Henry Ford (2)

 

Broadcast: January 12, 2002
By Richard Thorman

People in America, a program in Special English on the Voice of America.

Every week at this time, we tell the story of a person important in the history of the United States. Today, Steve Ember and Frank Oliver complete the story of industrialist¹ Henry Ford².

VOICE 1:

In nineteen-oh-three, a doctor in Detroit, Michigan, bought the first car from the Ford Motor Company. That sale was the beginning of Henry Ford's dream. He wanted to build good, low-priced cars for the general public. As he said many times: "I want to make a car that anybody can buy."

To keep prices low, Henry Ford decided³ that he would build just one kind of car. He called it the Model T.

VOICE 2:

The Model T was ready for sale in October nineteen-oh-eight.

The Model T cost eight-hundred-fifty dollars. It was a simple machine that drivers could depend on. Doctors bought the Model T. So did farmers. Even criminals. They considered it the fastest and surest form of transportation. Americans loved the Model T. They wrote stories and songs about it. Thousands of Model Ts were built in the first few years. The public wanted the car. And Henry Ford made more and more.

VOICE 1:

To make the Model T, Ford built the largest factory of its time. Inside the factory, car parts moved to the workers exactly when they needed them. Other factories moved some parts to the workers. But Ford was the first to design his factory completely around this system. Production rose sharply⁴.

As production rose, Ford lowered prices. By nineteen-sixteen, the price had dropped to three-hundred forty-five dollars.

The last step in Ford's production success was to raise his workers' pay. His workers had always earned about two-dollars for ten hours of work. That was the same daily rate as at other factories.

With wages the same everywhere, factory workers often changed jobs. Henry Ford wanted loyal workers who would remain. He raised wages to five dollars a day.

VOICE 2:

That made Henry Ford popular with working men. He became popular with car buyers in nineteen-thirteen when he gave back fifty dollars to each person who had bought a Ford car. Henry Ford was demonstrating his idea that if workers received good wages, they became better buyers. And if manufactures sold more products, they could lower prices and still earn money.

This system worked for Ford because people continued to demand his Model T. And they had the money to buy it. But what would happen when people no longer wanted the Model T, or did not have the money.

VOICE 1:

In nineteen-nineteen, Henry was involved in a dispute1 with the other people who owned stock in the Ford Motor Company. In the end, Henry bought the stock of the other investors⁵. He gained complete control of the company.

The investors did not do badly, however. An investment of ten-thousand dollars when the company was first established produced a return of twenty-five-million dollars.

A few years later, another group of investors offered Ford one-thousand-million dollars for the company. But he was not interested in selling. He wanted complete control of the company that had his name. In a sense, Henry Ford was the company.

VOICE 2:

Henry's son, Edsel, was named president of the company before nineteen-twenty. No one truly believed that Edsel was running the company. Whatever Edsel said, people believed he was speaking for his father.

In nineteen-twenty-three, fifty-seven percent of the cars produced in America were Model T Fords. About half the cars produced in the world were Fords. Taxicabs in Hong Kong. Most of the cars in south America. Never before--or since--has one car company so controlled world car production.

VOICE 1:

The success of the Ford Motor Company permitted Henry Ford to work on other projects.

He became a newspaper publisher. He bought a railway. He built airplanes. He helped build a hospital. He even ran for the United States Senate.

Some of Henry's projects were almost unbelievable. For example, he tried to end World War One by sailing to Europe with a group of peace supporters.

VOICE 2:

While Henry Ford enjoyed his success, a dangerous situation was developing. Other companies began to sell what only Ford had been selling: good, low-priced cars. Ford's biggest competitor was the General Motors Company. General Motors produced the Chevrolet2 automobile⁶.

Ford's Model T was still a dependable car. But it had not changed in years. People said the Model T engine was too loud. They said it was too slow. The Chevrolet, however, had a different look every year. And you could pay for one over a long period of time. Ford demanded full payment at the time of sale. Ford's share of the car market began to fall.

VOICE 1:

Everyone at Ford agreed that the Model T must go. Henry Ford disagreed. And it was his decision that mattered. Finally, in nineteen-twenty-six, even Henry admitted that the age of the Model T was over. A new Ford was needed. A year later, the Model T was gone.

Strangely enough, people mourned3 its end. They did not want to buy it anymore. But they recognized that the Model T was the last of the first cars in the brave new world of automobile development.

The success of Ford's new cars did not last long. After nineteen-thirty, Ford would always be second to General Motors.

VOICE 2:

In nineteen-twenty-nine, the United States suffered a great economic recession⁷. Many businesses failed. Millions of people lost their jobs. In nineteen-thirty-one, the Ford Motor Company sold only half as many cars as it had the year before. It lost thirty-seven-million dollars. Working conditions at Ford grew worse.

In nineteen-thirty-two, hungry, unemployed⁸ men marched near the Ford factory. Police, firefighters and Ford security guards tried to stop them with sticks, high-pressure water and guns. Four of the marchers died, and twenty were wounded.

Newspapers all over the United States condemned⁹ the police, firefighters and security guards for attacking unarmed men. And to Make a bad situation worse, Ford dismissed all workers who attended funeral services for the dead.

VOICE 1:

More violence was to come. For several years, automobile workers had been attempting to form a labor¹⁰ union. Union leaders negotiated¹² first with America's two other major automobile makers¹³: the Chrysler company and General Motors. Those companies quickly agreed to permit a union in their factories. That left Ford alone to fight against the union. And fight he did.

VOICE 2:

In nineteen-thirty-seven, union organizers were passing out pamphlets¹⁴ to workers at the Ford factory. Company security guards struck. They were led by the chief of security, Harry¹⁵ Bennett.

Harry Bennett knew nothing about cars. But he did know what Henry Ford wanted done. And he did it. Bennett's power came from Henry. The only person who might have had the power to stop Bennett was Henry's son, Edsel, who was president of the company. But Edsel himself was fighting Henry and his unwillingness¹⁶ to change.

Bennett's power in the company continued to grow. His violence against the union of automobile workers also grew.

The Ford Motor Company did not agree to negotiate¹¹ with the union until nineteen-forty-one. Henry Ford accepted an agreement. If he had not, his company would have lost millions of dollars in government business.

VOICE 1:

In nineteen-forty-three, Edsel Ford died. With Edsel gone, Henry again became president of the Ford Motor Company. It was difficult to know if Henry or Harry Bennett was running the company. America was at war. And Henry was eighty years old, too old to deal with the problems of wartime production. And Bennett knew nothing at all about production.

So Henry's grandson, also Henry Ford, was recalled from the Navy to run the company. Young Henry's first act was to dismiss Harry Bennett.

VOICE 2:

Old Henry Ford retired¹⁷ from business. His thoughts were in the past. He died in his sleep in nineteen-forty-seven, at the age of eighty-three.

Henry Ford was not the first man whose name was given to an automobile. But his name--more than any other--was linked to that machine. And his dream changed the lives of millions of people.

Some still wonder if Henry Ford was a simple man who seemed difficult, or a difficult man who seemed simple. No one, however questions the fact that he made the automobile industry one of the great industries in the world.

VOICE 2:

You have been listening to the Special English program People in America. Your narrators were Steve Ember and Frank Oliver. Our program was written by Richard Thorman. I'm Ray Freeman.
1. dispute [dIs5pju:t] n. 争论, 辩论, 争吵
2. Chevrolet [`FevrEJleI] n. (美国)雪佛兰牌汽车
3. mourn [mC:n] v. 哀悼, 忧伤, 服丧

1 industrialist   

n.工业家，实业家

参考例句：

• The industrialist's son was kidnapped.这名实业家的儿子被绑架了。
• Mr.Smith was a wealthy industrialist,but he was not satisfied with life.史密斯先生是位富有的企业家，可他对生活感到不满意。

2 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 sharply   

adj.锐利地，急速；adv.严厉地，鲜明地

参考例句：

• The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
• Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。

5 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

6 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

7 recession   

n.（工商业的）衷退（期），萧条（期）

参考例句：

• Manufacturing fell sharply under the impact of the recession.受到经济萧条的影响，制造业急剧衰退。
• A rise in interest rates plunged Britain deeper into recession.利率的提高导致英国经济更加萧条。

8 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

9 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 negotiate   

v.洽谈，协商，谈判，顺利通过，成功越过

参考例句：

• I'll negotiate with their coach on the date of the match.我将与他们的教练磋商比赛的日期问题。
• I managed to negotiate successfully with the authorities.我设法同当局进行了成功的协商。

12 negotiated   

谈判，协商，议定( negotiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 兑现（支票等）； 通过，越过（险要路段）

参考例句：

• The government negotiated with the opposition party over the new law. 政府就新法与反对党进行了协商。
• By careful strategy she negotiated a substantial pay rise. 她精心策划后，谈妥了大幅增加工资的事。

13 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 pamphlets   

n.小册子( pamphlet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Distribute these pamphlets among them before you leave, will you? 请你在离开之前把这些小册子发给他们好吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He fell under suspicion for distributing seditious pamphlets. 他因散发反政府传单而遭到怀疑。 来自辞典例句

15 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

16 unwillingness   

n. 不愿意，不情愿

参考例句：

• Her unwillingness to answer questions undermined the strength of her position. 她不愿回答问题，这不利于她所处的形势。
• His apparent unwillingness would disappear if we paid him enough. 如果我们付足了钱，他露出的那副不乐意的神情就会消失。

17 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。