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Show (j jj Tlie Napoleon of Chicago Capitalists 1 Gossip uiul Story AIkhiI P V A rtnoii J I in M't li , cmIs uiul 1 Iih VtrU i flit Fnormoux fiusinets and Hon He Atanaet tt $fv,t-',,o Year He , ftvs Out Seven Million in .iAvf-ii 7ifi to Cavotnia and How He i.ott on a Mute Trade A Strike in lnk That Made a MttiiKHow He , Made Money in the ftnU of iSgltit lif Wheat er.r and ifaxv Has BmU-A Watk With Hhn ThiOHeh Hit Chitago V;?ue-Jtv Je Treah II Hit Employe and Some of Hit fiusincst Methodi. ' (('pyrlghUd, II by Trfttik U. C'rtntir. pkiiI CvrTMoaitiic or ih M ' Chkauo, Mny ith, I.V-. r'W. WORLD IS "j i"wV hi fitItl' antl ll,e iii- tW United State it workshop, tf ZjJmV -HU tmployfi ' f?W Ti jn u m b e r thou 1 "TP" of workmen i greater ihnn was that of Xenophen, and it it an army never In retreat He pay ; out in wtfcca alone half a million ilolhri every month. Hi binineM ilirertly givei support to morn than tifiy thou-aand thou-aand people, and it amounts ti one hundred hun-dred million dollar every year. l our thouiand railway cam are now Receding . over their iron track loaded down with hi merchandise. He haa hi rstatlilf 1 ment in every city ol the Toiled Stales and hi ajtentt are at work for him in every part of the globe. The cubic and telegraph wires which come into his office are daily loaded with private news for him a to the wants ami tupptie of the nation of the wurld, and by trie graph he tends forth the ordrr which I are to make or loie millions. I'rum wheat field of Russia, from the grain bearing plains ol North India and from the markets of Australia and Kurupe come the report of his men, and every morning he has, as ft were, a map of the actual condition ol the world before him, and can tell from whence his products will be In demand, and where and why prices wdl rise or fall. 1 refer to Philip l. Armour, the Napoleon Na-poleon of the Chicago capitaliit, the baron of the butcher, and the king ol the porkpacking and griiinthipping Eroducts ot the t niteU State. 1 have eard much ol him during my stay here in Chicago, and L had an interesting chat with him in his cage-like room, where he manage! his immense bui- rillL ARMOUR AND HIS RFOLKN MC1.K. But first let me tell you something of the man. He is. you know, sell made. I Horn in New York atate about aiaty years ago, he started wet to make Im toriune. He was, I think, still in his teena whan the gold lever caught bun, and he worked his way aros the p'ains j and over iht ttioimuiim lo Cnliiorrna. Iln )nmtny was luH of ImnMnps, .iml he tell ttianv inter Minn stones con- j terntng It. At one lime hi shoes had worn out. The ag bruh anil the carti cut into hi leet. and wild to obi am some kind ot conveyance to carry him onward At 11, upon nearing a town in the Kockie, he met a man riding a very fine mule. He stopped him and akedhimilhe onld kell the animal. The man r plied ih.it he did not care to sell, but it Armour really wanted It he could have it lor joo. 1 his, however, wrs more than yen tig Armour could ftpwre, and a trade wa finally made, by which Mr. Armour got the mule lor it whuh was put liiii all th- money he hud. In letting the story I'hil Armour clcsrnbes the delight ol ruling (he mule, and how light Ins heart was as he trot teil onward. He rode gady into th town and as passing through the main atreit when he was met hy a man who in fierce tout nsked him where lie find gotten thai mule. Mr. Armour told him. Ihe man then said: 'Why, man, that mule belong to Dennis Hanks It ha been olen, and 1 advise you to give it up at wire, and get out ol town, or you will he in Ihe hand of the vigilance committee." The man succeeded in thoroughly frightening Armour, who gave up the mule, and sick at heart hurried on his way. A day or two later he came to a nunrtV camp in the mountain, and there spent the night. He was asked now he had come, and he told of his ad ventures, im lulling the swindle of the mule. As he did o, the muvni burst out laughing and one ol them said: "Why, man, I bought that d n mule myself. Il has been sold over and over atrain and fully one hundred men have been taken in by it. Tne nun in the town is a confederate of the seller of the mule and they are making their living by taking in the tenderieet.' It did not lake long, however, for I'hil Armour to get hts ete teeth cut. fie dually got to California and there made the little money which formed the luun dation ol his fortune. I AXMOlft'l riHsT Hit) SI KIK If. j Mr. Am our 1 a lartighied rr.an. He I looks ahead and is not airaid to trust his ; own judgment. He is broad guaged id i hi ideas. There ts nothing ol the pei-mtl pei-mtl aiMiut him. He is always a bull in the market and never a bear. Ilia great fortune has been made largely through his laith in (he United Stales and its prospects. Hi hnd lug strike wa. in tact, a bold bet on the successlul out come ut the war He had made bis lit-tie lit-tie pile in California and had gone into Ihe pork -packing business with old John Piankmgton ol Milwaukee. One day lie dime into the nllue and mhI: "Mr. t'lankinton, I am going to New , York at onn-. J lie war i ovrr. tr.int i hns practically healrn the rebels aud we wid have pca' tr in a few wreks i nm going f n to N w ork to buy all tka j pork 1 i an cet." j Mr. I'lankiiigton nl fir! (pifstined j the plan, hut he finally coneuted and i Arntour went e,-t. He tongtit right and left. The N-w Yorker i re ilestiond- 1 ent Thry had ls faith in the I'nMin an t pr tes w- re away down. 'I he m-ws (mm the fiid, however, soon changed matters, It scon ln ante nnparent mat the war was really oer, and Ihe result came as Aiuiour had predicted. Prtc-fs w -nt awnv up, and out ol that deal Mr Armour cleared something like a million dollars. There are evTal oilier stori-s ol a like nature which I have heard con o-rning Mr. Armuur. He Hunks ipiickly ami acts on Ins own tudgment. HOW TMK liROK KKH WhRK ItROKRW. Armour is not afraid of a big Itnng, and he i ready to light to hold his own An instance ot this orcurre I not (org ago. Kor some time Ihe gmin brokers here had hoped to b- at Is lo down Armour. They had tried it a number of times and failed. At la it it wa dis covered that he had bought three million mil-lion bushels nl wheat lo be deitvred in May. The market was in tmch a state that he had lo take il. The Chicago elevators were full an J the hroki r laughed In their sleeve w hen ihey thought ol Armour's having all that wheal dumped down upon him and no n re to put il. 'I hry expected he would have lo sell it. that ihey could buy it at their own prices aud that lie would lose a fortune by it. This wa the situation about (he ist of April On that day Mr. Armour railed m his architect am! builder. Said he: 'l must have wiihin thirty davs elevator built large enough lo store three million bunhelsol wheat." "It can't be done,' said the an hietrl. 1 It must be done,'' replied Mr. Armour. Ar-mour. "It Is a physlcial impossibility," was the reply. "We might dn it in a year We can tdo it In a mouth!" "I tell you it must be done!" was Armour's reply, "Call in some of Ihe oilier men.' At this, other of the employes connected con-nected with building matters were ad nutted. They all uined in with the architect ar-chitect and pronounced the putting up ol the structure in Uiat time an inmussi i t.lny. Mr. Armour listened to them, but his iron iw at the close came together more firmly than ever, anJ he s.ud: l tell you it mint le done, and it will be done"' He then gave hit order. He hoiiKht a little island, known as tiouse-m-ck Island, in the mouth ol the Chicago river, on which to build the elevator. He liad advertisements posted over Chicago that any man who could handle a pick or diiveanail could find work by calling at I'. 1. Armour's stock yards. He put up an electric lighting system and worked three gangs ol men eight hour at a stretch, putting so many men on the work that they covered it hkeauts. He went out every day and took a look at the work himself, and the result was he had tus elevator built three day ttcfore the wheat began to come. This work had been done ipnetly, and few ol the brokers knew of it He look care ot his three million bushels and made a big thing oil ol their sale. This was like Armour. He is Napoleonic Napo-leonic in hts make-up. He is oneoJ the law men who can do mora than one thing utatime. While he wa talking with me, messenger hoys would bring him tHcgrain showini: the condition ol the stork. He would ai.swer them, giving hts orders to buy or sell. At surh tim it seemed lo me that he w is net listening to my ijit-stioits and to what I was a,ing.but I soon d.scovi red that he was nnytng boih ( ur conversations conver-sations and the market m hi mind at the same time. I have bet-n told he hat ihi ability in a marked ih grre. t r 1 rank ((iinsaultis, the bead ol the Armour Ar-mour Technical Insnnde s iys he tloe not doubt but that Mr. Armour could dictate letter on diilereut siibicns to Ittree or four sei rctarirn at the same lime, holding the thought of each separately and carring on the three or four thread of thought without contusion. con-tusion. akmoi i s urn nrnfKK is Tint r-ANir Another inst.-ime ol Mr, Armour' Napolt-cmc chpracier was set n In rt in the panic of iu. He w is one of the few men prepared lur the panic. He saw it coming months t Horett was a pos-ibitity in the ruin of other great capitiiists of tlie t inted States. lie began lo prepare for it in He had not been feeling well nm! i.e went to l.tiropu for his htuhh. While loafing about Carlsbad he cam1 into contat t with curt ol the moneyed men ol l-.umpe, arid from Ihe way thev talked he learned that a storm wa brewing All at once he decided to come home, 'Ihe day he landid at N:w N ork he tel e raphed Ihe leailinx managers ol his different department to come there to inert him. They came. 1 hey told him that business had never been belter, that all of hi enu ipriM were paying, and tbat they were making money baud over It-t. Mr. Armour beard their reports, re-ports, timl then threw a thmuliTholt into their mulst by tel nig ih m thai he wanted want-ed them to cut down the hunnc to the closest margin. Said be: "1 here is a storm brewing and we must draw in. We mint draw m We must have money to prepare tor it, and I want you to get all the cash you can and put it away in the vaults. I want you logo out in the street and stretch the name of V. D. Armour to It utmost tension. Hi rrow every dollar you can and then let me know the result." Some of the men rather thought that tlie ''old man' as they sometimes call him, was ctnryt but they did a he directed. At last they came to him and told him that they had about l-rooo.ooo in cash. 'Oh," said he, "that's not hall enough! Go out and burrow more. Don't be airaid. (let all you can, and get it as tpjick as you can.' This was done, and they finnlly told him that they had secured ft.ooo,. ooo in cash. In addition to this he also had in hand a!xut f 4. ooo, wo in negoti , able securities. Witu a capital ol what wa practically sWio.u, on hand, Mr Armour then sat back in his chair aud said to himself. "Well, il the crash must coma, I, at any rule, am ready for it." It was not long alter this that the crash did come. Money was nt.t lo be got for love, work or high r.te ol interest. Trices dropped to the bottom. Armour wa practically the only man w ho was perfectly prepared tor it. He turned his js ouo ouo over aud over, and reaUed a ion one, while the mafs ol less tar sighted business men were on the edge ot bankruptcy. HOW I HIL AKUOl a WOKKtt. You would not think that a man who made such big strokes aud who is so wealthy would be a hard worker. This, however, is the case. There 1 no man in Chicago who walrhe hi business more ciosely and who puis in more hours thm I. 1). Armour. He has all Ins li' been an early riser. He ta at hi efbee. winter and summer, at 7:,v o'clock ewry morning, and he remain there usually until 6 He goes to led rrgularty at o uM ck every night, eat imply, dresses well, but not eslrava-pdiitly, eslrava-pdiitly, nnd g ts his chief pleasme, 1 fudge, cut cl liii work. He has great powrr ol organisation. and as we walked logclf-f-r through his big olh es he told me that tie machine practically ran n-lf. He took me through the great otbee rctiffl, in which, in rage surrounded surround-ed by wire screen-, something like one hundred men were? working away, keep ing at counts, hu'ing up column lo hnd the percentage of profits anil loss, and answering the enormous correspondence correspon-dence which is connected with a great business Ittte this. At the back ol the room we Mopped at Ihe post olhce, and Mr. Armour asked Ihe clerk within it how many le ters lliry hat) reretvi d that day. 1 he nun replied that N.ooo letter had come m, ami that already about M 011 had hern mailed. 1 he man who writes a letter or so a day ran get Rome idea ot Armour's business by compar irg hi work with the answering of Irom eight to ten thousand letiers a day. Leaving this part tf the room, we next went ell to the kit, where, in a sort ol an I... is the leh graph office ol the establishment. There were, I judge, a dot en operators at work, and the in.tru-menis in.tru-menis which were clicking away were enough lo do the busines ol a city of twenty thousand pet pie. Mr. Armour ha hi own private operator apart Irom these men. This operator has an instrument in-strument tust outside the little rage which is Mr. Armour's private olhcc. It is his biiin-f. to lake the messages direct from the chief, and he is at his ofhee ns early in Ihe morning as Mr. Armour, ready to give him the reports which have been received by telegraph and cable 'rom all parts of the world. These are first disposed of, and by S or 9 o'clock Mr. Armour thoroughly knows just what he wants his men to do in all parts of the world. Ily 10 he has practically practi-cally settled the business problems ol the day, and by 11 he is at leisure to meet his friend, or to go aUiut among his employes and chat with them atwut their work. He i thoroughly democratic demo-cratic in hi wa, and he knows per sonally every man in his office. As we walked through the room he spoke to many of the men by name, and he told me that many ol his men had been with him for years. aOMK UK PHIL AHMoI'R'h DUSINBstf Mli fllODH. Mr. Armour believes in young men and young brain. He has said at limes that he was a buyer ol youth and hriwn. He is a good judge ol men and he usually nm the right man in the right place. 1 am told that he never discharges dis-charges a man if he can help it If the mail is not etbeient he gives instructions to have him put in some other department, depart-ment, but to keep him it possible, 't here are certain things, however, which he will not tolerate, and among these are laxines, intemperance and gelling into debt. As lo the last, he savs he believes in good wages and that he pays the beau He tells his men that it they are not able to live on the wages he pays them he does not want thein to work for him. Not long ago he met a police man in his othce. "What are you doing hare, sir?" he asked. "I am here to serve a paper," was the reply. "What kind of a paper?'' asked Mr. Armour, "I want to garnishee one of your men's wages lor debt.1' said the police '"""riilrrd." replied Mr. Armour; "and who is the man.'' He thereuon asked Ihe policeman into his private othce and ordered that the debtor come in. He then asked the clerk how long he had been in debt. The man replied that for twenty year he had been behind and that he could not catch up. "Hut you get a good salary,1' said Mr. Armour, ''don't you?'1 "Ves," said the clerk, "but I can't gel out of deht. My lile is su h that somehow or other I can't get out ' "Hut you must get out," said Mr. Armour, Ar-mour, "or you must leave here. How much do you owe?1' The clerk then gave the amount. It was less than $1,001. Mr. Armour took his check book and wrote out a check lor the amount. "There," said he, as he handed the clerk the check. '' There is enough to pay all your debts. Now t want you to keep out of debt, and If 1 hear of your again getting into debt you will have to leave.'' The man took the check. He did pay hi debts and remodeled his li'c on a cash basis. About a year after the above incident happened he came to Mr. Ar mour and luld nun that he had had a 1 place oil -red him at a higher salary and 1 that he was going to leave. He thanked Mr Armour and told bun that his last ! year had been the happiest of his life ; ami that getting out of debt bad made a l new man of him. 1 could gtve a number of similar stories concerning Mr. Armour which I have heard through his friend here at Chicago. The above incidents came Irom them, and not from Mr. Armour himself, 1 Hiring my visit to hi othce I had a chat with him covering a wide range of subjects. This I will publish in a future letter t ivK CiMvu |