Nobody has objected to Henry Ford's practical finance, and nobody is likely to. He has made his own money by economies in production which have not been "bobbery or "exploitation of labour. The country is more enriched by such finance than Mr. Ford. This accomplishment mentioned because of its bearing on current problems, and for the sake of calling it to the attention of those who may also approve Mr. Ford's theory of unlimited issues of money based on hopes of realizing at some future time economic enterprises.
In an interview published recently in the "New York Times Mr. Ford said that his bank balance was between' $135,000,000 and $145,- 060,000. Until it is' contradicted, that may pass as the greatest: bank balance ever held by a man or woman, and he thinks that his enterprises could be capitalized at a billion, says that paper. More over.
"My property consists of about 100,000,000 worth of buildings, $100,000,000 worth of machinery, and something more than $100,000,- 000 in cash, As a going concern, T have no doubt that these assets could be capitalized and sold for a billion dollars, But this $121,000,- 000, or whatever it is that we have in the bank, means nothing to me except a tool with which to work. I might liken it to the flywheel on an engine, the belt from a motor to a machine, or to the wire that feeds electricity to a trolley car. A big balance is required to keep our wheels going. We pay wages amounting to $500,000 a day and our materials cost us $750,000 a day. Our bank balance is therefore sufficient to pay our operating expenses for only about 100 days. All the money that comes to me goes into new industries. I never invest money in bonds or anything of the kind.
"All the money that comes to me goes into new industries," and the excess profits tax took from him last year $76,000,000. He says it. The Treasury did not leak. It would not be practicable to exempt from the excess profits taxes all in Mr. Ford's class, and there may be differences of opinion, how many there are. There can be no difference of opinion that there are enough to explain much of the depression in industry which causes our banks to put their resources undesirably into good bond investments, because they cannot lend them to those who follow in Mr. Ford's footsteps at however long an interval. And 17 years ago, according to Mr. Ford's interview, he could not get trusted in a bank for means to buy a Thanksgiving dinner.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.