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 could 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 
