Was Henry Ford the most influential inventor of the twentieth century?
Henry Ford was not an inventor. He did not invent the car or the assembly line. (Ransom Olds invented the automobile assembly line.) Ford was a ‘tinkerer’ and a visionary who knew that if he could produce an affordable car for the masses, he would have a hundred fold advantage over his competitors. Ford was the ‘automobile Wal-Mart’ of the early 20th Century. Henry Ford did not have much compassion for the average factory worker. He did not increase his employees’ wages out of the kindness of his heart. Ford did nothing out of the kindness of his heart. He instituted the first $5 a day wage in 1914 for the company’s benefit rather than for his employees’ benefit. The $5 a day wage was more than twice the daily wage of the average factory worker in 1914. Specifically, the turnover rate of employees on Ford’s assembly line was extremely high. Because of the low pay, hard work and long hours, many workers would quit, some in a month, others in weeks or days. This was a HUGE problem as, in
