The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-05-10

system ana worker three gangs Oh Lutu
eight hours at a stretch. putting so many
men on the work that they covered 1t like
ants. He went out every day and took a
look at the work himself. and the result
was he had his elevators built three days
before the wheat began to come. This work
had been done quietly, and few OF the bro
kers knew OF it. He took care OF his three
million bushels and made big thing of
of their sale.
This was like Armour He is Napoleonic
in his strokes. He is Napoleonic in his
makeup. He is one of the few men who
can do more than one thing at time.
While he was talking with me messenger
boys would bring him kilograms showing
the condition OF the stocks. He would an
swer them, giving his orders to buy or sell.
AT such times it seemed to me that he was
not listening to my questions and to what
/ was saying, but soon discovered that he
was carrying both our conversation and the
markets in his mind at the same time. ]
have been told he has this ability in
marked degree. Dr. Frank Gunsaulus, the
head of the Armour Technical Institute.
says he does not doubt but that Mr. Armour
could dictate letters on different subjects to
three or four secretaries at the same time,
holding the thought of each separately and
carrying on the three or four threads OF
thought without confusion.
STROKE IN THE PANIC OF 1893.
Another instance OF Mr.. Armour's Ma
poleonic character was seen here in the
panic Of 1893. He was one Of the few men
prepared for the panic. He saw it coming
months before 1t was a possibility In the
minds of other great capitalists of the
United States. He began to prepare for 1t
in 1892. He had not been feeling well and
he went to Europe for his health. While
loafing about Carlsbad he came into con-
tact with scores of the moneyed men OF
Europe, and from the way they talked he
learned that storm was brewing. All at
once he decided to come home. The day
he banded at New York he telegraphed the
leading managers Of his different depart
ments to come there to meet him. They
came. They told him that business had
never been better: that all OF his enter
prises were paying, and that they were
making money hand over fist. Mr.. Armour
heard their reports, and then threw
| thunderbolt into their midst by telling them
that he wanted them to cut down the busi-
| ness to the closest margin. Said he:
There is a storm brewing and we must
| draw in. We must have money to prepare
| for 1t, and / want you to get all the cash
you can and put it away in the vaults. I
want You to go out In the street and stretch
| the name of p. d. Armour to its utmost
| tension. Borrow every dollar you can. and
| then let me know the result"
Some Of the men rather thought that the
! "old man." as they sometimes cal him.
was crazy, but they did as he directed At
last they came to him and told him that
they had about 100000 in cash.
"Oh," said he, that's not half enough!
| Go out and borrow more. Don't be afraid.
| Get all you can, and get it as quick as you
| can"
This was done, and they finally told him
that they had secured $1,000 900 in cash. In
| addition to this he also had in hand about
| 81 10000 in negotiable securities. With a
| capital of what was practically sS.0o0oo0 on
| hand, Mr. Armour then sat back in his chair
| and said to himself:
| well, If the crash must come. I. at any
| rate. am ready for it,
| 1t was not long after this that the crash
| did come. Money was not to be got for love.
| work or high rates of interest. Prices drop
| ped to the bottom. Armour Vas practically
| the only man who was perfectly prepared
| for 1t. He turned his $S,OO0,0O0 over and over.
| and realized fortune, while the masses of
| less far-sighted business men were on the
| edge of bankruptcy.
HOW HE WORKS.
| You would not think that man who made
| such big strokes and who is so wealthy
would be a hard worker. This, however, is
| the case. There is no man in Chicago who
| watches his business more closely and who
| puts in more hours than p. d. Armour he
| has all his life been an early riser. He is
| at his office, winter and summer, at 7:30
| o'clock every morning, and he remains there
usually until 6. He goes to bed regularly at
| 9 o'clock every night, eats simply. dresses
| well, but not extravagantly, and gets his
| chief pleasure, judge, out Of his work. He
| has great po-er of organization, and as we
| walked through his big offices he told me
that the machine practically ran itself. He
took me through the great office room, In
| which, in cages surrounded by wire screens
something like one hundred men were work
ing away keeping accounts, fguring up COL
| umns to find the percentage OF profits and
loss and answering the enormous correspond
ence which is connected with great bust
| ness like this. At the back of the room we
stopped at the postoffice, and Mr.. ArmouE
asked the clerk within how many letters
they had received that day. The man re-
l piled LlaL o,VUV letters na0 cOIic anu ina
already about ZOO had been mailed. The
man who writes letter or so a day can gel
some idea of Armour's business by compar-
ing his work with the answering Of from
5000 to 10000 letters day. Leaving this par
of the room, we next went off to the left
where, in a sort OF an L, Is the telegraph
Office of the establishment. There were,
Judge, a dozen operators at work, and the
instruments which were clicking away were
| enough to do the business Of city OF 90 0O
inhabitants. Mr.. Armour has his own pri
vate operator apart from these men. Tni.
operator has instrument just outside the
little cage which is Mr.. Armour's private
Office 1t is his business TO take the mes
sages direct from the chief, and he is at hi.
office as early in the morning as Mr.. Ar
mour, ready to give him the reports which
have been received by telegraph and cabl,
from all parts of the world. These are frs
disposed of, and by or 8 o'clock Mr.. Ar
mour thoroughly knows just what he want.
his men to do in all ports Of the world. By
10 he has practically settled the bushes!
problems OF the day, and by IL he Is a
leisure to meet his friends, or to go ahou
among the employees and chat with then
about their work lie is thoroughly demo
cratic in his ways, and he knows PERSONAL,
every man in his Office. AS We wake,
through the room he spoke to many OF tn
men by name, and he told me that many o
his men had been with him for years.