Henry Ford? Apocryphal?
Dear Quote Investigator: The business titan Henry Ford apparently said something like:
The industrialist should endeavor to make the best quality goods and pay the highest wages possible.
Would you please help me to find the precise phrasing and an accurate citation?
Quote Investigator: In 1933 Henry Ford was asked about the Depression which had submerged the economy of the United States and the world. He offered the following guidance to fellow business people. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI: 1
There is one rule for Industrialists and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible. Nothing can be right in this country until wages are right. The life of business comes forth from the people in orders. The factories are not stopped for lack of money, but for lack of orders, Money loaned at the top means nothing. Money spent at the bottom starts everything.
The article with this quotation appeared in “The Los Angeles Times” and was distributed via the “Detroit News” and the North American Newspaper Alliance.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Notes:
- 1933 June 18, The Los Angeles Times, Greed in Trade Decried by Ford: Motor Magnate Gives Views on Depression Cause (North American Newspaper Alliance and the Detroit News), Quote Page 6, Column 1, Los Angeles, California. (Newspapers_com) ↩