Ford Figures

Opened last week with columns & columns of speculation was the annual season for trying to figure out how much money Henry Ford made in the previous year. Basic element in this statistical sport is the balance sheet which Ford Motor Co. has to file to do business in certain States. Starting points in the game are changes in surplus and reserves. These are also the stopping point because there is no way of telling what charges were made against these accounts or how much was paid in dividends to the two stockholders, Henry Ford and Son Edsel.

From a balance sheet filed with the Massachusetts commissioner of corporations & taxation last week, Henry Ford's profits for 1935 seemed to have been $3,565,000, a drop of nearly 50% from the year before. This was a sharp surprise to Ford rooters. Last year Ford not only outsold Chevrolet for the first time since 1931 but registered a 79% gain over 1934 in the number of cars produced. As a whole the automobile industry gained only 32%, yet profits as a whole were up about 125%. Ford's 1935 output of 1,193,000 units was only 15%, under 1930, a year in which indicated Ford profits were $44,000,000.

It was possible, though unlikely, that the Ford family drew down enough dividends to hide the real profit figure. As the rich go, the Fords can hardly be called spenders. Wages and other operating expenses were higher last year than in 1934, but the tremendous rise in volume should have more than offset increased costs. Henry Ford's explanation, were he ever to give one, would probably be that he is not interested in profits, only in cars.

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