Ford Statement

The Ford Motor Co.'s statement for the calendar year of 1924 showed some rather impressive changes over that for the year previous. Total assets at the close of last year amounted to $644,624,468, compared with $568,101,639 a year earlier. Most of this advance is contained in the item "real estate, equipment, etc.," which increased between the two statements from $180,789,490 to $227,120,617. The "cash" item was also up from $251,173,583 to $265,723,525, but as goodwill, trademarks, receivables, etc., are lumped under this head, no one but Mr. Ford and his confidants exactly understand what the increase really means, "Securities" held advanced from $40,963,073 to $55,070,306 and "prepaid expenses" from $847,187 to $1,455,083, while "merchandise and supplies" varied only from $94,328,306 to $95,254,937.

Equally mysterious are the changes in liabilities. The company's 172,645 shares of stock are still carried at a par value of only $17,264,500. "Accounts payable" have shrunk from $51,002,155 to $33,116,230. "Employes' investments" are up from $20,357,783 to $23,459,389. "Accrued expenses and taxes" have declined from $37,253,092 to $28,122,715. "Amortization of patents" was $183,028 in 1923 and $185,138 last year. Meanwhile "surplus"--the freak item of the whole statement--has increased from $442,041,081 to the colossal sum of $542,476,496--a jump of over $100,000,000 in a single year.

Expert accountants proposed various explanations of the obscure Ford statements. The public merely gathers the idea that the company is prospering, and that the Fords are on the whole quite well-to-do people.