Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-12-26

was ooit=ill tihd Wnen 81 I'D was bid and paid
for every bushel offered The two great opera
tons put ArmOur's name in the months of
traders the world over. 1t was thought mar
vel IN 1879 when he fixed the price of cured
meats for the world in his Washington street of
ice: still greater marvel In the way OF produce
manipulation when he kept the price Of wheat
at Chlca5O by the sheer force of his millions 80
cents above that of every other market in the
world. While these two famous corners" were
such brilliant operations of their kind that they
made the engineer famous In the world of
hnance. they do not fairly illustrate Armour's
merit OF character. The pork corner was q
defensive operation. Produce spectators the
country over had sat upon provisions. At Chi
ca-o. especially. Arm0urs products suffered so
from the raids OF the mob of spectators, big
and little. that pork was offered and sold In any
lots by bears who never in their lives owned
barrel OF it. % per cent under what it cost
the biggest packer in the world. with the best
facilities in existence to manufacture it. Mil
lions OF dollars worth OF product lay in his Gel
lars. 1t became question of defending this
property by purchases or OF surrendering to
the mob Of ''shOrt" sellers. The Armours were
counted good fighters when they We're on the
farm in New York state. Phil Armour vas one
of the few ''tenderfeet" who was not imposed
upon and robbed in the California gOld-fields.
He has been all his life as combatiye in business
as in the other walks OF life - The defense of
his cellars" cost Armour. in 1878, clean
; 100000. but the loss did not make him aban-
don it. He redOubled it Finally his opponents
were glad to be let of after paying S4,000,0O
tribute. The wheat deal was not begun in de-
Tense of 1.-The cellars but to save a partner
and friend. PlankintOn and kershaw were in
extricably in the mesheS of that speculation be-
fore Armour knew q thing about it. He aban-
doned a contemplated trip to Europe and
| assumed the burden and the onus of it simply to
protect an old friend.
There are. said q gentleman acquainted
with the workings OF the great packers BUSH
ness. III clerks in the Washington street
office. Eighty of these are employed day in
and day out making out bills. There Is not a
city in the south where there is not an agent of
Phil Armour; not a market of consequence in
Europe where there are not Others. Every
morning messages are sent to these representa-
tIveS giving them the quotations of the day;
every night they wire back the transactions of
the day. Cables each morning are sent to a
dozen European cities. and answers each night
received. Armour & Cos mail aggregates
every day one thousand letters in and another
thousand out. Every twenty-four hours re-
questions are made upon the different railroads
for from one hundred to two hundred freight
cars, and each car bears not less than twenty
tons OF product. Armour himself owns three
hundred of the finest refrigerator cars on
wheels. They carry his dressed beef to and fro.
The men, women and children supported by
the great packer
WOULD MAKE CITY
rolls at Chicago Milwaukee and Kansas City not
less than 10000 men,
At little before seven o'clock each morning.
as the last Of the printers are getting home ana
before the day-watch has changed places with
the night-watch at the telegraph offices. q car
rage drives rapidly along Washington street
, and stops in front of the packers office Armour
himself steps out, enters his office, and begins
/ his work. One man has preceded him and
opened his cables The rest of the Office does
not arrive for an hour. Armour is walked at !
O'Clock. breakfasts at 6, and is invariably at his
Office at ! a. m. He leaves at p. m. The eleven
/ hours Intervening are crowded with work"
do you suppose" asked the writer of gen
/ tleman in ap0sitiOn to know, THAT Phil Armour
Is COnyersant with the details of his vast est an
/ liShmcntS.''
! II know he IS" was the answer ''There is
! not a department that he could not. in an emer-
/ gency. take charge of and manage better than
! any man in his employ. lie knows Just what Is
all the while going on. He is assisted in this bv
/ a marvellous memory. Let 4 bid come by wire
/ to-day for anything. biz or little he could re-
member it & fortnight hence if there has been
such change in affairs that it is desirable to en-
terrain 1t. He arranges details himself from
the painting of one of his yellow wagons to the
building OF 500 900 worth of refrigerator cars
Every morning there is placed before him a
little ticket about the size of a calling card 1t
represents the cash in Chicago in bank 1t is
said that this is never far from 81. 900 600 The
capital OF Armour & CO.. $40 100000, is prob
ably larger than that of any other concern, not
banking, in the world. Nor is this made UP of
office fixtures. real estate and traps. The best
authority upon this point says that it is all cash.
and that the firm is worth 500. 900, 900. Half Of
1t belongs to Philip d. Armour.
He Is a partisan, strong. active, vigilant as a
nicnd. but relentless uutlTlng. and uIfUrgetful
as an enemy. He is the only produce speculatOr
in this market with following There has al
ways been an Armour party. 1t has always been
small but a most dangerous combination to fall
foul of. He is charitable-un the
largest giver in Chicago. His charity is proven
bal He has never founded library or pic
ture gallery, and never will. The stock-yard
workman VINO goes to the rich packer with his
troubles never goes away empty handed. Some
really generous gver follow their gifts Ar
mOurs donations are placed without qualifica-
ton at the
DISPOSAL OF THE APPLICANT.
Some years ago Chicago minister applied to
the packer for aid for young woman who was
IN distress in this city. liberal sum was put
at the disposal of the man of God. After some
little delay the money was returned with an ey-
PLANTATION that the young lady had refused sat
lsfactorily to answer some questions She
could not tel, it was said. why she was away
from her home. The minister pressed her TO
make confession. She declared she had moth
Ing to confess. From that day to this the packer
and the man OF God have never spoken Mrs
Armour, a very sweet lady. carried out the mis-
sion the minister abandoned. The girl was ten
DERBY cared for until the DAY of her death. which
occurred very shortly after the incident hap
pened.
De- <AS