Fordlandia

Review in Friday's Wall Street Journal of the book Fordlandia by Greg Grandin (sub req):

Ford thought he could do better: He would create a vast rubber plantation in Brazil, thus ensuring a reliable supply of latex for his new Model A as well as for his Ford trucks and tractors. In the process, he intended to show the world that his system of production would also elevate the lives of his workers. Fordism, to him, meant rational organization, the regimentation of labor and the application of technology to produce more and more goods at an ever quickening pace.

In return for such demanding drudgery, Fordism required that workers be paid much more than the going wage scale. This largess (if that’s what it was) in turn allowed them to become ­consumers in their own right, buying the products they made and creating even more wealth for their employers. Fordism worked at the gigantic River Rouge plant in Dearborn. In Fordlandia, it was hoped, the company would gather the seringueiros into one place, where they would grow and tap thousands of rubber trees, hundreds to the acre. Ford would provide them with relatively high wages (to keep them consuming), the best medical care (to keep them working) and even ­recreation facilities (to keep them happy).

Back in 1922, the Washington Post—commenting on what its editors saw as a petulant factory shutdown in the U.S.—had defined Fordism as “Ford efforts conceived in disregard or ignorance of Ford limitations.” There was something to these words. When it came to Fordlandia, what the Americans and their Brazilian collaborators couldn’t do was overcome South American Leaf Blight, which started attacking the trees as soon as they matured. An infestation of very hungry caterpillars only added to the challenge. During its best years, Fordlandia’s three million rubber trees produced 750 tons of latex; but every year the Ford Motor Co. consumed more than 50 ­million tons.

And Ford’s dictates to his employees in the Amazon came to be resented. The Brazilian workers didn’t like being made to eat in company mess halls, where they were fed a diet of oatmeal, canned Michigan peaches and whole wheat bread. They were humiliated to have their living quarters constantly inspected for cleanliness and their bodies inspected for venereal disease. They were angry that U.S. Prohibition was enforced in wet Brazil, where liquor was legal.

Ford clashed with the Roman Catholic Church, declining its offer to run Fordlandia’s schools. So when the American managers asked an itinerant Catholic priest to preach against alcohol he replied: “For heaven’s sake, I’m not a Baptist.” And forget the Lambada, or whatever its 1930s ­predecessors were: In Fordlandia entertainments featured American square dances.