A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



fact it was only the old Irish trick of whipping up 

 the free horse. The men loved it because they knew 

 it was a sort of pat on the back, and an admission 

 that a fellow had something in him. 



I have rarely known a more lovable man than Mr. 

 Armour. He was the sort who loved those whom he 

 chastened. His men worth while loved him, and 

 realized that after they came out from a "once over," 

 or even after getting the "third degree," they did so 

 with new fighting power. They were nicely cleaned 

 up, like men getting out of the barber's chair after 

 a round-trip. No commercial eye in American trade 

 history has had the vision, with the quick-action 

 executive ability behind it, that Mr. Armour had. 

 His was the kind of vision which has been behind all 

 great trades. It was this vision which took him from 

 the York State farm to the goldfields, and made a 

 fortune in pork after the Civil War. This character- 

 istic came under my own observation several times, 

 notably before the panic, I think in 1893; but I am 

 not where I can look up the year. For months before 

 it struck he was accumulating gold in his Chicago 

 vaults, and shipping gold to Kansas City. When 

 the evil day came both the Chicago and Kansas City 

 Armours bought live stock every day, paying for it 

 in gold instead of the usual check clearance. Again 

 in 1893 an attempt to break him was made. He had 

 bought wheat heavily in the northwest. The sellers 

 planned to deliver him the actual product largely in 



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