[lengnert]

There is no doubt that Henry Ford was a polarizing figure. There are certain parts of his history that give one pause, however there are some parts that deserve to be applauded even today.

I saw this post on Facebook and even though it isn't anything that is not already pretty well known (by anyone that has any sense of automotive history); I thought it still deserving of being posted here.

Keep in mind that this move by Henry Ford was done prior to the formation of the UAW.

From the headline (posted by the 'Ford' fan page on Facebook):
"This Week in Ford History: On January 5th, 1914, Henry Ford announced that the 25,000 employees at Ford's Highland Park, Michigan plant would receive profit sharing payments that would more than double their daily wage to $5 and cut the length of the work day from nine to eight hours."

Link: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1...=1&theater


   

[lengnert]

I love looking at the other headlines from the page, as well.

[McLovin]

Can't wait to hear what our profit share is this year. I hear it will be far more than last year.
Nice.:2thumbsup:

[lengnert]

I imagine you will not be disappointed, Wings.

Is there any profit sharing for NETAHFB/G's?

NETASFB = Non - Employees - That - Are - Huge - Fan - Boy's/Gal's :yeeees: :WINK:

[jaybird]

If anyone is interested in reading the best book about Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company until his death look at this:

http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/424/Publ...Henry-Ford

David L Lewis was grad student at U of M when he wrote this book for his Phd. He worked under famous U of M prof Sidney Fine(I took Fine's course 432 - US History from 1932 to present). He suggested I read Lewis' book when I told him I was interested in learning more about Henry Ford.

For auto historians it's considered the Henry Ford bible.

[RougeRiver]

My father worked at the Ford Motor Company during that days when the UAW was organizing. He told me that the primary reason they voted the UAW was due to the thugs and goons hired by Harry Bennett and Sorenson. They liked the "old man" (Henry Ford) and thought he was being manipulated by Bennett.

I have a platte map of Wayne County circa 1877. Our family farm was one quarter mile from the Ford farm. The map even has the 40 acres Henry's father gave to him marked "H. Ford".

[lengnert]

I am going to look into that book, jay. Thanks.

RR, good info from a personal perspective.

Personally, the reason I posted this was because beyond just the fact that it was info on Ford, I just really love Americana/history. Also, the image of the old newspaper front page is just the 'icing on the cake'.

I found myself looking up more info on the other headlines.

---

I am going to look into that book, jay. Thanks.

RR, good info from a personal perspective.

Personally, the reason I posted this was because beyond just the fact that it was info on Ford, I just really love Americana/history. Also, the image of the old newspaper front page is just the 'icing on the cake'.

I found myself looking up more info on the other headlines.

[RougeRiver]

I have a lot of Ford stories. If you read about Henry, you will find out that Clara (his wife) was not to keen on her husband hanging around Barney Oldfield at the circus. She stated that Barney was too fond of "low down" women. Anyhow, my aunt has a picture of Henry posing in front of a big steam locomotive with none other than my grandfather at the helm. One of my grandfather's gigs was to pull the Barnum and Bailey circus.

Later on, my grandfather pulled the Michigan Central run from Detroit to Chicago. Capones people gave him a choice that was not a choice. Take the money, look the other way, and we load the train with booze or we break your legs.

Some of you are Michiganders and might know about East Tawas. There used to be a railroad roundhouse that got torn down for the Wall Mart. Anyhow, in the 1920s, the engineers would drive the locomotive down to the bar that was by the tracks and Main Street to get a toot. While they were in the bar, my oldest uncle (about 10 at that time) stole the locomotive and drove it down the tracks. My grandfather had taught him how to operate a locomotive back in the Michigan Central yard in Detroit.

Some stupid ass investor had that bar torn down and replaced with Normans. It is quite a blight on the landscape as is Wall Mart.

Henry Ford was the boss in charge of the machine shop for Detroit Edison before he tried his luck with automobiles. In fact, he used the Edison shop to experiment with gasoline engines. To do that, he worked out an efficient system to get the days work required by Edison done quicky to leave time for playing with gasoline engines.

[G8mike]

^^ Stealing a locomotive? I like him already!

[RoTiCaFo]

It's a real shame that Fordism has declined. Some political scientists have even linked the decline of the American dream and the slipping middle class to the decline in Fordism and the rise of corporatism.

Henry Ford also despised Jews and won a high level award from the Nazi party, just saying.