Throughout the year 1999, writers of all stripes told us over and over again which events in the 20th century were newsworthy and worth remembering. World Wars I and II were favorite subjects. The Battle of the Bulge, the A-bomb drop on Hiroshima, the decision to commence the Marshall Plan were on just about everybody's A-list, too. The Great Depression, manned flight, and the development of the automobile were events of the ten decades from 1900 to 2000 mentioned as the most compelling events of this period as well.
There were some events, less glorious, but just as meaningful to the person we call The Common Man. One of these was Henry Ford's decision in 1915 to raise all of his worker's pay to $5.00 a day.
Just imagine if some entrepreneur/industrialist, say Bill Gates of Microsoft, announced tomorrow that every employee he has will be paid, $100,000 a year beginning right now. Think of all the waves that would make in the computer industry. Wall Street would panic and Congress would rush to pass laws raising taxes.
In 1915, the going wage was $2.00 per day. Sometimes an extremely skilled and diligent worker was raised to the sublime wage of $2.50 per day, but that was tops. Five dollars a day was unheard of and many predicted that Ford would go bankrupt in a few months unless he got hold of himself and returned his pay slips to their old number. When Mr. Ford held the line on his pay increases, many of his investors began bolting for the door.
Former Michigan governor Lewis Cass's money had been in the Ford Motor Company. FOMOCO was not on the Stock Exchange then. The Dodge family pulled out of Ford and started their own automotive company.
Ransom E. Olds, the founder of the Oldsmobile Corporation, threatened to put Ford out of business by selling his cars cheaper than Ford because he assumed Ford would have to raise prices because of his wage policy. Instead, Ford cut prices and kept Olds in the pressure seat.
But boy! Did Ford's workers love it! Families that had been renting a place to live suddenly were buying homes. The children of Ford workers who never expected to go to college were now enrolling in higher education. Now, even the lowest paid employee at Ford could afford one of the black beauties he helped to build. Soon, Model Ts began appearing in the driveways where they never were expected before.
For the average man, one of the greatest benefits of the Ford $5.00 a day plan was to lift expectations for all workers in almost every industry. Edison workers said, "If Ford can do it, why can't Edison?" Skilled workers at Ford's suppliers, such as the steel industry, began leaving their jobs in Youngstown, Pittsburgh, and Wierton, heading for Dearborn and Mr. Ford's shop.
If the steel magnates complained to Ford, he merely threatened to build his own steel works (which he later did) and cut them off completely.
When I debate all those who believe government is the answer to all the welfare needs of us citizens, I ask this question: Who has done more for poor people in America, Henry Ford or Lyndon Johnson?
Another powerful event that took place during the 20th century that went unnoticed by the New York scriveners was the birth of the Dionne Quintuplets in May 1934 in Callander, Ontario.
I was a little over four years old when these five girls were born but I either remember the event or heard it spoken of so much that it seems I can remember the real thing.
That five children were born prematurely and all kept alive was, for the time, nothing short of miraculous. All five weighed a total of 11 1/2 pounds at birth. The attending doctor, a physician named Roy Dafoe, gained worldwide fame for his delivering techniques and the makeshift incubator he built to house the infants during the early weeks. For a while, the mother's life was in danger. Dr. Dafoe showed considerable skill treating her and saving her life. These were the days before fertility pills and five live births from the same pregnancy were rare. The girls were made wards of the British crown. Canada was still a British colony then. People came from all over the world to view these miracle babies. Childless women on three continents wrote to the Dionne father to pay him for his services if he would impregnate them.
To the average person, Henry Ford's $5.00 a day wages and the Dionne Quintuplets were bigger events than the Wright Brother's flight at Kitty Hawk, bigger than the surrender of Germany in World War I. These were working man happenings. These were things housewives could understand and talked about over the back fence. Even children knew something big was taking place.
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| Jim, circa 1995, making a point |
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