180 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



Mr. Armour understood thoroughly the science of eliminating 

 waste. From his earliest days he had learned to turn everything 

 to account, and instead of paying somebody to remove the refuse 

 of the industry as had previously been the custom, he began the 

 manufacture of glue, fertilizer and soap. Many other lines of 

 byproducts were added from time to time, until today they form 

 the most profitable part of the firm's business. In fact, they are 

 the principal factor in keeping down the prices of retail meat, 

 since they absorb such an important percentage of the killing 

 costs. Mr. Armour is quoted as saying, "Give me the waste 

 from the animals slaughtered and I will make more money than 

 the fellow selling the meat." 



In 1893, he had developed as a side line to his meat packing 

 activities, a moderate grain business. Because of the panic, cash 

 grain in the northwestern grain centers was selling at such great 

 discounts that Chicago May futures couW be sold and country 

 grain bought to replace them. Mr. Armour bought several mil- 

 lion bushels in the northwestern market, but at the same time a 

 combination of rival grain operators bought all the cash grain 

 in Chicago, and refused to move it out. Since the law required 

 all grain to be stored in registered elevators, Mr. Armour had no 

 place to unload his northwestern wheat. Sixteen hundred cars of 

 wheat accumulated on the tracks, and three hundred boatloads on 

 Lake Michigan. In this crisis he declared, "I'll build an elevator 

 of my own" — when told it would require six months to accomplish 

 this, he snatched a telephone, called a contractor, installed electric 

 lights to permit night work, and in forty-two days had the ele- 

 vator completed and was receiving grain. The combine was de- 

 feated, and Mr. Armour reaped a reasonable reward. 



One Sunday he attended the old Plymouth Church, and listened 

 to a sermon by Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus who preached on the sub- 

 ject, "What I would do with a Million Dollars." Mr. Armour 

 became intensely interested, as a vision of affording technical 



