Blossoming of a Dream
During its first five years, The Ford
Company produced eight different models. By 1908 its output was 100 cars a day. The
stockholde rs were ecstatic, but Ford was not satisfied and
looked toward turning out 1,000 cars a day. The stockholders seriously considered court
action to stop him from using profits for the expansion. The court said in 1919,
"while Ford’s sentiments about his employees and customers are nice, a business
is for the profit of its stockholders." Ford, irate that a court and a few
shareholders, whom he likened to parasites, could interfere with the management of his
company, determined to buy out all the shareholders. He resigned from the post in December
1918 in favor of his son, Edsel Ford.
In March 1919, he announced
a plan to organize a new company to write new chapters in the history of the industry.When
asked what would become of the Ford Motor Company ? He said, "Why I don’t know
exactly what will become of that, the portion of it that does not belong to me cannot be
sold to me, that I know." After that, he planned a huge new plant at Rouge river in
Michigan. At the height of its success, the company’s holding stretched from the iron
mines of northern Michigan to the jungles of Brazil, and it operated in 33 countries
across the globe. Most remarkably, not one cent had been borrowed to pay for any of it. It
was built out of profits from the ‘miracle’ Model ‘T’.
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