Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1901-01-11
DEATH OF PHILIP D. ARMOUR.
A Great Captain Of Industry Whose
Operations Extended to Meat Pack
ing, the Grain Market and Railroads
Gave $4,ooo,o 900 to Armour lnsti.


Philip D. Armour, 6S, head of the
meat packing house of Armour & Co.,
the largest in the world, died at his
home in Chicago Sunday after an ill
ness of two years.
While Mr.. Armour's name was more
generally associated in the public
ming with the great packink establish
ments which bear his name, employ
ing 10000 persons, and having repre-
sentatives in every city of Importance
in the world, he was actively interest
ed in many other big enterprises. AS
the owner of an important system of
grain elevators, and as a heavy inves-
tor in the grain products of the middle
and western states, Mr.. Armour was
an important factor in the grain mar
kets of the world.
Mr.. Armour was a heavy owner in
the Chicago, Milwaukee and st. Paul
railroad company, and in the reor-
ganized Baltimore and Ohio. He was
interested largely in several financial
institutions.
Excepting possibly Marshall Field
Mr.. Armour was the richest man in
all the country stretching from the
Pittsburg home of Carnegie to the
Montana home of Clark, the copper
hlliSs NIL was Ou6 Vi inc
great captains of industry rather than
d mere Spectator of the Gould type
Mr.. Armour was a native of Stock
bridge, N. Y. At the age of 20 he
joined the rush to the gold fields of
California. He worked there as a
miner four years, and returned with
the money which was the foundation
of his fortune. He went to Milwau-
boo tn in, bn cgfA
ness, and in 1863 became interested
in pork packing. The Chicago bust
ness was established by his brother,
H. o. Armour, and Philip went to
Chicago as the manager in 1875.
He has told the story of his first
great speculation, in pork, just before
the closing of the civil war. Pork was
then selling strong at $40 barrel
Mr.. Armour believed the Union troops
would be victorious and that prices
would tumble. He hurried to New
York and took the short side of the
market. Prices began to fall and when
the surrender of Lee came at Apo
mattoX and Armour began to make
his deliveries pork was selling at SIS.
In 1880 Mr.. Armour was credited
with engineering a corner in pork
The deal was forced on him. In his
cellars were thousands of barrels of
pork, which spectators began raiding
They offered pork in the market at a
price below what it cost him to pack
it. The raiders forced him to pro
tect his cellars" He had to put up
$1,000,00 in order to do it, but soon
the tide turned his way, and the raid
ers got out of the scrape only by put
ting up 100000 as tribute. In 1882
some of his friends, among them his
old partner in Milwaukee, became in
volved in big wheat operation. They
were in danger of being eaten up. To
save them Armour abandoned a con-
templated trip to Europe, took all the
wheat offered at $1.35. and for months
kept the price of wheat in this market
20 cents above quotations in all other
markets of the world. He saved his
friends and made $1.000.000 for him
self
Armour went into st. Paul railroad
stocks in 1885 because he could see no
reason why the stocks of that company
should sell 80 points below that of
parallel roads no richer or more re-
munerative. Following his usual Gus
tom of carrying speculation and bust
ness investment side by side, he
bought $4,000,000 of st. Paul stock out
right, paying 65. Another million
or two was put in on margins through
his bankers. About this operation
there was no secrecy. His friends were
advised to go in. They were told to
look out for rise in st. Paul. Some
of them followed his example, and
made money. From that day st. Paul
mas justified Mr.. Armours confidence
in it.
At one time the Chicago grain brok-
ers thought they would down Armour
by compelling him to take 100000
bushels of grain which he had bought
for May delivery. All the grain ele-
vators were full. The architects and
builders declared that il was a physi-
cal imposiblltiy to erect in 80 days
elevators that would hold 100000
bushels of grain. Armour said it
must be done. Every man who could
handle pick or drive nail was given
work. The men were worked in
three shifts of eight hours each, and
the elevators were completed in %
days. Armour took care of his grain
and made big profit.
Armour showed his immense re-
sources three years ago when Joseph
Letter tried to corner the grain mar
ket. Armour's agents bought all the
available wheat in the graneries of
the Northwest, and every vessel which
could be pressed into service brought
wheat to Chicago. A fleet of tugs was
chartered to crush the ice and keep
the channels from freezing. The bat
tie was kept up all winter and spring
until the Letter crowd threw up their
hands and the wheat corner was
broken. Mr.. Armour foresaw the
panic of 1898. He began to prepare
for 1t in 1892. when the volum- of
business was immense. He secured all
the cash possible, and when the crash
came and interest rates jumped he
had $8,000,000. He turned this over
nd over and realized fortune.
Mr.. Armour was not only a great
master in business; he gained the fame
of being the leading philanthrophist
of Chicago. The chief monuments to
him aside from the vast meat, provis-
ions and grain industry of which he
was the head, will be the great Armour
chronological institute of which Rev.
DR.. Gunsaulus is the head, and the
Armour mission. The mission was
founded by his brother. but has been
added to by him, and upon it and the
institute he spent more than $4,000 900.
1t takes about 100000 a year to keep
the institute running. About 1000
boys and girls. young men and young
women, are being educated in it, and
it is, in fact, a large college taught
by the best professors and equipped
with Gonna Of tha 6nact unanbanioa1