Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-08-17

100000 a year, and the activities of
the company were greatly expanded
and developed Mr. Armour built
additional plants in various parts OF
the country to encourage and develop
the production of live stock in the
territory surrounding these plants,
and to eliminate unduly long hauls
to the yards 1t was under his guild
ance also that the South American
subsidiaries of the company were
established.
These opened world markets to the
livestock raisers of South America
and broke the valuable monopoly held
by British interests in the cattle busl'
ness of Argentina. Today there are
five Armour plants south OF the
| EQUATOR, Is in the United States ana
one in Canada. There also are APP
proximately 400 branch houses in the
! United States to facilitate d1strlpu-
ton. Mr.. Armour's administration OF
the business, according to his closest
associates, was peculiar in that it
was one of development almost ex-
clusively
j. ogden Armour was born in Mil
Waukee November IL, 1868. Twelve
wears later the Armour family moved
| from Milwaukee to Chicago. After
attending the public schools there,
Mr.. Armour entered Yale in 1881,
and three years later returned to
Chicago to embark upon his business
career.
Mr.. Armour married Miss Lolita
Sheldon, daughter of Martin J..
Sheldon, Of Suffield, Conn, i'll 1891,
They have one daughter, Mrs. John
j Mitchell, Jr., who was Lolita Ogden
| Armour, born in 1885,
| Mr.. Armour had extensive business
| activities iii addition to his connec'-
1 ton with Armour & Company. He
was a director of several large rail-
roads and financial institutions,
among them the Chicago, Milwaukee
| & st. Paul railway, the National City
Bank Of New York and the Con-
tinental and Commercial Bank OF
| Chicago.
| Business took most of his time and
he devoted little attention to society,
although the grand opera was his
i one diversion He was never too
| busy. however, for a half nlinutc
chat with an old employe or an old
| friend. When meeting one OF theSs
he invariably solicited an opinion on
| the market first and then demanded
! to know if everything was going all
right. The conversation generally
| ended with Mr. Armour saying
4 "When 1 can do anything for you
/ let me know" w
Old employees were his hobby Once
/, an "old timer" who was discharged
by department head took his grIev-'
| ance to Mr.. Armour.
When the department head ex'
| planned that the man discharged was
incompetent Mr. Armour replied: "It
| it took you Is years to find that out,
| take him back and keep him as long
as he lives"
Another time the heads of his ac-
counting departments complained that
an old packing house foreman re-
fused to keep books and threw out
the bookkeepers they sent him. They
were afraid TO discharge the veteran.
and asked Mr.. Armour to do it. mo,
he replied. 'That foreman taught.
me all know about that branch Of
the business but not all he knows.
If you can't get those figures some
other way you will have to get along
without them"
These characteristics made him
generally loved by his employees, who
regarded him as the supreme court
for minor differences.
In 1911, Mr.. Armour and nine other
Chicago packers were tried in the
federal courts at Chicago for alleged
violation of the Sherman antitrust
act The defense offered no teSti'.
mony in answer to the governments
case and the jury brought in a
verdict of not guilty.
Mr. Armour perpetuated the char.
liable and educational work founded
by his father. He made large dona-
ton to hospitals and relief work of
every kind, but never allowed mis-
, name to become public j" these
transactions.
Armour Institute of Technology
benefited by his generosity. When
the school needed room he purchased
an 80 acre golf links in the South
Shore district at a reported price
CT $100000O and announced his in,
&c e.,