Work record
My Life and Work
Henry FordMy Life and Work by Henry Ford (1922)My Life and Work is Henry Ford's account of his life and business ideas, written with the journalist Samuel Crowther and published in 1922, when the Ford Motor Company was the largest carmaker in the world.1922 · Early 20th Century · Memoir · English
Abstract
Background. Written with the business journalist Samuel Crowther at the height of Ford's fame, when the Model T had made the car a common possession and Ford's methods were studied around the world. The book presents itself as Ford's own account of his life and the ideas behind his company.
Argument. Ford's life story serves as evidence for his principles: business exists to serve, waste must be cut, prices should fall as production grows, workers should be paid well, and bankers and speculators should not control industry. He recounts his farm boyhood, his work with machines and at the Edison company, his first car of 1896, the founding of his company in 1903, the Model T and the moving assembly line.
Structure. An introduction and nineteen chapters, moving from autobiography in the early chapters to essays on wages, prices, money, poverty, tractors and farming, charity, the railroads, education and democracy.
Themes. Industry, work, wealth, efficiency and self-reliance. Chapter XVII also defends antisemitic articles published in Ford's newspaper, a passage that teachers should address directly.
Significance. A key primary source for the history of mass production and the American consumer economy, and a revealing self-portrait of one of the most influential businessmen of the twentieth century.
Key figures
- Henry Ford: Founder of the Ford Motor Company and narrator
- Samuel Crowther: Journalist who collaborated on the book
- Thomas Edison: Inventor who encouraged the young Ford
Summary
My Life and Work is Henry Ford's account of his life and business ideas, written with the journalist Samuel Crowther and published in 1922, when the Ford Motor Company was the largest carmaker in the world. Ford tells how a Michigan farm boy who loved machines became an engineer at the Edison company in Detroit, built his first car in 1896, and founded the Ford Motor Company in 1903. He explains his decision to build one simple, sturdy model, the Model T, and to keep lowering its price so that ordinary families could buy it. Much of the book sets out his principles: service before profit, the elimination of waste, the moving assembly line, high wages such as the five-dollar day, and suspicion of bankers and speculation. He describes how the moving line at the Highland Park plant broke the making of a car into many small operations, and he answers critics who said such work was monotonous. He recalls meeting Thomas Edison, who encouraged his gasoline engine, and he tells how the company survived the slump of 1920-21 without borrowing from bankers by cutting waste and selling off surplus stock. Later chapters turn to tractors and farming, the railroads, charity, education and democracy. Ford writes plainly and confidently, mixing stories from the shop floor with blunt opinions, and he presents his own career as proof that his methods work. The book is a primary source for the rise of mass production and the modern consumer economy, and students can test its confident claims against the historical record, including the costs of repetitive factory work and Ford's hostility to labor unions. Readers should also know that Chapter XVII defends the antisemitic articles published in Ford's newspaper, The Dearborn Independent; teachers should prepare students for that passage and discuss it directly. Read in sections alongside a textbook account of the industrial age, the book helps students see both the energy and the blind spots of one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century.
Virtues in this work
Plot or Argument
- Introduction and Chapters I-III
What Ford calls 'the idea' of service; his boyhood on the farm, work as a machinist and Edison engineer, his first car of 1896, early disappointments in business, and the founding of the Ford Motor Company in 1903.
- Chapters IV-VIII
The single-model Model T, the growth of production, the moving assembly line, the place of men and machines, the monotony of repetitive work, and the five-dollar day.
- Chapters IX-XIII
Prices, costs and the 1920-21 slump; money, credit and bankers; and Ford's argument that poverty can be ended by efficient production.
- Chapters XIV-XIX
The Fordson tractor and farming, charity and self-help, the railroads, a miscellany of opinions on education and other subjects (including a defense of the Dearborn Independent's articles on Jews), democracy and industry, and hopes for the future.
Lessons
A car for the great multitude
Ford decided to build one simple, durable model and to cut its price year after year so that families of modest means could own a car. Students can see how a product changed daily life by becoming cheap enough for ordinary people.
- Why did Ford choose to make only one model?
- How did lowering the price help Ford's company?
- What everyday things today were once luxuries?
Men and machines
Ford describes the moving assembly line and admits that much factory work is repetitive. He argues that most workers prefer simple tasks and that high wages and low prices repay them. Students should weigh his claims against what workers and later historians said.
- What does Ford say about repetitive work, and do you agree?
- Why did Ford raise wages to five dollars a day?
- What does dignity in work require?
Reading a primary source critically
My Life and Work is Ford speaking for himself, with a professional writer's help. It shows his real achievements and also his prejudices, including the Chapter XVII defense of antisemitic articles in his newspaper. Christian readers can admire diligence and ingenuity while naming falsehood and contempt for neighbors as wrong.
- How does knowing that Crowther helped write the book affect how we read it?
- What does Ford say in Chapter XVII, and how should a Christian answer it?
- Can a person be great in one area and gravely wrong in another?
Context
The book appeared in 1922, when the Ford Motor Company was the largest carmaker in the United States. Ford was a national hero, and his ideas about mass production, high wages and low prices were studied around the world.
Composition
Samuel Crowther, a business journalist, interviewed Ford and drafted the text; it was published by Doubleday, Page & Company in 1922. Crowther later collaborated with Ford on Today and Tomorrow (1926) and Moving Forward (1930).
Reception
The book was a best seller and was widely translated. Ford's newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, published a long series of antisemitic articles from 1920; after a libel suit brought by Aaron Sapiro, Ford closed the paper in 1927 and issued a public apology.
Comparisons
- Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie
Another industrialist's account of his rise; compare Carnegie's gospel of giving away wealth with Ford's distrust of charity and preference for wages and low prices.
- Autobiography and Poor Richard's Almanack
Franklin's self-made life and maxims on thrift and industry anticipate many of Ford's practical principles.
Quotes
Frequently cited
“Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.”
“I will build a motor car for the great multitude.”
“Business is never as healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching for what it gets.”
“Money is only a tool in business. It is just a part of the machinery.”
“The habit of failure is purely mental and is the mother of fear.”
“What can you do to help and heal the world? That is the educational test.”
For Students
A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.
Reading Guide
Watch for
- Ford's announcement of a car 'for the great multitude' in Chapter IV.
- The description of the moving assembly line in Chapter V.
- Ford's defense of repetitive work in Chapter VII.
- The five-dollar day in Chapter VIII.
- The section on the 'Jewish Question' near the end of Chapter XVII, which defends antisemitic articles.
Key terms and names
- Model T
- Ford's simple, low-priced car, made from 1908 to 1927.
- Assembly line
- A method in which the work moves past workers, each doing one task.
- Mass production
- Making large numbers of identical goods cheaply with machines and standard parts.
- Five-dollar day
- Ford's 1914 wage plan that roughly doubled most workers' daily pay.
- Antisemitism
- Hostility or prejudice against Jews.
Seminar Questions
- Comprehension How did Ford make cars cheaper year after year?
- Comprehension Why did Ford pay high wages?
- Interpretation What does Ford mean by putting service before profit?
- Interpretation Is Ford right that most workers do not mind repetitive tasks?
- Interpretation Why does Ford distrust bankers and borrowing?
- Interpretation What does Chapter XVII reveal about Ford, and how does it affect your view of the rest of the book?
- Big Question What do we owe to the people who work for us and to the neighbors we disagree with?
Faith Connections
- Colossians 3:23 (Scripture)
Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord; Ford praises diligent, honest work.
- Galatians 3:28 (Scripture)
Paul teaches that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek; Ford's Chapter XVII defense of antisemitic articles is contrary to the love of neighbor.
- 1 Timothy 6:10 (Scripture)
The love of money is a root of evil; compare Ford's warnings against speculation and his own pursuit of profit.
Logic and Rhetoric
Central argument: Ford argues that if a business serves the public with a useful product, cuts waste and lowers prices, profits and good wages will follow; therefore service, not money, should be the aim of industry.
Rhetorical device: homely analogy. In the Introduction Ford compares a healthy business to a chicken that must do a certain amount of scratching for what it gets.
Debate: Resolved: that the assembly line did more good than harm for workers.
Memory Work
I will build a motor car for the great multitude.
Writing Prompts
Essay: Ford claims that poverty can be ended by efficient production. Evaluate this claim using evidence from Chapters VIII and XIII and from what you know of history.
Comparison with Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie: Compare what Ford and Carnegie say about wealth, wages and charity. Which view better fits Christian teaching about stewardship?
Creative Prompts
- Classroom
Draw a diagram of a moving assembly line for a simple object, such as a sandwich, and time how long it takes to make five with and without the line.
- Essay
Ford says business should put service before profit. Using the book, explain what he means and whether he lived up to it.
- Dialogue
Write a conversation between Ford and a worker on the assembly line about the five-dollar day and the monotony of the work.
Further Reading
- Today and Tomorrow, Henry Ford and Samuel Crowther
Verification notes
Chapter titles, dates and quotations follow the attached Project Gutenberg text (#7213), checked as exact substrings. Facts about The Dearborn Independent (publication of antisemitic articles from 1920, the Sapiro libel suit, closure and Ford's apology in 1927) follow The Henry Ford museum's research page "Henry Ford's Anti-Semitism History" and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's Holocaust Encyclopedia article on "The International Jew."
No verification flags recorded.