CORPORATIONS: The Secrets of Ford

Into a Pittsburgh stockbroker's office last week walked a man with $300,000 in his pocket. Said he, plunking the money on the broker's desk: "Put it in Ford.'' Buy-Ford fever was running high throughout the U.S., as Ford Motor Co. prepared for the Jan. 18 launching of its first public stock sale (TIME, Nov. 14). The Ford Foundation, owner of the stock to be sold, had asked brokers and dealers to allot each customer initially no more than 100 shares. But it looked as if most customers would be lucky to get ten shares apiece.

The scramble got even worse...