MTFCA Forum

I've read how James Couzens was the "power behind the throne" regarding Ford Motor Company's early financial success, and I don't doubt that is true. However, we may underestimate Henry Ford's business acumen. A few things came up on the thread with Henry Ford's contract with Detroit Automobile Co. that caused me to look at a few records i recently copied at Windsor University from Ford of Canada (the ledger pages below copied with permission of Windsor University, all rights apply):

First off, when I convert original dollars, I'm taking them times 31 to approximate todays values. Add to this the fact no income taxes were assessed at that time to come up with the approximate amount a salary or expense might equal today.

Ford Canada started in August, 1904. Below is a copy showing investor dividends dated October 2, 1905:

This closeup with spreadsheet beside shows who the two big dividend "winners" were, as well as a few other Ford Motor Company original investors with Ford Canada stock:


Henry Ford and A.Y. Malcomson (mis labeled "H.Y." in the ledger) each received the largest dividends (based on their leading FMC share holdings). In today's dollars, they each received the equivalent of $30,000 in today's dollars. Not bad for a little over a years business.

But, like a Ginsu Knife commercial, there's more..........

Henry Ford also received $200 per month, every month, in salary from Ford Motor Co. Of Canada from late 1904 through 1911.


That's $2400 per year, or over $74,000 in todays dollars. Combined with the 1905 dividend, over $100,000 in 1905 alone, with no income tax.

To steal a line from an old Saturday Night Live skit, "Canada been very very good to me........"

More background. According to this 1905 article, the tariff on automobiles imported into Canada had been 25%, and was raised to 35%. For perspective, a 1907 Model N, retailing in the U.S. for $600 (equivalent today, about $18,600), with a flat 35% added on would be $810, or over $25,000 today. Ford, Olds and an unknown car (Locomobile was produced by National Cycle and Automobile Co in 1899 to 1901, according to one source.) are listed as U.S. models produced in Canada.

Another magazine article predicted Ford would build 150 cars. We know from Canadian ledgers 163 Model C chassis were sold to Ford Canada. Also, 6 Model B and an unknown number of 10 hp A (probably not many A) were also sold during Fiscal Year (Oct 1, 1904-Sep 31, 1905). Evidently, the profit per car was good to justify the dividends paid out.

News article regarding the dividend reported in ledger pages above:
Original FMC investors were already having a good year. FMC had paid a 100% dividend earlier that year. Not only did the company pay investors 100% of stock issue value, the investors had only paid in about $28,000 of the $100,000 capitalization value.

That means (if my math is correct), majority investors Ford and Malcomson, with 26% of shares each, should have received $26,000. That’s over $800,000 today, tax free.

I want some of those investments….
Apparently, so did others: