospitals they are run so dumb. It's not that hard, I started a hospital and it works great" and you think "uh huh sure" so you google it and yes, in fact, his hospital is still going, and was and STILL IS a great hospital, pioneering in medical care. Weird. This was true with schools too. And railroads. What a ridiculously smart human being.
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Old 09-10-2019, 08:14 AM   #39
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Default Re: Henry Fords Pay Scale

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Originally Posted by michael a View Post
To what book are you referring?

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http://cdm15889.contentdm.oclc.org/c...on/p15889coll2

These are the digitized oral histories of men who worked for Ford back then,a fascinating look at the industry and Ford himself from the men who actually witnessed it..volumes of material..
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