A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



roasted at least once a day never got his salary raised. 

 I recall an illustration of his conviction that trade 

 would always expand under effort, and had no limit. 

 I had been given charge of a product which had only 

 a moderate sale, and by taking advantage of some 

 favorable natural conditions had an unusual streak 

 of luck with it. A card showing the manufacture 

 and movement of the product in every class was 

 placed on Mr. Armour's desk each morning. A 

 glance over it revealed to him the weak spots. In 

 glancing at my product card he got the wrong line; 

 that is, another product showing, say, 90,000 pounds 

 per day, while mine showed 180,000. He strode 

 over to my desk, and said, "What's the matter with 

 you ? Going into a decline ? We ought to be selling 

 100,000 pounds a day." To which I replied, "Hell, 

 boss, we are selling 180,000 pounds," but my raise of 

 80,000 pounds never touched him, and, without bat- 

 ting an eye, he said, "That is not enough; we should 

 be selHng 250,000 pounds. Shake yourself; you are 

 walking in your sleep." 



He always reminded me of a little negro boy who 

 told me of thinking that he saw a ghost on his way 

 home one night. Describing it in his own language, 

 he said: "When I come up on that ghost I ht out 

 as hard as I could, and every time my feet hit the 

 ground I says to myself, 'Ed, you can do better than 

 this.' " 



Mr. Armour was an inspiration to every man under 



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