Henry Ford: An Interpretation

XIX. The Son and His Father's Shoes

CHAPTER XIX THE SON AND HIS FATHER'S SHOES WHAT will become of the House of Ford when its founder passes out? Will the son be able to fill his father's shoes? The sons of the creators of vast fortunes and the builders«f colossal industries do not always inherit the mental equipment and develop the moral character necessary to the conduct of the business established by their fathers. Fortunes tend to self-destruction by destroying those who inherit them. Great wealth is frequently dissipated in the second and third generations. A great industry often begins to disintegrate with the death of its founder, unless he is wise enough to provide that strangers shall take over its management for the benefit of his heirs. In some instances the son does inherit the ability of his father. Two notable examples of 188 HIS FATHER'S SHOES this are to be found in the House of Morgan and the House of Rockefeller, and I feel quite safe in predicting that Edsel Ford will take his place along with the younger Morgan and Rockefeller as an able successor to a gifted father. The House of Ford has nothing to fear in the second generation. The son of Henry Ford is well equipped, both as to character and ability, for the management of the colossal industry that will ultimately come under his control, I do not mean to say that the shoes of the father will prove an exact fit for the son. They may prove a little oversize in length, meaning by that that the son's stride may not be quite so long, quite so swift and daring, but a little more deliberate, a little more conservative,than the stride of the father. And I would not be surprised if the sonshould find the father's shoes a little undersize in width, meaning by that that the son has more of a reasoned than an intuitive method of arriving at conclusions; that I credit him with an intellectual breadth and balance, with a sympathy and tolerance of mind, an under189 HENRY FORD standing heart, a less ruthless manner of putting down his foot, than I credit to the father. The son is a composite in whom is to be found much of the father's ability, broad humanitarian impulses, together with certain elements of strength inherited from his mother to whom Mr. Ford attributes, and justly so, much of his success. So it may be that slight alterations may have to be made in the father's shoes in order to make them a comfortable fit for the son, but what is lost in length will be gained in breadth, and the area of the sole in contact with the ground will be no less in the second generation than in the first. I cansee no reason to fear that the House of Ford will suffer at the hands of the son. 190 ...