Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-09
built large enoughiite store three million

1t is phySlcaPnmpoSSibility," was the
reply 1--WE mighto do it in a year. We
can't do 1t in a MONTH
Il tell you It mast be done!" was Ar
mour's reply. "Cah in some Of the other
men,"
At this others Of the employees connect
ed with building matters were admitted.
They all Joined inowith the architect and
pronounced the putting up of the structure
in that time an imPossibIlity
Mr.. Armour listened to them but his
iron jaw at the close came together more
firmly than ever, and he said: 81 tell you it
must be done, and it will be done!" He
then gave his orders. He bought a
little island, known gas Gooseneck island,
In the mouth Of the Chicago river on
which to build the, elevators. He had ad-
vertisements posted over Chicago that any
man who could tahdle a pick or drive a
nail could find work by calling at p d.
Armour's stock yards He put up an cleo
trio lighting system and worked three
gangs of men eight hours at stretch, put
ting SO many men on the work that they
covered it like ants He went out every
day and took look at the work himself,
and the re suit was he had his eleva tors
built three days before the wheat began to
come. He took care Of his three million
bushels and made big thing off of their
sale.
Tais was like Armour. He is NapoIeonic
In his strokes. He is Napoleonic in his
makeup. He is one Of the few men who
can do more than one thing at a time
boys would bring him kilograms show
ing the condition of the stocks. He would
answer them giving his orders to buy or
sell. At such times 1t seemed to me that
he was not listening to my questions and
to what l was saying, but l soon discovered
that he was carrying both our conversa-
ton and the markets in his mind at the
same time. l have been told he has this
ability in q marked degree. Dr. Frank
Gunsaulus. the head of the Armour Tech
nical Institute says he does not doubt but
that Mr.. Armour could dictate letters on
different subjects to three or four secreta-
ries at the same time, holding the thought
of each separately and carrying on the
three or four threads of thought without
confusion.
ArmOur's Big Stroke in the Panic of
1893.
Another instance of Mr.. Armours Ma
poleonic character was seen here in the
raric of 1893. He was one of the few men
prepared for the panic. He saw it coming
months before it was a possibility In the
minds of other great capitalists of the
United States. He began to prepare for it
in 1892. He had not been feeling well and
he went to Europe for his health. While
loafinS about Carlsbad he came into con-
tact with scores of the moneyed men of
Europe, and from the way they talked he
learned that a storm was brewing. All at
once he decided to como home. The day
leading managers CT his different depart
ments to come there to meet him. They
came. They told him that business had
rever teen better, that all of his enter
rrises were paying, and that they were
making money hand over fist. Mr.. Armour
heard their reports, aid then threw a
thunderbolt into their midst by telling them
that he wanted them to cut down the
business to The closest margin. Said he:
There is a storm brewing and we must
draw in. We must have money to prepare
for it, and l want you to get all the cash
you can and put it away in the vaults.
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. tbs men rather thought that the
vas crazy, but they. did as he directed
At last they came TO him and told him
that they had about 81 100000 in cash.
Go out and borrow mere Don't be afraid
can"
This was done, and they finally told him
that they had secured 100000 in cash
In addition to this he also had in hand
about $i,coo.Oco in negotiable securities
WITH n capital of what was practically
$s'on'ooc on hand, Mr.. Armour then sat
back in his chair and said to himself:
We'll. If the crash must come l, 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
dropped to the bottom. Armour was prac-
tically the only man who was perfectly
prepared for 1t. He turned his SIS 900 OOo
over ana over, and realized fortune, while
the masses of less far-sighted business men
We're on the edge of bankruptcy.
How Phil Armour Works.
You would not think that a man who
made such big strokes and who is 80
wpul1 ha
however, is the case. There is no man in
Chicago who watches his business more
closely and who puts in more hours than
T. ID. Armour. He has all his life been an
early riser. He is at his office, winter and
summer at 80 o'clock every morning and
ne remains there usually until g. He goes
to bed regularly a . o'clock every night
eats simply, dresses well, but not eytraya-
gantly, and gets his chief pleasure | Judge
out of his work. He has great power of or
ganization, and we walked together
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 some
thlng like one hundred men We're working
away, Keeping accounts figuring up columns
10 ma the percentage of profits and loss
and answering the enormous correspondence
which Is connected with a great business
Ike THIS. AT the back of the room we stop
ped at the post Office and Mr. Armour
asked the clerk within it how many letters
they had received that day. The man re-
plled that 5000 letters had come in and
mat already about 1900 had been mailed
Inc man who writes a letter or so a day
can get some idea of Armour's business by
comparing his work with the answering of
from eight to ten thousand letters a day.
Leaving this part of the room we next
went on to the left. where in a sort of an
l., is the telegraph office of the establish
ment. There were, l judge, dozen oper-
ators at work, and the instruments which
were clicking away were enough to do the
business OF a city of twenty thousand peo-
pie. MI. Armour has his own private
operator apart from these men. This oper-
a Stor has an instrument just outside the
niue cage which is Mr.. Armours private
ONCE 1t is his business to take the mes
sages dlrect from the chief, and he is at his
once as early in the morning as Mr. Ar
nour' ready to give him the reports which
nave pefn received by telegraph and cable
from all parts of the world These ar.
-nrst disposed of, and by or 0 o'clock Mr..
armour thoroughly knows just what he
wants ms men to do in all parts of the
world. by 10 he has practically settled the
business problems of the day, and by II he
Is at leisure to meet his friends, or to go
ABOUT among his employees and chat with
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