OCR Text |
Show ARMOUR'S POOR RELATIONS. rhe Big Packer Tells a Funny Story AbOHt One He Hasn't Made Rich. It has been a matter of current report for years among board of trade men that Phil Armour has no poor relations, says a Chicago newspaper man. "He will not allow any of them to rem&in poor, " a veteran of the board remarked by way of explanation of this unusual good fortune for-tune of a rich man. "He makes them all rich. " "I have heard that story before, " Mr. Armour remarked, with a smile, when one of his friends asked him ahout it the other day. "But it's a mistake. I hav enough of them. " Then the big packer burst out in a laugh, and his friends . knew a good story was coming. "One of tho poor kind he lives down In Illinois is one of the most persistent persist-ent men I ever knew. He keeps writing and writing for money all the time. He Is not a bad fellow, only improvident, and if he displayed the same energy in attending to business that he does in writing to me he would have been rich a long time ago. Well, he kept sending one letter after another, saying that if he only had $500 he would be all right He repeated this so often that one day I told my secretary to send a letter say Ing that if he would't bother me for a year I would send him $500. " "Well, sir," and Mr. Armour's sides shook with laughter, "as soon as the mails could bring a reply I got it. He said, 'Make it $1,000 and two years,' and I thought it was such a clever turn that I sent the money." "What happened next?" "In. about three months he wrote again, saying the agreement was off because be-cause his wife hadn't been inoluded." Mr. Armour seemed to think the whole thing was a great joke and especially espe-cially enjoyed the shrewdness of bis poor relation. |