Defining the Goal

Last week Henry Ford II: 1) was chosen as "Young Man of the Year" by the Junior Chamber of Commerce; 2) made the judges look mighty good. In a solid, sense-making speech to the Society of Automotive Engineers in Detroit, he told both management and labor just how they were falling down on the job.

The reason, said young Henry Ford, was a major failure in human relationship. Employer and employe were not trying to get along as individuals. Their goal must obviously be to raise the U.S. standard of living by producing more & more at lower & lower cost to sell for less & less. It could be reached only by joint action--through "understanding and sensible cooperation. . . ." Both "must accept their share of responsibility to the public welfare and live up to their commitments."

The lead was management's because "management is in charge . . . management must manage." But labor would have to be a full partner. "We do not want to destroy the unions. . . . We want to strengthen their leadership. . . . [But] union leaders enjoy a social power of enormous proportions. They must accept the social obligations that go with it.

"We cannot expect legislation to solve our problems. . . . The public interest requires that we find ways to eliminate industrial warfare without impairing or diminishing the rights which both management and labor must continue to enjoy."

If employer & employe get this far, said Ford, they could go on "toward more certain, more stabilized employment," make U.S. industry "a place in which men and women can grow and develop into better jobs."

These were words both management & labor could applaud. Said one employer: "It is the best speech I've heard in ten years. . . ." Said the United Automobile Workers' Secretary-Treasurer George F. Addes: "One of the greatest industrial statesmen of the auto industry."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.