The Irish standard., 1899-10-14
Essen in Germany is Where
the Plant is Located.
RAPID GROWTH OF POPULATION
Over Forty Thousand Persons
Employed in the Works.

100000 inhabitants. 1t is natural that
this fact, which vies with the rapid
growth of the most prosperous Amer
ican cities, should call attention to the
great Krupp works and to the share
they had in the development of Essen.
The foundation for the now world
renowned steel casting works was laid
in 1910 by the grandfather Of the pres
ent chief. Essen had then 1900 inhab-
itants. In 1882, after Alfred Krupp,
the father of the present head OF the
firm, had been at the helm for six years,
there were but ten men employed. A
census of 1S43, which gave Essen
7,11o inhabitants, showed that the
Krupp works employed ninety-nine
men. The year of the great famine,
1847, and the following year-that of
the revolution-compelled Krupp to
melt his family plate in order to main
tain his credit, but his business grew.
The census of Essen of 1858 showed
that OF 17,165 inhabitants 1,o47 were en-
ployed by Krupp. In 1867 OF 4o,6o5
inhabitants $500 worked for Krupp.
In 1873 tho number of ir1l,abitants was
54,721, OF whom o,414 worked for
Krupp. In 1888 there were 7o,3o5 in
habitants and the Krupp employees
numbered 1898. The census of the
present year gives the city 1o5,528 in
habitants and the Krupp works 2362o
workmen, aside from 1904 who live in
the country district of Essen.
The total number of people employed
by Krupp at present is 41.75o, OF whom
25,133 are in Essen, 3,54S in the Grus-
son works of Magdeburg- -Buckau
2,726 in the Germania shipyards i'll
Kiel, and 1o,344 in the various smelters
and coal mines.
Alfred Krupp-the father Of the pres
ent chief of the firm, Frederick Alfred
Krupp, who is at the helm since 1857
was the one who gave the works their
international character. But he did SO
only after meeting seemingly insur-
lnountable difficulties and formidable
obstacles. According to his own state
ments his profits for fifteen years we're
no more than enough to pay the wages
OF his workmen and frequently he was
at a loss to pay the postage of his cor
rcspondence, which extended to every
part OF the inhabited globe.
Alfred Krupp became of Importance,
even in his own fatherland, only after
he succeeded, at the international cx-
position in London, 1851, in demon
strating the quality OF his product.
Even then Krupp had to learn the truth
OF the old adage that nobody ranks as
prophet in his own country. Not the
king of Prussia, nor any of the other
European rulers, gave the famous
works impetus by any appreciable
orders. The first great orders for steel
guns were placed by the Khedive of
Egypt and the Bey of Tunis, and it
deserves mention that they paid no
cash.
Prussia placed its first order for
breech-loaders in 1855, but since then
Russia has been the best customer of
Krupp. In 1873 the works furnished
the entire new armament of the Rus
sian field artillery, 1900 guns, and up
to 1895 the total number of steel guns
turned out was 10000. Krupp was then
the "c1n limo " ;ndead
The reorganization of the German
Empire resulted in an unprecedented
boom" in every financial, industrial,
and investment branch, and this boom,
as matter of course, was followed by
a general smash. The universal eco
nomic crisis was easily weathered by
Alfred Krupp, though he was COM
PEELED to raise loan of 10000, 900
marks ($7,5oo, o,ooo) to tide his gigantic
enterprise over the period of inaction.
This loan was paid within twelve years.
Alfred Krupp had begun early in his
career to make himself independent
from rings and syndicates in the ore,
coal, and raw material lines, and as
early as 1866 he began the systematic
purchase of coal mines and furnaces.
The Hanover coal mine alone furnished
last year one billion centals. The works
own over 500 ore mines, among them
one of the finest iron ore mines in the
world, in Bilbao, Spain. A Krupp