Henry Ford is famous for raising the wage of those assembling the automobiles for Ford Motor Company, to a minimum wage of $5/day in 1914, as long as other requirements were met, back when wages for Ford's newly hired assembly workers, were previously only about $2.30/day. In which, seemingly this wage increase was done by Ford out of altruistic purposes. In truth, Henry Ford, recognized the wisdom of providing his employees with a "living wage", which would reduce considerably employee turnover and thereby make for a significant reduction in the training of such; in addition to increasing the work quality and actual cost efficiency of the automobiles so being produced; while also providing the ready means to increase market share, by the good will and middle incomes generated, allowing that working class to purchase the vehicles so being manufactured.
Somewhat incredibly, the Ford Motor Company, was sued by two of its largest shareholders, the Dodge brothers, for Ford's seemingly overly generous pay to its employees, that the Dodge brothers believed was a fiduciary mistake in regards to compensation for those employees, which should rather have seen monies paid out instead, in dividends to those shareholders. Further, the Dodge brothers did not believe that the Ford Motor Company was wise in reducing the price of the automobiles so being produced, when the market seemingly allowed Ford Motor Company to sell such at a higher price point, and thereby would have meant a higher profit per unit of those automobiles being sold.
Additionally, Henry Ford, had stated that one of his driving forces, in regards to his employees, was to "… to help them build up their lives and their homes." The Dodge brothers believed that Ford's duty to its shareholders was simply to pursue profits to the best of his ability, and that anything beyond this specific goal, was inimical to those shareholders. That is to say, the pursuit of money and profit was to be above everything else, and therefore those employers that were not compelled by law or other salient conditions to pay more than they needed to pay for the labor assembling those automobiles, were essentially cheating the shareholders of Ford Motor Company from the rightful monies so due to them in the form of higher dividends and/or a higher share price.
The result of this lawsuit was that though the court admitted that the duty of Ford Motor Company was to make money for its shareholders, it also stated, that it was not within the court's jurisdiction to question or to interfere in the business practices of Ford Motor Company in regards to either salaries so being paid or the price of the products so being sold, as well as the expansion of the business as best determined by the corporate officers of the Ford Motor Company. This meant, that Henry Ford had the right to increase the wages of its employees, as well as the right to reduce the price of the automobiles so being produced, and would not be mandated by that court to do otherwise.
So too, this indicated that hiding almost in plain sight, is the belief, by at least some of the representatives of this capitalistic system, that money and the pursuit of profit, should always be of primary importance, and therefore that pursuit should rightfully be above any requirement or desire that those being employed, are entitled to a "living wage".