My Life and Work
is used to give more and more men work, at the same time reducing the
cost of service to the public--that sort of capital, even though it be
under single control, is not a menace to humanity. It is a working
surplus held in trust and daily use for the benefit of all. The holder
of such capital can scarcely regard it as a personal reward. No man can
view such a surplus as his own, for he did not create it alone. It is
the joint product of his whole organization. The owner's idea may have
released all the energy and direction, but certainly it did not supply
all the energy and direction. Every workman was a partner in the
creation. No business can possibly be considered only with reference to
to-day and to the individuals engaged in it. It must have the means to
carry on. The best wages ought to be paid. A proper living ought to be
assured every participant in the business--no matter what his part. But,
for the sake of that business's ability to support those who work in it,
a surplus has to be held somewhere. The truly honest manufacturer holds
his surplus profits in that trust. Ultimately it does not matter where
this surplus be held nor who controls it; it is its use that matters.
Capital that is not constantly creating more and better jobs is more
useless than sand. Capital that is not constantly making conditions of
daily labour better and the reward of daily labour more just, is not
fulfilling its highest function. The highest use of capital is not to
make more money, but to make money do more service for the betterment of
life. Unless we in our industries are helping to solve the social
problem, we are not doing our principal work. We are not fully serving.
CHAPTER XIV
THE TRACTOR AND POWER FARMING
It is not generally known that our tractor, which we call the "Fordson,"
was put into production about a year before we had intended, because of
the Allies' war-time food emergency, and that all of our early
production (aside, of course, from the trial and experimental machines)
went directly to England. We sent in all five thousand tractors across
the sea in the critical 1917-18 period when the submarines were busiest.
Every one of them arrived safely, and officers of the British Government
have been good enough to say that without their aid England could
scarcely have met its food crisis.
It was these tractors, run mostly by women, that ploughed up the old
estates and golf courses and let all England be planted and cultivated
without taking away from the fighting man power or crippling the forces
in the munitions factories.
It came about in this way: The English food administration, about the
time that we entered the war in 1917, saw that, with the German
submarines torpedoing a freighter almost every day, the already low
supply of shipping was going to be totally inadequate to carry the
American troops across the seas, to carry the essential munitions for
these troops and the Allies, to carry the food for the fighting forces,
and at the same time carry enough food for the home population of
England. It was then that they began shipping out of England the wives
and families of the colonials and made plans for the growing of crops at
home. The situation was a grave one. There were not enough draft animals
in all England to plough and cultivate land to raise crops in sufficient
volume to make even a dent in the food imports. Power farming was
scarcely known, for the English farms were not, before the war, big
enough to warrant the purchase of heavy, expensive farm machinery, and
especially with agricultural labour so cheap and plentiful. Various
concerns in England made tractors, but they were heavy affairs and
mostly run by steam. There were not enough of them to go around. More
could not easily be made, for all the factories were working on
munitions, and even if they had been made they were too big and clumsy
for the average field and in addition required the management of
engineers. We had put together several tractors at our Manchester plant
for demonstration purposes. They had been made in the United States and
merely assembled in England. The Board of Agriculture requested the
Royal Agricultural Society to make a test of these tractors and report.
This is what they reported:
At the request of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, we have
examined two Ford tractors, rated at 25 h. p., at work ploughing:
First, cross-ploughing a fallow of strong land in a dirty condition, and
subsequently in a field of lighter land which had seeded itself down
into rough grass, and which afforded every opportunity of testing the
motor on the level and on a steep hill.
In the first trial, a 2-furrow Oliver plough was used, ploughing on an
average 5 inches deep with a 16-inch wide furrow; a 3-furrow Cockshutt
plough was also used at the same depth with the breast pitched 10
inches.
In the second trial, the 3-furrow plough was used, ploughing an average
of 6 inches deep.
In both cases the motor did its work with ease, and on a measured acre
the time occupied was 1 hour 30 minutes, with a consumption of 2 gallons
of paraffin per acre.
These results we consider very satisfactory.
The ploughs were not quite suitable to the land, and the tractors,
consequently, were working at some disadvantage.
The total weight of the tractor fully loaded with fuel and water, as
weighed by us, was 23 1/4 cwts.
The tractor is light for its power, and, consequently, light on the
land, is easily handled, turns in a small circle, and leaves a very
narrow headland.
The motor is quickly started up from cold on a small supply of petrol.
After these trials we proceeded to Messrs. Ford's works at Trafford
Park, Manchester, where one of the motors had been sent to be dismantled
and inspected in detail.
We find the design of ample strength, and the work of first-rate
quality. We consider the driving-wheels rather light, and we understand
that a new and stronger pattern is to be supplied in future.
The tractor is designed purely for working on the land, and the wheels,
which are fitted with spuds, should be provided with some protection to
enable them to travel on the road when moving from farm to farm.
Bearing the above points in mind, we recommend, under existing
circumstances, that steps be taken to construct immediately as many of
these tractors as possible.
The report was signed by Prof. W. E. Dalby and F. S. Courtney,
engineering; R. N. Greaves, engineering and agriculture; Robert W. Hobbs
and Henry Overman, agriculture; Gilbert Greenall, honorary directors,
and John E. Cross, steward.
Almost immediately after the filing of that report we received the
following wire:
Have not received anything definite concerning shipment necessary steel
and plant for Cork factory. Under best circumstances however Cork
factory production could not be available before next spring. The need
for food production in England is imperative and large quantity of
tractors must be available at earliest possible date for purpose
breaking up existing grass land and ploughing for Fall wheat. Am
requested by high authorities to appeal to Mr. Ford for help. Would you
be willing to send Sorensen and others with drawings of everything
necessary, loaning them to British Government so that parts can be
manufactured over here and assembled in Government factories under
Sorensen's guidance? Can assure you positively this suggestion is made
in national interest and if carried out will be done by the Government
for the people with no manufacturing or capitalist interest invested and
no profit being made by any interests whatever. The matter is very
urgent. Impossible to ship anything adequate from America because many
thousand tractors must be provided. Ford Tractor considered best and
only suitable design. Consequently national necessity entirely dependent
Mr. Ford's design. My work prevents me coming America to present the
proposal personally. Urge favorable consideration and immediate decision
because every day is of vital importance. You may rely on manufacturing
facility for production here under strictest impartial Government
control. Would welcome Sorensen and any and every other assistance and
guidance you can furnish from America. Cable reply, Perry, Care of
Harding "Prodome," London.
PRODOME.
I understand that its sending was directed by the British Cabinet. We at
once cabled our entire willingness to lend the drawings, the benefit of
what experience we had to date, and whatever men might be necessary to
get production under way, and on the next ship sent Charles E. Sorensen
with full drawings. Mr. Sorensen had opened the Manchester plant and was
familiar with English conditions. He was in charge of the manufacture of
tractors in this country.
Mr. Sorensen started at work with the British officials to the end of
having the parts made and assembled in England. Many of the materials
which we used were special and could not be obtained in England. All of
their factories equipped for doing casting and machine work were filled
with munition orders. It proved to be exceedingly difficult for the
Ministry to get tenders of any kind. Then came June and a series of
destructive air raids on London. There was a crisis. Something had to be
done, and finally, after passing to and fro among half the factories of
England, our men succeeded in getting the tenders lodged with the
Ministry.
Lord Milner exhibited these tenders to Mr. Sorensen. Taking the best of
them the price per tractor came to about $1,500 without any guarantee of
delivery.
"That price is out of all reason," said Mr. Sorensen,
"These should not cost more than $700 apiece."
"Can you make five thousand at that price?" asked Lord Milner.
"Yes," answered Mr. Sorensen.
"How long will it take you to deliver them?"
"We will start shipping within sixty days."
They signed a contract on the spot, which, among other things, provided
for an advance payment of 25 per cent. of the total sum. Mr. Sorensen
cabled us what he had done and took the next boat home. The 25 five per
cent. payment was, by the way, not touched by us until after the entire
contract was completed: we deposited it in a kind of trust fund.
The tractor works was not ready to go into production. The Highland Park
plant might have been adapted, but every machine in it was going day and
night on essential war work. There was only one thing to do. We ran up
an emergency extension to our plant at Dearborn, equipped it with
machinery that was ordered by telegraph and mostly came by express, and
in less than sixty days the first tractors were on the docks in New York
in the hands of the British authorities. They delayed in getting cargo
space, but on December 6, 1917, we received this cable:
London, December 5, 1917.
SORENSEN,
Fordson, F. R. Dearborn.
First tractors arrived, when will Smith and others leave? Cable.
PERRY.
The entire shipment of five thousand tractors went through within three
months and that is why the tractors were being used in England long
before they were really known in the United States.
The planning of the tractor really antedated that of the motor car. Out
on the farm my first experiments were with tractors, and it will be
remembered that I was employed for some time by a manufacturer of steam
tractors--the big heavy road and thresher engines. But I did not see any
future for the large tractors. They were too expensive for the small
farm, required too much skill to operate, and were much too heavy as
compared with the pull they exerted. And anyway, the public was more
interested in being carried than in being pulled; the horseless carriage
made a greater appeal to the imagination. And so it was that I