The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-08-08
KINGS PAY TRIBUTE
TO GREAT WAR GOD
Attend Centenary Celebra'
ton at the Great Krupp
Cannon Factory.

BERLIN, Aug. 8.-The celebration
Of the centenary of the great firm of
Krupps, for which preparations have
been going forward for nearly two
years, began today at Essen. The cele-
bration is attended by the Emperor
William at the head of brilliant gal
generals, admirals and civic dignita-
ries.
The celebration will last an entire
week and will be of most imposing
and memorable character. The chief
feature will be a great pageant which
will symbolic the substitution of
firearms for the old weapons of the
Middle Ages. The principal scene Of
the pageant will be an episode from
the life of the Emperor Macmillan l.,
and ESQ retired officers of the German
army are to play the parts of knights.
During the period of the celebration
the Emperor and other royal guests
are quartered at the Villa Hugel, the
splendid county home of Herr Krupp
Won Bohlen-Halbach, who by marrying
the elder daughter of the late Herr
Krupp became the head Of the firm
The villa is located just outside Es-
sen. The other notable guests at the
celebration are being accommodated
at the hotel in Essen maintained by
the Krupp company exclusively for the
accommodation of foreign buyers of
their guns, armor and ships, who are
always at Essen in large numbers.
Cause of Interest.
The strong personal interest that
the Emperor is manifesting in the Gel
ebration is not surprising in view of
the fact that the firm of Krupps is al
most Government institution. The
armament branch of it's business is in
direct touch with the German army
and navy and studies their interests
before anything else. The firm is in
short an integral part of the German
Empire and during the past decade or
two 1t has done more for the military
power of the empire than any COM
mercial firm has ever before been able
TO do for it's government. It's patriot
Ism needs no better proof than the
and armor for nearly all of the lead
Ing nations Of the world, has steadfast-
ly refused to do any business with
France since the Franco-Prussian war.
The foundation of the world-renown-
ed firm was laid in 1912 by the first
Alfred Krunp. But it was his son, the
second of the name, who gave the
works their international character.
This he succeeded in doing only after
seemingly insurmountable difficulties
had been overcome. According to his
own statements Alfred Krupp's prof
its for fifteen years we're no more
than enough to pay the wages of his
workmen, and frequently he was at
loss to pay the postage of his cores
pondence.
Alfred Krupp saw the possibilities
of the great exposition to open in Lon
don in 1851 and decided to take adyan-
tage Of it. He had made important
discoveries in the casting of large
masses of Bessemer steel, which had
been an insurmountable task previous
to his time. The exhibit he sent to
London fairly astonished the world
and 1t at once established his reputa-
ton. Orders began to pour in and soon
there was plenty of work to do at the
Essen foundries.
The making of heavy ordnance,
which has made the name of these
works famous the world over, was not
then prominent part of the bust
ness. One of the first large orders
Herr Krupp got for firearms was foud
years later, when Prussia gave him
the contract for her new breechload-
ers. Soon general foundry work and
the making of small arms began to
take second place at Essen, as heavy
steel siege guns and armor plate de-