Business Quote by Philip Armour

Anybody can cut prices, but it takes brains to make a better article is a shot across the bow at the oldest temptation in capitalism: winning by shrinking. Armour is arguing that price competition is the dumbest kind of competition not because it fails, but because it works too easily. Anyone with authority over a ledger can shave margins, squeeze labor, cheapen ingredients, or offload risk down the supply chain. It produces a quick, legible “win” that rewards the most ruthless operator, not the most capable builder.

The line lands because it flips what markets are supposed to celebrate. We’re told competition breeds innovation; Armour suggests it often breeds accountants with knives. “Brains” becomes the moral and managerial differentiator: the capacity to solve harder problems like quality, process, consistency, and trust. “Better article” carries an old-school industrial bluntness, but it’s basically a brand thesis before branding became a religion. Make something people can feel is better, and you’re not hostage to the race-to-the-bottom cycle.

Armour, a Gilded Age meatpacking magnate, wasn’t speaking from a quaint artisan fantasy. He operated in an era of scale, ruthless consolidation, and public anxiety about adulteration and safety - the kind of environment where “cheap” could mean dangerous. Read that way, the quote is also self-justification: an industrialist claiming that the smartest operators don’t merely undercut rivals; they professionalize production and sell reliability. It’s a warning, a flex, and a business ethic in one sentence.