production of cars for ten hours a day, 16,000 cars were made and shipped. Under the new plan 15,800 men working eight hours a day made and shipped 26,000 cars.
Again Ford had shown the value of that in tangible, "impractical" thing—a spirit of friendliness and good will.
On the ebb tide of the enthusiasm which had stirred this country at the announcement of his profit-sharing plan a thousand skeptical opinions arose. "Oh, he s doing it just for the advertising." "He knew, right enough, that he would make more money in the end by this scheme—he s no philanthropist."
Ford wanted his new plan known; he wanted employers everywhere to see what he was doing, how he did it, and what the effects would be. He did expect the factory to run better, to produce more cars. If it had not done so his plan would have been a failure.
"Do the thing that is best for everybody and it will be best for you in the end." That was his creed. He hoped to prove its truth so that no one would doubt it.
Nor is Ford a philanthropist, with the ordinary implications that follow that word. He is a hard-headed, practical man, who has made a success in invention, in organization, in the building of a great business. His contribution to the world is a practical contribution. His message is a practical message.
