The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1886-01-15

KING OF PORK AND LARD.
SKETCH OF PHIL ARMOUR, THE
NOTED CHICAGO PlG-kILLER.
The Vast Extent of His Business-Every-
body Kept at Work i'm His Office
Traits and Habits-A Novelty
in Human Nature.

fChicago Herald.l
Armour is butcher, but he is big one.
On his payroll are 5000 names He has
sold this year sec, 900, ,0C0 worth of food
products. He has agents all over the world,
to whom kilograms are sent every morning
giving the days quotations, and from whom
statements of business are received every
night The products of his great factories
reach every crook and Granny of the inhab-
tied earth In his office on La Sale street
are 130 clerks, 100 of whom are constantly
busy making out bills At his desk in the
midst of these clerks sits the millionaire
packer. At his left are his stenographers
and telegraph operators Around him,
within view, are his clerks There are no
partitions, no closets There is not even an
ante-rOom e..
EVERYBODY BUSY AT WORK
The boss works with his men. Every
morning at 5 he is out of bed, at he break
fasts, and at he steps from his carriage In
front of the office-palace and goes immedi-
ately to his desk. There he remains until
in the evening. Clerks and bookkeepers go
ing from street car or railway train to their
work look through the big window and see
him already at his days labor. At night
Whri eHcs ~ HOlllo tEty lOOk up anu uIlu
him still there At $50 he reaches home,
dimes, and is in bed by 9. This has been his
habit for many years. Work is his life and
pleasure. He is quick but not hurried, de-
cisive but not brusque Between transac-
tions, each involving fortune, he can pause
for joke or a word Of pleasantly. Neither
his millions nor his cares seem to age him.
He is light-hearted, almost Sboyish, and in
yariably smiles when he thinks of St Paul,
and calls it a "dandy" or F'daisy."
This man is a novelty in human nature in
that he can make a million month and
laugh about it. He likes to be called a
butcher, and insists that he is only pig
killer. He greets his country friends with
good-natured "How's hogs down your way?"
and sometimes his eye twinkles as he tells
inquisitive newspaper men that he doesn't
know anything about it. 'I'm killing my
hogs to-day and haven't time to think of
anything else" On his desk there is always
huge bouquet Of fresh flowers, set in the
pointed horn Of an OK. Beside this horn is
placed every morning a little ticket showing
the bank balance and there are always five
figures, and sometimes the initial numeral is
two or a three. Adjoining the walls are
sets of broadhorns and the ugly heads of
pigs Upon the marble floor near by are
samples of the packed meats he has to sell,
and specimens of scoop-shovels, knives, and
iose-rings which somebody wants him to
buy. Armour is neither proud of his mill
ions nor ashamed of his stickery.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND TRAITS
Armour is of medium height, and heavy,
but not fat HIS face is full and round,
without fiabbiness He speaks rapidly, and
makes constant use of fayorite expressions
He ic opd ha iS q Str-oroo,. 70 ilI,acs
In manner he is common and kindly. He
does not know what style is. He lives in
plain house on Prairie avenue, and keeps
fewer horses and servants than many men
whose fortunes are not equal to his monthly
income
He is master of the details of his bust
ness. He knows how every book is kept in
his great office, the detail of every report
from agencies, the Specification of every fig
ure in the monthly statement from the pack
ing-house, the minutin of every process in
the manufacture and shipment.
His wealth is estimated, by gentleman
quite familiar with his affairs, at from S15,-
Co., 900 to $1S,000,0OO. 1t is mainly in cash
OF securities He is not a large holder of
real estate, and it Is said he could, in an
emergency, realize more cash in twenty -four
hours notice than any other man in Amer
ica, perhaps, excepting one. He has no
dead or fictitious assets Each of the great
buildings at the stock yards, and all kindred
improvements, are charged to profit and loss
He has two sons, one at school, and the
other, Ogden, was admitted to the firm
year ago. Odgen is sensible and indmstri-
GUS After leaving school he spent several
years learning the business working in the
packing house, keeping books in the office
o.,I i I>ooR
No man could be closer in a trade than
Armour He knows the value of sixteenths
of cent multiplied by hundreds of thou
sands again and again. But where close
ness is manifestly improper he is large and
GaShing.