TRIVIAL PURSUITS: What were the eligibility requirements for Henry Ford’s profit sharing plan?

In addition to adopting an 8-hour work day and paying employees more than double what his competitors were paying, Henry Ford offered profit sharing to certain employees.

However, in addition to six months of service, employees were required to meet another, what could now be illegal, eligibility requirement.

Only employees who “conducted their lives in a respectable manner” were eligible for profit sharing. The Ford Motor Company’s “Social Department” kept tabs with an employee’s drinking, gambling and otherwise uncouth activities, and also looked into these things before hiring an employee.