Who Was Ford A Humanitarian Or Businessman?

In the early 1900’s Henry Ford developed the idea of “a wagon that will run without a horse”.1 This idea and Ford’s success changed America and its people forever. The development of the automobile played a tremendous role in the economy, labor unions and society. Generally, when most people think of Henry Ford they reflect upon his wealth and contributions to the transportation industry as an infinitely positive phenomenon. It is thought that aside from just allowing consumers to purchase and use his inventions, he provided thousands of people with jobs and the promise of prosperity. The tale of Henry Ford’s legendary business and remarkably effective assembly line is unparalleled in

There is no doubt that Henry Ford had a strong impact on America during the Progressive Era. His Ford Motor Company revolutionized mass production and consumerism through his development of the assembly line. However, many people were opposed to the routinized unskilled labor he employed that caused many of the workers to be easily replaceable. Despite this, Henry Ford still contributed heavily to society. Ford employed thousands of workers at salaries that were unprecedented for that day to those who he thought qualified for them thereby redistributing his own fortune and improving the lives of the lower class. The gospel of wealth describes how “people of great wealth… had not only great power but also great responsibility to use their riches

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

All in all the assembly line brought down the price of goods, such as the Model T, dramatically it also establish millions of new high paying jobs for Americans. For the average worker in this industry only made $1.80 a day but Ford’s workers the basic wage was $5.00 which made Ford a national hero for the working class(Schlager 594). This large pay raise is an ingenious business move because it allow his workers to make enough money to be able to afford his car. All great things do not always happen without consequence. Workers of the assembly line definitely did not have it easy since they had to keep up with the fast pace machines and boredom from doing the same mundane job every day. Supervisors often saw drop in quality as well as output so they had to find an equilibrium to be able to get the best quality possible(lerner 345). The assembly line is not a perfect system but can and will be improved for the betterment of the workers and the company as a whole. As the assembly line is

A SWOT analysis is a tool used to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. A SWOT model measures what an organization can or cannot do as well as the possible opportunities and threats. This is done by taking data from the organization’s environment, analyzing the information and separating it into the internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats). When this is completed the analysis can create a plan for the organization to achieve its goals, and identify what difficulties must be overcome to attain

This new expansion allowed a new working class to emerge, and by 1890, two-thirds of Americans worked for wages (Foner 634). Along with these new factories came wealthy company owners who were known to run their factories nonstop with horrible working conditions. Most factory workers, worked sixty hours a week with no pensions, compensation for injuries, or protections against unemployment, and between 1880 and 1900, 35,000 workers perished each year due to factory and mine accidents (Foner 641). Many workers went on strikes to demand higher pay but employers simply replaced them with unemployed workers, leaving little hope of achieving freedom for the workers.

The “Captains of Industry” (Carlyle, 1843) were men that furthered the Industrial Revolution and gain a large sum of money in the wake. Andrew Carnegie, known for his advancements of the steel industry, John Rockefeller, oil tycoon and Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, are just a few of the men that helped to shape the industrial era. As always, with great gain comes great losses and the people who worked for these men were not always treated properly. The mass amount of population willing to work and able to do the jobs created by these industries, drove down the amount of wages the owners were willing to pay. Skilled workers were often replaced by unskilled replacements if they became unhappy about the work load (Leonard 1979). The lack of government regulations on the businesses also contributed to the conditions the workers were forced to endure to make those small wages. Soon the labors joined forces to create unions and would strike to show this disapproval with the system the owners had created. Most of these strikes would end in violence due to the works demands not being met. Fortunately, these unions did create safer working environments, helped to raise wages and outlawed the child labor within the

Between the years 1870-1900, Americans began to respond to the effects fostered by these corporations. From urban factory workers to rural farmers, Americans began to organize against these big businesses. With mass industrialization, more job’s were made available to women, these jobs were often in factories with terrible conditions, sweatshops. There was a sameness about working in mass production factories. Thus, working in these modern mass production factories created a homogenous environment that diminished individualism and the need for skilled workers. (Doc. C) Strikers were common during this era, workers participated in strikes and joined labor unions, such as The American Federation of Labor and the Knights of Labor, due to the terrible working conditions. The American Federation of Labor, headed by Samuel Gompers, was specifically for skilled workers and argued for better wages and a reduction in working hours. (Doc. G) Although urban workers were greatly impacted by the growth of these corporations, they were not the ones. Farmers, suffered

Factory work and hours upon hours of manual labor disabled lower class workers from seeking benefits from the corporations. The need for labor unions and the rights of workers was necessary because even though prices went down, wages for workers also went down (Document G). Labor Unions, such as the Knights of Labor, were created to protect the rights of workers, but because of the many unskilled workers (Document C), some unions were specialized in organizing skilled workers and others in unskilled workers. The rich thrived in this corporation-driven society, but the poor became poorer. A primary source from a low class laborer working in the industrial system would help provide insight on the demand for labor unions and the direct effect of the growth of corporations. It would also help contrast between the rich and poor. Document E discusses the life of the upper class- the wealthy. Carnegie, the “man of Wealth” believed in his Gospel of Wealth. He believed that the rich shouldn’t die rich. Basically, he discusses the need for the rich to live a modest live, which is ironic considering his name is found on many modern United States libraries and buildings. Life was much easier for the wealthy because of the growth of corporations, enabling industry controllers like Carnegie to live an easy life (especially with the decline of prices and cost of living, as seen in

Throwing to the wind the artistry of craftsmanship. . The mind frame of American capitalism was forever altered - from one that cherished the creativity and or dexterity of labor, to one, which manipulated and oversimplified the division of labor in order to maximize profit. In expanding cities, Big business’, the corporate world, began to dominate the market. The trade a craftsman once took pride in became dismembered – each man allowed assembly of only a fraction of the product. The prosperity of the corporation undermined that of the individual. Such reforms of the work process created an abundance of profitable businesses. Despite the fact that workers risked their lives in the industrial environment they received lower wages, as the available jobs required little skill. The average factory worker had to work “15 to 18” hours a day in order to earn a “living wage” in 1860. All the while the government disregarded the bleak circumstances of the factory worker, allowing big business’ owners to control the market. As these once pioneering minds began to apply their tact to the economy, they came to realize their cumbersome power and the bourgeois began to dwindle. The affluent prospered, and the lower class fought destitution with no viable prospect of government

     The birth of the automobile was truly something special. Once a far fetched dream is now what many people believe to be the back bone of the American economy. When people think about the automobile the name that comes to mind is most usually Henry Ford. Although he is not credited with the invention of the automobile, Henry Ford played a crucial role in the development of mass production. The automobile was first invented Europe in 1771 with a top speed of 2.3 miles per hour. A man by the name of Gottliech Daimler produced what was known as the milestone car in 1889, this vehicle traveled at 10 miles per hour (Brown, 105). Not more then a handful of these cars were produced over seas. Not many people had ever

Workers were paid as little as dollar or a dollar and twenty-five cents for working for twelve to sixteen hours a day. The low wages were so bad that many were starving. In document 3, Governor John P. Altgeld of Illinois wrote to George M. Pullman saying that “there are nearly six thousand people suffering for want of food- they were your employees” (document 3). However, workers who joined labor unions had their wages increased dramatically. In document 8, the President of American Federation of Labor, Samuel Gompers, said that those who joined labor unions had their “wages increased 70 percent in the past seven years” (document 8). Labor unions in the 1900s helped workers increase their low wages to not beg for food for

A series of violent strikes including the Pullman Strike, the Haymarket Square Riot, and the Homestead Riot, however, discredited labor unions in the eyes of the American middle-class, who had been swayed by the principles of Social Darwinism as expressed by the captains of industry, whom they came to view as living evidence that the “American Dream” was indeed attainable. Nonetheless, the labor unions continued their crusades for better conditions in the workplace, under various leaderships that ranged from the National Labor Union to the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor. The latter of which would be responsible for the incorporation of the eight-hour workday through the successful usage of boycotts and walkouts under the guidance of Samuel Gompers. During the tenure of Gompers the notion of the labor union would become more agreeable to the American public as well as to the federal government, much to the agony of many industrialists. And with the labor unions came the end of the age of big business and the start of the age big

As America became more industrial more people left their farms and small towns to work in the city so they could pay their expenses, whatever they may be. This led to the minimal pay of workers while the owners became wealthy leading to a functional economy. Most would receive little money while the rest lived a life of luxury. Since more factories were opening children, women, and immigrants could now find jobs, which led to more production which gave more money to the owners of the factories. Americans feared that industrialists were changing freemen into “wage slaves.” “By 1920, nearly 20 percent of all manufacturing workers were women, and 13 percent of all textile workers were younger than 16 years old. In 1900, it was estimated that

During his run, Henry Ford made massive industrial and policy changes that affected society in a profound way. On January 5, 1914, with the average wage near a dollar a day and the average auto worker wage near two dollars a day, Henry Ford amazed the world when he