The Washington times., 1919-01-21

lized nation for the accomplishment
OF task which, separately, they
could not have accomplished. We
nave seen possible defeat turned into
glorious victory by the Capitalization
of military command after the utter
tailure OF the representatives. of that
school OF thought which fears to
create power lest it be abused.
william G. McAdoo gave expert
opinion on the matter of commercial
or industrial power when he stated
to Congress recently:
Il am frank to say that I do
not believe that these important
reforms can possibly be accom-
pl1shed II we are to have in the
future several hundred different
railroad companies as we have
had IN the past
''The great organizations which ex-
ist in the meat-packing Industry illus
trate the Kind of unity which econ
omists agree produce the greatest eff
cheney of service.
1T Is said that our size and power
makes it difficult for others to enter
competition. To a certain extent that
is fact, because it is difficult to
duplicate in day anything which
has been half a century in the max
ing. Our country was not built in
a day and no possible kind of a con-
spira6v could have conjured it up;
neither was Armour & Company
the result of anything other than
Industry and painstaking and, IL I
may say it, intelligentlI directed ef-
forts to improve and expand through
rendering better and cheaper serv-
ice.
How Armour 4 Company Grew,
Great size in itself does not cause
efficiency, but great efficiency even
tually runs to size.
u The present day Armour & Com
pany dates from 1867, but it had it's
real inception in 1863 when my father.
Philip d. Armour, became the junior
partner in the Milwaukee packing
firm of Plankinton & Layton. the
name Of which automatically changed
to Plankinton & Armour
''The packing business then was far
from being what it is today. Plank
inton Armour were essentially
pork packers or more literally, pork
curers and packers. There was no
refrigeration in those days and the
packers did not handle fresh meat
except in a limited and local way
during the winter months. Curing and
packing were winter jobs only. and
the distributing of the cured pork
was attended to after warm weather
had made additional slaughtering and
curing impracticable.
THE Chicago firm of Armour &
Co. was at first subsidiary to Plank
inton & Armour, but it was not long
before the tail began wagging the
dog, and in 1868 1T represented CAP
ital investment of 100000. From
the very first, II was the policy Of
Armour e. Co. to skimp on dividends
in order that the greater part of tne
profits could be reinvested in the
business.
Profits Reinvested.
The policy of reinvestment has
been carried out so consistently in
the succeeding years that $3.50 per
cent OF the total earnings have been
reinvested in the business and only
12.1O per cent has been drawn out
for the personal and private use OF
the owners.
IF 1T is wrong to reinvest profits,
1t IS wrong to buy War Saving
Stamps with the interest from Lib
erty bonds; 1t is wrong for the Bible
to hold up as an example the servant
"i'' - oNCo 81 with inc
five talents given him by his master
that he turned them into ten talents.
Refrigerator Cars Open New Fields.
Several noteworthy events in the
industry took place at this time.
Probably the most important was
the utilization by the Armour Pack
ing Company of the newly invented
refrigerator cars for the systematic
marketing OF fresh beef. My father
saw very clearly that the refrigera-
tor car was the open sesame to a
business Of tremendous proportions,
that it linked the meat-producing
sections OF the great West to the
mere densely populated and heavy
meat-consuming centers in the East.
Up to this time there was no
such thing as an adequate fresh beef
supply in the East. and such West
ern beef as got there went alive
in stock cars. Moving cattle from
the prairies where production costs
were low. to the eastern centers Of
where grazing lands
did not exist, entafled transporta-
tion which was both poor and cost
ly. a one e-thousandpound steer so
represented $50 pounds
of dressed meat and 450 pounds Of
what was then practically all waste,
but which figured in the transporta-
ticn charges for all that. The re-
frigerator car offered a way to get
beef from the West to the East
even in summer time and Armour
and Company set out to take ad-
of that fact.
a snag was encountered at the
very outset, The railroads did not
take kindly to the suggestion that
they build refrigerator cars for the
transportation of fresh meat.
mo amount Of reasoning CT plead
ing moved them, and eventually
Armour and Company were COM
PEELED to build their own fleet Of
cars.
"Business expanded rapidly with
the invention of the refrigerator car.
due to the novel opportunity of eat
ing fresh meat in what was then
the "off season.
By-Products Utilization.
During the decade from 1850 to
1So0, Armour and Company continued
to expand rapidly as new fields of
opened up. 1t was during
this period that the utilization of by
hn dav