Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-03-30

Less is known of the head of the Swift
& Co. corporation than of the Armours,
because Louis F. Swift's home has al
ways been in Boston. He is more reti-
cent and exclusive than j. Ogden Ar
mour. Living within a few miles of the
birthplace of Gustavus F. Swift, he lives
in a mansion which costs a fortune,
while the farmhouse in which his father
was born, which still stands, is small
and devoid of all modern comforts. He
rides in automobiles; his father, as a
boy, drove a butcher wagon. His income
and resources are like those of an en-
peror of the east; his father grubbed a
meager living from his farm.
]. Ogden Armour has a home on
Michigan avenue which cost $125, 900.
His wife is a beautiful woman, and a So
ciety leader, who takes much interest in
outdoor sports and driving, who in an
unassuming and modest way is liberal
in her charities. At Oconomowoc, Wis,
they have a summer home which is said
to be one of the most complete in the
country il equippage and comfort.
Value of the Plants in Combine.
The following are the figures at which
the various packing plants were valued
in the consolidation which is called the
beef trust:
SWIFT & co.
Capltal 15,UUU,OOU
Annual business ........... 0 0,000, 900
Stock value in merger ...... $4,000, 900
ARMOUR & co.
Capital 10000, 900
Annual business ........... 200, 000, 900
Stock value in merger ...... 10000, 900
NELSON MORRIS & co.
Capital 5000, 900
Annual business ........... $4,000, 900
Stock value in merger ...... IL. 1000, 900
CU.DAHY & co.
Capital ....................$ 5000, 200
Annual business ........... 5000, 900
Stock value in merger ...... Is, 000, 900
Stocks and securities repre-
senting purchase from
Hammond & Co. and Oma-
ha Packing company by
Armour & Co............ 1000, 900
Value in merger ........... 81, 000, 900
Stocks and securities repre-
senting purchase from
Fowler & Son Packing Co.,
the Anglo-American Pro-
vision company, by Swift
& Co. 5000, 900
Value in merger ........... $4,000, 900
Total capitalization of beef
trust POI, 600, 900
Remarkable Display Of Genius.
The story of how the present gigantic
power of the beef trust was born and
nurtured has its beginning in the char
acter and personal achievements of Gus
tavus Swift. However much P. D. Ar
mour contributed of sagacity and ener-
getic constructiveneSs, the present con-
dition of supremacy of the beef trust
and of subservience of the railroads, the
fruit growers, the farmers and the stock
raisers of the United States would never
have come about but for the rawboned,
money-loving Yankee, Swift the elder.
An idea that was his and to which he
chung with the tenacity of an inventor,
and upon which be staked his all,
brought it to pass.
We have said that Gustavus Swift left
the cattle buying business in Brighton
and other Massachusetts towns when he
discovered how superior western cattle
were over those of the east, and how
much more money there was for him in
dealing in westerns.
Although he later gave evidence of the
innate genius for organization and mon
ey making, he had not up to his remov-
al to Chicago been successful except in
a very small way. Utmost frugality and
incessant attention to business had CIV
en- him a slender bank account. He was
able to merely hang On the skirts of the
Chicago cattle market and had to be
content with insignificance. Occasion
ally he picked up a carload of cattle at a
bargain and shipped them east. He
grew more and more successful in this.
He found there would be a saving to him
in having a butchering place in Chica-
go, and in a few years he had established
one. 1t was a small concern, which cut