Page:Henry Ford's Own Story.djvu/157

 which is for the general good and "it will hurt business!" they cry in alarm.

Ford kept his viewpoint. Partly because of his years on the farm, where he worked shoulder to shoulder with other men and learned essential democracy; partly because most of his work had been in mechanics rather than in business, but most of all because he is a simple, straight-thinking man, the tremendous Ford organization did not absorb him,

He had applied his machine idea first to an engine, then to a factory; in time he was to apply it to society as a whole.

"That Christmas present of ours is paying better dividends than any money we ever spent," he said to Couzens with a grin. "First thing we know, the men'll be paying us back more than we gave them. Look here." He spread on Couzens desk a double handful of letters from the men.

"They like it," he said soberly. "Some of them say they were worrying about Christmas bills, and so on. Those checks took a load off their minds, and they're pitching in and working hard to show they appreciate it. I guess in the long run anything that is good for the men is good for the company."

In the months that followed he continued to turn over in his mind various ideas which occurred to him, based on that principle.

The Ford employees and agents now numbered tens of thousands. They were scattered all over