Page:Henry Ford's Own Story.djvu/89

 away with waste and friction of all kinds and have a world that's run right. The only trouble now is that people haven't the courage to put their ideals to work. They say, 'Oh, of course, theoretically we believe in them—but they aren't practical! What's the use of believing in anything that isn't practical? If it's any good at all it's practical. The whole progress of the world has been made by men who went to work and used their impractical theories.

"Well, I figured over the situation quite a while and I found out that by putting the substitutes on the regular list and shifting the men around a little I could give them all an eight-hour day without increasing the pay roll. I did it.

"Yes, there was a howl from the stockholders when they heard about it. Nobody had ever tried it before; they thought I was going to turn every thing upside down and ruin the business. But the work was going along better than before. The men felt more like work, and they pitched in to show they appreciated being treated right. We had fewer breakdowns after that; everything went better.

"After the thing was done it was easy enough to prove that it paid, and the stockholders quieted down after one or two complaints.

"As a matter of fact, I don't believe in any hours for work. A man ought to work as long as he wants to, and he ought to enjoy his work so much that he wants to work as long as he can.