The Washington times., 1928-01-17

become the largest of its kind IN
the world, with sales totaling as
high as billion dollars a year.
How has this been achieved?
Let the butcher boys Oldest son,
now head of the enterprise, tell
The boy was Gustavus F. SWirt'
originally of Cape Cod and later
of Eastern cities before he MI
grated to Chicago, where he was
the first to slaughter cattle ana
ship the beef East.
Original Swift
According to his son and sue
cessor, the one-heifer business was
developt i into a 1000, 00O, 900 bus
mess by a combination OF very
pronounced characteristics Dos
sessed and exercised by its
founder. Thus:
The original Swift had strong
pioneering instincts.
He was an out-and-out individ-
ualist.
He llabitually rose at o'clock.
did a days work before most
business men had arrived at their
offices, kept at it all day and
devoted practically every evening
to business conferences or busi-
ness problems.
First mastering his retail busi-
ness, he equally mastered each
new development launched and.
even after his packing business
had reached unprecedented mag
nitude. he could show any man
in the organization how to do
his job.
He was an irrepressible expan-
sionist-never satisfied unless ex.
tending rapidly his operations and
ramifica tons.
Always he showed those he
put in charge how to handle
their Jobs. even going to London
and staying several months to
teach the retailers in Smithfield
Market at 8 in the morning how
best to cut up and display his
products.
Cleanliness Fetish
Cleanliness was fetish with
him. and woe betide anyone
caught perpetrating or permit
ting the slightest untidiness.
Literally he saved more time
than any other man have
ever known" records his SON.
Length of working hours meant
nothing to him and he inculcated
this same attitude in his work.
ers. When one Of them once
asked him what time it was. he
replied. You'll know when the
whistle blows
est honesty and earned such
reputation that when a million
dollar dispute arose between his
concern and a shipping company,
the head of the line cabled from
Britain, 1--WE viii submit this to
the personal arbitration Of @. +.
Swift"
He was a hard driver of men.
He didn't believe in giving
praise, but INDUCED freely IN
felt that they should be flattered
thai he took time to bother with
them, because, as he once ex-
planned to one, If a man didn't
have the making of something
in him. he (Swift) wouldn't waste
a moment on him. II can raise
frequently declared.
Kept His Word
Time and again on the ragged
edge Of bankruptcy, he always
contrived, somehow. to keep his
word, even though to do so he
sometimes had to borrow every
dollar his workers possessed, and
once saved a threatened crisis by
hurrying to a man whose estab-
lishment had burned down and in
ducing him to hand over the
100000 insurance just collected.
One of his notices was, Never
admit you're licked"
Another was, You never made
any money on business you didn't
do" meaning that it was poor
business not to have a complete
line of products on hand.
His horror OF waste led him to
pioneer in utilizing by-products,
and it was he who coined the
phrase:
Now we use all of the hog
except his Erunt."
He was constantly poking his
nose into sewers to see If any
fat or grease was being carried
away.
Antipathy to Waste
1t was his antipathy to waste
which led him to move his
headquarters from the East to
Chicago because, he reasoned. 1t
was a crime to ship whole ami
mails all the way to the East
when so per cent Of the carcass
was inedible.
Says his son: "TIe schooled
himself to do everything abso-
lutely right, and he expected the
same Of everyone else."
His powers Of observation were
such that he was eternally ask
ing managers and superinten-
dents questions they couldn't
answer.
These glimpses. given by Louis
r. Swift in "A Yankee OF the
Yards" a biography Of his IA.
ther, confirm the old saying that
every great business is but the
heightened shadow of one man.
Some of the hardy Yankees
methods. especially in handling
men, would not fit into modern
conditions. But sufficient Of the
original SWift's outstanding char
acteristics have been summarized
to show how and why he sue
ceeded in creating so impressive
a business monument.