The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1886-01-22
KING OF PORK AND LARD.
SKETCH OF PHIL ARMOUR, THE
NOTED CHICAGO PIG-KiLLER.
The Vast Extent of His Bus;ness-Every.
body Kept at Work in His Office
Traits and Habits-A Novelty
in Human Nature.
chicago Heraldl

[Chcago Herald.l
Armour is q butcher, but he is big one.
On his payroll are 5000 names He has
sold this year $60,000,000 worth of food
products. He has agents all over the world,
to whom kilograms are sent every morning
giving the day IS quotations, and from whom
statements of business are ,peeeiTed every
night This 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.
EVERYBODY BUSY AT WORK
The boss works with his men. Every
morning at 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
when they go home they look up and find
him still there. AT $50 he reaches home,
dimes, and is in bed by g. This has been his
habit for many years Work is his life and
pleasure. He is quick but not hurried, de-
cisiye but not brusque. Between transac-
tions, each involving a fortune, he can pause
for joke or word of pleasantly Neither
his millions nor his cares seem to age him.
He is ight-hearted, almost boyish, and in
variably smiles when he thinks of St Paul,
oud 40 lie N VII Or ttdaicy
This man is a novelty in human nature in
that he can make millioa a month and
laugh about it. He likes to- be called
butcher, and insists that ne 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. 'Im 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 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
nose-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 iabbiness He speaks rapidly, and
makes constant use of favorite expressions.
His age is 80, and he is a stranger to illness
Ia manner he is common and kindly. He
does not know what style is. He lives in a
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 a master of the details of his busi-
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 minutise of every process in
the manufacture and shipment
His wealth is estimated, by a gentleman
quite familiar with his affairs, at from $15,-
100000 to $1s, 100000 1t is mainly in cash
or securities He is not 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 industri-
Gus After leaving school he spent several
years learning the business working in the
packing house, keeping books In the office
and selling pork and beef ''on the road"
No man could be closer in a trade than
Armour He knows the value of sixteenths
of a cent multiplied by hundreds of thou
sands again and again. But where close
ness is manifestly improper he is large and
,iaShing