Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-02-14

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- point In his life 1t
disgusted him with
the prudish precincts of Wa:ertown and
drove him forth a fortune seeker. Across
the plains to California he went, driving
mule team TO pay bis passage-a
strapping. broad-shouldered, green, plucky
youth, with a few dozen dollars In his pocket
and keen eye in his head. He fell sick en-
route and his bones were nigh to the sad
fate Of bleaching among the sands and sage
brush of the Platte, but he survived to kill
millions of porkers, fattened upon the plenty
of that great American desert He reached
the gold fields, found some dust, saved it
and few years later returned to the states.
At Milwaukee he engaged modestly in the
pork packing trade, after hesitating be-
tween hogs and lumber. and was thus
brought into the indus ry In which he soon
rose to the position of unrivaled leader.
At the beginning Of the war the packing
trade was mainly in the east, with New York
as the center Western packers were not
supposed to amount 10 much As the war
went on pork wsut kiting, along with every
thing elsa In the winter Of "a it was $40
a barrel, and strong at that Ali Of the big
packers were loading up in anticipation OF
still higher prices But one night Phil
Armour went to bed and dreamed. Is he
says, with his eyes open. 1t was q golden
dream for him He saw two armies-one
strong, well supported, aggre .sive, the other
weak, though valiant, defending q resource
less country. He saw Grant and Sherman
pulling together. and to him the end Of the
rebellion seemed nigh ''The Confederacy is
coming down." said he to himself, and
pork is coming down with it Prices are
now artificial and inflated, and when Rich
mond falls they will take drop" And then
be turned over and went to sleep But At
next morning he was up-and here we see
the quality OF ready decision and energy
which has been the mans making-and an
hour before daylight he pulled his partner,
Plankinton out of bed
The first train for New York that very
day bore rs passengers a modest young man
of IS, a Milwaukee butcher, en- route for tho
metropolis to make a million Of money. The
bull operators in pork received him with
open arms They snapped up his pork in
], 600 barrel lots at $40 wondering who this
rash young man was, rushing 50 fast to his
ruin But soon their eyes began TO open
The market sagged of, and then they tried
to induce Armour to join the bull pool
They caioled and hattersd him, snd offered
him big profits IL be would close out and
take the other side of the market But thu
young westerner knew pig from poke
He had bet a cool million that his hog was a
fat one, and he stuck TO his bargain When
prices had dwindled to $50 Kingan, a big
operator Of that day, declared that he
wanted one more trade.
Give me 1000 barrels at $50 " he said,
''and you Il want it back when the price
touches 500
an sell you loo at $50" Armour re-
piled, ',and Pll not deliver you the pork
until the quotations are els.
Armour was right Soon Petersburg fell
and pork dropped so fast that IL made the
bulls dizzy. Richmond was evacuated, and
pork collapsed Lying In his bed at Mil
waukee he had calculated that the nominal
end of the rebellion would cut the price Of
pork in two in the middle, and he had calcu-
lated we'll Appomatsox knocked it down
to SIS, and he began to make his deliveries
But the bulls organized to cheat him Of his
profits They threatened to repudiate their
contracts Dealing in futures was IL
any way, tLiCy SdAtf okfa tk1cy oiu
propose to sanction Illegal trading. Even
Armour's brokers turned against him and
tried to keep from him the fruits Of his VIC
tory Armour, however, staid right there
and made his debtors toe the mark Most
Of them paid up And to the brokers who
had so treacherously turned on him he said:
.pn drive you out of business" He kept
his word A year later the firm of h O.
Armour & Co was established next door to
the offending brokers, and in less than
half -a-dozen years thereafter the latter took
down their sign.
This great success was won with nerve
keen perception and sound Judgment He
was bear because he foresaw that the end
of the war was near at hand. He made
millions because he had the faith to back his
Judgment with his whole fortune. Such g
success as this in the speculative market
would have turned the heads of 90 men out
of 100 They would have continued mere
gamblers But it was not 50 with Armour.
A business man before he was speculator,
he returned to his sticking He established
new packing houses at Chicago and Kansas
City, and in 1875 removed to this city His
business was that of killer of animals and
packer of meats and he pushed 1t with
matchless energy. Hs is q butcher, but a
big one. On his pay roll are 5000 names
He sold last year, in all the markets Of the
world, $50 0OO, 600 worth OF food products.
No other manufacturing concern in Amer
lea enjoys sales a. large He has agents
all over tie globe, to whom kilograms are
sent every morning giving the days quota
tions, and from whom statements Of busi-
ness are received every night In hi, great
office, surrounded by $50 clerks, sits the mil
licuaire packer At his left Is his stenog-
rapher and private secretary; behind him
his telegraph operators working chartered
wires to New York, Milwaukee and Kansas
City. He is a boss who works with
bis men. His clerks are all In
view. There are no partitions, no closets
not even an ante-room- Rising every morn
ing at 5, he breakfasts at 9. and invariably
reaches his office by 2. There he remains
until in the evening. One Of the sug-
gestive scenes in Chicago Is made mp OF this
office palace, through whose great Window
c.erks ard bookkeepers BY the score stop
every morning to gaze as thsy pass by on
their way to work. Going home in the
evening they stop again. In the morning
they saw at his desk the millionairs In ths
evening ne wss stiil there, as busy as be-
fore. Christmas day he worked till late in
the afternoon, and kept all Of his clerks
half the day Doubtless he would have
worked till 8, as usual had not his wife
called and coaxed him away. Nor did his
clerks grunble. They arc well paid well
treated. and every one Of them bore home
with him generous gift from his employer.
For years 1t has been Armours custom to
meet at dinner two or three times q week
his chief employees He sits at the head Of
the table, and himself carves the roast Of
haaf Lar Of Hia lia,,far ants