Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1884-11-12
ARMOUR, PORK KING.
A Ruler Whose Realm L. the Worlds
Provision Market.
Chicago Letter in New York Sun.

but Now Claiming To Re
Legitimate Dealer.
[Chicago Letter in New York SUM-
Speaking of his last great pork deal, which
Melted him So O00, 900, Mr. p ID. Armour sale
that the result gave him peculiar satisfac-
ton, because he had been raided by the bear
Of New York and Chicago and had beater
them of. He declared most emphatically
that he was not speculative trader
in the sense that the term is generally
understood. He always buys pork when it IL
cheap, but he says he never buys it for the
sake of selling again on the speculative mar
ket. When he finds the market attacked hi
always protects his property. Thus far the
bear attacks upon him have resulted very
favorably to him. He made So, 500, 600 out
Of one five years ago, and the s2,O00,OO0 just
pocketed as the result Of his summers bust
ness, makes him feel very comfortable finan
cially
If the bears had let me Alone be said 10
Gently, Il should not have made this money
am engaged in a legitimate business, buy.
ing and selling for consumption i have
over 10000 men in my employ, and my sole
business is to distribute the product in the
markets Of the world"
When the raid was made ON this market il
May, Armour had more than sl2,OO,0>S
worth of pork on hand, and, of course b,
was vitality interested in maintaining prices
He bought everything that the short seller
threw on the market, and, having almost un.
limited capital, he found no difficulty Y
carrying all the stuff.
Close observations q the pork kings
methods say that his great corners invariably
follow some great public calamity or wide
spread panic. He buys when other people
have lost confidence in values, and limn3 az
purchases only to the amount Of the Offer
ings. In 1879, when it was announced that
yellow fever had appeared at Memphis,
panic occurred here in pork products which
are largely consumed ut the south The mar
kst dropped Sl.37 barrel in two days The
collapse broke nearly all the southern specu-
lators, who were, as a rule, on the long side.
The natural result Of overtrading On the
short side was that the market was cornered
in October, the bears settling their pork with
Armour at Sl3 barrel, he having bought
for 81 and s..
In 1880 the short SIDE of pork again ays
peared attractive to spectators, notwith.
standing repeated unpleasant experiences
with Armour. The stock on hand was large
and on April 20 pork sold down TO s9.25. Ii
was then that Armour took hold and laid the
foundations for his gigantic deals Of the sum.
mer Beginning at this figure, he bought all
the way up to s13 in July. During the
next three months he cornered the market
for each month. The shorts in August set
tied at el7, in September at SIS, and in Dc
tober at kl9 The total quantity of pork
handled by Armour was not less than 3, 600.
600 barrels. and the number Of shorts out was
large covering more than COG, 900 barrels.
Il was q mammoth deal, and involved buy.
ing all the pork in the world. In spit. of his
immense capital he would have been ruined
had not the demand for pork been heavy
and the public persistent in specializing on
the long side.
This same good fortune has followed thi |
successful trader in all his ventures His OF. |
gantic legitimate business makes il easy for
him TO dispose of the product and his s,,ner |
abundant capital enables him TO protect his |
enormous holdings whenever anybody raid |
him. The deal which he has lust closed II, /
so satisfactorily to himself resembles tn
gr eater one of 1850. and the money which h. |
has taken out of many speculators is cleal |
gift.
" Insisting
n sreculator or gambler Mr. Armour nd. |
mits that he made his first great fo, t,ne IA,
speculation. inst before the close Of the war
when Armour was n hacker in Milwaukee
and pork was selling at $40. he dreamed one
night that there would be a great tumble in
ur;ces On tho wav down town The now
he STONED at his partner's bouse
and told him that he tbupbt nork was t,c
p,epL;,,on Altar I;,tls furtbor conr.,Sa
lion il was agreed that Armour sbould take
he first train for New York and
,ell all he cm,d He went sold
,ork at s40 and never took IL in rntil-i,
,truck sIs making over 81 600 600 Inv
the oreration But he had great difficulty
IN carving ont his n,an The New yorl
auents az Plsnkinytop A. Armour war. Wal
lace a. Wicks. at that time one of the beav-
lest firms in the trade The big hackers all
,ver the country were hills ON nrovis;ons
Cleveland. Indiananolis and ST Iopis pacL.
srs being persistent buyers Wallace &
Wicks did business for all of them and were
bulls themselves. They endeayored bv
eyery means in their mower Ia disspods
Armour & Co. from selling pork. but he
adhered to the object of his visit
refused IN 90 Ia mee,inos and would h.,,
,oth;o, "a ,,.;,t az -, -.
- o 20 ~ "ou'
'n'ce ihoh'"s armour was the terror OF the
market, and when he got ready to
90 home prices had come down g. Just as
be was leaving Kingan, a prominent bull
operator. said he wanted To make inst ono
more traaa
am Iii 80, ooo ,,.
ai,, iis saiu armour
~ lake II, saio 'he other hen
,ork sells nj soo a barrel you will want it
,ack-
"rn deliver you that pork replied Ar
nour, "when it sells at Sis.r
Tho hackers with faw .xoo,,;,,,. ,
,,;,,oa H. en-, hr.oi .,,., ,u.l,' ".,o
u'e =. w an, "''u '''uur orcaiiie .he
,cneS' PACKER IN 'he world ne admits that
ne operation was nothing but huge gam
lie. II the closing struggles of the rebellion
lad been delayed few months he would
ave peen ruined As IL was, he was favored
y en.ui,S'a.es ''e, which ne couio nave
" pSs'ot ' -unuoi in"' was 'he only FISK !
ever oos' ue says
IN ploo, vi MS assertion that ne Is iesitl-
la'e uaue', Armour ihes 10 point 10 MS oil
.o o' !" Nee'' "neieih are EN-
~. eu 10y .'o, Nc anu aoeoun'ah'S' eiehty OF
,mo az ensaseu eAe'usi'eiy III making OUT
:s' nv. nos ,I, ~ eNeiy important
ta,a1r.nh,d to bis ran,,.s., ,, a..,ssaevn
YER the country giving the prices and con
ition Of the market here. and each afternoon A
is agents telegraph back the transactions of
,c day. Mr.. Armour himself is an indefa-
Seoie ~orner' ne rises every morning at