Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-26
(Copyrigf

OSpecal correspondence or The
80 Bee.G am In the heart OF the
Prusslan Black Country, where
- the foundries and factories are as
thick as In the Black Country Of England or
in our Black Country about Pittsburg.
The land is underlaid with coal and iron,
and upon it has grown one OF the greatest
steel centers of the world. / rode here
through forests Of smokestacks. There are
cities and villages all about me which have
steel and iron mills. Solingen, the Shelf
field of Germany, is not far away. and
within a hundred-mile radius are towns
making almost everything under the sun.
There are wooden factories and cotton fac
tories. silk mills and velvet mills. There
are glass works, steel works and great
shops for the equipment Of railroads, steam
ships and every other steel thing under the
sun.
The heart Of this region is Essen and the
soul OF 1t is the Krupps. The chief Krupp
is dead; but his spirit remains and Essen
goes on as though he were alive. The town
was practically founded by a Krupp. it was
built up by a Krupp and the Krupp estate
support 1t today.
When the first Krupp began work In his
little foundry It was a village. Along in
the SOS, when the second Krupp had be-
gun to make steel cannon, 1t. had only TO-
600; but today It has more than 100. 900 in
habitants, and ninety-nine hundredths Of
these are supported by the Krupps.
despair Of giving you an adequate con-
ception of the extent Of this steel business
which has been managed By one mar and
Is now owned by one family. The word
Krupp Ia Germany has much the same
place that Carnegie or the words THE
United States Steel Corporation" have in
America. The Krupps have vast properties
Of many kinds. They own 900 different
mines in Germany and other mines in
Spain. They dig their own coal. and they
transport much Of their goods on their own
steamers They have ships on the rivers,
Wharves at Rotterdam, miles of railroads
and thousands of railroad cars. They have
their own telephone and telegraph stations
numbered by hundreds, and they have great
factories at several places in Germany.
Here at Essen their employees are more in
number than was our army at the begin
: ming of the Spanish war. They have other
thousands in their shipbuilding yards at
Klel and their workme altogether approx,
innate 10000 men. the greatest Industrial
brigade that has ever been commanded byI
q private individual. I
Essen practically belongs to tho KruppsA
As you come here from the Rhine youl
pass q castle on q hill and are told 1t ID
Krrpp's. There is a railroad station at the
estate and a private entrance. where the
emperor passes up to visit the Krupp tam
fly. In Essen the hotel belongs to Krupp.
There are a Krupp hospital, Krupp club
houses and Krupp schools. Tho most Of
the suburbs are made up Of Krupp's colo
MES built by Krupp architects and Krupp
workmen. and In one quarter you will hnd
the beautiful village which Krupp has
erected for his men who are too old to
work. There are scores Of Krupp stores,
Krupp factories and Krupp Fairgrounds for
tho children.
The heart OF all this is the steel mills.
whose sixty factories and furnaces are
ever sending their volumes Of smoke into
tho air. Their buildings cover an area Of
a dozen good sized farms. They extend on
and on along wide streets. so that II
wearies you to walk from one end Of them
to the other They have many windows
blackened with smoke and tho dense clouds
Of carbonized Vapor which hang over them
are ever dropping SCOT.
Here and there a gate opens into one
factory or another. but every gate has its
guard and strangers are not admitted. In
deed, It ls only through my letters from
the United States government. which show
that / have nothing to do with steel and
iron, that / am a guest Of the works. and
am thus enabled to give an Inside view OF
this. the chief Industrial institution OF con-
tlnental Europe.
Come with me and taxa a glance at the
works We might spend days and net 90