Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-12-01

has lost her chief captain Of in
dustry. In her march of modern
progress and social development,
in the practical adaptation of scientific
invention on the great scale Of utilitarian
purposes, Friedrich Alfred Krupp stepped
foremost. She could point to him as
her Carnegie and place him beside the
American Morgan. He was the steel man
of the Fatherland, the organizer and d.
rector of labor. and a giant among capt.
talists. Under his administration the CO.
lossal institution of the Krupps under
went, like other undertakings Of similar
nature, something of a merger.
If the individuality of the head of the
house was less pronounced than in the
time of his father, the great Alfred
Krupp, 1t only suffered transformation
due to new conditions and worked in fresh
forms. His Inheritance continued to
grow. He continued his fathers policy
with remarkably tenacious loyalty, and
the little Essen forge, which his grand
father, Friedrich, left in 1926 in tumble
down shop filled with worn out tools and
a drawer full of impossible plans and
useless specifications, has become Pitts
burg, with ever expanding forces.
1t is owing mainly to his enterprise that
Germany's output of steel exceeds that of
Great Britain. which fifty years ago pro-
duced ten times as much as her present
competitor in the worlds markets. He ac-
quired coal mines in Germany and went
to Spain for the ores which could give his
steel the hardened tempering that gave II
it's fame and brought him fresh fortune.
He was railway magnate of the first or
der, and embarked In the ownership of
an industrial fleet which kept pace at
ISiel with the empires ships of war.
The Krupp works, from the extraordin-
airy successes of their artillery manufac-
lures, have often been identified with
mflitarism. This, to some extent, ex-
plains the antagonism which the German
socialist political party has long shown
to Herr Krupp. But, though Essen and its
subsidiary works have turned out more
than forty thousand of the most formid-
able engines of war. comprising the field
artillery, which made a revolution In
gunnery, ships guns and coast defense
cannon, this is but a branch of The in
6ustrial operations of Krupp's.
Like his father, Friedrich Alfred Krupp
was averse to assuming a title. He was
however, frequently consulted by Kaiser
Wilhelm and accepted from him a Prinz
Councillorship. His energies remained
undated in promoting and developing
new commercial undertakings in addition
to the supervision of his vast particular
domain, which surpassed, with but one or
two exceptions, German principalities and
powers. His income was estimated at
20,000,000 marks ($50O0.000, exceeding that
of the German emperor. He employed fif-
ty thousand people, and maintained
through his agencies the two hundred
thousand dependent on this army of
workmen.
He carried on the system instituted by
his father Of promoting the welfare of his
operatives by founding settlements of
healthy homes and hygienic surround
ings Barely fifty years of age, the son
passes away fifteen years after his father
had bequeathed to him the vast proper
ties, for the management of which he
had qualified himself by toiling early and
late in the works.
If Friedrich Alfred Krupp may be said
to have been born with a gold spoon in
his mouth, 1t was the silver spoon which
figuratively and literally made the for
tune of his father Alfred Ersen, in the
Rhenish province of Prussia, twenty
miles to the northeast Of Dusseldorf, had
a traditionM interest in gun making. 1t
made cannon In the Middle Ages, cast
from Iron forged with charcoal, and sold
arms to Queen Elizabeth, of England. to
use against Spain. The first Krupp, Fried
rich, at the beginning of last century
built the little house which still stands
i'm the midst of the oldest part of the
factory metropolis and bears the in
scription placed over the pinewood man
telpiece by his son Alfred.
This little house was built by my
father in 1922, after he had lost a consid-
cradle fortune in hopeless endeavors TO
invent a new process of steel making. He
lost his health as well as his money, and
his life was but a series of bitter disap-
pointments.
The inscription goes on to say Alfred
lived in the house twenty-five years, full
of misery and chagrin. and ceaseless Ia
Dor. unit! at last his fondest expectations
were realized. Never despise the poor
mans hut the Essen workman still
reads. while sheltering great cares, II
may be the cradle Of still greater sue
cesseS.
Alfred Krupp's first success came with
silver spoon. He sold in England the pat
ent of an invention for manufacturing
silver and silver plated spoons, the out
come of six years experiments, and then
set to work with the proceeds on the line
of creating a Bessemer steel on his own
invention. When he had accumulated
sufficient capital from the product OF an
other invention for coming dies and mint
machinery he turned to gun-making, Ess-
ems old trade, and produced a rife OF Bes-
semer steel He sent 1t to the Prussian
war office. The package came back I'M