The one I write about was not Jesus Christ. He is not in the past tense. He is still changing the world as He changes people, one by one, who come to know him. This man changed the world by a product. The man was Henry Ford. The product was called a Model T. Let me tell you a little about this man.
Henry Ford was a farmer's son. He was a runner, long before it had popularity like today. Folks thought he was crazy. He was a tinkerer. He was an inventor. Someone said of him: "He had a twenty-five track mind with trains going on all the tracks at the same time". He was full of energy but had a casual way. He believed in hard work. He once said: "Chop your own wood and you get warmed twice". As a young man he got a job in Thomas Edison's factory. They became fast friends. He shared with Edison a plan to make an inexpensive car powered by liquid fuel. Edison liked the idea. Ford designed such a car. He called it the Model T. He wanted something everyone could afford, so he had to come up with a way to build them that would be efficient and cost saving. It was the assembly line.
Henry Ford went to The House of Morgan (JP Morgan's bank) to get a loan. The House of Morgan was the largest bank in the country. They turned him down. They said cars were only for rich people. Ford found the money and started his business. The first Model T came off the assembly line in 1908. It cost $850.00. People didn't have to be rich to buy one. People who had never been further than their feet could carry them began to travel. Roads were built and improved. Businesses sprang up . Factories grabbed his mass production idea and began making washing machines, refrigerators and other appliances. Motels were needed. In 1914 when the average worker made $2.40 a day for a nine-hour day, Ford started paying his workers $5.00 a day for an eight-hour shift. By 1916 the price for a Model T had dropped to $360.00! He put our country on wheels. You could buy a Model T in any color you wished as long as it was black. The same held true with the Model A which would come next. We had one of those when I was boy! Henry Ford lived until 1947. He would have been proud this week when the word came that Ford Motor Company made profit when all others did not. They made jokes about his rattling flivvers and Tin Lizzies, but Henry didn't mind. He said, "I hope they never end!". He was smiling all the way to the bank.
This information was obtained from History of Us, An Age of Extremes by Joy Hakim
