He had been termed a "much overrated little man," but he always managed to bring his business through industrial crises that have thrown others into receiverships. Despite the severe depression year of 1931, net profits of his concern exceeded $6,000,000, an impressive increase over the preceding year. In point of earn ings and sales, Mr. Firestone represented 1931 as the most successful year in the history of his company.
His association with Mr. Henry Ford and the late Mr. Thomas A
Edison made him better known than any other person in the tyre industry Mr. Firestone's business philosophy vas to put losses behind him and start anew. When the tyre market froze with the depression of 1920, Mr. Firestone's answer was to slas prices and move his product before other manufacturers could compete. It put his company in a liquid position and carried him through.
In 1923 when the British Government put rubber restriction into effect, and emde rubber prices jumped from 15 to 37 and eventually 99 cents a pound, Mr. Firestone bought his 1,000,000-acre plantation in Liberia
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.