The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-08-25
FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN.
A Quaint German City Whose Inhabi
tants Are Given to Money Making.


| LQelr nome. Inc TdTnhIuItcT5 tucHl
selves regard 1t as an excellent place to
stay. Not many of them. indeed, especi-
ally of the older stock, can be persuaded
to leave it. There are not few of its
families whose perspicuous annals OF res>
idence extend back through long line of
ancestry, for two or three centuries There
are banks and other business houses
whose present name and location have
been continuous for 100 to $50 years. The
city itself dates back to the time of
Charlemagne. One of its stone bridges,
spanning the River Main. is said to have
been built eight or nine centuries ago A
legend tells us 1t was placed there by His
Satanic Majesty on a special contract
with the city fathers, that he should have
the soul of the first creature that should
pass over it. When it was finished the
shrewd Frankfurters sent rooster across
it, thereby showing themselves smarter
than the sly party of the second part An
image of the rooster, surmOuntIng pole
set upon the bridge, commentaries the
event and confirms the truth of the story.
For centuries the imperlai coronations
were celebrated in the Frankfort Cathed>
raj. la the vicinity of the latter stands
the venerable Romer, which is one of the
most historic buildings in Germany
| Within its walls the Electors of the En-
Dire were wont to meet when an Emperor
was to be chosen from its balcony the
elect exhibited himself to the applaudlng
multtudes; and in its grand saloon the
coronation banquet was held The full
sized portraits of forty eight German
monarchs, painted in the costumes of theiI
time, adorn this curious chamber.
Around the walls of Frankfort swept
the armies of Louis XIV, and of the
Great Napoleon. Here Louis the Piou,
lived, and King Gunther died. Here, il
one of the fantastic rOOkeries Of the Jud
engasse, the Rothschilds laid the founda
| tons of the most colOssa! fortune in the
world Here in crowded and narrow
street stands Comely old house will
| peaked gables and projecting stories, owe
whose portal We read this inscription
an diesem House 0uTde JohdRH Wolf
gang Goethe an 2sten august ,194g geb0r
| en-" In this building the great poet spen
his infancy, and made the home Of hi:
boyhood and early manhood. Here late
in life, Lavater, Basedow and klopstocl
visited him, and here, as we wander abOu
the curious old chambers, we recall TIL
names of Marguerite and MaXimiliane, o
Bettna, and Lii, of Sybilia Munich, an,
Anna Schonemanu, and-but the list i
100 long Most OF all do we think herr
of her whose Martha Washington like fac
appears in a portrait on the wall-th
doting mother of the great Goethe. .
the spiritual presences within these oil
walls, here Is the most palpable. Thi
! was. above all, her home-thc plaC
where her faithful heart beat in motherl
fondness until it ceased to beat for he
beloved Wolfgang.
In an obscure little park, beside nal
row and remote street, in another part o
the city, Goethe's mother lies buried
q There is no monument over the grave
nothing to distinguish it save a plain
weather worn tablet, around which fey
sprigs of ivy scramble. The spot Wa
? once suburban church yard, but the Gil
swept over and far beyond it, and nov
only few of the graves remain undiS
turbed Unnoted, Goethe's mother sleep
there, while out in the grand area aroun
which the life OF energy of the city cOurs
and pulsate, stands Schwanthaler's splen
did monument to her immortal son.
Frankfort has no military fame lik
Mayence, Metz, Strasbourg, or Antwerp
t Though once a walled town, it was neve
Q a celebrated fortress. 1t has had its mil
, itary vicissitudes, but they were not con
spicuous. Goethe narrates in his auto
biography that, during his boyhood, h
l once heard the trumpets sounding tn
> alarm all day from the watch,towers, a
+ the French army approached and investe
the town; that after the city had, withou
resistance, yielded to the beleaguern
army, one of the enemys generals
i disvision quartered himself and staff upo
the poets reluctant ard indignant fathe
and that (young Goethe turned th
o annoyance to good account by learnln
, French from the unbidden guests. An
4 then we are told in other annals how,
century and half before that, the arm
of Gustavus Adolphus appeared befor
q this even then "Opulent and pOpulous
x metropolis, and summoned it to surrend
er; how the wealthy burghers hesltateC
! but at last succumbed; and how til
triumphant battalions of the great swet
marched through its gates and unfurle
e the banners of Professionalism from il
/. pinnacles.
Nearly two centuries later NapOleO
passed through Frankfort on his way
3 conquest and also on his flight from di
n aster, and in one of the public garden
d tree is pointed cut under which, as traC
ition runs, the Great Emperor, when ,
- the zenith of his fame, once stood viii
y veteran legions passed in reveiw befol
him.
But Frankfort has always been cit
of trade and finance rather than one
military tastes and renown. Its weall
n has been proverbial from its early histo
e until now, and the assertion is made tina
ir in proportion to population, its rich'
l. surpass those of any other city in Il
al world. The Rothschilds besides their gre
h banking house, standing within stone
" throw of the howell where the family W
founded, possess vast estates here, al
the singular story is told that their fir
considerable gains were made with Il
funds received from Great Britain by Il
Hessan Government for the use OF Il
mercenaries in the ATTEMPTED subjugatiC
is of the American Colonies.
he Many other families, both German al
y. Jewish, possess enormous fortunes, al
o, own or control financial, industrial al
in commercial interests, radiating to near
he every part of the civilized world.
d, banking houses, properly so called, the
es is no unusual proportion, but the CT
lis abOunds in dealers in all manner of secl
ne tiles, and its Stock Exchange is one of t
p. most important in Europe. Its capitals
ic claims to have been the first to take &
be bonds of the United States offered abroa
ye during our civil war, and there have be
L. times when their holding of those bon
ut amounted to not less than hundred m
Oh lions of dollars. They also deal emo
mOusly in the railway, state and loo
i'd securities of this country, ana their is
hit city in Europe wherein all that pertai
ed to American investments is better undo
ce stood. Several of the for